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AFP

  • Trump briefed Zelensky, European leaders on Putin talks

    Trump briefed Zelensky, European leaders on Putin talks

    WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS: US President Donald Trump had a “lengthy call” with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on the flight back to Washington after the summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin yielded no ceasefire, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

    Trump also spoke with NATO leaders, Leavitt told reporters on Air Force One. The president disembarked from the plane at 2:45 am Saturday local time (0645 GMT) and did not respond to reporters’ questions.

    US President Donald Trump spoke early Saturday with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders to discuss his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a European Commission spokesperson said.

    European leaders held a second call afterwards to discuss the next steps in the Ukraine conflict, the spokesperson said.

    Trump spoke for more than an hour with Zelensky, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, the spokesperson said.

    According to the Ukrainian presidency, Trump spoke first with Zelensky and then the other European leaders joined the call.

    After the summit, at which Trump and Putin did not agree on a path to end Russia’s invasion, the European leaders were holding their own telephone diplomacy session to debrief on the talks, the EU spokesperson added.

    There had been unease among European leaders over Trump’s outreach to Putin.

    A call between European leaders regarding the US-Russia summit was underway Saturday following an initial exchange with President Donald Trump, a spokesperson for the European Commission said.

    The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte are among the participants, the same source said.

  • Meta probed over AI chatbot talk with children

    Meta probed over AI chatbot talk with children

    SAN FRANCISCO, United States: A US senator on Friday announced an investigation into whether Meta AI chatbots were allowed to engage in potentially harmful online exchanges with children.

    Republican Senator Josh Hawley posted a copy of a letter to Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg demanding all documents and communications related to a report that its AI chatbots were permitted to have “romantic” and “sensual” exchanges with minors.

    “We have clear policies on what kind of responses AI characters can offer, and those policies prohibit content that sexualizes children and sexualized role play between adults and minors,” a Meta spokesperson said in response to an AFP inquiry.

    Hawley said the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, which he heads, will start an investigation into whether Meta generative AI products “enable exploitation, deception, or other criminal harms to children.”

    Meta was put on notice to preserve all relevant records and submit them to Congress by September 19.

    The Missouri senator cited a reported example of Meta’s AI chatbot being allowed to refer to an 8-year-old child’s body as “a work of art” and “a treasure I cherish deeply.”

  • Trump and Putin end summit without Ukraine deal

    Trump and Putin end summit without Ukraine deal

    ANCHORAGE, United States: Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin made no breakthrough on Ukraine at their high-stakes summit on Friday, pointing to areas of agreement and rekindling a friendship but offering no news on a ceasefire.

    After an abrupt ending to three hours of talks with aides, Trump and Putin offered warm words but took no questions from reporters — highly unusual for the media-savvy US president.

    “We’re not there yet, but we’ve made progress. There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” Trump said.

    He called the meeting “extremely productive” with “many points” agreed, although he did not offer specifics.

    “There are just a very few that are left, some are not that significant, one is probably the most significant,” Trump said without elaborating.

    Putin also spoke in general terms of cooperation in a joint press appearance that lasted just 12 minutes.

    “We hope that the understanding we have reached will… pave the way for peace in Ukraine,” Putin said.

    As Trump mused about a second meeting, Putin smiled and said in English: “Next time in Moscow.”

    The former KGB agent quickly tried to flatter Trump, who has voiced admiration for the Russian leader in the past.

    Putin told Trump he agreed with him that the Ukraine war, which Putin ordered, would not have happened if Trump were president instead of Joe Biden.

    Trump for his part again complained of a “hoax” that Russia intervened to help him the 2016 election — a finding backed by US intelligence.

    Before the summit, Trump had warned of “severe consequences” if Russia did not accept a ceasefire.

    But when asked about those consequences during a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity after the talks, Trump said that “because of what happened today, I think I don’t have to think about that now.”

    Putin warns Western allies

    The friendly reception contrasted with Trump’s berating of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky when he met him at the White House in February.

    Trump earlier said he sought a three-way meeting with Zelensky but did not announce one at the summit.

    Trump said he would now consult Zelensky as well as NATO leaders, who have voiced unease about the US leader’s outreach to Putin.

    “Now it’s really up to President Zelensky to get it done,” Trump said in the Fox News interview after the summit.

    Putin warned Ukraine and European countries to “not create any obstacles” and not “make attempts to disrupt this emerging progress through provocation or behind-the-scenes intrigues.”

    Trump invited Putin just a week ago and ensured there was some carefully choreographed drama for their first in-person meeting since 2019.

    The two leaders arrived in their respective presidential jets and descended on the tarmac of an air base, with Trump clapping as Putin appeared.

    US military might was on display with a B-2 stealth bomber flying overhead, as a reporter shouted audibly to Putin, “Will you stop killing civilians?”

    Putin, undaunted, grinned widely as Trump took the unusual step of escorting him into “The Beast,” the secure US presidential limousine, before a meeting in a room before a screen that said — in English only — “Pursuing Peace.”

