Bondi

Australia holds day of mourning for Bondi Beach shooting victims

  • Gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the Bondi Beach attack.
  • Australians will fall quiet in candlelight Thursday on a national day of mourning for the 15 people killed by gunmen who opened fire at a Jewish festival at Bondi Beach.
  • Gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the Bondi Beach attack.
Australians will fall quiet in candlelight Thursday on a national day of mourning for the 15 people killed by gunmen who opened fire at a Jewish festival at Bondi Beach.
As flags fly at half mast, millions are being asked to observe a minute's silence at 7:01 pm east coast time (0801 GMT) for victims of the December 14 mass shooting, Australia's deadliest in three decades.
Candles will be lit in windows and on doorsteps around the country.
Survivors, families and emergency responders are to join with political and community leaders in an evening of mourning at Sydney Opera House, with the theme "Light Will Win".
Sajid Akram and his son Naveed allegedly shot into crowds at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration on the famous Sydney beach, inspired by Islamic State ideology. 
"When we look to Bondi, we don't just see a beach," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
"We see it as part of our promise to the world. It's a welcoming embrace, a famous crescent of sand and water where there's room for everyone," he told reporters.
"This is a place where nothing should break except for the waves. But a lot broke that night."

Antisemitism

Among the victims were an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, a couple who confronted one of the gunmen, and a 10-year-old girl, Matilda, described at her funeral as a "ray of sunshine".
Despite the dangers of that day, first responders raced to treat the wounded; strangers sheltered each other from gunfire and shop owner Ahmed al Ahmed famously wrested a gun from one of the attackers.
Albanese, who is to address the Opera House event, has faced criticism for alleged foot-dragging in combating antisemitism ahead of the attack.
Since the shooting, he has agreed to establish a high-level royal commission inquiry, which is to include examinations of the security services' actions, and rising reports of antisemitism.
This week, his left-leaning Labor government ushered through parliament new laws that seek to tighten gun control and crack down on crimes of hate speech and radicalisation.
On hate speech and radicalisation, the legislation stiffens sentences, sets up a framework for listing prohibited hate groups and makes it easier to reject or cancel visas for suspects.

Security questions

On firearms, Australia will set up a national gun buyback scheme, tighten rules on imports of the weapons and expand background checks for gun permits to allow input from the intelligence services.
"What we need is more kindness in the world, less conflict in the world, not just here, but right around the globe," Albanese said.
"In a time of turbulence, I really want this nation to be a light for the world."
Gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the Bondi Beach attack. An Indian national, he entered Australia on a visa in 1998.
His 24-year-old son Naveed, an Australian-born citizen who remains in prison, has been charged with terrorism and 15 murders.
Police and intelligence agencies face difficult questions about whether they could have acted earlier to prevent the shooting.
Naveed Akram was flagged by Australia's intelligence agency in 2019, but he slipped off the radar after it was decided that he posed no imminent threat.
The Akram duo travelled to the southern Philippines in the weeks before the shooting, fuelling suspicions they may be linked to Islamist extremists.
But Australian police say the evidence so far suggests they acted alone.
djw/lb

luxury

Mourners pay last respects to Italian icon Valentino

BY ELLA IDE

  • The designer's coffin is on display for two days at the Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation in Rome's historic centre, ahead of his church funeral in the city on Friday.
  • Mourners paid their respects Wednesday to legendary Italian designer Valentino Garavani, as his coffin went on public display following his death this week aged 93.
  • The designer's coffin is on display for two days at the Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation in Rome's historic centre, ahead of his church funeral in the city on Friday.
Mourners paid their respects Wednesday to legendary Italian designer Valentino Garavani, as his coffin went on public display following his death this week aged 93.
White roses and lilies lined the path into the simple room at Valentino's foundation headquarters where his wooden coffin was laid out, with loved ones sitting on either side.
"It's a perfect, simple, sober homage" to not only a talented artist but a "courteous, splendidly refined" person, said Giulia Carraro, 75, a former personal assistant who moved in his circle.
The designer, who launched his fashion house in 1960, dressed some of the world's most famous women, from Julia Roberts and Sharon Stone to Elizabeth Taylor and Nancy Reagan.
Next to the closed coffin, which was topped by a single red rose, sat Valentino's partner Giancarlo Giammetti, whose business acumen helped elevate the label to global prominence.
The designer was "an extremely professional person, very meticulous in his work", but also "a dreamer", Giammetti told reporters.
"I met him when he was 26, so he was still young enough to dream, and we tried to let him do so until the very end."
Valentino's creative director, Alessandro Michele, who earlier paid tribute to the designer's "rare sensibility", was also in attendance.
Another mourner held one of Valentino's beloved pugs.
Though Valentino loved white, he was perhaps best known for his gowns in a vivid "Valentino red". 
"It is a red with the lightest touch of orange and magenta," created after the designer saw a woman in a red dress at an opera in Barcelona and "used her as his inspiration", Carraro told AFP.

Seamstresses say goodbye

Seamstresses from the Valentino atelier, next to the Foundation, joined the hundreds of mourners paying their respects. 
Lucia Laporta told AFP she and the other seamstresses were "always afraid" when presenting their work because Valentino was "very strict", but that he was also "a great master, always kind to us".
The windows in the Valentino shop were shrouded by blackout blinds, with the designer's motto written across them in white: "I love beauty. It's not my fault."
Mexican mourner Maotzin Contreras-Bejarano in Marchesi, dressed all in black but with her lips painted the famous red, told AFP: "I really wanted to be here, I had to be here."
"I have admired Valentino for so long, because he didn't just create things, he was beauty, he was love, he was passion", she said.
The designer came from "an epoch where things were made with heart and soul".
He embodied "the things the fashion world has lost: it's all business now", she said.
The designer's coffin is on display for two days at the Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation in Rome's historic centre, ahead of his church funeral in the city on Friday.
Valentino's death comes just months after the passing of another Italian great, Giorgio Armani, and along with flowers left outside the Foundation was a note suggesting the pair would now be designing clothes for angels.
Silvia Bocchino, 55, said she had taken a day off work and travelled to Rome as she felt a "duty" to pay her respects.
"Valentino has always been a legend to me, a role model. I was born in the 70s and witnessed his rise," she said.
She owned "a few little things" by the designer, bought "more than anything to have the feeling of touching beauty". 
Valentino "left an imprint on what it means to be Italian, on how we are known in the world", she told AFP.
ide/ams/phz

US

Dogsled diplomacy in Greenland proves elusive for US

BY PIERRE-HENRY DESHAYES

  • That has piqued the interest of team Trump as the American president pushes to take over Greenland.
  • Greenland's biggest dogsled race is a cultural mainstay on the Arctic island but US envoys keep finding themselves disinvited, frustrating attempts by President Donald Trump's team to wield soft power in the Danish autonomous territory.
  • That has piqued the interest of team Trump as the American president pushes to take over Greenland.
Greenland's biggest dogsled race is a cultural mainstay on the Arctic island
but US envoys keep finding themselves disinvited, frustrating attempts by President Donald Trump's team to wield soft power in the Danish autonomous territory.
The annual Avannaata Qimussersua race is dear to Greenlanders as the most prestigious event of its kind, pitting around 30 teams against each other to decide the territory's top dog sledders.
That has piqued the interest of team Trump as the American president pushes to take over Greenland.
In the space of a few days, Trump's special envoy for Greenland, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, was first invited and then uninvited to this year's race, to be held on March 28 in Qasigiannguit, a small community on the west coast.
Last year, after Trump revived his ambition to acquire Greenland, Usha Vance, wife of US Vice President JD Vance, had also planned to attend the race, before her appearance was cancelled.
"We're looking at manoeuvres that, if not outright interference, are at least a form of soft diplomacy that involves meeting local populations with the intent of influencing them," Mikaa Blugeon-Mered, a researcher on Arctic geopolitics, told AFP.
The would-be visits are part of a broader push by Washington to get a feel for the Greenlandic population -- which at this point is overwhelmingly opposed to joining the United States -- and encourage pro-American sentiment in order to win hearts and minds, according to the researcher.
In August, Danish public broadcaster DR reported that at least three Americans linked to Trump were conducting influence operations in Greenland.
Their mission was to identify those favouring closer ties to the United States, as well as those in fierce opposition, according to DR.
In May, the Wall Street Journal reported that US intelligence agencies had been ordered to gather information on Greenland's independence movement and views on potential US exploitation of the island's natural resources.

