DHAKA, Nov 3  —Bangladeshi garment worker Amena, who has spent seven years sewing and checking clothes for international brands, struggles at the end of the month to afford even the basics.

The 27-year-old, who like others interviewed by AFP gave only one name fearing professional repercussions, earns 12,500 taka (RM410), barely enough to cover the rent on her small home and support her elderly parents.

Her monthly wage is roughly equivalent to the retail price of a pair of yoga leggings or blue jeans in Europe or North America — garments like those made at the factory where she works in the Dhaka suburb of Gazipur.

“I earn 12,500 taka. The highest salary I ever drew was 26,000 taka, and that was years ago,” she said, adding her salary dropped when she was transferred to sampling from stitching.

Bangladesh, a nation of 170 million people, is the world’s second-biggest garment exporter behind China, producing clothes for major international brands.

The sector employs millions and generates the bulk of Bangladesh’s export earnings.

But workers say rising food, housing, transport and healthcare costs, compounded by inflation of around eight percent and soaring energy prices, have steadily eroded their purchasing power.

With strikes and protests since Saturday, they are demanding a minimum monthly wage of 30,000 taka — a 140 percent increase on the current minimum.

Protests have continued for days, with workers defying calls from the government and factory owners to return to work.

‘Kind of bonded labour’ 

Amena pays 4,500 taka a month in rent and sends another 5,000 to her parents, leaving just 3,000 for food, medicine or emergencies.

“Now I have no savings left to fall back on,” she said. “My bones are deteriorating, so I need to take medication. I can’t afford to buy fish or meat regularly.”

She usually buys some just after receiving her salary, in the first week of the month, and perhaps again two weeks later.

“It’s impossible to live like this, but we have no other options,” she said. “It’s a kind of bonded labour, although nobody is forcing us to continue working. We need jobs, and garment factories are the only option available to us.”

“The government and factory owners should concede to our demands because they are legitimate,” Amena said. “How are we supposed to survive when the prices of all commodities keep rising?”

Sabbir, 18, works at a small factory, earning a monthly salary of 12,000 taka.

After paying rent on a small room near her factory, “I keep 1,500 taka as pocket money and give the rest to my mother,” Sabbir told AFP.

“The price of gas has soared” since the Middle East war erupted in late February, she said. “We are always afraid that the gas might run out.”

Begum, another garment worker in Gazipur, said employees had little faith in promises from factory owners.

“Whenever we ask for a salary increase, the owners start complaining that business isn’t going well,” she said.

“If that’s true, how come the same owners keep opening factories one after another?” — AFP

PARIS, Nov 3 — Students blockaded dozens of high schools across France today to maintain pressure on the government over education reforms as trade unions prepared for a nationwide strike later this week.

After returning from a two-week autumn break yesterday, some students resumed their protest campaign, calling on authorities to renovate dilapidated schools, reduce class sizes and create more university places.

Authorities said 48 out of France’s 3,700 high schools were blocked, including in cities such as Paris, Rennes, Toulouse and Lyon. The Union syndicale lyceenne (USL) contested those figures, saying 500 establishments were blocked.

The student union denounced what it called heavy-handed tactics, with “young people pinned against walls and riot police units deployed” outside schools.

“Our impression is that the objective is to suppress the movement and prevent Thursday’s mobilisation,” a union representative told AFP.

On Thursday students plan to stage a new day of blockades as trade unions called for a nationwide strike.

In the northwestern city of Rennes, around 30 students blocked access to the Brequigny High School, one of the country’s largest secondary schools.

Tensions quickly flared between students and a member of the school administration.

“You are not the majority,” the staff member protested.

“If we’re doing this, it’s because everything we’ve tried before hasn’t worked,” a student replied.

The school protests have fuelled a nationwide movement against soaring prices and inadequate public services, which has drawn hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets over the past three weekends and led to some of the worst unrest seen in France in years on October 17.

The school movement has also inspired students in other European countries, including Belgium, Italy and Spain, where the French word “blocus” (blockade) has become a popular hashtag.

Last week, the French government unveiled measures aimed at addressing some of the students’ demands, including reforms to the university admissions process, which has been criticised for a lack of transparency. Student leaders, however, say the proposals do not go far enough.

Yesterday, authorities said 42 high schools, or around 1 percent of the national total, were blocked. Student unions put the figure at 169.

About 15 per cent of higher education institutions were affected on Monday, authorities said. — AFP

WASHINGTON, Nov 3 — Americans voted today in pivotal midterm elections with Democrats hoping to seize control of Congress and impose the first significant checks on Donald Trump’s chaotic second term in the White House.

Republicans losing the House would give Democrats the power to stall Trump’s legislative agenda and launch sweeping investigations of his administration. A Senate defeat would also threaten his ability to appoint Supreme Court justices and senior officials.

The election amounts to a nationwide judgment on Trump, with the mood turning sharply against Republicans amid anger over soaring living costs and the war against Iran.

All 435 House seats and 35 of the 100 Senate seats are at stake, along with governorships in 36 states. Democrats need only three House gains and a net four seats in the Senate to wrest both chambers from Republican hands.

Trump returned to office last year promising to bring down prices, but inflation, tariffs and fuel costs inflated by the Middle East conflict have squeezed Americans.

The 80-year-old’s approval rating has hovered near the low 30s.

In the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, retired teacher Jane Callum, 77, was among Democrats canvassing for Senator Jon Ossoff who framed the race as a watershed moment for the country’s future.

“I really feel an obligation to do everything that I possibly can to change the direction that our country is going in now, and put it more on the path to democracy and away from autocracy,” she told AFP.

Economic discontent 

Republicans insist that Trump’s tax cuts and immigration crackdown will benefit Americans, and they are portraying Democratic candidates as left-wing radicals.

But in his final public campaign appearance on Monday, Trump barely touched on the economy and spent most of the time in a rambling talk about his problem-plagued renovation of Washington’s Reflecting Pool.

“This is the last day before the midterm elections, the most important midterm I believe in our lifetime,” he said, 26 minutes into the speech, before quickly returning to talking about renovations.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer branded it a “pathetic closing message.”

Some Republican supporters remain confident.

“We’re going to win. As a matter of fact, we’ve probably already won,” Texas military veteran Yvonne Clouser told AFP.

But while Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate majority, the political battlefield is extending into conservative states like Kansas, Texas, Iowa, Ohio and Alaska.

Democrats must also defend competitive seats, including in Michigan, where a bitter internal dispute saw congresswoman Haley Stevens endorse Republican Mike Rogers rather than the Democratic nominee, Abdul El-Sayed.

Decision Desk HQ’s final forecast projected 241 House seats for Democrats against 194 for Republicans, and a narrower 52-48 Democratic Senate majority.

Disputed results? 

Polls can underestimate one party’s support, and Republicans hope their voters turn out in force on Election Day.

More than 57 million Americans had already voted early before Tuesday, indicating the high energy.

The campaign has attracted more than $11 billion in political advertising, while mega-rich Trump ally Elon Musk has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Republican political efforts.

As soon as polls close, concerns will mount over whether results will be accepted by the Republicans.

Trump, who tried to overturn his 2020 election defeat, has repeatedly alleged widespread voter fraud and accused Democrats — with no evidence — of cheating.

The Justice Department, run by a close Trump ally, has already sued to potentially block certification of Alaska’s Senate race if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan narrowly loses, although a court ruled against the effort on the eve of the election.

And the Supreme Court rejected on Monday an emergency bid to force California to set aside the mail-in ballots of more than 20,000 people on the grounds they may not be American citizens.

Trump, who will watch the midterms results at the White House on Tuesday night, signaled that if he does lose control of Congress he could simply defy Democrats.

“I veto everything,” he told a podcast on Monday, although he said he might strike deals with Democrats eventually. — AFP

TEHRAN, Nov 3 — Iran unveiled a massive billboard and banners pledging to kill US President Donald Trump across Tehran on Tuesday, bringing to a new level the official rhetoric displayed in the capital.

“We will kill Trump”, read the billboard towering over the busy Enghelab Square in Tehran, which depicted the US president behind bars with his head bowed.

New designs of billboards and displays mocking and vowing revenge against Trump have frequently been set up around Tehran since the war began on February 28 when US-Israeli strikes killed the Islamic republic’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In recent days, renewed diplomatic efforts have been underway to bring Tehran and Washington to negotiate to prevent a resumption in fighting which has spread across the region and driven prices up globally.

Trump, who on Tuesday faces crucial US midterm elections amid voter discontent driven in part by the Iran war, has said that a deal “could happen”.

In the busy Tajrish Square in northern Tehran, an open-air exhibition featured paintings of Trump, including one showing him with his face lying bloodied on the ground as a foot presses down on his head.

Another depicted a bomb obscuring his face, in an apparent reference to Belgian surrealist René Magritte’s 1964 painting The Son of Man.

Nearby, a life-sized replica of a jail cell has remained on display, with an actor impersonating Trump spending the day inside. An adjacent screen showed images of the damage caused by US strikes on Iran.

Tehran accuses Trump of deliberately targeting civilian sites during the war, including a school and a wedding ceremony, killing dozens of people including women and children.

State-sponsored billboards and murals have been a fixture of Iran’s public spaces since the 1979 Islamic revolution, used to honour allies, celebrate military figures and send political messages to adversaries, particularly the United States and Israel. — AFP 

SEOUL, Nov 3 — A South Korean court revoked the Unification Church leader’s bail in a bribery case on Tuesday after footage emerged of her visiting the secretive movement’s headquarters in breach of release conditions.

Han Hak-ja, 83, was sentenced to two years in prison in August for providing luxury items, including a designer handbag, to former first lady Kim Keon Hee while her husband Yoon Suk Yeol was president, in an attempt to secure policy favours.

She was granted bail two months later on health grounds, on condition that she reside at a Seoul hospital.

Footage aired on Monday by local broadcaster JTBC showed Han being driven from the hospital to the church headquarters known as Cheonjeonggung Palace.

Han would leave for the headquarters in Gapyeong County, east of Seoul, early in the morning and return to the hospital in the evening, according to the report, which prompted a review of her bail.

“The Seoul High Court on Tuesday revoked bail for defendant Han,” the court said in a brief statement.

“The court also ordered the forfeiture of Han’s bail bond,” it added.

Yonhap news agency reported that the decision was made “over her visits to Cheonjeonggung Palace”.

The Unification Church has significant business interests spanning media, education and food distribution, and has long drawn scrutiny over its political ties in South Korea.

The church has denied wrongdoing, with a spokesman telling AFP before the court’s decision that “Han’s outings were in accordance with doctors’ advice” and did “not constitute a violation of the bail terms”.

Founded in 1954 by Han’s late husband, Moon Sun-myung, the Unification Church has long drawn controversy over teachings that present Moon as the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Han, revered by church members as the “True Mother”, took the helm of the church after Moon’s death in 2012. She was arrested in September 2025 in connection with the bribery case involving the former first lady.

The Unification Church, which claims to have 10 million followers worldwide, is best known for its mass wedding ceremonies, in which couples of different nationalities are matched, held at its headquarters in South Korea. — AFP 

SYDNEY, Nov 3 — Australia’s landmark social media ban faces a legal test on Tuesday, as online platform Reddit urges the nation’s highest court to scrap the world-leading restrictions.

Social media companies have been forced to purge millions of accounts after Australia banned under-16s from the likes of Facebook, TikTok and Reddit last December.

The High Court of Australia will sit on Tuesday and Wednesday as Reddit, one of the most popular websites in the world, argues the laws are misguided and should be overturned.

Reddit has highlighted a number of issues in its written submission to the court, pointing to problems enforcing the ban and a lack of scientific evidence about the harms of social media.

“The evidence so far is that the effectiveness of the ban has been limited,” reads Reddit’s submission.

Australia’s ban works by restricting children under 16 from holding accounts on the world’s biggest social media platforms.

These platforms are responsible for weeding out underage users and face hefty fines if they are found to be falling short of their obligations.

Reddit argued this approach was actually more dangerous, as registered accounts were governed by in-built safety features.

Material posted on many online platforms and social media sites could still be accessed without an account, Reddit said.

“Young people using other platforms without an account are also unable to be protected from exposure to particular harmful content as they previously had been,” its submission read.

Australia said its restrictions would protect young users from graphic content, online predators and predatory algorithms designed to keep people scrolling.

While there is a growing body of evidence about the harms of social media, Reddit argued there was no “scientific consensus”.

Political discourse 

Reddit, which has also argued it should be exempt from the ban, said there was little research on whether certain platforms were safer than others.

The High Court will also consider arguments from Australia’s Digital Freedom Project, which believes the ban restricts teens’ ability to take part in political discourse.

“Social media is an important means of accessing news and engaging in political communication for young Australians, including children under 16,” the advocacy group argued in written submissions.

“The restriction also risks removing beneficial sources of connection, support and participation,” it added.

Reddit and the Digital Freedom Project separately announced last year they would challenge the ban.

It was not clear how long it would take the high court to consider the case, although even the quickest decisions typically take months.

Social media firms face mounting scrutiny over their use of allegedly addictive algorithms and stand accused of directing users to extreme content to keep them scrolling.