    Putin smiled and joked with Russian reporters on the visit, a landmark for a leader who is facing an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court related to the Ukraine war, which has killed tens of thousands of people.

    Battlefield gains

    Russia in recent days has made battlefield gains that could strengthen Putin’s hand in any ceasefire negotiations, although Ukraine announced as Putin was flying in that it had retaken several villages.

    Trump had insisted he would be firm with Putin, after coming under heated criticism for appearing cowed during a 2018 summit in Helsinki.

    While he was traveling to Alaska, the White House announced that Trump had scrapped a plan to see Putin alone and he instead held the talks alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his roving envoy Steve Witkoff.

    Zelensky was not included and has refused pressure from Trump to surrender territory seized by Russia.

    “It is time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia. We are counting on America,” Zelensky said in a social media post.

  • UN warns Russia, Israel of conflict sex crimes listing risk

    UN warns Russia, Israel of conflict sex crimes listing risk

    United Nations: The UN warned Israel and Russia on Friday that their militaries faced being listed as parties suspected of committing sexual violence in conflict in light of credible evidence of violations.

    UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s report said the two countries risked being added to a list of parties thought to use sexual violence including rape in conflict that includes Myanmar’s military, Sudan’s army and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

    “Due to significant concerns regarding patterns of certain forms of sexual violence perpetrated by Israeli armed and security forces and Russian armed and security forces and affiliated armed groups, these parties have been put on notice for potential listing in the next reporting period,” said the annual report.

    “These concerns relate primarily to violations recorded in detention settings.”

    In the case of Israel, the report alleges “credible information” military and security forces perpetrated patterns of sexual violence including “genital violence, prolonged forced nudity and repeated strip searches conducted in an abusive and degrading manner.”

    In February, the Israeli army said it had charged five soldiers for abusing a Palestinian detainee at a site used to hold Palestinians following the start of the war in Gaza in the wake of the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas.

    Among the charges was an allegation that the accused had stabbed a man with a sharp object “which had penetrated near the detainee’s rectum.”

    The report said there was “credible” evidence of violations “against Ukrainian prisoners of war, in 50 official and 22 unofficial detention facilities in Ukraine” and Russia.

    “These cases comprised a significant number of documented incidents of genital violence, including electrocution, beatings and burns to the genitals, and forced stripping and prolonged nudity, used to humiliate and elicit confessions or information,” it said.

    In 2024, the human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine documented 209 cases of conflict-related sexual violence, including rape, the report added.

    Israel has cooperated with a special representative on the issue of sexual violence in conflict, whereas Russia has not, the report said.

    The report said however that Israel’s refusal to grant access to inspectors had frustrated her ability to determine patterns and trends.

  • UN says at least 1,760 killed while seeking aid in Gaza since late May

    UN says at least 1,760 killed while seeking aid in Gaza since late May

    Jerusalem: The UN human rights office said Friday that at least 1,760 Palestinians had been killed while seeking aid in Gaza since late May, a jump of several hundred since its last published figure at the beginning of August.

    “Since 27 May, and as of 13 August, we have recorded that at least 1,760 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid; 994 in the vicinity of GHF (Gaza Humanitarian Foundation) sites and 766 along the routes of supply convoys. Most of these killings were committed by the Israeli military,” the agency’s office for the Palestinian territories said in a statement.

    That compares with a figure of 1,373 killed the office reported on August 1.

    The update came as Gaza’s civil defence agency said at least 23 people were killed by Israeli fire on Friday, including 12 who were waiting for humanitarian aid.

    The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports when contacted by AFP for comment.

    On Wednesday, the chief of staff of the Israeli military said plans had been approved for a new offensive in Gaza, aimed at defeating Hamas and freeing all the remaining hostages.

    The military intends to take control of Gaza City and nearby refugee camps, some of the most densely populated parts of the territory, which has been devastated by more than 22 months of war.

    In recent days, Gaza City residents have told AFP of more frequent air strikes targeting residential areas, while earlier this week Hamas denounced “aggressive” Israeli ground incursions in the area.

    The Israeli government’s plans to expand the war have sparked an international outcry as well as domestic opposition.

    UN-backed experts have warned of widespread famine unfolding in the territory, where Israel has drastically curtailed the amount of humanitarian aid it allows in.

  • Apple rejects Musk claim of App Store bias

    Apple rejects Musk claim of App Store bias

    Apple on Thursday rejected Elon Musk’s claim that its digital App Store favors OpenAI’s ChatGPT over his company’s Grok and other rival AI assistants.

    Musk has accused Apple of giving unfair preference to ChatGPT on its App Store and threatened legal action, triggering a fiery exchange with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman this week.

    “The App Store is designed to be fair and free of bias,” Apple said in reply to an AFP inquiry.

    “We feature thousands of apps through charts, algorithmic recommendations, and curated lists selected by experts using objective criteria.”

    Apple added that its goal at the App Store is to offer “safe discovery” for users and opportunities for developers to get their creations noticed.