Identity marker

For many of Greenland's 57,000 inhabitants, of whom nearly 90 percent are Inuit, the Avannaata Qimussersua is strongly tied to identity.
The race, generally held at the end of the winter season, is part of the island's "living culture", said Manumina Lund Jensen, an associate professor in the Department of Cultural and Social History at the University of Greenland.
"It's very important for the Greenlanders, and it is a very emotional journey if you go there," she told AFP.
Amid renewed tension between Washington and Europe, the Greenland Dog Sledding Association (KNQK) recently announced that the invitation to Landry -- which had been extended without its knowledge by a private tour operator -- had been cancelled.
"KNQK has been informed that the tourism company that invited Governor Jeff Landry from the United States has unilaterally withdrawn its invitation," the organisation said in a statement.
"This is reassuring," it added.

'Political pressure'

Greenlandic broadcaster KNR reported last week that Landry had been invited by tour operator Kristian Jeremiassen.
Speaking to KNR, Jeremiassen said he had invited "many different people" to the race, without specifying whom, "to promote tourism in northern Greenland".
However, the Greenland Dog Sledding Association said it found it "unacceptable that political pressure is being exerted from outside" and called the invitation "wholly inappropriate".
According to Blugeon-Mered, alongside his work as a tour operator, Jeremiassen is a politician "on the wane... whose primary goal is to make himself a kind of go-between (with the United States) to boost his business".
A year ago, Usha Vance had planned to attend the race without an official invitation.
"The US consulate had offered to fund most of the race," Blugeon-Mered said.
"They thought that by being the race's main sponsor, they could buy the organisers and do whatever they wanted. It didn't work."
JD Vance's planned visit had sparked strong objections in Denmark, which saw it as "unacceptable pressure" and said it risked provoking demonstrations during the event.
The US delegation ultimately changed its programme, and JD and Usha Vance instead visited an American air base at Pituffik, in the territory's northwest.
phy/cbw/jll/jhb

aid

Malawi suffers as US aid cuts cripple healthcare

BY JACK MCBRAMS

  • "When people stop taking PrEP, we increase the chances of new HIV infections... we are undoing a decade of progress in months," she said.
  • A catastrophic collapse of healthcare services in Malawi a year after US funding cuts is undoing a decade of progress against HIV/AIDS, providers warn, leaving some of the most vulnerable feeling like "living dead".
  • "When people stop taking PrEP, we increase the chances of new HIV infections... we are undoing a decade of progress in months," she said.
A catastrophic collapse of healthcare services in Malawi a year after US funding cuts is undoing a decade of progress against HIV/AIDS, providers warn, leaving some of the most vulnerable feeling like "living dead".
In the impoverished southern Africa country, the US government's decision to slash foreign aid in January 2025 has led to significant cuts in HIV treatments, a spike in pregnancies and a return to discrimination.
Chisomo Nkwanga, an HIV-positive man who lives in the northern town of Mzuzu, told AFP that the end of US-funded specialised care was like a death sentence.
After his normal provider of life-saving antiretroviral therapy (ART) vanished due to budget cuts, he turned to a public hospital.
"The healthcare worker shouted at me in front of others," Nkwanga recalled. "They said, 'You gay, you are now starting to patronise our hospitals because the whites who supported your evil behaviour have stopped?'"
"I gave up," he said, trembling. "I am a living dead."
More than one million of aid-dependent Malawi's roughly 22 million people live with HIV and the United States previously provided 60 percent of its HIV treatment budget.
Globally, researchers estimate that hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths have been caused by the Trump administration's dismantling of US foreign aid, which has upended humanitarian efforts to fight HIV, malaria and tuberculosis in some of the world's poorest regions.

Lay offs, panic

In Malawi, the drying up of support from USAID and the flagship US anti-HIV programme, PEPFAR, has left a "system in panic", said Gift Trapence, executive director of the Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP).
"The funding cut came on such short notice that we couldn't prepare or engage existing service providers," Trapence told AFP.
"We had to lay off staff... we closed two drop-in centres and maintained two on skeleton staff," he said. 
"We did this because we knew that if we closed completely, we would be closing everything for the LGBTI community."
The Family Planning Association of Malawi (FPAM) non-government organisation, a cornerstone of rural healthcare, has been forced to ground the mobile clinics that served as the only medical link for remote villages.
"We had two big grants that were supporting our work, particularly in areas where there were no other service providers," said executive director Donald Makwakwa.
"We are likely to lose out on all the successes that we have registered over the years," he said.
A resident of a village once served by FPAM told AFP there had been an explosion in unplanned pregnancies when the family planning provider stopped work.
"I know of nearly 25 girls in my village who got pregnant when FPAM suspended its services here last year," said Maureen Maseko at a clinic on the brink of collapse.

Progress undone

For over a decade, Malawi's fight against AIDS relied on "peer navigators" and drop-in centres that supported people with HIV and ensured they followed treatment.
With the funding for these services gone, the default rate for people taking the HIV preventative drug PrEP hit 80 percent in districts like Blantyre, according to a report by the CEDEP.
"This is a crisis waiting to happen," the report quoted former district healthcare coordinator Fyness Jere as saying. 
"When people stop taking PrEP, we increase the chances of new HIV infections... we are undoing a decade of progress in months," she said.
Trapence noted that without specialised support, thousands of patients had simply disappeared from the medical grid.
"We lost everything, including the structures that were supporting access... treatment and care," he said.
str/br/kjm

conflict

AI reshaping the battle over the narrative of Maduro's US capture

BY PAULA RAMON

  • Maduro is not the only leader to use AI propaganda -- Trump has frequently posted AI-generated pictures and videos of himself with "antagonistic, aggressive, and divisive language."
  • Since the US captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in early January, pictures and videos chronicling the events have been crowded out by those generated with artificial intelligence, blurring the lines between fiction and reality.
  • Maduro is not the only leader to use AI propaganda -- Trump has frequently posted AI-generated pictures and videos of himself with "antagonistic, aggressive, and divisive language."
Since the US captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in early January, pictures and videos chronicling the events have been crowded out by those generated with artificial intelligence, blurring the lines between fiction and reality.
The endless stream of content ranges from comedic memes to dramatic retellings.
In one, a courtroom illustration of Maduro in a New York courthouse springs to life and announces: "I consider myself a prisoner of war."
In another, an AI-generated Maduro attempts to escape a US prison through an air duct, only to find himself in a courtroom with US President Donald Trump, where they dance with a judge and an FBI agent to a song by American rapper Ice Spice.
Maduro was captured alongside his wife Cilia Flores during US strikes in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas on January 3.
They have since been taken to a prison in New York where they are being held on drug trafficking charges.
While some have celebrated Maduro's ouster, the "Chavismo" movement he leads -- named after his predecessor Hugo Chavez -- has worked to reframe what his fall means for Venezuela's future.