Several countries have indicated an interest in following Australia’s lead, including New Zealand, the UK, France and Turkey.

A team of Australia-based researchers published a study earlier this year that found little evidence to suggest teenagers have turned away from social media as a consequence of the restrictions. — AFP 

NEW YORK, Nov 3 — A child in New York died after contracting measles, marking the state’s first death linked to the disease in 30 years, authorities said on Monday.

The child died in Lewis County in the north of New York, according to county and state health authorities.

“I am heartbroken to learn that a child in Lewis County has died after contracting measles,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said in a statement.

“As a mother and grandmother, I cannot imagine what this family is going through.”

Hochul, a Democrat, appeared to connect the death to Trump administration health policies, saying it was “a devastating reminder of what’s at stake when Washington deliberately erodes decades of progress in protecting Americans from preventable illnesses.”

The United States is facing its worst measles outbreak in 35 years.

As of October 29, there were 4,834 cases reported in 47 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hochul declared a disaster emergency in New York in October, following measles outbreaks in the state and neighboring states.

Measles was declared eradicated in the US in 2000 after years of effective vaccination campaigns.

But the illness has made a worrying comeback in recent years as vaccine scepticism rises alongside a growing mistrust of health authorities.

Measles causes fever, respiratory symptoms, painful rashes and, in severe cases, pneumonia and brain inflammation, which can lead to death.

The disease continues to claim tens of thousands of lives around the world every year. — AFP 

NEW DELHI, Nov 3 — Indian naval commandos parachuted onto a hijacked Iranian fishing vessel off Somalia to rescue all 20 crew members from armed pirates, the navy said Tuesday.

Somali piracy has seen a resurgence, with at least 15 attacks reported since April, the highest number since 2013.

The vessel, named Azini, was seized on October 29 off the Somali coast, between the coastal towns of Bandar Beyla and Xaafun in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, according to an alert from the EU’s Maritime Security Centre Indian Ocean (MSCIO).

The vessel was feared to be used as a “mother ship” to launch further attacks on merchant shipping, the navy said in a statement.

A warship and a maritime reconnaissance aircraft tracked the vessel before marine commandos were parachuted in to carry out the rescue, it said.

“The Indian Navy secured the vessel, overcame the pirate threat and ensured safe release of all 20 crew members,” the statement added.

Azini was the third Iranian fishing boat to have been hijacked off the Somali coast since July. — AFP

PARIS, Nov 4 — European bureaus Countries across Europe have been swept by a wave of protests by young people angry at the spiralling cost of living who have little trust in traditional institutions.

While local grievances have fuelled the fire, the movements that brought hundreds of thousands to the streets of France, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Germany at the weekend are all linked by shared continent-wide issues such as sky-high housing costs, poor pay and the climate crisis.

Schools, universities 

School and university students have found themselves at the front line of these protests.

The spark was lit in mid-September, when French high school students took to the streets to demand better and more facilities, and an end to an opaque university admissions system.

“It’s a European movement but France served as the catalyst,” said Sylvain Boulouque, a historian of social movements.

After weeks of rallies, the French protests drew at least 550,000 people on October 17, with the largely peaceful demonstrations swiftly eclipsed by episodes of looting, arson and clashes with the police.

Four days later in Greece, more than 10,000 people rallied across several cities, with some bearing placards with slogans written in both Greek and French.

“The problems are shared between various European countries,” insisted one protester, Filippos Armen, a physics student at Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University.

Uncertainty

Across the continent, many people have found themselves face-to-face with “a model that has run out of steam”, said Belgian sociologist Geoffrey Pleyers.

“What they’re being offered is, at best, a job, and for many, a precarious one,” said the specialist in social movements at the Catholic University of Louvain.

At the same time, their studies no longer guarantee the standard of living their parents enjoyed, as a result of high housing costs and the risks linked to the climate crisis.

Rising rents 

In many of the protests, as in Spain, Portugal and Greece, housing is “a central element” because it is directly tied to purchasing power and “an ever-more unequal distribution of wealth”, the researcher added.

On the other hand, political scientist Mariam Martinez-Bascunan argued that “discontent is fuelled more by uncertainty than by poverty”.

Speaking to Spain’s RTVE television, the professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid pointed to the “contagion effect” of images of protests in France and of tent encampments of housing rights activists in Portugal.

Sacrificed’ generation 

For Boulouque, “young people are acutely conscious of the weight of the debt and environmental problems” left by previous generations and have “the feeling of being sacrificed” as a result.

Boulouque, who also teaches in a high school, pointed to an unexpected side effect of the ban on mobile phones in French classrooms: “Students began to socialise again and lifted their heads to see just how far their working conditions have worsened”.

In Germany, the possible reintroduction of military service at a time of tensions with Russia has also led many young people to join the protests.

Inequalities 

The youth protests have struck a nerve with the wider public, at a time when Europe is gearing up for a wave of key elections in Spain, France, Italy and Greece over the coming year.

The French students were joined by the yellow vest movement, which organised a previous round of protests against the cost of living in 2018-19, while in Italy, drivers and farmers opposed to the high price of petrol joined the young demonstrators at Friday’s rallies.

Another shared grievance is the widespread feeling of not being listened to, which is leading to an increasing “distance” and “dissociation” between ordinary people and the state, said Pleyers.

On top of that is the sense that society has become unequal and unfair.

“Young people whose parents live comfortably have a more comfortable life and, conversely, those who come from more precarious backgrounds have a much harder life today,” Pleyers added. — AFP

NEW YORK, Nov 3 — Weather conditions are a “major” focus of an investigation into a weekend private plane crash that killed nine people, US transportation investigators said Monday.

At a briefing, Tom Chapman of the National Transportation Safety Board, retraced the ill-fated journey of the Learjet 60, which departed Austin, Texas at 1537 GMT Sunday on a trip to North Eleuthera in the Bahamas.

The plane plummeted into a neighbourhood in Palm Beach County in southern Florida, killing everyone on board.

The jet was carrying a pilot, a copilot and seven passengers. Authorities have not released their identities, saying genetic analysis is needed.

US media identified the copilot as 20-year-old Nathalia Gadelha Filgeiras, who had received her pilot’s license at age 17, before she received a driver’s license.

Filgeiras, who had already amassed 1,300 flight hours, began working for a charter plane company based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida about nine months ago.

Investigators have not determined yet who was flying the plane when it encountered trouble.

In an audio recording posted to air traffic website liveatc.net, someone in the cockpit can be heard reporting “moderate turbulence” and saying the crew was “managing the ice.”

The person said the plane was “picking up precipitation” and needed “to climb” shortly before saying: “Mayday, mayday, we’re descending 10,000 feet per minute.”

Chapman confirmed these statements had been made to air traffic controllers.

Aircraft maintenance records show there had previously been a cockpit recorder on the plane, but the NTSB doesn’t know if it was on the jet at the time of the crash, or if the agency will be able to recover it, Chapman said.

NTSB investigator Tim Monville said there was also an injury to a driver in the area near the crash site.

NTSB officials said the aircraft was flown by Aurora Aviation, which was operating as Upper Jets. Officials with the companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment from AFP.

The Bombardier plane went into service in 2004 and was renovated in 2018, according to Jettly.

The owner of the plane is listed as a Delaware company known as LR60271 LLC, according to the website of the US Federal Aviation Administration. — AFP

WASHINGTON, Nov 3 — The United States on Monday attacked Iran’s Qeshm Island, the Wall Street Journal reported, even as President Donald Trump signalled progress in negotiations with Tehran to end the eight-month-old conflict.

The Journal, citing unnamed US officials, described the strike against Qeshm, the the largest island in the Strait of Hormuz, as the latest of a series of limited strikes Washington has secretly carried out against Iran in recent weeks.

Iranian state news agency IRNA reported five explosions in rapid succession were heard on the island, and that some residents reported seeing two aircraft flying in its skies.

The Pentagon referred questions about the reported strikes to US Central Command, which did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment late Monday.

The Journal reported that US has been engaged in smaller-scale strikes against Iran for several weeks.

It said some officials described the assaults as defensive in nature to prevent Iran from having the freedom to attack commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, a key conduit for oil shipments that has been largely blocked since the war began in late February.

The paper said the US has not publicly announced the attacks, so as not to signal any intention of resuming major combat operations.

On Monday, on the eve of midterm elections in the United States, Trump said that a deal with Tehran “could happen.”

Oil prices, sent rocketing by Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz energy corridor, plunged by more than seven percent on Monday on optimism over a possible end to the conflict. — AFP

KYIV, Nov 3 — Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Tuesday Russian air defence systems downed nearly 500 drones headed towards the capital, as a flare-up in fighting with Ukraine dashed hopes of progress towards peace.

The attacks followed a rare pause in the fighting between Russia and Ukraine in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, which ended Sunday.

The truce, which was the longest in the war that erupted in February 2022, enabled a humanitarian mission to the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky.

Hours after the local ceasefire ended, Russia targeted a village in Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine, killing at least 26 people, the acting regional governor said.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian authorities reported a string of Russian strikes had hit the country overnight, forcing patients to evacuate a medical facility and triggering air defence systems in neighbouring Poland.

Authorities in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv said a Russian strike wounded 25 people at the medical facility and damaged a building, windows and cars.

“An enemy strike was recorded on a passageway between buildings at a medical facility in the Nemyshlianskyi district,” Oleg Synegubov, head of the Kharkiv regional state administration, posted on Telegram.

“Preliminary information indicates that 200 patients will be evacuated to other medical facilities,” he added.

Kharkiv’s mayor Igor Terekhov warned on Telegram that the city was “under a combined attack by ballistic missiles and guided aerial bombs”, urging residents to “be careful!”

Ukraine’s army warned of ballistic missiles heading towards Kharkiv and various other parts of the country, including the capital Kyiv, Dnipro and Sumy.

Regional governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oleksandr Ganzha said a Russian strike hit critical infrastructure in the Dnipro, as well as President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown Kryvy Rig.

Poland said it activated air defences aimed at protecting its airspace, particularly in areas bordering Ukraine.

The strikes came as US special envoy Steve Witkoff said Washington-led talks between Russia and Ukraine were set to resume next week.

President Donald Trump has pushed for a settlement to the dragging war but there has been no breakthrough. — AFP

HONG KONG, Nov 3 — A Hong Kong court will sentence pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong on Thursday, according to the judiciary’s website, in a second national security trial that could see him jailed for life.

Wong, who is already serving a nearly five-year jail term for subversion and was due for release in early 2027, pleaded guilty to the collusion charges in September.

The 30-year-old former student leader is one of the most recognisable faces of the Chinese city’s now-quashed democracy movement.

He was charged last year under a national security law imposed on Hong Kong by Beijing, in a move condemned by rights groups.

The Hong Kong judiciary website showed on Tuesday that a sentencing hearing was scheduled for November 5.

Wong sprang to prominence during widespread protests more than a decade ago, and was later involved in the huge pro-democracy rallies in 2019 that triggered the imposition of the national security law.

Prosecutors said Wong, self-exiled activist Nathan Law, and others asked foreign entities to seriously disrupt the formulation and implementation of laws or policies in Hong Kong and China.

Wong’s friends told AFP earlier this year that the activist remained “energetic” while in detention by working out, playing the guitar and studying university courses.

The offence of foreign collusion may be punishable by life imprisonment if found to be of a “serious nature”.

Wong’s lawyer has argued for a shorter sentence of three to 10 years, noting that Wong has already spent around six years in prison for various offences. — AFP

MOSCOW, Nov3 — The number of journalists killed worldwide rose by 20 per cent between 2024 and 2025 to 189, the majority of whom died in armed conflicts, including in drone strikes, Unesco said in a new report on Monday, Sputnik/RIA Novosti reported.

“Between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2025, Unesco recorded the deaths of 189 journalists, media workers and social media producers engaged in journalistic activity worldwide, a 20 per cent increase from the previous reporting period,” the report said.

The report noted that 2025 alone saw more journalists killed than in any other single year in the past eight years. Most of these fatalities occurred in armed conflicts, including those involving drone strikes.

The highest number of killings was recorded in Arab states, as well as in countries across Latin America and the Caribbean, with 97 and 37 journalists killed, respectively, Unesco said. The highest number of journalists killed over the two-year period was in Palestine, where at least 62 media workers lost their lives, it added.

The report also indicates that 12 journalists were killed in Ukraine during this period, and two in the Russian Federation.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the names of many Russian journalists killed by militants of the Kyiv regime had once again been omitted from the latest report by the Unesco Director-General on the safety of journalists.

The number of journalists killed in conflict zones worldwide has risen by 24 per cent over the past two years, with a significant proportion of these deaths caused by drone strikes, the report said.

“During the 2024-2025 biennium, Unesco recorded 127 killings of journalists in countries experiencing armed conflict, accounting for 67 per cent of the total number of killings,” the report read.

Furthermore, available data shows that 40 per cent of these deaths resulted from the use of unmanned aerial vehicles. According to Unesco, at least 50 journalists were killed across six different countries as a result of drone strikes in 2024–2025. — Bernama-Sputnik/Ria Novosti

LONDON, Nov 3 — A man who drugged and raped his wife over two decades and allegedly invited strangers to participate had “over a million photographs and videos” on his phone cataloguing the abuse, a UK court heard Monday.

