Australia: PM and opposition make final election pitch
01:40
30/04/2025
Bhavna Pani: 'We make choices as human beings; Amidst the darkness you have a choice to choose hope'
Europe
25/04/2025
Kashmir: our journalists report live from India and Pakistan
Asia / Pacific
25/04/2025
Kashmir: India-Pakistan tensions rise after attacks on tourists
Asia / Pacific
25/04/2025
Kashmir : crisis deepens as Pakistan sees suspension of Water Treaty by India as an 'act of war'
Asia / Pacific
25/04/2025
Indian and Pakistani troops exchange fire in Kashmir
Asia / Pacific
24/04/2025
"There's momentum for upping the ante" between India and Pakistan after Kashmir attack
Asia / Pacific
15/04/2025
Chinese Xi Jinping urges Vietnam to resist unilateral Trump's tariff bullying
Asia / Pacific
09/04/2025
'Success and self-confidence': Iran's nose job boom
Asia / Pacific
04/04/2025
Myanmar's military has launched more than a dozen attacks since truce began, UN says
Asia / Pacific
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France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
WADA calls on US to stop 'dangerous' Enhanced Games
Speaking in Lausanne in an address to a meeting of summer Olympic officials, Banka said the inaugural edition of the Enhanced Games in Las Vegas -- where athletes will be free to use performance-enhancing drugs -- "must be stopped." "We all must stand up and condemn those who put greed and ego before the well-being of athletes and the values of fair competition," Banka said. "As the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles approach, we cannot allow what should be a celebration of honest sporting endeavor to be overshadowed by this cynical attempt to undermine clean sport. "WADA is now urging the authorities in the US to seek ways to prevent the Enhanced Games from going ahead as planned. For the sake of athletes' health and the purity of sport, it must be stopped." In separate remarks following the address, Banka urged US authorities to consider legal action to prevent the Enhanced Games from taking place. "Every effort should be made by the authorities in the US to prevent this dangerous event from going ahead as planned," Banka said. "This should be explored from the legal perspective. For example, I would question whether it is legal for licensed doctors to give these potent drugs to healthy athletes. "It goes completely against the rules and values of their profession...I think there is a strong role to be played by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA)". USADA has been a strident critic of WADA in recent years following controversy over the global doping watchdog's handling of positive drug tests from 23 Chinese swimmers in 2021. Responding to Banka's remarks on Wednesday, USADA chief executive Travis Tygart accused the WADA president of "attempting to leverage this sideshow to distract from fixing WADA and to stoke anti-American rhetoric." "As we have repeatedly said, for all of the obvious reasons, the Enhanced Games or any other open competition is a bad idea," Tygart said in comments emailed to AFP, urging Banka to accept an invitation to a US Senate hearing next week where the 2021 case involving Chinese swimmers is to be discussed. The first Enhanced Games will be staged in Las Vegas in May 2026, with athletes participating in three sports -- athletics, swimming and weightlifting. Athletes will be allowed to use drugs banned across international sport such as steroids and human growth hormones, with winners of each event receiving $250,000, and a bonus of $1 million for any athlete who breaks a world record. © 2025 AFP
Euronews
7 hours ago
- Euronews
Myanmar on path to destruction if violence doesn't end, UN envoy says
Myanmar is on "a path to self-destruction" if violence in the conflict-wracked Southeast Asian nation doesn't end, the UN envoy has warned. Julie Bishop told the UN General Assembly that "alarmingly" the violence didn't end after a powerful earthquake in late March devastated parts of the capital, Naypyidaw, and the country's second-largest city, Mandalay, killing more than 3,000 people and injuring thousands more. Ceasefires announced by some parties have largely not been observed, "embedding a crisis within a crisis," and people in Myanmar must now deal with the raging conflict and the earthquake's devastation, Bishop said. "A zero-sum approach persists on all sides," she said. "Armed clashes remain a barrier to meeting humanitarian needs. The flow of weapons into the country is fuelling the expectations that a military solution is possible." A widespread armed struggle against military rule in Myanmar began in February 2021 after generals seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. More than 6,600 civilians are estimated to have been killed by security forces, according to figures compiled by non-governmental organisations. The military takeover triggered intensified fighting with long-established armed militias organised by Myanmar's ethnic minority groups in its border regions, which have struggled for decades for more autonomy. It also led to the formation of pro-democracy militias that support a national unity government established by elected lawmakers barred from taking their seats after the army takeover. More than 22,000 political prisoners are still in detention, Bishop said, including Suu Kyi, who turns 80 on 19 June, and the ousted president, Win Myint. The UN envoy said she detected "some openness to political dialogue with some regional support, but there is not yet broader agreement on how to move forward." In meetings with the country's leaders, Bishop said she encouraged them to reconsider their strategy, which has left the country more divided. She also warned against elections, planned for December or January, saying they risk fuelling greater resistance and instability unless there is an end to the violence and they can be held in an inclusive and transparent way. Bishop said she has been coordinating further action with Othman Hashim, the special envoy for Myanmar from the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and they agreed to visit Myanmar together. The UN envoy said she had a meeting online on Monday with representatives of the Rohingya minority from Myanmar and Bangladesh. She said the situation for the