' Confuse, combat, and silence'

Leon Hernandez, a researcher at Andres Bello Catholic University, told AFP that with AI's rapid creation of content, we see development of "disinformation labs" that flood social media platforms.
"There were things that circulated that were not real during the capture (of Maduro), and things that circulated which were real that generated doubt," Hernandez said.
"That was the idea: to create confusion and generate skepticism at the base level by distorting certain elements of real things."
The goal, he added, is for the content to overwhelm audiences so they cannot follow it.
Even legacy media such as the Venezuelan VTV television channel are in on it, with the broadcaster playing an AI-animated video narrated by a child recounting Maduro's capture.
"AI has become the new instrument of power for autocrats to confuse, combat, and silence dissent," said Elena Block, a professor of political communication and strategy at the University of Queensland in Australia.

'Greatest threat to democracy'

Block pointed out the use of cartoons, specifically, had been a medium of propaganda used in both authoritarian and democratic states.
Long before his arrest, Maduro was depicted as the illustrated superhero "Super Bigote" or "Super Mustache," donning a Superman-like suit and fighting monsters like "extremists" and the "North American empire."
The cartoon's popularity spawned toys that have been carried by Maduro's supporters during rallies advocating for his return.
And much like his predecessor, Maduro continued a practice of "media domination" to stave off traditional media outlets from airing criticism of Chavismo.
"With censorship and the disappearance or weakening of news media, social media has emerged as one of the only spaces for information," Block said.
Maduro is not the only leader to use AI propaganda -- Trump has frequently posted AI-generated pictures and videos of himself with "antagonistic, aggressive, and divisive language."
"These digital and AI tools end up trivializing politics: you don't explain it, you diminish it," Block said. "AI today is the greatest threat to democracy."
pr-jt/afc/jgc/sla

trend

South Koreans go cuckoo for 'Dubai-style' cookies

BY HIEUN SHIN

  • - Give blood for cookies - The Korean Red Cross, which has long struggled with a shortage of blood donors, even began offering the cookies instead of its usual sugary snacks.
  • Chewy, crunchy and not-too-sweet, round, chocolatey "Dubai-style" cookies have become the must-have dessert in South Korea -- with the rush for the snacks even prompting the Red Cross to offer them as a draw for blood donors.
  • - Give blood for cookies - The Korean Red Cross, which has long struggled with a shortage of blood donors, even began offering the cookies instead of its usual sugary snacks.
Chewy, crunchy and not-too-sweet, round, chocolatey "Dubai-style" cookies have become the must-have dessert in South Korea -- with the rush for the snacks even prompting the Red Cross to offer them as a draw for blood donors.
Springboarding off a global craze for "Dubai chocolate" -- a pistachio-filled chocolate bar layered with fine shredded pastry known as kadaif -- and fuelled by K-pop endorsements, "Dujjonku" have become a phenomenon in South Korea.
Online searches for the dessert surged more than twenty-fold in the last three months, according to data from Naver, the country's largest search engine.
Searches on food delivery apps for the snacks jumped by 1,500 times last month.
And one developer even created an online map to track which shops still have stock remaining -- convenience store versions have also repeatedly sold out.
Customers have lined up outside shops in the early hours of the morning, even as temperatures have plunged in South Korea's bitter winter.
"Even without much initial interest, once you hear that everyone else is eating it, you start wondering just how good it must be," Nam Su-yeon, a 28-year-old office worker, told AFP.
"That curiosity leads you to buy it and try it once, then to think another place might be even better," she said.

Give blood for cookies

The Korean Red Cross, which has long struggled with a shortage of blood donors, even began offering the cookies instead of its usual sugary snacks.
It resulted in an early morning rush, with some donation centres reporting turnout at double usual levels.
To make them, cafes melt marshmallows to create a chewy outer layer mixed with chocolate, then fill individual portions with pistachio cream and kadaif before dusting the top with cocoa powder.
They don't come cheap -- weighing at just 50 grams, the average price for the dessert currently stands at 6,500 won ($4.40).
Purchases are often limited to two per person, probably for the best given a single cookie can pack up to 500 calories.
That's sparked health warnings from experts, with Korea University Guro Hospital saying the dessert can "immediately disrupt the body's metabolic balance" and "threaten the overall health... beyond simple weight gain".
The craze is partly driven by celebrity endorsements from K-pop stars.
Jang Won-young of girl-group IVE posted a photo on Instagram with her lips dusted in chocolate powder -- sparking another trend for the "Dujjonku lip".
"It definitely seems like a viral phenomenon," Hwang Jae-kyoung, a 34-year-old office worker, told AFP.
"In particular, celebrities seem to play a role."
The price "makes sense from a market perspective, but from a consumer's point of view, it is honestly expensive," added Hwang. 
The trend appears to be spreading to neighbouring China as well, with the hashtag "dubaichocholate" drawing more than 329 million views on Instagram-like Xiaohongshu.
The craze has also sent prices of raw materials soaring.
A kilo of unshelled pistachios has surged fourfold month-on-month since mid-January.
And the price of 500 grams of kadaif has doubled, according to price-tracking app Fallcent.
The frenzy has spilled into unexpected areas. 
Sushi and traditional Korean restaurants have begun making the desserts in a lucrative side hustle.
Office worker Nam said they were also addictive.
"Before long you find yourself going somewhere else to try it again," she said.
hs/oho/fox

film

Warner hits 'Sinners' and 'One Battle' tipped for Oscar nominations

BY ANDREW MARSZAL

  • Former best actor Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio is all but certain to secure his seventh acting nomination from the Academy.
  • Warner Bros may be for sale, but the studio's acclaimed hits "Sinners" and "One Battle After Another" are expected to dominate the Oscar nominations when the Academy announces its final contenders Thursday.
  • Former best actor Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio is all but certain to secure his seventh acting nomination from the Academy.
Warner Bros may be for sale, but the studio's acclaimed hits "Sinners" and "One Battle After Another" are expected to dominate the Oscar nominations when the Academy announces its final contenders Thursday.
Both are tipped to rack up a dozen or more nods for Hollywood's grandest awards ceremony -- from best picture and best actor to the new best casting prize.
The rare and enviable position of a single Hollywood studio boasting the two clear Oscars frontrunners ironically comes in what could be Warner Bros' swansong year as an independent distributor.
Warner Bros is the target of a fierce bidding war between Paramount Skydance and Netflix.
Yet despite the struggles of its parent company Warner Bros Discovery, the storied movie studio has enjoyed a banner year, bucking Tinseltown's obsession with sequels and backing original fare from auteur filmmakers.
"Sinners," a blues-inflected period horror film about the segregated US South, comes from "Black Panther" director Ryan Coogler.
It is expected to land a best actor nomination for Michael B. Jordan, who plays two twins battling vampires and racists in 1930s Mississippi, plus everything from screenplay to score.
According to Variety awards expert Clayton Davis, "Sinners" could break the all-time record for most nominations by a single film -- currently 14, by "All About Eve," "Titanic" and "La La Land."
Coogler is "rewriting the math entirely," and could enter "a statistical stratosphere no filmmaker has ever touched," Davis wrote.
But so far this awards season, Paul Thomas Anderson -- whose formidable, eclectic filmography runs from "Boogie Nights" to "There Will Be Blood" -- has won almost every prize going for "One Battle After Another."
A zany thriller about a retired revolutionary looking for his teen daughter against a wild backdrop of radical violence, immigration raids and white supremacists, it broke the all-time record for nominations by Hollywood's actors guild.
Former best actor Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio is all but certain to secure his seventh acting nomination from the Academy.
Netflix has its own hopefuls in Guillermo del Toro's monster horror flick "Frankenstein," tragic Western pioneer drama "Train Dreams" and animated musical sensation "KPop Demon Hunters."
By contrast, rival Paramount's awards hopefuls shelf is noticeably bare.