The court in Manchester, northwest England, is hearing the trial of nine men accused of various sexual offences against a woman who was abused by her husband — a man in his 60s who cannot be named to protect the victim’s identity.

The husband filmed and shared images of the abuse on the “internet and social media applications” with “other like-minded men”, prosecutor Louise Oakley told the court.

Some of the defendants allegedly “hid behind a screen” and conspired with the husband over the years to administer substances to the woman so she could be “used and abused”.

And starting 2023, the prosecutor said, the husband began inviting men around to their home and filmed himself and others raping her while she was unconscious.

It is the second case involving a man accused of inviting strangers to take part in abusing his wife currently being heard in Britain. A trial in Winchester in the south involving four men opened last week.

Global awareness of the crime, known as organised drug-facilitated sexual assault (DFSA), has grown following the high-profile conviction in France of Dominique Pelicot, who drugged and raped his then-wife Gisele for nearly a decade alongside strangers.

Oakley told the jury in Manchester that the huband’s phone, which was seized when he was arrested, was like a “confession booth” including “barbaric sexual fantasies” going back to 2004.

“There were over a million photographs and videos cataloguing not only his abuse of his wife but abuse on her committed by others, including those in the dock today,” Oakley said.

“There is no doubt he lived a double life masked in respectability,” the prosecutor said.

The husband pleaded guilty in September to some 60 sexual offences against his wife including administering a substance with intent to stupefy or overpower her.

He and 13 other men are accused of conspiring to abuse the woman. Four of the men have since pleaded guilty to various offences.

The remaining nine men, aged between 28 and 70, deny various charges including rape, sexual assault and conspiracy to administer a statement substance with intent.

They include a taxi driver, a recruitment agency worker, a building supplies worker and a senior medic. — AFP 

WASHINGTON, Nov 3 — US President Donald Trump on Monday signaled progress in talks with Iran to avoid a return to war, as Tehran said “intensive” exchanges were underway while offering to reopen the Strait of Hormuz under strict conditions.

A deal with Tehran “could happen,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, a day before crucial US midterm elections. He added that “Iran wants a settlement, as soon as possible.”

Vice President JD Vance separately said that both he and Trump were optimistic about securing an agreement.

“We’ve certainly made some progress. We’ll see if we can make some more,” Vance told reporters on Monday.

Oil prices, sent rocketing by Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz energy corridor, plunged by more than seven percent on Monday on optimism over a possible end to the eight-month-old conflict.

Trump also pointed to tumbling oil prices on his social media post.

The renewed diplomatic signals come ahead of Tuesday’s midterms, in which Trump’s Republican Party is pushing to retain control of Congress despite voter dissatisfaction over the war and higher fuel prices.

Democrats expect to win at least partial control of Congress and impose political constraints on Trump for the first time in two years.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Monday that indirect talks with Washington were taking place via mediators.

“Given the sensitivity and gravity of the current situation, consultations and deliberations are very intensive,” Araghchi said in a video interview with the official IRNA news agency.

“Qatar and Pakistan are playing a very active mediating role in these negotiations.”

China also urged a return to negotiations, while Iran’s security chief discussed the conflict with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Earlier, the Axios news outlet reported that Vance had sent a letter to Iranian national security chief Mohsen Rezaei about possible new talks, marking the highest-level move in months.

Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref said the messages received from the US were “an acknowledgement of our victory.”

But Trump had previously kept up his threats against Iran, telling a campaign rally that at “some point we’re going to have to give them the hammer.”

‘Good-faith approach’ 

A senior Iranian official said Tehran was ready to open Strait of Hormuz, an export conduit for the energy-rich Gulf, within two days — as long as Washington agrees to its list of demands.

In September, Iran proposed a seven-day plan to reopen the strait if the US agreed to demands including ending the war on all fronts, unfreezing Iranian assets, lifting oil sanctions and ending its counter-blockade of Iranian ports.

“The possibility of implementing this plan in two days is another indication of Iran’s good-faith approach,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told reporters at a briefing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping also discussed the war with Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq in Beijing on Monday — the first visit to China by the Gulf nation’s head of state since diplomatic ties were established.

“The two sides called for resolving disputes through political and diplomatic means, urging the United States and Iran to pursue a peaceful path, achieve a ceasefire (and) prevent war entirely,” an Omani statement said.

‘No compromises’ 

China held meetings with Iranian and Saudi officials in Beijing on Monday as well.

Beijing supports Tehran in “safeguarding its own sovereignty and security,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Ali Bagheri, deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, according to a Chinese statement.

Bagheri told Wang that “Tehran’s stance on defending its national security, sovereignty, and territorial integrity remains unchanged, and that Iran will make no compromises in this regard,” state TV reported.

In an interview with Al Jazeera released Sunday, Araghchi said Washington must accept a new route agreed between Iran and Oman for transiting the strait.

He said the US must also remove sanctions imposed recently and reduce American troop numbers in the region.

On Saturday, Trump said he still had to “take care” of one or two targets including Pickaxe mountain in central Iran, a suspected nuclear site which Tehran denies is such a facility.

Baqaei warned that any act of aggression against Iran “will be met with a powerful, immediate and comprehensive response.” — AFP 

WASHINGTON, Nov 3 — The US Supreme Court on Monday rejected a Trump administration emergency bid to force California to set aside the mail-in ballots of more than 20,000 people on the grounds they may not be American citizens.

Acting a day before the US midterm elections, the top court denied the request in an unsigned, one-sentence ruling, as is common in urgent cases before the court. It gave no reasoning for the decision.

The federal government had accused California of having 190,000 illegal voters on its rolls. It recently revised the figure to 20,000 and filed an emergency lawsuit — after early voting had begun — to stop the state from sending ballots to them.

The Supreme Court action came after lower courts last week — and again on Monday — rejected the demand by the Department of Justice (DOJ), with one judge calling it brazen pre-election interference.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer, in an emergency filing with the Supreme Court, had said that “once California commingles the challenged ballots with lawful ones, there is no way to get the challenged ballots back.”

The California ballot case appeared to be another attempt by the administration to cast doubt on the results of Tuesday’s vote, in which President Donald Trump’s Republican Party is at risk of losing control of Congress.

Trump — who has never acknowledged his own election defeat by Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 — has been claiming for months that there will be fraud in the midterms.

US District Judge David Carter last week refused to order the seizure of the ballots and sided with the government of Democratic-led California.

“The DOJ’s actions are indicative of a broad, ongoing pattern of attempted election interference by federal officials,” Carter said.

Another district judge, James Boasberg, also ruled against the Trump administration on Monday, saying the lists of alleged non-citizens were “flawed.”

Sullivan vs Sullivan 

A controversy similar to California’s arose in neighbouring Nevada. The administration said initially it had identified 16,000 non-citizen voters there, but after verification procedures that number dropped to 185 — and then to zero.

Studies repeatedly show that while cases of voter fraud exist, such incidents are extremely rare and do not influence election results.

In another closely-watched election case, a federal judge in Alaska over the weekend tossed out a bid by the Trump administration to hold up US Senate election results in the state should the Democratic candidate win.

The DOJ had asked the court to block certification of the results if Republican Dan Sullivan, the incumbent, loses on Tuesday because a second candidate also named Dan Sullivan would have siphoned off votes.

Mary Peltola, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Alaska, has denied recruiting the second Sullivan into the race, but The New York Times reported that members of her campaign staff had been involved. — AFP 

VADODARA, Nov 3 — In a sprawling palace in western India, the “queen” or Maharani of Baroda welcomes guests with fragrant rose petals, presenting torchlit dances of Hindu myths.

Dressed in glittering finery, Radhikaraje Gaekwad is a queen in name only, a modern businesswoman presiding over a world her ancestors once ruled.

“The key has been that we have adapted,” 48-year-old Gaekwad told AFP in her vast Lakshmi Vilas Palace, describing how India’s former royals have found new roles, from cultural ambassadors to politics.

“My work has always been to try and bring in change for what I feel would be for the betterment of society,” said Gaekwad, who works to preserve art accumulated by generations of rulers.

“A glimpse of what was left behind... can bring that sense of identity and pride back in their roots, and help them in the future.”

Under British rule, more than 565 princely states enjoyed nominal autonomy across roughly 40 per cent of the land. Baroda, today Vadodara in Gujarat state, was among the most powerful.

The maharajas joined democratic India after independence in 1947 and became ordinary citizens, but their enduring cultural influence is something politicians of all parties seek to harness.

“This cultural capital has been banked on by the descendants of the erstwhile maharajas to get into active politics,” said historian Manu S. Pillai.

‘Quest for heroes’ 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist government has sought to draw on a royal past outside foreign control to reinforce its national narrative.

Modi’s party includes elected lawmakers such as Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, of the Gwalior dynasty, and Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Diya Kumari, of Jaipur’s royal family.

“There is a quest for heroes,” Pillai added. “Nationalist history has become very popular and... the Hindu right is very keen to tap into cultural icons.”

This photograph taken on October 10, 2026 shows artists dancing during a cultural performance in front of the Lakshmi Vilas Palace at Vadodara in Gujarat. In a sprawling palace in western India, the ‘queen’ or Maharani of Baroda welcomes guests with fragrant rose petals, presenting torchlit dances of Hindu myths. — AFP pic

Modi last year laid the foundation stone for a $39 million “Museum of Royal Kingdoms” celebrating their history.

The site near Vadodara lies beside the world’s tallest statue, a 182-metre (597-foot) monument to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, whom Modi honoured with its inauguration in 2018 for his role in bringing princely states into India.

Visitors were divided over the role of royals today.

“I hold the royal families in high regard,” said Arti Shukla, visiting from Vadodara.

Nishant Kulkarni, a bank worker from Mumbai, was more cynical.

“I only came to see this massive statue,” he said. “The royal families certainly played a role in the past, but there is no real need for their services anymore.”

‘Storytellers’ 

Beyond politics, many maharajahs see themselves as stewards of tradition, said Siddhaant Mohta, director of Sopaan, which organises cultural exhibitions in royal sites — including in Vadodara’s palace.

“The royal families are custodians of heritage,” Mohta said, pointing to work to overhaul Vadodara’s Maharaja Fateh Singh Museum, which houses more than 30 works by celebrated 19th-century painter Raja Ravi Varma.

A Varma work fetched US$17.9 million (RM72.6 million) at auction in Mumbai in April, an Indian record.

This photograph taken on October 11, 2026 shows the Statue of Unity, the world’s tallest statue dedicated to Indian independence leader Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel along the Narmada river at Kevadiya on the outskirts of Vadodara, Gujarat. — AFP pic

Deborah Swallow, former director of London’s Courtauld Institute of Art, is advising on the project, praising the legacy of royal patronage that helped fund it.

“That tradition is being beautifully followed today,” she said.

Others, such as Raseshwari Rajya Laxmi, Maharani of Jaisalmer, said their titles open doors — explaining how her family has helped twin the historic walled city with Carcassonne in France.

“We are sharing ideas on promoting and preserving their culture,” she said.

For Gaekwad, her work includes social entrepreneurship, promoting social inclusion through initiatives such as a transgender-run cafe, as well as supporting traditional crafts and customs.

Her father, Ranjitsinh Jhala, 87, took a different path.

Born into Wankaner’s ruling family in 1939, before India’s princes surrendered their powers, he was raised in a world where tiger hunting was a royal passion.

But he became a civil servant, drafted India’s wildlife protection law, and helped turn vast tracts of princely hunting grounds into national parks.

“If that was what the princes left behind, it compensates far more than what they shot,” he said.

Akshita Bhanj Deo, in her 30s, daughter of the 47th ruler of Odisha’s Bhanja dynasty, represents a younger generation seeking modern meaning in historic titles. She has turned her palace into a hotel, and runs a foundation to support marginalised groups.

“A lot of erstwhile royal families see themselves in a space where they can actually make a sense of community happen,” she said.

“We’re just the bards and storytellers between the past and future.” — AFP 

LONDONDERRY, Nov 3 — Irish bookshops are helping readers in Britain and elsewhere obtain novels by Sally Rooney after her publisher halted UK supplies because of complications arising from the author’s support for a pro-Palestinian group.

Publisher Faber said it could no longer distribute Rooney’s books in the United Kingdom because it could not transfer UK earnings to the author after she announced plans to donate those proceeds to Palestine Action, which is banned in Britain.

But Jenni Doherty, owner of Little Acorns Bookstore in Londonderry, has continued stocking Rooney’s bestselling books through suppliers in the Republic of Ireland.

“We’re not banned from selling the books. We can still have access to the books,” Doherty, 55, told AFP, surrounded by Rooney titles such as Normal People, Intermezzo and Beautiful World, Where Are You.

Londonderry, known as Derry to republicans within Northern Ireland, is part of the United Kingdom but lies next to the border with EU member Ireland.

Its position allows Doherty to order stock through Irish distributors before sending books to customers around the world, including in Britain.

“To sell a writer’s work and not be able to pass on earnings is an unconscionable situation for a publisher,” Faber said, as it announced its decision in mid-October.