Rohingya in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state remains dire, with up to 80% of civilians living in poverty and caught in crossfire between the government's military forces and the Arakan Army, the well-armed military wing of the Rakhine ethnic minority, and "subject to forced recruitment and other abuses." More than 700,000 Muslim Rohingya fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar starting in late August 2017 when Myanmar's military launched a "clearance operation." Members of the ethnic group face discrimination and are denied citizenship and other rights in the Buddhist-majority nation. Bishop said there's hope that a high-level conference on the Rohingya and other minorities called for by the UN General Assembly on 30 September will put a spotlight on the urgency of finding "durable solutions" to their plight. The UN migration agency said on Wednesday that eight migrants died and 22 others are missing after they were forced off a boat near the coast of Djibouti. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said in a statement the migrants were part of a group of 150 who were forced by smugglers to disembark a boat and swim to shore on 5 June. The migrants were found in the desert by IOM patrol teams and taken to a migrant response centre. The IOM and authorities in Djibouti are continuing with a search and rescue operation to find the missing migrants. "Every life lost at sea is a tragedy that should never happen," Celestine Frantz, the IOM Regional Director for the East, Horn and Southern Africa, said. Frantz said that the migrants were "forced into impossible choices by smugglers who show no regard for human life." Thousands of migrants from African, Middle Eastern and South Asian countries seeking a better life in Europe attempt irregular migration every year. People smugglers pack vessels full of desperate people willing to risk their lives to reach continental Europe. Most of the vessels get migrants across the Red Sea to Gulf countries before they proceed further to European nations. Yemen is a major route for migrants from East Africa and the Horn of Africa trying to reach Gulf countries for work, with hundreds of thousands attempting the route each year. However Frontex, the EU's external border protection agency, reported a 31% drop in illegal migrant crossings in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period one year ago. Crossings fell to nearly 33,600 with a decline reported across every single route leading to Europe. A significant drop, around 30%, was observed on the Western African route, which connects Senegal, Mauritania, The Gambia and Western Sahara to Spain's Canary Islands. Similarly, a 29% fall was reported in crossings along the Eastern Mediterranean route, mostly leading to Cyprus, Greece and Bulgaria from Afghanistan, Sudan and Egypt. The third sharpest fall, -26%, was on the Central Mediterranean route, from western and central Africa through Niger and Libya across the Central Mediterranean towards Europe, in particular Italy.
LeMonde
9 hours ago
- LeMonde
Trump touts 'done' deal with Beijing on rare earths, Chinese students
US President Donald Trump touted ties with China as "excellent" on Wednesday, June 11, saying the superpowers reached a deal after two days of talks aimed at preserving a truce in their damaging trade war. Trump said on his Truth Social platform that China would supply rare earth minerals and magnets – vital elements for US industries – while Washington would allow Chinese students to remain in US universities. His post came hours after top US and Chinese negotiators announced a "framework" agreement late Tuesday following two days of marathon talks in London. "Our deal with China is done," Trump wrote, adding that the agreement was still "subject to final approval with President Xi (Jinping) and me." "President Xi and I are going to work closely together to open up China to American Trade," he said in a second post. "This would be a great WIN for both countries!!!" US stock markets showed little enthusiasm despite Trump's latest statements, with the broad-based S&P 500 and the Dow flat while the tech-heavy Nasdaq edged higher in morning deals. 'Candid' talks The two sides had agreed to reduce their tit-for-tat, triple-digit tariffs during talks in Geneva last month, but cracks appeared in the detente after Trump accused China of violating the deal. Washington was concerned at slower supplies of rare earths after Beijing in early April began requiring domestic exporters to apply for a license – widely seen as a response to US tariffs. Rare earths are used in everything from electric vehicles to hard drives, wind turbines and missiles. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in London on Tuesday that US measures imposed when rare earths "were not coming" would likely be relaxed once Beijing moved forward with more license approvals. In his Truth Social post, Trump said China will supply "full magnets, and any necessary rare earths... up front." Washington has infuriated Beijing by vowing to revoke the visas of Chinese students – a major source of revenue for US universities. On Wednesday, Trump said: "We will provide to China what was agreed to, including Chinese students using our colleges and universities." The US president also said that under the deal, the United States would apply 55% tariffs on Chinese goods – a combination of his 30% additional levies and the rough average of pre-existing duties, a White House official said. He said Beijing would charge 10 percent duties on US goods. The rates are the same as those that were previously agreed in the truce, which brought US tariffs down from 145% and those imposed by China from 125%. In a Chinese state media readout of the talks released Wednesday, Vice Premier He Lifeng, who headed Beijing's team in London, stressed the need for the two sides to strengthen cooperation in future dialogue. "As a next step, the two sides should... continuously enhance consensus, reduce misunderstandings and strengthen cooperation," He Lifeng said, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Speaking to reporters in London, China International Trade Representative Li Chenggang said: "Our communication has been very professional, rational, in-depth and candid."