Best casting

"Hamnet," a tragic literary adaptation that imagines William Shakespeare coping with the death of his son, is likely to land a bagful of nominations.
Jessie Buckley, who plays the Bard's long-suffering wife Agnes, appears a lock for a best actress nomination.
She is likely to be joined by Emma Stone playing an alien -- or is she? -- in conspiracy theorist drama "Bugonia," and Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve in arthouse darling "Sentimental Value."
With the Academy's overseas voter base rapidly expanding, "Sentimental Value" is one of a trio of non-English-language films that could contend for best picture.
Along with Persian-language Palme d'Or winner "It Was Just An Accident," there is also Brazil's "The Secret Agent," though "space feels limited" for all three to make the list, wrote Davis.
"The Secret Agent" star Wagner Moura, playing a scientist on the run from Brazil's 1970s dictatorship, is expected to vie with DiCaprio and Jordan for best actor.
But that category's frontrunner is Timothee Chalamet, whose turn as a bratty, talented and fiercely ambitious ping pong player in 1950s New York in "Marty Supreme," has already won a Golden Globe, a Critics Choice Award and more.
This year sees the introduction of a new Oscar for best casting, honoring the experts who attach actors to projects long before future blockbusters or indie hits begin production.
With no precedent, it is unclear what exactly voters will be looking for. 
"Is it star power? Ensemble cohesion? Finding a discovery?" asked Davis.
The nominations will be unveiled Thursday at 5:30am (1330 GMT) in Los Angeles, with the 98th Oscars ceremony to follow on March 15.
amz/sst

Digital World

Public media in Europe under unprecedented strain

BY AVEC LES BUREAUX EUROPéENS DE L'AFP

  • - Resurgent far right - "In Europe, we're not in the same situation" as the United States, where Trump has cut off funding to public media since returning to power in January 2025, said Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, a professor at the University of Copenhagen specialising in media.
  • Public media in Europe is facing a series of new  threats including scrutiny by a resurgent far right, budget cuts, and fierce competition in a changing media landscape.
  • - Resurgent far right - "In Europe, we're not in the same situation" as the United States, where Trump has cut off funding to public media since returning to power in January 2025, said Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, a professor at the University of Copenhagen specialising in media.
Public media in Europe is facing a series of new  threats including scrutiny by a resurgent far right, budget cuts, and fierce competition in a changing media landscape.
From Lithuania in the east to Italy in the south and inside European stalwarts like Britain, France and Germany, media receiving public funds is facing crises like never before, observers say.
The challenges range from the economic to the technological -- due to competition from digital platforms -- and geopolitical, the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) media watchdog group warned in a 2025 report.
For example, in France, the pillars of public broadcasting, France Televisions and Radio France, have been targeted since late November by right-wing members of a parliamentary inquiry committee who accuse them of a leftward drift using taxpayer money.
In Britain, the storied BBC apologised and its director-general resigned after a storm erupted when it emerged last year that one of its programs spliced parts of US President Donald Trump's January 6, 2021 speech in a misleading way.
In Germany, the far-right AfD party, currently the leading opposition party, has vowed to eliminate the license fee that funds public media in the country and to restructure the sector if it comes to power.

Resurgent far right

"In Europe, we're not in the same situation" as the United States, where Trump has cut off funding to public media since returning to power in January 2025, said Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, a professor at the University of Copenhagen specialising in media.
But "some of the dynamics are the same," he said.
Public media has long faced criticism from private publishers (who argued it wasn't needed in a robust media market), from the far left (who said that it was pro-establishment) and from the free market right (who wanted it gone like other state-owned enterprises), Nielsen said.
Today the far right has joined in, saying that "public service media are not sufficiently nationalistic" and "too accommodating of diversity of national cultures and perspectives," essentially criticising "them for being sort of woke and politically correct," he said.

Hungary led the way

The pressure on public media in Europe "started more than 10 years ago in Hungary, with public media that are now considered state media. This 'model' has been exported within the European Union," said Laure Chauvel, head of RSF's  France-Italy office.
In Lithuania some 10,000 people took to the streets in Vilnius in early December to protest the freezing of the public broadcaster's (LRT) budget for the years 2026-2028 and another reform aimed at facilitating the removal of the institution's director general, initiated by the populist Dawn on the Neman party.
In Slovakia, the public broadcaster STVR has undergone a major overhaul since the return to power in 2023 of nationalist Prime Minister Robert Fico and today "increasingly resembles a mouthpiece for the government," warned the local office of Transparency International in November.
In Italy, press freedom organisations are also denouncing the increased politicisation of RAI since Giorgia Meloni came to power in October 2022 at the head of an ultra-conservative coalition.

Shrinking budgets

Much of the pressure is financial. Most public media were founded decades ago, when the media market featured a handful of established organisations.
The internet, technological advances and social media shook up that model and today people get their news from a variety of sources, including online news, podcasts, newsletters, viral posts. 
Some wonder if public money should continue to be allocated to media in such a market.
According to data from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), total funding for public service media in the 27 EU member states decreased by 7.4 percent over the last decade, when adjusted for inflation, to €29.17 billion in 2024.
For example in Switzerland, the SSR, which broadcasts in the country's four official languages, will cut 900 jobs out of 7,130 employees by 2029.
A plan involving the closure of radio stations and the merging of television channels has also been launched in Germany.
Some argue that public media are needed more than ever in today's social media-driven world, where disinformation is rife.
"Public service media remain a cornerstone of democratic societies, providing trusted, independent and universally accessible content," said Richard Burnley, director of Legal and Policy at the EBU.
"Currently, a handful of Big Tech gatekeepers exert disproportionate influence over information and public opinion, undermining the public’s ability to access and engage with European media." 
burs-arb/yad/gv

Valentino

Valentino, Italy's fashion king who pursued beauty at every turn, dies at 93

  • - Jackie - In his first decade Valentino dressed the likes of Anita Ekberg, Sophia Loren and Liz Taylor, but it was a meeting with Jackie Kennedy in 1964 that would prove decisive.
  • One of the top designers of his era, Italy's elegance aficionado Valentino Garavani spent nearly half a century dressing the world's great beauties, from Jackie Kennedy to Princess Diana before his death Monday at age 93.
  • - Jackie - In his first decade Valentino dressed the likes of Anita Ekberg, Sophia Loren and Liz Taylor, but it was a meeting with Jackie Kennedy in 1964 that would prove decisive.
One of the top designers of his era, Italy's elegance aficionado Valentino Garavani spent nearly half a century dressing the world's great beauties, from Jackie Kennedy to Princess Diana before his death Monday at age 93.
"Valentino Garavani passed away today at his Roman residence, surrounded by his loved ones," wrote his Rome-based foundation on social media. 
A funeral is planned for Friday in the Italian capital, with a lying in state on Wednesday and Thursday. 
Best known as just Valentino, the designer's creations -- many of them in "Valentino red" -- were worn by the who's who of the international elite, from Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn and Nancy Reagan to Sharon Stone, Julia Roberts and Gwyneth Paltrow in recent years.
When the empress of Iran, Farah Pahlavi, escaped the country during the 1979 revolution, she was wearing a coat made by Valentino.
Dubbed "the Sheik of Chic" by Women's Wear Daily in the 1980s, Valentino was celebrated by the New York Times in 1997 for his "single-minded dedication to glamour."
On the catwalk and in his own life, Valentino exuded luxury down to the last detail of his immaculate hairdo and caramel tan. 
With his five pet pug dogs and a private jet, he shuttled between his Roman palace, New York apartment, chateau near Paris, chalet in Switzerland and his 50-metre (164-foot) yacht.