The decision, made in agreement with Rooney, followed the author’s declaration that she would donate her earnings to the pro-Palestinian direct action group.

‘New customers’ 

Palestine Action was banned by the UK government in July 2025 under anti-terrorism laws, but is not prohibited in Ireland, where Rooney lives.

Its proscription, which places it on the same list as Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah and the Palestinian group Hamas, makes it illegal in Britain to belong to, support or finance the group.

Faber said it remained Rooney’s publisher and would continue selling her work outside Britain.

The books themselves have not been banned, and copies already held by British retailers can remain on sale.

But shops cannot replenish them through Faber’s normal UK distribution network.

The supply restrictions have now drawn new business to Doherty’s shop.

“I’ve had a lot of new customers who’ve never been in before,” she said, adding that the controversy had brought Rooney’s work to a broader range of readers.

Before, the books were placed on the general shelves in alphabetical order.

Now they are displayed prominently on the front counter, often sparking “honest, personal conversations” with customers, said Doherty.

She has also received inquiries from British booksellers looking for alternative suppliers.

“You don’t have to read it if you don’t want it. You don’t have to buy it if you don’t want it,” she said.

‘Silencing’ 

The boom has extended across the Irish border, with Kenny’s Bookshop in Galway reporting a tenfold increase in sales of Rooney’s novels following Faber’s decision.

Doherty said the dispute resonated strongly in a city shaped by civil-rights campaigns and Northern Ireland’s decades-long Troubles conflict.

The controversy also reminded her of Ireland’s history of literary censorship, which affected famous writers including Edna O’Brien, Samuel Beckett and John McGahern.

“It’s as if we’re going backwards rather than forwards,” she said.

But restrictions often pique readers’ curiosity and could introduce them to Rooney and other Irish writers, Doherty said.

“A banned book is a bought book,” she said. “It just attracts a whole new attention.”

Palestine Action’s proscription is being challenged by co-founder Huda Ammori, with Britain’s Supreme Court due to hear an appeal on Wednesday and Thursday.

Rooney’s novels have sold millions of copies internationally, gaining a cult following for their observations of modern relationships before the BBC television adaptation of Normal People brought her wider fame.

“She captures a sense of the age right now which is really, really unique to her. People do love her books and her writing,” said Vicki Shenkin Kerr, owner of Bard Books in London, which stopped selling Rooney’s books following Faber’s decision.

Its remaining stock sold out within a “few days”, and the shop decided not to replenish it through imports.

“We are kind of like Faber, we wouldn’t feel comfortable selling a book where the author isn’t getting the royalties,” Kerr said. “It does feel like a silencing.” — AFP 

BAGHDAD, Nov 2 — A decade ago, the Islamic State group broadcast its crimes as it recruited radicals from around the world and imposed a brutal system of oppression across swathes of Syria and Iraq.

Years on from the group’s military defeat, accused members are again in the spotlight — this time on trial in Iraq, including French nationals, for atrocities committed against the people trapped in the so-called caliphate.

Trials began in September for 47 French citizens who were transferred from Syria last year, charged with belonging to the group that controlled large parts of both countries between 2014 and 2017.

In its first verdicts handed down last week, Baghdad’s Karkh Criminal Court sentenced nine men to jail terms of up to 20 years.

A 24-year-old defendant, taken to Syria by his mother more than 10 years ago, was given 15 years. AFP is withholding his identity for legal reasons.

When the sentence was announced, the man said in Arabic: “I went to Syria, but it was my mother who chose for me. What is my fault?”

‘Deceived’ 

Thousands of people travelled from Europe to join IS during the war in Syria, where it declared a caliphate in 2014.

France, while repatriating hundreds of family members of jihadists, has refused to bring back most of the men accused of involvement, leaving them to face justice abroad.

Many French recruits were from disadvantaged suburbs of major cities and faced limited opportunities. They included descendants of immigrants, as well as converts to Islam.

The group imposed an extreme interpretation of sharia, forcing women and girls into sexual slavery, and jailed or killed anyone who dared speak out against its atrocities.

Fear was the group’s instrument of domination over areas where women were hidden from view and where executions were carried out by bearded militants in public squares, for all to see.

Now, the accused are now being brought to court with shaved faces, wearing orange jumpsuits.

About 1,500 French people are believed to have joined IS.

Among them was Kamel Ben Mbarek, 42, who said he had worked as a driver for the group’s Islamic police in Raqqa, in northern Syria.

“I regret it... because I wasn’t young when the organisation deceived me,” he told the court.

Driven by “anger at the abuses of the Syrian regime”, he embraced an ideology “that retained only certain passages of the Quran” — a manipulation he only realised when he read the holy book in prison.

Fewer than half of the French defendants have appeared so far.

“I regret everything I did. I’ve lost everything,” said Adel Bouaoun, 28, accused of taking part in IS operations in Syria’s Aleppo and Palmyra.

He recounted harsh conditions in Kurdish-run prisons in Syria, saying detainees had died, and described “physical and psychological torture”.

IS was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and then in Syria in 2019 by a US-led coalition.

Thousands of jihadists, along with their families, were left in Syrian prisons and camps under Kurdish command.

Earlier this year, the new Syrian authorities that came to power after the fall of Bashar al-Assad took over the prisons holding the jihadists.

The US army then transferred more than 5,700 detainees of about 60 nationalities to Iraq, including at least five French nationals.

Rights groups have criticised the judicial process, calling it rushed and saying that confessions were extracted under duress.

“This entire procedure is a form of pressure. You have recorded statements that are not mine,” Lakhdar Sebouai, 34, said in court.

Also among those awaiting trial is Adrien Guihal, who claimed responsibility on behalf of IS for the July 2016 attack in Nice, when a truck rammed Bastille Day crowds, killing 86 people.

‘Law of the jungle’ 

At one hearing, three defendants were visibly moved when they saw their siblings, who had come from France, for the first time in years.

The judge allowed them to speak together for a few minutes.

In October, French lawyers Matthieu Bagard and Marie Dose, who are defending many of the 47 French nationals, said the Iraqi judiciary had barred them from entering the country to attend the hearings, after they described the detainees’ treatment as “inhumane”.

The two lawyers are calling for the defendants’ repatriation to France so they can be tried there.

Two Iraqi lawyers appointed in their absence refused to speak to AFP.

“Even if his sentence is different, he was tortured like an adult and tried like an adult,” Bagard told AFP, referring to the 24-year-old taken to Syria as a child.

Observers, representatives of the French embassy and journalists are attending the trials.

Rights groups fear death sentences will be handed out.

Before the court, Thomas Barnouin, 45, whose verdict is expected November 18, recalled travelling to Syria at the start of the conflict, convinced that he had a religious duty.

But “the organisation applied the law of the jungle, not the law of God”, he said.

“We did not know that it also wanted to carry out terrorist attacks in our own country, in France,” he added.

“I reject all its crimes.” — AFP 

BRUSSELS, Nov 2 — Fifteen Belgium stores in the Carrefour supermarket chain were hit by a cyberattack that caused some refrigerators to soar in temperature, a spokesman told AFP on Monday.

“It’s a cyberattack, there is no other reason,” Carrefour Belgium spokesman Mich Vergauwen said, noting the “impact is very limited”. He said 15 stores among 700 in total were affected but not every refrigerator was impacted.

Supermarket chains Colruyt and Intermarche also told AFP they were hit by technical problems affecting fridges in five and around 15 stores respectively, without confirming if a cyberattack was suspected. — AFP 

HEBRON, Nov 2 — The Israeli army has pulled back following an operation in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, launched in the wake of an attack that killed two soldiers in late October, a military official said Monday.

The operation had emptied a neighbourhood in the West Bank’s largest city where the two gunmen had lived. AFP journalists witnessed residents returning to their homes on Monday after the military left.

“This morning, following the completion of all operational activities, the soldiers withdrew from the area of operation in Hebron. Counterterrorism activities throughout Judea and Samaria continue,” the official said, using the biblical name for the Palestinian territory.

On October 23, days ahead of close-fought Israeli elections, two Palestinian gunmen attacked an army checkpoint near Hebron, killing two soldiers and prompting promises of a major retaliatory operation from senior officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

By the following morning, the military had cleared out the residents of the assailants’ neighbourhood, displacing more than 3,000 people, according to the municipality.

The military official said that “soldiers conducted thorough searches of multiple locations, detained and questioned suspects, and located and confiscated four weapons, several vests, and additional military equipment”.

They also demolished the two attackers’ homes and “sealed an underground space located next to” one of them.

Muhannad al-Tamimi, whose house was occupied by soldiers since the operation began, told AFP his family came back to a trashed apartment with furniture and clothing strewn on the floors, mattresses overturned and a child’s bicycle broken. — AFP 

WASHINGTON, Nov 2 — Democrats teed up final get-out-the-vote rallies today on the eve of midterm elections where they expect to win at least partial control of Congress and impose political constraints on President Donald Trump for the first time in two years.

Rallies — including by star Democratic Senate candidates James Talarico in Texas and Adam Hamilton in Kansas — were capping a campaign of breathtaking tension and bitterness.

For his closing argument, Trump chose a speech in Washington at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool — a landmark that has become synonymous with the 80-year-old president’s obsessive, controversial drive to redevelop the US capital.

“We’re going to win,” he said yesterday.

Polls, however, show that Democrats are near certain to take the majority from Republicans in the House of Representatives and have a real shot at winning the currently Republican Senate.

Even winning just the House would mean Democrats have voting power over the federal budget and would lead powerful committees able to investigate alleged corruption under Trump, the Epstein files and other explosive issues.

The loss of total Republican dominance would push Trump into unfamiliar and uncomfortable territory: a lame-duck period beset with high inflation at home, the sputtering war against Iran and hostile Democratic investigations into his activities in Washington.

But a decade into the Trump era, Democrats remain wary about predictions of victory.

“Nauseously optimistic,” Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock told CNN to describe the mood.

Scorched earth 

Democrats are facing late internal divisions, with left-wing candidates clashing at times with the party’s establishment.

In a startling display of infighting on Sunday, Democratic congresswoman Haley Stevens in Michigan endorsed Republican candidate Mike Rogers against left-wing progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed in her state’s key Senate race.

Trump was quick to praise Stevens for her “bravery”, posting on his Truth Social platform that “Haley said what few people are willing to say.”

Stevens, who lost a bruising primary to El-Sayed in August despite being backed by the Democratic establishment, struggled to explain her decision in an interview with CNN.

“It’s just where I was at the end of the night and earlier this morning,” she said.

Trump’s Republicans have fought a political scorched-earth campaign, painting Democrats as communists and openly branding El-Sayed, who is Muslim, as a terrorist.

Addressing a crowd in Iowa on Sunday, Trump said Democrats are “extreme and dangerous radicals” who will “steal your wealth” and let in migrants to “ransack, rape and plunder.”

But polls show Americans heavily souring on Trump’s wrecking-ball act.

An NBC News poll released on Sunday showed 60 percent disapprove of his performance, particularly over high prices exacerbated by his now eight-month-long war against Iran.

While the House seems highly likely to turn Democratic, the battle for the Senate is up in the air.

Only a third of the Senate’s 100 seats are being contested in these midterms, and few of the races were seen as favorable to Democrats.

However, with surprisingly strong challenges in deeply Republican states, pollsters now say the odds of a Democratic flip are at minimum even.

The final New York Times/Siena poll released Sunday evening showed Democratic candidates leading in all seven seats viewed as most competitive, though five remained within the margin of error.

A Democratic Senate would be able to shut down Trump’s lifetime appointments to courts — including the Supreme Court.

While tomorrow is election day, early voting has already seen a record 54 million people cast ballots around the country.

The midterms have seen about US$11 billion spent on advertising, with large chunks coming from individual mega-donors.

Elon Musk, a close Trump ally who led the so-called DOGE effort in dismantling entire government departments, has given a staggering nearly half-billion dollars to help get Republicans elected. — AFP

TOKYO, Nov 2 — Japan urged the United States to enforce discipline among its troops after a Marine was arrested on suspicion of drink driving during a curfew in the wake of another serviceman’s arrest on a murder charge, the defence minister said today.

US forces on the Japanese island of Okinawa were barred from drinking alcohol for two days early last month and faced a 30-day curfew after the murder of a woman allegedly committed by an American Marine.

The case has triggered outrage in Japan and reignited controversy over the heavy US military presence on the southern island.

A second Marine had been arrested over allegations he drove under the influence of alcohol, Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said.

The arrest took place on Saturday, according to media reports.

“We requested that the US side strictly enforce discipline among its personnel, implement effective measures to prevent a recurrence, and ensure full compliance with the nighttime curfew,” Koizumi told reporters.

“We want them to take (the incident) seriously,” he added.

The curfew imposed last month required all troops to be back on base or at “an off-base domicile” from midnight to 5am.

Last week, Japanese prosecutors indicted the Marine accused of murdering a woman in Okinawa.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told lawmakers days after the woman’s death that the government had lodged a strong protest with the United States, urging their “full cooperation with the investigation” and “strict discipline among US military personnel”.