Boyhood passion

Named after the star of silent cinema Rudolph Valentino, who was known for "The Sheik" among many other films, Valentino Garavani was born on May 11, 1932 in Voghera, a small town south of Milan. His father owned an electric cables business. 
As a boy he asked for made-to-measure shoes and was passionate about fashion. "I have had this illness since childhood," he told the Italian edition of Elle magazine in 2007. "I only like beautiful things."
"I do not like seeing men without ties, in a jumper, women with vulgar make-up and shapeless trousers. It is a sign of a bad education and a lack of self-respect."
He left home when he was 17 to study at prestigious arts and fashion schools in Paris, where the decadent French style of Christian Dior had revitalised a grim post-World War II fashion industry and would deeply impact Valentino's later aesthetic.
In 1952 he was hired by designer Jean Desses, who dressed wealthy clients including royalty, and five years later he went to work for Guy Laroche. 
- Rome fashion empire -  
In 1960 Valentino opened his own fashion house in Rome -- at the time a thriving star-studded city thanks to its vast Cinecitta film studios that acted as a branch of Hollywood.
He was assisted by his lover Giancarlo Giammetti, who had business know-how and would over the years transform the company into a global brand, shepherding it through successive buy-outs.
"Being the friend, lover and employee of Valentino for more than 45 years required a lot of patience," Giammetti said in the 2008 documentary, "Valentino: The Last Emperor". 
Valentino turned heads immediately with his opening collection in 1962 in Florence, which already featured what would become his signature colour -- the deep rich "Valentino red".

Jackie

In his first decade Valentino dressed the likes of Anita Ekberg, Sophia Loren and Liz Taylor, but it was a meeting with Jackie Kennedy in 1964 that would prove decisive.
He transformed her wardrobe, and in 1968 she picked an ivory-coloured lace dress from his famous white collection for her second marriage to Greek shipping mogul Aristotle Onassis.
It caused a sensation in the United States, and in 1970, Valentino was the first Italian designer to open a shop in New York. Over the years he would elevate the "Made in Italy" label to global prominence. 
"I love a woman who eats food, who has a body, that is a woman and not a stick," he said, quoted in The New Yorker in 2005, and underscoring his preference for sensual, figure-hugging designs.

Emperor bows out

For the 2006 Oscar-nominated Hollywood film "The Devil Wears Prada", starring Meryl Streep as a powerful fashion editor, Valentino made a cameo appearance at the recreation of one of his shows.
A year later and nearly a half-century after his first runway, he presented his last collection in Paris before retiring in January 2008.
"Valentino transported his audience to his world, where women in bubble gum pink cocktail dresses swing bags made of feathers and have high heels tied with satin ribbons and bows," said celebrated fashion critic Suzy Menkes in her write-up of the show in the New York Times.
In 2011 the Valentino Garavani Virtual Museum opened, offering an immersive 3D experience into the history and creations of the fashion house, and giving the world its first-ever virtual fashion museum.
"At some point, you do get to the end," Valentino told The New Yorker in 2005 as he approached retirement. "And when I do, I hope I will be remembered as a man who pursued beauty whenever he could."
bur-rap-eab/br/cw/ams/cc

craft

China's Buddha artisans carve out a living from dying trade

BY JING XUAN TENG

  • In comparison, wood carver Zhang took a more practical view of his craft.
  • In a dimly lit workshop in eastern China, craftsman Zhang measured and shaped a block of wood into a foot as dozens of half-completed life-sized Buddha statues looked on silently.
  • In comparison, wood carver Zhang took a more practical view of his craft.
In a dimly lit workshop in eastern China, craftsman Zhang measured and shaped a block of wood into a foot as dozens of half-completed life-sized Buddha statues looked on silently.
Zhang is one of a dwindling number of master woodcarvers in the village of Chongshan near the city of Suzhou, where generations of residents have made a living creating Buddhist and Taoist sculptures for display in temples across China.
Carving the intricate statues, which are often adorned with bright paint and gold leaf, was an art he learned from his father as a teenager.
"My grandpa and my grandpa's grandpa were also craftspeople," Zhang told AFP in his dusty studio.
But "once our generation retires, there will be no one left to carry on the tradition".
He blamed a combination of unattractive pay and youngsters' unwillingness to dedicate time and energy to mastering the craft.
"You need to do this for at least five or six years before you can set up shop on your own."
Zhang said the village had received a boom in orders starting in the late 20th century, after a loosening of tight government restrictions on worship led to a resurgence of interest in religion across the country.
But now, fewer people are commissioning new pieces with the market already "saturated" and most temples around the country already furnished with statues, Zhang told AFP.
Gu, a 71-year-old artisan at another workshop in Chongshan, said she remembered producing secular handicrafts during the Cultural Revolution, when religion was considered an archaic relic to be eliminated from society by leader Mao Zedong's followers.
"At the time, the temples were all closed," Gu told AFP.
Gu, who specialises in carving the heads of Buddha sculptures, proudly showed off the subtle expressions on the faces of a row of gilded figures in her storeroom.
"Every face has an expression, smiling or crying," Gu said.
She grinned as she explained that some sculptures of famed Buddhist monk Ji Gong even showed him smiling on one side of his face and frowning on the other.
In comparison, wood carver Zhang took a more practical view of his craft.
"People look at us like we're artists," he said. "But to us, we're just creating a product." 
tjx/reb/mtp

US

'We can hunt': Greenlanders weigh drastic options as US threatens

BY PIERRE-HENRY DESHAYES

  • But that has not stopped Andersen from looking for an exit plan.
  • Ulrikke Andersen has already made a plan.
  • But that has not stopped Andersen from looking for an exit plan.
Ulrikke Andersen has already made a plan. If the United States invades Greenland, she will flee her home with her daughter. 
"Before, I was ready to die for my country but when I had a kid that changed everything," she told AFP.
The 40-year-old is one of many residents of the Greenlandic capital, Nuuk, now weighing up options they would never have considered just a few months ago.
But US President Donald Trump has been clear about his desire to seize the vast, self-governing Danish island, rich in rare earth minerals and with an Arctic location coveted by US military hawks.
Greenlanders are not panicking yet but they are thinking through what they would do if the worst were to happen.
"I'm thinking about where to hide and what medicines we need to stock," said 35-year-old student Nuunu Binzer. "But I haven't done it yet."
Some are filling their freezers, stocking up on water and petrol, or buying generators.

'We can hunt'

The authorities have not yet distributed any guidance on what to do if there is an invasion.
Supermarkets in Nuuk are still well stocked, with little evidence that panic-buying has taken hold.
But that has not stopped Andersen from looking for an exit plan.
The 40-year-old -- whose living room is decked-out in Inuit-style decorations and the TV loops images of Trump -- believes war is a distinct possibility.
"I feel it could happen and you imagine what you will do," she said. 
"When I take my dog for a walk, I imagine what these streets are going to look like."
Andersen, a tour operator, said she had two separate plans to flee with her 12-year-old stepdaughter, Anike.
If the US takes over slowly, she and her family will fly to Denmark, she said.
But if the takeover is sudden, they will flee by boat to a cabin along the fjord.
The only routes out for Nuuk's 20,000 residents are by air and by sea, as the ice-covered territory lacks roads.
"We can hunt, we can fish, we can live off nature. We are used to living under extreme conditions," she said.