The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported that, according to the indictment document, the 20-year-old suspect allegedly strangled the woman from Naha in a hotel with a telephone cord on October 3.

The United States has around 54,000 military personnel stationed in Japan, mostly on Okinawa.

Crimes committed by US personnel have been a thorn in relations between the close security allies.

Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi has previously said that officials were reviewing the off-base code of conduct for US troops in Japan following the alleged killing.

The existing policy, updated in 2024 following a string of sexual assaults by US military personnel in Okinawa, includes a ban on servicemembers drinking in public off base between 1:00 am and 5:00 am or going to bars during those hours. — AFP

NEW DELHI, Nov 2 — A second cyclone in less than a week headed for India’s eastern coast today, with the storm expected to hit overnight, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

Cyclone Murasu is expected to make landfall around midnight on Monday or in the early hours of Tuesday, bringing heavy rain to Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

The storm season has been intensified by the El Nino weather phenomenon, which has contributed to unprecedented warming, bringing worldwide changes in winds, pressure and rainfall patterns.

“It is very likely to… cross south Andhra Pradesh coast as a severe cyclonic storm with wind speeds of around 100 to 110 kilometres (60 to 70 miles) per hour, gusting 120 kmph,” IMD said.

The storm is expected to make landfall between Nellore and Narsapur, near the city of Ongole, it said.

Last Wednesday, Cyclone Arnab struck the Andhra Pradesh coast, bringing heavy rain and killing at least three people.

Murasu is expected to be weaker in terms of wind speed than its predecessor, but could bring further heavy rain to areas already affected.

Cyclones, called hurricanes in the North Atlantic and typhoons in the Pacific, are a regular menace in the Bay of Bengal and northern Indian Ocean.

The weather office warned that strong winds could damage thatched houses, tear off rooftops and uproot trees, while standing crops, plantations and orchards could also suffer damage. — AFP

MIRPUR (Bangladesh), Nov 2 — Thousands of Bangladeshi garment workers blocked a major highway and clashed with police today, demanding a monthly minimum wage more than double current pay, as protests spread across industrial hubs.

Bangladesh is the world’s second-biggest garment exporter behind China, manufacturing clothes for some of the largest international brands.

Hundreds of workers in Gazipur, north of the capital Dhaka, blocked the Dhaka-Tangail highway, vandalising several vehicles, while large groups took to the streets in the Mirpur district, where police dispersed demonstrators with tear gas, AFP reporters saw.

The protests came despite the government’s announcement on Sunday that it would establish a wage board to review the minimum wage in the vital garment industry, which employs millions of people and generates the bulk of Bangladesh’s export earnings.

But labour leaders say workers’ grievances extend beyond the formation of the board, citing inflation and rising household expenses.

Protesters demand a 30,000-taka monthly pay (RM981), which is more than double their current pay.

Workers currently earn about 13,000 taka a month, according to Kalpona Akter of the Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity.

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman held an emergency cabinet meeting late Sunday.

“The prime minister… instructed us to ensure workers’ rights and improve their living standards. He also instructed us to ensure that production and exports continue unhindered,” Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed told reporters after the meeting.

“We are requesting law enforcement agencies to crack down on those involved in violence, unruly behaviour and unnecessary indiscipline and unrest,” he added.

Kamrul Hasan, general secretary of the Ekota Garments Sramik Federation, told AFP Monday that some labour leaders had gone into hiding.

“We were not prepared for this unrest either, as the wage board has already been formed. But workers are now protesting over wages and other unresolved issues,” he said.

Industry representatives who asked not to be identified confirmed that workers from at least 529 factories in Dhaka and its surrounding industrial areas, including Savar, Ashulia, Jirani and Gazipur, had left their workplaces yesterday. — AFP

WASHINGTON, Nov 2 — Republicans made a final push yesterday to prevent a predicted thumping in US midterm elections where Democrats are gunning to win Congress and impose a first political check on President Donald Trump’s unprecedented pursuit of power.

Polls show Democrats are all but certain to take the majority from Republicans in the House of Representatives in tomorrow’s vote and have a shot at winning the Senate.

But after a decade of Trump defying political gravity and two years of a second presidency in which he has ridden roughshod over every norm, Democrats remain nervous.

“Nauseously optimistic,” Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock told CNN to describe the mood.

Those jitters increased Sunday over an ugly party rift in Michigan, a key battleground where a Democratic congresswoman defected to back Republican Mike Rogers against the Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed.

The consensus among analysts, however, is that Democrats are surging.

Trump headlined the Republicans’ last-ditch charge, holding rallies for candidates in Iowa and Kansas — states where ordinarily his party should be confident of victory and not require presidential boosts.

Along with making lurid claims that Democrats will turn the country communist, Trump is dangling the promise of US$5,000 (RM20,329) payments to everyone in the country if his party wins.

“We’re going to win,” he told the crowd in Iowa, painting Democrats as “extreme and dangerous radicals” who will “steal your wealth” and let in migrants to “ransack, rape and plunder.”

But polls show Americans have soured on Trump’s wrecking-ball presidency.

An NBC News poll released Sunday showed 60 percent disapprove of Trump’s performance, particularly over high prices exacerbated by his now eight-month, sputtering war against Iran.

Curbing Trump 

While tomorrow is election day, early voting has already seen a record 54 million people cast ballots around the country, reflecting the intense political fervor.

Trump’s second term has featured a relentless expansion of presidential power, aided by an ever-more docile Republican Party.

Trump has torn down part of the White House to build a ballroom, put his image on money and official buildings, disrupted the global economy with sweeping economic tariffs, and threatened to invade or annex allies like Canada and Greenland.

A big Democratic win would kick start the post-Trump era and could even begin the race to replace him in 2028.

Winning the House would put Democrats in charge of the federal budget and powerful committees set to probe allegations of mass corruption, Trump’s links to infamous sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and other explosive topics.

The outcome of the contest for the Senate remains in doubt.

Only a third of the Senate’s 100 seats are being contested in these midterms and few of the races were seen as favorable to Democrats. However, with surprisingly strong challenges mounted in deeply Republican states like Texas and Kansas, pollsters now say the odds of a Democratic flip are at minimum even.

A Democratic Senate would be able to shut down Trump’s lifetime appointments to courts — especially the Supreme Court.

Will Trump accept results? 

The midterms have seen about US$11 billion spent on advertising, with large chunks coming from individual mega-donors.

Elon Musk, a close Trump ally who led the so-called DOGE effort in dismantling entire government departments, has given a staggering nearly half-billion dollars to help get Republicans elected.

The campaigns have also been marked by blistering language and insults, led by Trump who falsely accused leading Democratic candidates of being everything from vegans to jihadists.

And hanging over everything is concern that Republicans will refuse to accept a loss, leading to a constitutional crisis similar to Trump’s attempt to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat.

A federal judge on Sunday tossed out an extremely unusual attempt by Trump’s administration to hold up a potential victory by a Democratic candidate for Senate in Alaska.

The lawsuit contended that if Democrat Mary Peltola beats the Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan, the result should not be certified because there is a third, minor candidate also called Dan Sullivan, allegedly recruited by Democrats to siphon off votes. — AFP

WASHINGTON, Nov 2 — A federal judge yesterday tossed out an extremely unusual attempt by US President Donald Trump’s administration to hold up midterm election results in Alaska should the Democratic Senate candidate win.

The judge dismissed the closely watched lawsuit, saying it would be unworkable.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) had asked the court to block certification of the results if incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan loses tomorrow, because a second candidate also named Dan Sullivan would have drawn away votes.

The legal bid, which Trump has said he ordered personally, sparked alarm, given concerns that Republicans will seek to contest losses in the midterms battle for control of Congress.

Alaska is one of the states where Democrats are aiming to flip Republican-held seats in their uphill bid to win the Senate majority.

According to Trump and the lawsuit, the Democratic candidate in Alaska, Mary Peltola, has tried to get an unfair advantage by recruiting another person named Sullivan to run and confuse voters who intended to back the incumbent Republican Senator Sullivan.

They sought to force an investigation if the Democrat wins to check how many voters who cast ballots for the second Sullivan actually meant to choose the Republican incumbent.

Such an attempt “would likely result in voter ‘confusion and consequent incentive to remain away from the polls.’ Such late-breaking changes to the election rules are strongly disfavored,” said the ruling by Judge Sharon Gleason, an appointee of former Democratic president Barack Obama.

Peltola has denied deliberately recruiting the second Sullivan into the race.

Shortly after Gleason’s ruling, the DOJ stated it plans to file an appeal.

“Alaskan voters deserve a fair election, not to be misled in an attempt to rig outcomes,” the DOJ said through its rapid response account on X.

Meanwhile Trump took to his Truth Social platform to claim that “the Fake Daniel J Sullivan Jr” had disappeared, and described Democratic lawyers and activists as “CRIMINALS” abusing the law. — AFP

SANAA, Nov 2 — Houthi media, citing an anonymous military official, yesterday repeated threats against Saudi oil giant Aramco and aviation in the kingdom.

Yemen’s Houthis, fighting a Saudi-led coalition backing the internationally recognised government, are allies of Iran, which on Sunday warned the US and Israel not to renew strikes on the Islamic republic after they had threatened a return to war.

“Aramco facilities are within range of the Yemeni Armed Forces, and investments in them are a venture fraught with losses,” the Houthis’ Saba news agency quoted the military official as saying.

The official also warned international airlines against using Saudi airspace “except for the airspaces of Mecca and Medina”.

The Houthis have targeted oil facilities and airports in the kingdom since Yemen’s once-dormant war reignited in July, killing 24 people in Saudi Arabia last month.

An October 10 strike on Riyadh’s international airport became the deadliest on Saudi soil in years when it killed at least 13 people.

On Sunday the coalition said it had intercepted a missile and a drone both launched by the Houthis “towards the southern region”.

Meanwhile, fighting in Yemen has displaced more than 300,000 people in the western part of the impoverished country.

Most of them forced from their homes in the last two months, the displaced “urgently need shelter, food, clean water and health care”, the International Organization for Migration said in a statement on Sunday.

The United Nations says more than 1,600 people have been killed since fighting in Yemen reignited.

Saba on Sunday said that Saudi Arabia had “targeted the Faculty of Medicine at Hodeidah University with two raids”, and two Hodeidah residents told AFP they heard an explosion in the area.

The coalition, for its part, said on Sunday it had conducted “a precision operation to neutralise vital resources” used by the Houthis, and published video footage that it said showed attacks on the Hodeideh and Dhamar governorates.

A fragile 2022 truce fell apart in July after the Houthis allowed an Iranian plane to land in Yemen’s capital Sanaa in defiance of Saudi control over Yemeni airspace, setting off a spate of attacks. — AFP

PARIS, Nov 2 — France today opened an attempted murder probe after petrol bombs were thrown at security forces during Paris protests, as footage of an officer engulfed in flames sparked outrage.

On Saturday, clashes erupted in Paris and other cities after hundreds of thousands of people staged a third weekend of protests against soaring living costs.

The Paris police prefecture said several hundred rioters had attacked security forces with projectiles.

The Paris prosecutors’ office told AFP they were analysing videos and photos posted on social media.

They said they had singled out three individuals dressed in black in the style of Black Block protesters as suspects.

So far, however, there have been no arrests for the attacks.

While riots were less widespread than two weeks ago, when France experienced some of its worst unrest in years, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the violence perpetrated by some was “extraordinary”.

Dramatic images, including AFP photos and video, showed a homemade incendiary device exploding at the feet of a security officer in protective gear, engulfing his lower body in flames.

Prosecutors said an investigation had been opened for “attempted murder of persons vested with public authority”.

“Explosive devices were thrown at around 15 gendarmes as well as police officers,” prosecutors said.

Gendarmes are military police officers who are part of the French armed forces.

Prosecutors said the reported injuries included second-degree burns, adding that no suspects had yet been arrested.

‘Under assault’ 

A video circulating on social media showed a police officer performing crowd-control duties when his leg suddenly caught fire.

The footage showed two colleagues struggling to extinguish the flames as a man in a white T-shirt and straw hat rushed to the officer’s aid, attempting to put out the fire with his bare hands. Moments later, another officer pushed the man away and shoved him against a wall.

“In the heat of the action and under pressure, we thought this man had come to attack us, and my colleague pushed him away and used a restraint technique. This protester, or street medic, had actually come to help,” the gendarme, identifying himself only as Captain Alexandre in accordance with French regulations, told AFP.

“I didn’t immediately understand why he was there because I was completely focused on a difficult operation while my trousers were on fire,” he said, adding he was grateful for the man’s help and wanted to thank him.

Speaking separately to broadcaster RTL, the gendarme said his unit was “under assault”, with glass bottles, paving stones, and firebombs thrown at them.

“We were hit by several substantial incendiary devices,” he said.

“The flammable substance was so greasy that I could feel it spreading across my skin,” he said.

The officer, who received minor injuries, said the leg and shin protections on his riot uniform melted.

The gendarmerie said that 13 members of the officer’s unit had been injured, according to RTL.

Elections looming 

The protests come in a tense political climate, with presidential elections six months away and front-runner Marine Le Pen vowing to restore law and order if elected next year.

Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Rally party, said on X those responsible for the firebomb attack must be “punished with the utmost severity”.

Both she and Bruno Retailleau, head of the right-wing Republicans, described images of the officer in flames as “unbearable”.

More than 770 people were arrested across France, the interior ministry said.

A total of 159 members of law enforcement were injured during protests and Halloween celebrations. — AFP

RABAT, Nov 2 — A Moroccan court sentenced a young cartoonist to four years in prison for "insulting the king" over caricatures he drew of King Mohammed VI, his lawyer said yesterday.

Lawyer Farouk Mehdaoui said 22-year-old Yasser Mounbir was also fined 40,000 dirhams (about RM16,535) for the offence.

Mehdaoui said the defence team will file an appeal.

Mounbir, who was convicted of "insulting the king" and "insulting public officials", was arrested in June, after he posted his caricatures of the monarch on Instagram.

The Moroccan Association for Human Rights had called for his release.

Article 179 of the Moroccan Penal Code forbids "defamation, insult or infringement of the private life of the king" and provides for prison sentences ranging from six months to two years.

The sentences can be doubled when the offence is committed electronically.

Rights advocates in Morocco have called for an end to laws they say stifle freedom of speech and for the pardon of people sentenced over social media posts. — AFP

BEIJING, Nov 2 — The Chinese Communist Party is set to tighten oversight of its officials by scrutinising their assets and online activities, according to a party document released on Sunday.

The document from the CCP’s powerful Central Committee was published by the Xinhua state news agency following this week’s annual plenary session in Beijing, which focused on governance and clamping down on corruption.

President Xi Jinping has cracked down hard on graft during more than a decade in charge, ensnaring thousands of officials and purging dozens of members of the powerful Central Committee as well as a string of top military brass.

The resolution released on Sunday, which outlines the party’s policy direction, calls for stricter monitoring of officials.

“Starting with high-ranking officials, we will tighten all-around management and regular oversight of officials, imposing strict requirements throughout their career,” it said.

“Those with family property and spending far exceeding their normal incomes will be examined, and relevant verifications will be carried out,” the resolution said, adding that the business ventures of officials’ spouses and children would also receive increased oversight.

“We will better regulate the online behavior of Party members,” it added.

The resolution said the party would also combat corruption carried out through virtual currencies and blockchain.

The plenum, which ended on Thursday, had adopted a decision on “advancing full and rigorous governance of the party”, which includes reducing corruption among cadres, Xinhua said.

State media had confirmed 33 more dignitaries had been ejected, including former Politburo member Zhang Youxia, once China’s highest-ranking general.

Proponents say China’s corruption purge promotes clean governance, but analysts have said the moves were aimed at paving the way for Xi to extend his rule at a Party Congress due in the second half of 2027.

Sunday’s The Central Committee resolution also called for “improving the efficacy of intraparty democracy” by providing more avenues for members to express their opinions and encouraging them to “speak their minds”.

“We must uphold and improve the systems for exercising intraparty democracy, respect the principal position of Party members, and safeguard their democratic rights,” it said. — AFP

NOVI SAD (Serbia), Nov 2 — Thousands gathered in Novi Sad today to honour the victims of a railway station disaster that sparked the anti-government movement which toppled Serbia’s right-wing ruling party a week earlier.

The commemoration marked two years since a concrete canopy at the newly renovated railway station in Serbia’s second-largest city collapsed, killing 16 people, including two sisters aged six and 10.

Amid nationwide grief and mounting questions over the station’s multi-million-euro renovation, the disaster sparked some of Serbia’s largest protests since the fall of strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000.

“It’s hard to go back to the place where it all happened,” Dijana Hrka, whose 27-year-old son Stefan was killed in the collapse, told AFP.

“And each time, it gets harder and harder,” said Hrka, who burst into tears as she approached a heart-shaped banner bearing her son’s name, one of 16 displayed outside the station in memory of the victims.

Crowds filed past for hours, laying flowers and lighting candles.

At 11.52 am (8.52pm Malaysian time), the exact time the concrete canopy collapsed two years ago, those gathered observed 16 minutes of silence — one for each victim.

“The emotions are indescribable,” Danijela, a 50-year-old Novi Sad resident, told AFP through tears.

“I think everyone who comes here today will feel an energy that is a mixture of positive and negative emotions.”

This year’s anniversary falls just a week after the student movement swept to victory in snap elections, returning to the place that first spawned protests.

Students arrived after marching silently through rain-soaked Novi Sad carrying floral wreaths.

“There’s something about this place. You can just feel the sadness in the air,” said 18-year-old Simona Sapcic who travelled from the northern city of Subotica.

- ‘Justice will be served’ -

In a statement read during the commemoration, students said that “tragedy” was not enough to describe what happened two years ago.

“Tragedy describes an accident. But behind that word, one can cleverly conceal the word we are all looking for — responsibility,” they said.

Demands for a transparent investigation brought hundreds of thousands onto the streets and played a central role in the movement’s election victory.

The student-backed list won around 140 seats in the 250-member parliament, enough to govern alone.

Hrka said she hoped the political upheaval in the country would accelerate investigations into the tragedy.

“I believe justice will be served. That’s the only thing keeping me going right now — knowing there will be justice,” she said.

Since former president Aleksandar Vucic’s party conceded defeat, the students have demanded progress in numerous corruption and high-profile murder probes, as well as fresh investigations into projects launched by the outgoing government.

The movement has also called for the heads of several key state agencies, including the police and intelligence services, to resign.

- Investigations -

Radovan Balac, 72, from Novi Sad came to the commemoration “with a feeling of sadness”, but also “anger”.

“Because court proceedings have still not begun to establish who is responsible for this crime,” he added.

Several investigations into the Novi Sad tragedy are ongoing, but no trial has started.

Former construction minister Goran Vesic, who resigned days after the collapse, was charged in 2025 alongside 12 others with a serious crime against public safety.

Vesic is also a suspect in a separate corruption investigation into the project’s finances, alongside another former minister, Tomislav Momirovic, and several others.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office is separately investigating possible misuse of EU funds linked to the renovation.

“If we manage to put them behind bars now, this will never happen again,” Hrka said.

“I hope this was the last time we had to take to the streets in such numbers because of a tragedy. That’s all I hope for,” Stefan’s mother said. — AFP

TEHRAN, Nov 2 — Iran warned yesterday that any renewed war with the United States could last longer than the previous round of fighting, after President Donald Trump said he still had to “take care” of more targets.

Diplomatic efforts to end the Middle East war have been punctuated by repeated threats from the US and Israel to resume bombardments as they hold crucial elections.

“A potential future war could last longer than previous conflict, and the American president would not be in a position to dictate the timing or the conditions of its conclusion,” said army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia, according to Iranian state television.

In the most intense phase of the war, which began on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, Tehran retaliated with missile and drone attacks across the region. Iran-aligned armed groups joined the fighting in Lebanon and Yemen.

Akraminia’s remarks followed Trump’s suggestion that the US could swiftly strike its remaining targets in Iran.

“We still have to take care of, I would say one or two sites, but we can do that in 10 minutes,” Trump told reporters.

“You probably could look at Pickaxe Mountain, and you have to take care of that. We can do that all very quickly,” he added, referring to a suspected underground nuclear complex.

US media reported that Trump had held a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday over whether and when to ramp up combat operations against Iran.

Axios quoted one US and one Israeli official saying the two leaders discussed the state of negotiations with the Islamic republic, with Netanyahu pressing the president to strike Iran immediately after Tuesday’s US midterm elections and Trump eager to let negotiations play out.

The Israeli source described the call as “tough”, while the US source said it was “direct”, according to Axios.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Trump confirmed he had discussed Iran with Netanyahu, but would not elaborate.

‘No geographical limitations’ 

Top military and political officials in Iran have warned against any new attack.

Revolutionary Guards spokesman Hossein Mohebbi on Sunday echoed a warning issued a day earlier in a written message by Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.

“In a conflict with America, there are no geographical limitations; a vast theatre has been defined for inflicting damage upon the enemy,” Mohebbi said, according to state television.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said: “We hope the other side will exercise rationality and choose diplomacy,” adding that Iran “remains prepared for both defence and diplomacy”, according to the official IRNA news agency.

The warnings came as Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei disclosed on Saturday that he had received a letter from US Vice President JD Vance seeking to revive talks.

Rezaei noted what he described as a positive change in “tone” from the US side but said he had yet to respond.

He said Tehran had previously told Washington that unless its conditions were met, “neither would the Strait of Hormuz be reopened nor would there be any negotiations”.

Those conditions include unfreezing Iranian assets abroad, ending the months-long US naval blockade of Iranian ports, lifting longstanding sanctions and ending the war on all fronts.

Since the war began, Iran has claimed control over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global energy conduit, and repeatedly targeted vessels attempting to cross without its authorisation.

The US has imposed a naval counter-blockade on Iranian ports.

‘Braced for the worst’ 

Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the Emirati president, said on Sunday that the United Arab Emirates hoped the exchanges would yield a breakthrough but was preparing for the worst.

“We’re hoping that there is a diplomatic breakthrough,” he told a conference in Manama.

“It is not the interest of the region to go through another round… But I think we’re also, as we’ve shown before, braced for the worst.”

In Tehran, some residents described a sense of helplessness as threats of renewed fighting mount.

“The news coming in is truly worrying. However… there is nothing I can actually do about it,” Mohadese, a 27-year-old health inspector, told AFP.

Others including 48-year-old vendor Ebrahim saw no reason to be concerned.

“We do not fear another war; we have been at war for 48 years now — we are always at war,” he said in downtown Tehran. — AFP

KYIV, Nov 2 — The longest truce of the Ukraine war, limited to the eastern Kherson region, ended yesterday after Russia refused the offer of an extension, Ukrainian officials said.

The rare pause in fighting, brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump and which began early Tuesday, enabled a humanitarian mission to the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky as the war grinds through its fifth year.

Neither side reported violations after the truce began, in what one Ukrainian lawmaker described as the “biggest de-escalation since 2022”.

“The ceasefire, which was in effect from October 27 to November 1, has ended,” said Ukraine’s Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets.

He called the temporary truce “an important step in our joint humanitarian efforts” with Russia.

US-mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine are set to resume this month, having been effectively frozen since the United States and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran in February.

Yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country would stop hitting Russian oil refineries — as US counterpart Donald Trump has demanded — if Washington provided Kyiv with powerful Patriot interceptor missiles.

Raid alert app hack 

Kherson regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin warned local people to be particularly vigilant when the ceasefire ended and to “respond immediately to warnings about Russian attacks”.

Later Sunday, Ukraine’s air force and anti-disinformation centre said they suspected the country’s air raid alert system had been hacked, after false alerts of a radiation threat appeared on the application.

The announcement came minutes after the end of the truce.

“The Air Alarm application has probably been subjected to hostile interference,” the force said in a message. “There is no radiation threat.”

Air force spokesman Yuriy Ignat confirmed to AFP that the app had been hacked.

SPRAVDI, Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communications, blamed Russia for the hack in a post on its X account.

A separate app, which deals specifically with the Ukrainian capital, is still working normally, the Kyiv city authorities said.

- Bracing for ‘worse’ -

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in early 2022, the conflict has destroyed parts of eastern and southern Ukraine, left hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians dead, and forced millions to flee their homes.

AFP spoke to several Kherson residents, one of whom said the ceasefire had been a “breath of fresh air”.

“We have to use this time to get things done,” said Volodymyr Omeltchenko, a 38-year-old gardener. “We’re pruning the rose bushes for winter.”

Pope Leo, who had pressed Russia for a truce in Oleshky, said he hoped the temporary pause would “strengthen the desire for dialogue and lead to new concrete peace initiatives”.

A Ukrainian military officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, expressed concern that the fighting would be “worse than before” when it resumed.

Russian forces on the other side of the Dnipro river, had taken advantage of the calm of the past few days to amass new troops, transport ammunition stocks, and collect intelligence on Ukrainian positions using surveillance drones, the officer said.

Refinery reportedly hit 

Russia and Ukraine exchanged strikes elsewhere on Sunday.

Russia said early Sunday that a drone had struck an “industrial enterprise” east of Moscow overnight.

Ukrainian media reported that Kyiv had attacked the Kstovo oil refinery, calling it “one of Russia’s largest oil refineries, producing fuel and lubricants”.

Kyiv has repeatedly struck Russian oil and gas sites, in what it says is fair retaliation for Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

Trump has been pressing Kyiv to stop such attacks, blaming them for rising diesel costs that analysts attribute to the Iran war.

Yesterday, Zelensky referred to conversations he had had with Trump and his team on the issue, in an interview with Fox News.

“We said that if you want us not to attack Russia’s refineries, they have not to attack our energy system. Another alternative, give us Patriot missiles, we will find money, not just aid,” said Zelensky.

Ukraine’s energy ministry reported fresh power outages across the country Sunday, including in Kyiv, following Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

Ukrainian strikes killed five people in Russian-occupied Ukraine between late Saturday and Sunday afternoon, Russian-installed authorities said.

Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians.