'We need each other'

In the second scenario, her parents, both in their 70s, would have to stay behind.
"It would be too hard for them and it would weaken the group," she said.
However, not everyone is thinking in such extreme terms.
Inger Olsvig Brandt, a 62-year-old entrepreneur, said she would stay.
"I will not leave and I will try to help my country while I still have strength," she said.
"It can be tempting to think that we can just leave but we are so few that we need each other."
phy/nzg/lrb/jxb

theft

Louvre heist probe still aims to 'recover jewellery', top prosecutor says

BY FRANCOIS BECKER AND CELINE CORNU

  • That Sunday morning in October, thieves parked a mover's truck with an extendable ladder below the Louvre's Apollo Gallery housing the French crown jewels.
  • French investigators remain determined to find the imperial jewels stolen from the Louvre in October, a prosecutor has told AFP. Police believe they have arrested all four thieves who carried out the brazen October 19 robbery, making off with jewellery worth an estimated $102 million from the world-famous museum.
  • That Sunday morning in October, thieves parked a mover's truck with an extendable ladder below the Louvre's Apollo Gallery housing the French crown jewels.
French investigators remain determined to find the imperial jewels stolen from the Louvre in October, a prosecutor has told AFP.
Police believe they have arrested all four thieves who carried out the brazen October 19 robbery, making off with jewellery worth an estimated $102 million from the world-famous museum.
"The interrogations have not produced any new investigative elements," top Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said this week, almost three months after the broad-daylight heist.
But the case remains a top priority, she underlined.
"Our main objective is still to recover the jewellery," she said.
That Sunday morning in October, thieves parked a mover's truck with an extendable ladder below the Louvre's Apollo Gallery housing the French crown jewels.
Two of the thieves hoisted themselves up the ladder in a furniture lift, broke a window and used angle grinders to cut glass display booths containing the treasures, while the other two waited below, investigators say.
The four then fled on high-powered motor scooters, dropping a diamond-and-emerald crown in their hurry.
But eight other items of jewellery -- including an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon I gave his second wife, Empress Marie-Louise -- remain at large.
Beccuau said investigators were keeping an open mind as to where the loot might be.
"We don't have any signals indicating that the jewellery is likely to have crossed the border," she said, though she added: "Anything is possible."
Detectives benefitted from contacts with "intermediaries in the art world, including internationally" as they pursued their probe.
"They have ways of receiving warning signals about networks of receivers of stolen goods, including abroad," Beccuau said.
As for anyone coming forward to hand over the jewels, that would be considered to be "active repentance, which could be taken into consideration" later during a trial, she said.
A fifth suspect, a 38-year-old woman who is the partner of one of the men, has been charged with being an accomplice but was released under judicial supervision pending a trial.
Investigators still had no idea if someone had ordered the theft.
"It's a hypothesis under consideration, but it cannot be asserted as more certain than any other," the prosecutor said.
"We refuse to have any preconceived notions about what might have led the individuals concerned to commit this theft." 
But she said detectives and investigating magistrates were resolute.
"We haven't said our last word. It will take as long as it takes," she said.
fbe-cco/ah/rmb

unrest

South Korean ex-leader jailed for 5 years in first martial law verdict

BY CLAIRE LEE AND HIEUN SHIN

  • On Friday, Judge Baek Dae-hyun at Seoul's Central District Court said he found Yoon guilty of obstruction of justice by blocking investigators from detaining him.
  • A South Korean judge sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday to five years in prison for obstructing justice and other crimes linked to his disastrous martial law declaration and in its chaotic aftermath.
  • On Friday, Judge Baek Dae-hyun at Seoul's Central District Court said he found Yoon guilty of obstruction of justice by blocking investigators from detaining him.
A South Korean judge sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday to five years in prison for obstructing justice and other crimes linked to his disastrous martial law declaration and in its chaotic aftermath.
It is the first in a series of verdicts for the disgraced ex-leader, whose brief suspension of civilian rule in South Korea on December 3, 2024 prompted massive protests and a showdown in parliament.
Now ousted from power, he faces multiple trials for actions taken during that debacle and in the turmoil that followed.
On Friday, Judge Baek Dae-hyun at Seoul's Central District Court said he found Yoon guilty of obstruction of justice by blocking investigators from detaining him.
Baek said that Yoon abused his power by turning officials of the Presidential Security Service against the state and used them as his "personal guards" serving his "own safety and private interests".
Yoon was also found guilty of excluding cabinet members from a martial law planning meeting.
"Despite having a duty, above all others, to uphold the Constitution and observe the rule of law as president, the defendant instead displayed an attitude that disregarded the... Constitution," Baek said.
"The defendant's culpability is extremely grave," he said.
But Yoon was not guilty of forging official documents due to lack of evidence, the judge said.
Yoon has seven days to appeal, he added.
Prosecutors had called for a 10-year prison term, while Yoon had insisted no law was broken.
After the verdict was announced, his supporters outside the court fell silent for several minutes before breaking into chants of "Yoon again!"
Yoon's lawyers said the verdict "simplifies the boundary between the exercise of a president's constitutional authority and criminal liability".
"If this reasoning is allowed to stand, no future president will be able to act decisively in times of crisis," lawyer Yu Jeong-hwa told reporters.

Yoon defiant

It comes days after prosecutors in a separate case demanded Yoon be sentenced to death for his role as the "ringleader of an insurrection" in orchestrating the imposition of martial law.
They argued Yoon deserved the severest possible punishment as he had shown "no remorse" for actions that threatened "constitutional order and democracy".
If he is found guilty it is highly unlikely the sentence will actually be carried out, as South Korea has had an unofficial moratorium on executions since 1997.
Yoon was seen smiling in court as the prosecutors demanded the punishment.
And the former leader and top prosecutor has remained defiant, saying his martial law declaration was a lawful exercise of his presidential authority.
In closing remarks on Tuesday, he insisted the "exercise of a president's constitutional emergency powers to protect the nation and uphold the constitutional order cannot be deemed an act of insurrection".
He accused the then-opposition party of having imposed an "unconstitutional dictatorship" through their control of the legislature.
"There was no other option but to awaken the people, who are the sovereign."
The court is scheduled to rule on the insurrection charges on February 19.
Yoon also faces a separate trial on charges of aiding the enemy, over allegations he ordered drone flights over North Korea to bolster his case for declaring martial law.
hs-cdl/oho/mjw

internet

Fury over Grok sexualized images despite new restrictions

BY BENJAMIN LEGENDRE WITH ANUJ CHOPRA IN WASHINGTON

  • But just hours later, the Philippines announced the "immediate blocking" of Grok late Thursday.
  • Global outrage persisted Thursday over sexualized deepfakes created by Elon Musk's AI tool Grok, even after his social media platform X said it was blocking the chatbot from undressing images in certain locations.
  • But just hours later, the Philippines announced the "immediate blocking" of Grok late Thursday.
Global outrage persisted Thursday over sexualized deepfakes created by Elon Musk's AI tool Grok, even after his social media platform X said it was blocking the chatbot from undressing images in certain locations.
The Philippines became the third country to ban Grok, following Southeast Asian neighbours Malaysia and Indonesia, while Britain and France said they would maintain pressure after the chatbot cranked out a flood of lewd photos of women and children.
X announced Wednesday that it would "geoblock the ability" of all Grok and X users to create images of people in "bikinis, underwear, and similar attire" in jurisdictions where such actions are illegal.
It was not immediately clear where the tool would be restricted.
The announcement came after California's attorney general launched an investigation into xAI -- the developer of Grok -- over the sexually explicit material and several countries opened their own probes.
Following an initial uproar last week, Grok said it would restrict image generation and editing to paying subscribers, prompting outraged critics to accuse Musk's company of monetizing the problem rather than solving it.
Bowing to global pressure, X on Wednesday said it would restrict "all users," including paying subscribers, from using the Grok account to edit images of people in "revealing clothes such as bikinis."
But just hours later, the Philippines announced the "immediate blocking" of Grok late Thursday.
Unmoved by X's announcement, cybercrime chief Renato Paraiso said earlier that authorities would monitor whether the platform follows through on its promises.
"We need to clean the internet now because much toxic content is appearing, especially with the advent of AI," said Philippine telecommunications secretary Henry Rhoel Aguda.
Meanwhile, Malaysia on Thursday said its regulators found that X's measures to prevent Grok from generating revealing images were "not done in totality."
If X can successfully deactivate and prevent the generation of such content, Malaysia will lift the temporary restriction on Grok, communications minister Fahmi Fadzil said.