Russia now occupies around a fifth of its neighbour: the Crimean peninsula, which it annexed in 2014, most of the eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk — collectively referred to as the Donbas — and large parts of the southern Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. — AFP

WASHINGTON, Nov 2 — Nine people were killed yesterday when the Learjet they were traveling in plummeted into a neighborhood in southern Florida, just miles from US President Donald Trump’s resort home of Mar-a-Lago, officials said.

Several unverified clips depicting the deadly crash and posted to social media show an aircraft nearly vertical slamming at high speed into the ground and triggering a large fireball, leaving a flaming crater near a busy roadside.

“Today’s plane crash in Palm Beach County, Florida is a horrific tragedy,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement, confirming that all nine people on board were killed.

Duffy said the plane, a Learjet 60, had departed from Austin, Texas and was headed for the Bahamas.

The crash occurred near Cresthaven, a neighborhood in Palm Beach County that is less than seven miles (11 kilometres) from Mar-a-Lago.

Road closure after reports of a plane crashed onto the ground with some fatalities on November 1, 2026 in Greenacres, Florida. — Getty Images via AFP pic

Trump himself had been at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday and had departed from the nearby and newly renamed President Donald J Trump International Airport shortly after he boarded Air Force One at 11.55am, about an hour before the crash of the Learjet aircraft.

Storms had been reported in the area, and Trump carried an umbrella as he boarded Air Force One.

“The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate,” the crash, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. — AFP

LA PAZ, Nov 1 — Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz declared a state of emergency Saturday to free up resources for dealing with the impact of the El Nino weather phenomenon, wreaking havoc around the world.

The decree also calls for deploying more rescue teams in hard-hit areas as Bolivia grapples with both flooding and drought because of El Nino, Paz said in an address to the nation.

“This will be a phenomenon that will have very severe impacts in terms of drought and floods, and we need the cooperation of all institutions,” Paz said.

Drought is affecting 78,000 families in six of the country’s nine departments and has led to the loss of more than 75,000 head of cattle, according to a government report this week.

El Nino warms surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, bringing worldwide changes in winds, pressure and rainfall patterns.

The United Nations warned this week that the current El Nino could have “unprecedented” strength that would bring havoc to Latin America, eastern and southern Africa, Asia and the Pacific.

Among Bolivia’s neighbors’ Peru has seen increased temperatures and wildfires, which have already claimed the lives of at least 12 people.

Chile has experienced the rainiest October ever recorded in Santiago, the capital. —- AFP

PARIS, Nov 1 — The head of a student group said a campaign of high school blockades would restart from Monday, adding the government’s proposals did not go far enough.

On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people, including high school and university students, took to the streets across France for a third consecutive weekend of protests.

Some high schools will be blockaded from Monday, when students return from a two-week holiday, said Pierre Sourzat, head of the “Lycéens!” group.

“It will be more significant from Tuesday, but we know that some schools will be blocked as early as tomorrow,” he told broadcaster RMC on Sunday.

“We support all our comrades who are blocking their schools from tomorrow,” he added.

France’s protest movement against soaring prices emerged from weeks of demonstrations by high school students protesting deteriorating learning conditions and inequality.

On Monday, the government announced a series of measures aimed at addressing student protesters’ demands, including replacing the university admissions platform and providing loans for school renovations.

Students said the proposals did not go far enough.

On Saturday, Sabrine Kharbach, spokeswoman for the Union Etudiante (Student Union), said blockades of universities and high schools would take place on Tuesday and Thursday.

Riot gendarmes stand guard on a staircase at the end of a protest in Paris on October 31, 2026, as France saw a third weekend of demonstrations over the cost of living. — AFP pic

President Emmanuel Macron has called for classes to resume in a calm manner, arguing that “young people have been heard”.

Sourzat countered that “the president hasn’t listened to us”.

“It’s smoke and mirrors,” he said. “There’s a bit of polish on the surface, but once you scratch beneath it, there’s nothing there.”

Sourzat said the proposed overhaul of the university admissions platform, long criticised for its lack of transparency, failed to address the shortage of places in higher education.

He also dismissed the government’s plan to reduce class sizes as insufficient, noting that it would apply only to 10th-grade classes.

“We were asking for all year groups,” he said.

With the eurozone’s second-largest economy on the brink of recession and under pressure to rein in its debt, the government has limited scope to appease student protesters through additional spending. — AFP

MANAMA, Nov 1 — The UAE is hoping for a breakthrough in negotiations between Iran and the United States while being prepared for the worst, a senior official said on Sunday, following threats of a resumption of the Middle East war.

“We’re hoping that there is a diplomatic breakthrough,” diplomatic adviser to the Emirati president Anwar Gargash said during a conference in Manama.

“It is not the interest of the region to go through another round... But I think we’re also, as we’ve shown before, braced for the worst.”

Following a visit to Tehran this week by a Qatari delegation, Iran has dispatched envoys to the Gulf country to continue consultations as part of indirect negotiations with the US to end the war.

But US President Donald Trump reiterated his threats on Saturday, saying the United States still has to “take care of” one or two targets in Iran.

“We just can’t allow Iran to take this region and the global economy hostage,” US Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Donald Blome said at the Manama conference on Sunday.

“The hand of negotiation has been extended, and those channels have continued to be open and active at the same time,” Blome said. “We’ve been also prepared to go in another direction.”

On Saturday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump has not made a decision about fresh strikes on Iran and that the US would be open to a diplomatic solution.

The war began on February 28 with joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran, which retaliated by targeting, among others, Gulf countries allied with Washington. — AFP

NEW DELHI, Nov 1 — Thousands joined a protest led by opposition politicians in India’s capital today, renewing demands for the country’s election chief to resign over an overhaul of voter lists they say unfairly benefits the ruling party.

The nationwide revision of electoral rolls has sparked political disputes and street protests in the world’s largest democracy over the last month.

The Election Commission says the initiative is necessary to ensure accurate voter lists, but the opposition claims it is being manipulated to favour Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Both the Election Commission and the BJP deny the accusations.

Today, protesters led by opposition Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi chanted “vote thief, leave your seat” and beat drums while marching from central parts of New Delhi to Ramlila Maidan, a large outdoor venue.

“I have been a voter since I was 18 and now I find myself struck off the list,” protester Nandita, 46, told AFP, giving only one name.

“It’s important to be here because of the way things are going. The cost of living is going up... The only option is to take to the streets peacefully.”

The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), an online youth-led protest movement, has also thrown its weight behind the campaign against the voter-roll revision.

The overhaul of India’s voter rolls has resulted in more than 133 million names being removed from electoral lists, according to figures reported by Indian media and cited by opposition parties in court filings.

Critics say the removals have disproportionately affected minorities, particularly Muslims.

Members of Hindu-nationalist BJP have long alleged that large numbers of undocumented Muslim migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh have fraudulently entered India’s electoral rolls.

Election authorities say the revision was intended to eliminate duplicate, deceased and fraudulent entries, and that eligible voters remain entitled to apply for inclusion on the roll.

Human Rights Watch has said the removal of voters was “arbitrary and deeply flawed”.

“The authorities should immediately scrap the voter roll revision process that has denied India’s most marginalised people their right to vote and other government services,” it said in a statement this week.

The Cockroach movement has been heavily involved in the pushback to the voter-roll revision and several of its leaders were temporarily detained by police during protests last month.

The CJP has gained millions of followers on social media since it was launched in May.

Earlier protests organised by the CJP in July over exam irregularities forced the resignation of the education minister, marking a rare climbdown by Modi’s administration. — AFP

FRANKFURT, Nov 1 — German police sealed off a major shopping street in central Frankfurt on Saturday night after rioters smashed shop windows, looted stores and attacked officers following a demonstration, German Press Agency (dpa) reported.

The Zeil, one of Germany’s busiest shopping streets, was closed to new arrivals, with police urging bystanders to leave the area. 

“Anyone not involved who is still on the Zeil can leave. Access to the Zeil is no longer possible,” police said.

Chaotic scenes unfolded along the high street, where dpa journalists saw people breaking into shops and stealing trainers and other goods.

A specialist firearms shop was also attacked, prompting several arrests, a police spokesman said. Officers quickly reached the scene and secured two weapons, although police did not specify what kind.

Police also reported attacks on officers, including with incendiary devices.

The violence erupted after police broke up a demonstration organised by youth-led initiatives following repeated attacks on officers.

A large contingent of officers was deployed around the Zeil, with police advising people to avoid or leave central Frankfurt. — Bernama-dpa

JAKARTA, Nov 1 — Indonesia’s forest and land fire hotspots have declined to 96 from 160 a day earlier, but rising detections in Central Kalimantan and persistent underground peat fires continue to pose challenges to firefighting efforts.

The Forestry Ministry said high-confidence hotspots declined by 64 nationwide as of 9pm on Saturday, although Central Kalimantan recorded an increase from 12 to 15 hotspots.

Of the 96 hotspots detected nationwide, 19 were recorded across six priority provinces, comprising 15 in Central Kalimantan, three in South Sumatra and one in South Kalimantan.

“Central Kalimantan remains one of the main priorities in forest and land fire control efforts.

“The nature of peatlands means firefighting operations take longer, as fires can continue burning and spreading underground even after surface flames have been extinguished or rainfall has occurred,” it said in its latest update posted on Instagram on Sunday.

The ministry said Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni had inspected previously affected areas in Central Kalimantan to assess conditions and ensure continued monitoring and enforcement.

A total of 61 aircraft remained deployed for firefighting operations, including 24 for aerial patrols and weather modification, and 37 helicopters for water bombing.

The ministry urged communities and businesses to avoid using fire to clear land and to report any signs of smoke or burning. — Bernama

NEW DELHI, Nov 1 — Authorities in New Delhi stepped up anti-pollution measures today, including higher parking fees and work-from-home orders, seeking to curb toxic smog in one of the world’s most polluted capitals.

The restrictions, which came into force today, include a doubling of vehicle parking charges and work-from-home arrangements for government and private-sector offices aimed at cutting traffic emissions.

Authorities will also bar vehicles that do not comply with mandated emission standards from entering the capital, while a ban on all dust-generating demolition and outdoor construction activity takes effect immediately.

“From November 1... Delhi’s Winter Action Plan comes into effect with stricter pollution controls, stronger enforcement and 24×7 monitoring,” Chief Minister Rekha Gupta’s office said in a statement.

“We humbly request all Delhiites to follow the guidelines and contribute towards making Delhi’s air cleaner and healthier.”

Delhi’s government has already rolled out a range of pollution-control measures over the past month, including a ban on rubbish burning and restrictions on food stalls using coal or firewood.

But similar efforts in previous years have done little to prevent the annual smog that engulfs the megacity from November to January, when cooler temperatures trap pollutants close to the ground.

Major sources of pollution include vehicle emissions, coal-fired power plants, industrial activity, construction dust and the burning of crop residue in neighbouring states.

Vehicles account for 23 per cent of Delhi’s winter pollution, while biomass burning, including farm stubble fires, contributes 20 per cent, according to India’s environment ministry.

Industry, including coal-fired power plants, contributes about nine per cent.

Levels of PM2.5, tiny cancer-causing particles that can penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream, frequently exceed 300 micrograms per cubic metre during peak winter months, around 20 times the World Health Organisation’s recommended daily limit.

Last year, pollution levels peaked at 846 micrograms per cubic metre, or 56 times the WHO guideline.

Today, monitors recorded PM 2.5 at 201 micrograms per cubic metre, over 13 times the safe limit, a reading that was likely helped by intermittent rain over the last few days.

A 2024 study published in The Lancet Planetary Health estimated that 3.8 million deaths in India between 2009 and 2019 were linked to air pollution. — AFP

LONDON, Nov 1 — British police yesterday arrested at least 139 Palestine Action supporters, who protested in London and Edinburgh days ahead of a court appeal over the government’s contentious ban of the group.

London’s Metropolitan Police began detaining people shortly after hundreds started a lunchtime “mass action” outside the US Embassy, an AFP reporter witnessed.

The force said in an evening update that officers were “continuing to make arrests” as they confirmed that 139 had already been detained.

Police have arrested more than 4,000 people on suspicion of showing support for Palestine Action, according to campaigners, after the British government outlawed it under anti-terror laws in July 2025.

Many of those arrested, including senior citizens and Holocaust survivors, have displayed signs at rallies reading: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”

In July, hearings related to more than 2,000 of those cases were postponed until later this year.

“It is truly dystopian that there have now been over 4,000 arrests under terror laws for peaceful vigils,” Protest organisers Defend Our Juries said in a statement.

The ban puts the group on a blacklist that also includes Palestinian militants Hamas and the Lebanese Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah.

It made membership of, or support for, Palestine Action a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

The group’s co-founder Huda Ammori has legally challenged the ban, arguing it was “disproportionate” and infringed human rights.

The Supreme Court is set to hold a two-day hearing on the high-profile case from Wednesday, after the Court of Appeal in June ruled in the government’s favour.

‘Losing faith’ 

Yesterday’s London protesters held banners bearing slogans such as “How is trying to stop a genocide a crime?” and “We are protesters, not terrorists.”

Attendee Angie Zelter, 75, told AFP she had already been charged at least eight times at previous rallies but wanted to protest again ahead of the Supreme Court hearing.

“I am hoping they will come to their senses and agree PA (Palestine Action) should not have been proscribed,” she said.

Marji Mansfield, 70, a retired financial adviser, said she had previously been arrested about 10 times.

“I am losing faith in the judicial system,” she told AFP.

“If they lift the ban, it would be a way out for the government,” Mansfield added, while noting there was currently “no sign” of the ban’s reversal.

A bestselling Irish author, Sally Rooney, has entered the controversy, with her publisher Faber revealing this month it can no longer sell her books in the UK because of her support for the group.

Set up in 2020, Palestine Action’s stated goal on its website — blocked to UK internet users — is to end “global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime”.

It gained visibility after Israel began bombarding Gaza following the October 7, 2023, attack by fighters from Palestinian group Hamas in southern Israel.

Palestine Action has mainly targeted weapons factories in Britain, especially those belonging to the Israel-based defence group Elbit. — AFP

TEL AVIV, Nov 1 — Hundreds of Israelis took to the streets yesterday to urge the opposition to ally with Arab parties to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has gone on the offensive against the minority group’s leaders.

Arab-majority parties made major gains in Tuesday’s election, fuelled by anger over rhetoric targeting the community from Netanyahu’s hard-right government, but opposition chief Gadi Eisenkot has not decided whether to seek a coalition with them.

Joining a rally in Tel Aviv, Ayelet Raz said that the Arab community, which accounts for around 20 per cent of Israel’s population, had a right to political participation.

“It’s the last chance for real change,” the 60-year-old psychologist said, warning that Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, was a “great manipulator”.

“We need to give peace a chance,” she said. “Otherwise we’ll have this bloodshed forever.”

Tuesday’s election was inconclusive, with neither bloc reaching a majority in Israel’s 120-seat parliament.

Jewish-majority parties opposed to Netanyahu, known by his nickname Bibi, won 48 seats, while two Arab-majority parties, Raam and the Joint List, secured a combined 19 seats.

An alliance between the two camps would potentially give the anti-Netanyahu bloc a comfortable majority of 67 seats, but the idea is opposed by some parties in the opposition bloc.

“Arabs and Jews will only win together” and “There is a majority for change” read some of the signs held by around 500 protesters in Tel Aviv.

“67 — United we stand, divided we get Bibi” and “Why not, really — unless we are racist?” read some of the placards at the 100-strong rally in Jerusalem.

Arab parties have only once formally sat in an Israeli government, when Raam leader Mansour Abbas joined a short-lived coalition that lasted from 2021 to 2022.

He has voiced a willingness to do so again.

The Joint List’s Yousef Jabareen, meanwhile, has told AFP he is willing to support Eisenkot in parliament without joining his government, citing, among other concerns, the war in Gaza.

Opposition division

Eisenkot, 66, a former military chief and political novice, largely shares Netanyahu’s views on security issues including Gaza, which Israel has reduced to rubble since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.

Eisenkot reiterated yesterday that he would only form a “Zionist government” whose members commit to the “recognition of Israel as a Jewish, democratic and liberal state” and to the “recognition of Hamas as a terrorist organisation”, conditions that Arab leaders have previously refused to accept.

While he has said he does not want a government dependent on Arab lists, Eisenkot has not explicitly rejected their external support.

“I want them (the opposition bloc) to go ahead to be brave and do the right thing,” said demonstrator Sharon Balaban, 55, a video artist in Jerusalem.

Yair Golan, leader of the left-wing Democrats has enthusiastically supported the prospect of a government backed by Arab parties, saying it would be racist to exclude them, and on Thursday met Abbas.

But Avigdor Liberman, leader of the right-wing anti-Netanyahu Yisrael Beitenu party, has said he will not enter a coalition that relies on Arab parties, even for external support.

“Whoever wants to rely on supporters of terrorism, let them. Yisrael Beiteinu will not be there,” he wrote on Facebook on Friday.

Arabs ‘are for Hamas’

On the sidelines of the demonstration in Tel Aviv, more than 100 Netanyahu supporters staged a counter-protest.

“It’s the Right, or Palestine,” they chanted, repeating a slogan from Netanyahu’s campaign.

“The two Arab parties are for Hamas”, said Rebecca Schindler, 60. “They want to make Israel an Arab country.”

Nava Rehavia, 70, called on Eisenkot and Liberman to join a Netanyahu-led coalition and said: “The Arabs did not win, because they stole the election.”

Netanyahu sought to raise allegations of electoral fraud during voting day, saying Arab parties had been caught with envelopes of cash.

Police said they had arrested three suspects, but the election commission described the incident as an isolated local case.

Netanyahu later raised allegations that Arab politicians improperly received support from Qatar.

Collaboration with Arab parties would be “a disaster for Israel”, Netanyahu posted on social media yesterday.

President Isaac Herzog is expected to grant a party leader a mandate to form a government within 28 days by Thursday, with a possible 14-day extension.

The negotiations come as Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump have hinted at a new attack on Iran, which could help Netanyahu run out the clock until new elections. — AFP

ISTANBUL, Nov 1 — Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday attacks aimed at civilian vessels in the Black Sea were unacceptable, urging Russia and Ukraine to “act responsibly”.

Despite its ties with both Russia and Ukraine, Turkey has been infuriated by the attacks on commercial vessels in the Black Sea.

“It is clear that attacks against civilian vessels and actions that further escalate tensions in the Black Sea serve no one’s interests,” Erdogan told a news conference with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in Istanbul.

“We cannot accept these attacks under any circumstances, regardless of who carries them out or what justification is offered. We call on all parties to act responsibly on this matter,” he said.

Ankara has sent a proposal to Russia and Ukraine to end strikes on civilian ships, but says the two foes have failed to act on it.

Zelensky accused Russia of making the situation in the Black Sea difficult and said a significant part of the conversation with Erdogan was devoted precisely to such issues that concerned the security there.

“We discussed with President Erdogan some ideas and proposals that can help. And I thank Mr President personally for this dialogue,” he said.

Erdogan said the talks aimed at restoring the safety of navigation in the Black Sea would continue.

“I believe that reaching an agreement on this issue would also give fresh impetus to efforts to secure lasting peace in Ukraine,” he added.

Turkey has hosted several rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine aiming for a lasting ceasefire and peace deal.

In a phone call with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, Erdogan said Turkey was ready to support efforts to revive the diplomatic process between Ukraine and Russia and bring the war to an end, said the Turkish leader’s office.

‘Possibility to meet in Turkey’

Yesterday, Erdogan also welcomed renewed momentum behind efforts to bring the Russia-Ukraine war to an end through “diplomatic means”, referring in particular to Trump’s initiative.

“At this point, we maintain that there can be no losers in a just peace,” he said.

“I would like to emphasise that we stand ready to make every possible effort to pave the way for peace,” he said.

Turkey-hosted negotiations between the two warring parties demonstrated that “tangible results can be achieved through diplomacy”, he added.

Last week, Kremlin said the next round of talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States were planned to resume in November in the United Arab Emirates.

Zelensky said he had discussed with Erdogan this format of talks and other possibilities, “in particular the possibilities of involving Turkey, involving Europe, involving all partners. The possibilities of a meeting here, in Turkey.

“Strong decisions are needed for there to be peace,” he added.

“And it is necessary at all levels to send signals to Russia that there is no alternative to peace and that support for Ukraine will continue.”

After talks with Erdogan, Zelensky was due to meet Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew. — AFP

ATLANTA, Nov 1 — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said yesterday that he spoke to Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of G20 talks and discussed a possible interaction between both countries’ leaders next month.

“We spoke just briefly about the opportunity for our leaders to potentially interact at Apec next month,” Rubio said, referring to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group’s summit in the Chinese city of Shenzhen in mid-November.

But Rubio stressed at a press conference that he did not have a formal meeting with Lavrov during the two-day gathering of G20 foreign ministers in Atlanta, Georgia.

The talks among the Group of 20 major economies — which includes the United States, Russia, China, India, France and Germany — wrapped up yesterday.

Rubio’s remarks came a day after the Russian foreign minister told reporters that both men had a “decent talk.”

Lavrov’s presence in Atlanta had sparked tensions among European countries. Russia has been shunned by most of the West after its 2022 invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

The foreign ministers’ meeting was intended to set the stage for a December G20 leaders’ summit in Miami at President Donald Trump’s Doral resort, where those diplomatic tensions could become more acute as Trump has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The US president told reporters yesterday that he would have “no problem” with inviting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as well.

On Friday, plans for a traditional family photo of G20 ministers were canceled as some European officials objected to appearing alongside Lavrov.

But the Russian minister’s appearance also underscored warmer US-Russia ties.

“It is always important that the United States and Russia have communications at some level because of the danger of escalation in the future,” Rubio told reporters yesterday.

He pointed to both the Russia-Ukraine conflict and Moscow’s nuclear weapons.

On the Ukraine war, Rubio said: “If we can play a role in mediating an end to that conflict, the United States is prepared to play that role.”

“And to play that role, we have to have the ability to communicate with both sides,” he said. — AFP

WASHINGTON, Nov 1 — President Donald Trump voiced yesterday his support for the “brilliant” head of US chip giant Nvidia, Jensen Huang after a report he was targeted by a Chinese spy plot.

Trump said the United States was looking “very closely” at the issue.

The New York Times reported Thursday that US intelligence officials concluded that a Chinese executive linked to a Singapore-based data centre company, who had interacted with Huang, had been funnelling information to Beijing.

China has dismissed the report as “groundless speculation.”

“I have a lot of respect for Jensen. I didn’t know about the specific thing, but I hope he’s going to be OK. He’s a great, brilliant person, and we want to protect our brilliant people,” Trump told reporters at his Florida residence.

“We’re going to check it out very closely,” the president added.

Asked if he would retain Huang as an advisor, Trump said: “I would like to say yes. I mean, unless we find out something to the contrary, I’ve always found Jensen Huang to be very above board.”

“But you know, you’re dealing in a very complex issue,” Trump added.

Huang has advised Trump on AI policy and was among tech CEOs who joined the US leader on his visit to Beijing to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in May.

The Taiwan-born businessman has advocated for the use of his company’s chips in China, where Beijing has been accelerating development of its own semiconductors. — AFP

ATLANTA, Nov 1 — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said yesterday that Washington was not directly involved in Flavio Bolsonaro’s arrangements to leave Brazil after his election loss.

President Donald Trump said that Bolsonaro could, however, stay in the United States “as long as he wants.”

Bolsonaro, who lost his bid to be president in Sunday’s run-off vote, arrived with his family in the US on Wednesday after a court ordered his passports to be seized amid multiple investigations against him.

“He had previously held a visa, and the president made a decision to allow him to enter the country,” Rubio told a press conference in Atlanta, Georgia, where he hosted G20 foreign ministers for a two-day meeting.

Rubio added that “the US government was not involved directly” in arrangements Bolsonaro made to leave his country.

Following the vote, the 45-year-old bolted from Brazil via Argentina and Ecuador in a plane that some US media, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, reported was chartered by Jason Miller, an adviser to Trump.

The plane that whisked the Bolsonaro family to the US was paid for by an intermediary from a US bank account, the head of the airline has told AFP.

The White House has not commented on the flight, but Trump has called the Brazilian election “disgraceful.”

Speaking to reporters at his Florida residence yesterday, Trump said he had no plans to meet Bolsonaro but voiced sympathy for the rightist senator.

“I think he got treated very shabbily. Very shabbily, so he can stay here as long as he wants,” the president said.

A Brazilian diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that Argentina’s diplomatic representative had been summoned for a “routine meeting” to “provide explanations” on the flight.

Argentina’s foreign minister later denied that Brazil had asked Buenos Aires to explain its role in the operation.

Since arriving in the US, Bolsonaro has claimed to be the true leader of Brazil and said that he left the country because he was a victim of “persecution.”

Flavio Bolsonaro’s father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest for plotting a coup after his 2022 re-election loss. — AFP

WASHINGTON, Nov 1 — President Donald Trump said yesterday that the United States has knocked out much of Iran’s military but it still has to “take care of” one or two targets including a suspected nuclear site known as Pickaxe Mountain.

Trump maintained that negotiations with Iran to end the war that the US and Israel began at the end of February were “going fine but you know they’re not very reliable.”

The US president reiterated that the US was not in a hurry to take offensive action because it had decimated Iran’s military and nuclear programme.

“We’ve knocked out their nuclear. We still have to take care of, I would say one or two sites, but we can do that in 10 minutes,” Trump told reporters at his Florida residence.

“You probably could look at Pickaxe Mountain, and you have to take care of that. We can do that all very quickly,” he added, referring to a suspected underground nuclear complex.

The Iranian government has denied any nuclear work is carried out there.

Earlier yesterday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump has not made a decision about fresh strikes on Iran and that the United States would be open to a diplomatic solution.

Iran’s supreme leader yesterday warned the United States and Israel against launching new attacks, following threats to resume strikes after elections.

Trump has warned of the potential for fresh military action after US midterms, saying previously that he was weighing up whether to “finish them off.” — AFP