'Zero tolerance'

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer -- a favourite target of Musk's political posts -- welcomed that X was acting to ensure "full compliance with UK law," but insisted that it "must happen immediately."
"If we need to strengthen existing laws further, we are prepare to do that," Starmer wrote on X.
Pressure has been building on xAI to rein in Grok after its so-called "Spicy Mode" feature allowed users to create sexualized deepfakes using simple text prompts such as "put her in a bikini" or "remove her clothes."
The European Commission, which acts as the EU's digital watchdog, has said it will "carefully assess" measures taken by X to ensure "they effectively protect citizens."
"France and Europe taking action... is producing results," Paris's digital minister Anne Le Henanff told AFP on Thursday, warning that "no platform is above the law."
California Governor Gavin Newsom said that xAI's "vile" decision to allow sexually explicit deepfakes to proliferate prompted him to urge the state's attorney general, Rob Bonta, to hold the company accountable.
"We have zero tolerance for the AI-based creation and dissemination of nonconsensual intimate images or of child sexual abuse material," Bonta said on Wednesday.
He added that the California investigation would determine whether xAI violated state law after the explicit imagery was "used to harass people across the internet."
Further adding pressure on xAI, a coalition of 28 civil society groups submitted open letters to the CEOs of Apple and Google on Wednesday, urging them to ban Grok and X from their app stores amid the surge in sexualized images.
burs-ac/arp

conflict

Venezuela's Machado meets Trump for 'positive' talks despite snub

BY DANNY KEMP

  • After the meeting, Machado, who campaigned for years to end leftist Maduro's rule, met jubilant supporters outside the White House.
  • Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado met Donald Trump Thursday for what the White House called "positive" talks -- despite the US president sidelining her and openly coveting her Nobel Peace Prize.
  • After the meeting, Machado, who campaigned for years to end leftist Maduro's rule, met jubilant supporters outside the White House.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado met Donald Trump Thursday for what the White House called "positive" talks -- despite the US president sidelining her and openly coveting her Nobel Peace Prize.
Since toppling Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, Trump has said that Machado doesn't have the support of the oil-rich country's people and has instead backed Maduro's deputy, Delcy Rodriguez.
In a bid to keep on Trump's good side, the 58-year-old Machado has even offered to share her Nobel award with Trump, and the president indicated she might give it to him when they meet.
After the meeting, Machado, who campaigned for years to end leftist Maduro's rule, met jubilant supporters outside the White House.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump had been "looking forward" to his lunch with Machado, their first meeting since the dramatic US military operation that captured Maduro on January 3.
"He's expecting it to be a good and positive discussion with Ms Machado, who is really a remarkable and brave voice for many of the people of Venezuela," Leavitt told reporters as the meeting got underway -- notably without the typical presence of media.
Trump would also be "talking to her about the realities on the ground in the country and what is taking place."

 'Likes what he's seeing'

For now, though, the US president has thrown his backing behind interim president Rodriguez, particularly after saying that Caracas had secured US access to Venezuela's oil.
"The president likes what he's seeing" from the interim government, Leavitt said, adding that Trump was "committed to hopefully seeing elections in Venezuela one day," but without specifying when.
Machado, during her lunch with Trump, is expected to have sought to bring the issue of a democratic transition back into the foreground.
As for the Nobel she won for her long struggle against Maduro's rule, Trump said he understood she "wants to" give it to him, adding in a Fox News interview that it "would be a great honor." 
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said however that that was impossible.
"Once a Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred to others. The decision is final and stands for all time," it said in a post on X.
"A medal can change owners, but the title of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate cannot."
After Machado appeared in Oslo last month to collect her Nobel prize -- following a daring escape by boat -- she did not return to Venezuela and remained in effective exile.
Venezuela's opposition has argued and presented evidence that Maduro stole the 2024 election from the candidate of Machado's party, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia -- claims supported by Washington.

Sixth tanker seized

Since Maduro's capture, Trump has said that the United States will "run" Venezuela but has appeared content to let Rodriguez remain in power.
Trump on Wednesday called Rodriguez a "terrific person". Rodriguez said the call was "productive and courteous," and characterized by "mutual respect."
Washington has in particular focused on its economic demands, particularly access to Venezuelan oil.
US forces on Wednesday seized a sixth oil tanker in its campaign to control oil leaving the fossil fuel-rich South American country.
Marines and sailors apprehended the Tanker Veronica in the Caribbean without incident in a pre-dawn raid, the US military said on social media, with a video showing soldiers rappelling onto a vessel's deck.
Separately, the first US-brokered sale of Venezuelan oil, worth around $500 million, has been finalized, a US official told AFP on Thursday without identifying the buyer.
Washington has also hailed the release of dozens of political prisoners in the past week, though hundreds remain behind bars.
Meanwhile the shockwaves from the lightning US raid that toppled Maduro continue to reverberate.
Cuba paid tribute on Thursday to 32 soldiers killed in the operation, some of whom had been assigned to Maduro's protection team, in a ceremony attended by revolutionary leader Raul Castro.
burs-dk/des

health

South Korean health insurer loses appeal against tobacco companies

  • The case brought by the South Korean National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) sought to hold tobacco companies "socially accountable for the harms caused by smoking".
  • South Korea's state health insurer lost an appeal on Thursday in its lawsuit seeking damages from the country's three largest tobacco companies over their alleged responsibility for smoking-related harms.
  • The case brought by the South Korean National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) sought to hold tobacco companies "socially accountable for the harms caused by smoking".
South Korea's state health insurer lost an appeal on Thursday in its lawsuit seeking damages from the country's three largest tobacco companies over their alleged responsibility for smoking-related harms.
The case brought by the South Korean National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) sought to hold tobacco companies "socially accountable for the harms caused by smoking".
It also aimed to "prevent leakage in the national health insurance finances while promoting public health", the NHIS said.
The suit targeted the country's three largest tobacco firms, including giants British American Tobacco and Philip Morris Korea, and was valued at 53.3 billion won ($36.2 million).
It covers 3,465 patients who smoked for at least three decades and were diagnosed with related cancers, including lung cancer, for whom the NHIS paid out medical benefits. 
Ninety percent of the patients have already died.
In the first hearing, filed in 2014, the court sided with the tobacco companies, saying the NHIS was obliged to pay medical benefits under the law even if it led to financial losses.
Proving a causal link between smoking and the patients' diseases would require additional evidence showing that other risk factors, such as lifestyle and other health conditions, were not present, it added.
In an appellate trial on Thursday, the court again ruled in favour of the tobacco companies.
President of the NHIS Jung Ki-suck told reporters that the ruling was "deeply disappointing" but said he believed "the truth will one day be recognised".
"I think tobacco companies are hit-and-run offenders. A car caused a traffic accident. Many people were injured and killed. But the driver fled the scene," he said after the verdict. 
"In my view, that car driver is cigarettes, and the companies that sell them."
Smoking rates in South Korea have fallen over the past decade, with about one-fifth of the population now reporting that they smoke, according to the NHIS.
hs/oho/mjw

Rohingya

Dreams on hold for Rohingya children in Bangladesh camps

BY SHEIKH SABIHA ALAM

  • Around half a million children live in the camps housing the waves of Rohingya who have escaped Myanmar in recent years, many during a brutal military crackdown in 2017.
  • Books tucked under their arms, children file into a small classroom in Bangladesh's vast refugee camps, home to more than a million Rohingya who have fled neighbouring Myanmar.
  • Around half a million children live in the camps housing the waves of Rohingya who have escaped Myanmar in recent years, many during a brutal military crackdown in 2017.
Books tucked under their arms, children file into a small classroom in Bangladesh's vast refugee camps, home to more than a million Rohingya who have fled neighbouring Myanmar.
"They still dream of becoming pilots, doctors or engineers," said their teacher Mohammad Amin, standing in front of a crowded schoolroom in Cox's Bazar.
"But we don't know if they will ever reach their goals with the limited opportunities available."
Around half a million children live in the camps housing the waves of Rohingya who have escaped Myanmar in recent years, many during a brutal military crackdown in 2017.
The campaign, which saw Rohingya villages burned and civilians killed, is the subject of a genocide case at the United Nations' top court in The Hague, where hearings opened on Monday.

'Severe shortage'

In the aftermath of the 2017 exodus, international aid groups and UNICEF, the UN's children's agency, rushed to open schools.
Determined to avoid permanently settling refugees it said it lacked the resources to absorb, the Bangladeshi government consistently opposed enrolling Rohingya children in national schools and barred them from studying in Bangla, the national language.
By 2024, UNICEF and its partners were running more than 6,500 learning centres across the Cox's Bazar camps, educating up to 300,000 children.
But the system is severely overstretched -- a situation worsened by cuts to US aid under President Donald Trump, which slashed funding and forced sweeping closures or scale-backs.
"The current system provides three hours of instruction per day for children," said Faria Selim of UNICEF. "The daily contact hours are not enough."
Khin Maung, a member of the United Council of Rohingya which represents refugees in the camps, said the education on offer leaves students ill-prepared to re-enter Myanmar's school system should they return.
"There is a severe shortage of teachers in the camps," he said.
Hashim Ullah, 30, is the only teacher at a primary school run by an aid agency.
"I teach Burmese language, mathematics, science and life skills to 65 students in two shifts. I am not an expert in all subjects," he told AFP.
Such shortcomings are not lost on parents.
For them, education represents their children's only escape from the risks that stalk camp life -- malnutrition, early marriage, child labour, trafficking, abduction or forced recruitment into one of the armed groups in Myanmar's civil war.
As a result, some families supplement the aid-run schools with extra classes organised by members of their own community.
"At dawn and dusk, older children go to community-based high schools," said father-of-seven Jamil Ahmad.
"They have good teachers," and the only requirement is a modest tuition fee, which Jamil said he covered by selling part of his monthly food rations.
"Bangladesh is a small country with limited opportunities," he said. "I'm glad that they have been hosting us."

'Justice and peace'

Fifteen-year-old Hamima Begum has followed the same path, attending both an aid-run school and a community high school.
"I want to go to college," she said. "I am aiming to study human rights, justice, and peace -- and someday I will help my community in their repatriation."
But such schoolsare far too few to meet demand, especially for older children.
A 2024 assessment by a consortium of aid agencies and UN bodies concluded that school attendance falls from about 70 percent among children aged five to 14, to less than 20 percent among those aged 15 to 18.
Girls are particularly badly affected, according to the study.
Even for those who stay enrolled, academic standards remain low.
"We organised a mid-year exam this year, and 75 percent of high school students failed," Khin Maung said.
Jaitun Ara, 19, is therefore an exception.
Having arrived in Cox's Bazar at the age of 12, she has now secured a place at the Asian University for Women in Chittagong on a support programme to prepare for degree studies.
But she doubts many others will be able to follow her path.
"Families can barely manage food," she said. "How would they spend money on their children's education?"
sa/pjm/mjw/abs

US

Hit TV show 'Heated Rivalry' a welcome surprise for gay hockey community

BY BEN SIMON

  • Quitting hockey at 19 "was awful," he said.
  • Growing up in a rural, religious community in western Canada, Kyle McCarthy loved hockey, but once he came out at 19, he quit, convinced being openly gay and an active player was untenable.
  • Quitting hockey at 19 "was awful," he said.
Growing up in a rural, religious community in western Canada, Kyle McCarthy loved hockey, but once he came out at 19, he quit, convinced being openly gay and an active player was untenable.
So the 32-year-old says he is "very surprised" by the runaway success of "Heated Rivalry," a Canadian-made series about the romance between two closeted gay players in a sport that has historically made gay men feel unwelcome.
Ben Baby, the 43-year-old commissioner of the Toronto Gay Hockey Association (TGHA), calls the success of the show -- which has catapulted its young lead actors to stardom -- "shocking," and says viewers have bought into its authentic portrait of a relationship.
McCarthy and Baby are not alone -- "Heated Rivalry" is a veritable cultural phenomenon. 
The show, an adaptation of a series of hockey-themed queer romance novels by Rachel Reid, charts the budding careers and secret relationship of two young hockey stars -- one Canadian, one Russian -- over a series of years.
After premiering on the Canadian streaming platform Crave in late November, the series hit HBO Max and took off, becoming one of its most popular shows by Christmas.
Variety called it "the biggest TV surprise" of 2025, and the show has even reportedly drawn a massive audience in China, where fans are watching pirated episodes.
The stars, Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams, were unknown, struggling actors before being cast.
Now, they are being mobbed by fans, joining A-listers on red carpets like at the Golden Globes, and have made their late night talk show debuts.
"Our expectations were kind of nonexistent," Storrie said on the Globes red carpet.
"For it to turn out so good and also go on HBO and be involved in this level is unreal."

'Toxic, homophobic'

Writing in Maclean's magazine in December, Reid -- who is Canadian -- said the novels were inspired by her "lifelong love of hockey, but also an awareness of the problems with the sport's culture more broadly."
"I thought a lot about how difficult it would be to be a closeted pro player."
For McCarthy, hockey was his first love -- until it wasn't.
"My brother played, my sister played, my dad coached us all," he told AFP. "Hockey was 100 percent of my life."
But by age 12, as he began to realize he was gay, McCarthy became uncomfortable in a sport he said had a "toxic, homophobic" culture.
Quitting hockey at 19 "was awful," he said.
"I love the game and didn't want to walk away from it," he said. But his gear sat unused in his garage "for eight, nine years."
Then he reconnected with the sport through a Vancouver-based LGBTQ+ hockey association now called The Cutting Edges, where he is president. 

'Safe space'

Baby grew up in the northern Ontario city of Timmins, which, like many small Canadian communities, has a deeply rooted hockey culture.
He told AFP he feared playing as a child, because he "instinctively" knew it "wouldn't have been a safe space."
After moving to Toronto as a teenager in the late 90s and discovering the TGHA, Baby took up the sport.
Hockey has made advances toward being more inclusive over the last 20 years, he said, but noted progress has been uneven.
He said the NHL's decision in 2023 to ban the use of rainbow-colored Pride tape on sticks was a "fiasco."
The league ultimately rescinded the ban due to player and public outrage.

Broader impact?

The NHL is alone among the so-called Big Four male professional sports leagues with no active or retired players who have come out as gay.
Luke Prokop, a prospect drafted in 2020 who is gay, has not yet appeared in an NHL game.
For McCarthy, the absence of an openly gay NHL player is "100 percent" due to persistent issues with hockey culture.
Baby nevertheless credited the NHL with quieter efforts to make LGBT fans feel welcome and applauded the league's apparent embrace of "Heated Rivalry."
"There are so many ways to get hooked on hockey and, in the NHL's 108-year history, this might be the most unique driver for creating new fans," the league said last month.
Baby noted that popular podcasts hosted by "straight hockey bros" are offering commentary on each episode.
"Queer characters are often flat, one-sided and stereotypical," but the leads in "Heated Rivalry" are "complex," he said.
"They're rich, they're interesting. They're the antidote to stereotypes."
Asked whether he believed "Heated Rivalry" could make hockey more welcoming for the LGBTQ community, McCarthy said: "I hope it can, I don't know that it will."
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