    But earlier this week, Musk said Apple was “behaving in a manner that makes it impossible for any AI company besides OpenAI to reach #1 in the App Store, which is an unequivocal antitrust violation,” without providing evidence to back his claim.

    Read more: Apple announces $100 billion US investment

    “xAI will take immediate legal action,” he said on his social media network X, referring to his own artificial intelligence company, which is responsible for Grok.

    X users responded by pointing out that China’s DeepSeek AI hit the top spot in the App Store early this year, and Perplexity AI recently ranked number one in the App Store in India.

    DeepSeek and Perplexity compete with OpenAI and Musk’s startup xAI.

    Altman called Musk’s accusation “remarkable” in a response on X, charging that Musk himself is said to “manipulate X to benefit himself and his own companies and harm his competitors and people he doesn’t like.”

    Musk called Altman a “liar” in the heated exchange.

  • Trump turns history on head with Putin invitation to key US base

    Trump turns history on head with Putin invitation to key US base

    Donald Trump is turning history on its head with his Alaska summit with Vladimir Putin — inviting Russia’s leader to land that once belonged to Moscow, and meeting him at a military base that monitored the Soviet Union.

    The location is all the more striking as Putin is under indictment by the International Criminal Court, with Friday’s summit marking the first time he has been allowed in a Western country since he invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

    The two leaders will meet at Elmendorf Air Force Base, which goes by the motto “Top Cover for North America.”

    Donald Trump has said that Putin suggested the summit and it is unclear to what extent the Republican president thought through the symbolism of the base or Alaska, still yearned for by some Russian nationalists.

    But George Beebe, the former director of Russia analysis at the CIA, said the Alaska setting showed an emphasis on what unites the two powers — history and the Pacific Ocean — rather than on rivalry or the conflict in Ukraine.

    “What he’s doing here is he’s saying, ‘This is not the Cold War. We’re not replaying the series of Cold War summits that took place in neutral states’,” said Beebe, now director of grand strategy at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, which supports military restraint.

    “We’re entering a new era, not just in the bilateral relationship between Russia and the United States, but also in the role that this relationship plays in the world,” he said.

    Russia had settled Alaska from the 18th century but, struggling to make its colony profitable and crippled by the Crimean War, Tsar Alexander II sold it to the United States in 1867.

    Then secretary of state William Seward was ridiculed for the purchase, dubbed “Seward’s Folly” due to the perceived lack of value of Alaska, but the territory later proved to be strategically crucial.

    The United States rushed to build what became Elmendorf Air Base after imperial Japan seized some of the Aleutian islands following their 1941 surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.

    Then with the Cold War, Elmendorf became a key center to observe Soviet movements across the Bering Strait.

    Read more: Trump thinks Putin is ready to make a deal

    As recently as nine months ago, an electronic surveillance plane from Elmendorf as well as other US planes scrambled to track Russian planes flying off Alaska’s coast.

    – Mixed takes in Anchorage –

    With more than 800 buildings and more than 10,000 military personnel, Elmendorf is the largest military installation in Alaska — and is also known as a refueling stop for the US president and secretary of state when they travel to Asia.

    In anticipation of Putin’s arrival, some local residents have painted Ukrainian flags to place on their roofs, in the off chance that the Russian leader sees them on his aircraft’s descent.

    Putin “is a criminal and he’s coming here to a military base. There was a time when that would have been unthinkable,” said teacher Lindsey Meyn, 40, as she used spray paint to color a homemade blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag.

    She said the summit was part of Trump’s strategy to “overwhelm with craziness” and distract from other issues.

    “It’s terrifying a little bit. I was thinking, is Donald Trump going to offer our state back to Russia? I don’t think that’s going to happen but that’s the first thing that came to my mind,” she said.

    Alaska’s Russian heritage is still visible in isolated ways, including through a domed blue Russian Orthodox cathedral in Anchorage that was built in the 1960s.

    But Alaska has also become home to Ukrainians, both before and since Putin’s invasion.

    Zori Opanasevych, who has helped resettle 1,300 Ukrainians in Alaska with the non-profit group New Chance Inc., said that people she talked to wanted to hold out hope for the summit.

    “If there is any way that President Donald Trump can influence Putin to stop the killing, we’ll believe in that. We have to believe in that,” she said.

  • European powers tell UN they are ready to reimpose Iran sanctions

    European powers tell UN they are ready to reimpose Iran sanctions

    PARIS: Britain, France and Germany have told the United Nations they are ready to reimpose UN-mandated sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme if no diplomatic solution is found by the end of August, according to a joint letter released Wednesday.

    The letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council says the three European powers are “committed to use all diplomatic tools at our disposal to ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon”.

    “Iran must not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons under any circumstances,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on X, posting a copy of the letter.

    “If Iran continues to violate its international obligations, France and its German and British partners will reimpose the global embargoes on arms, nuclear equipment and banking restrictions that were lifted 10 years ago at the end of August,” Barrot added.

    In the letter, the foreign ministers from the so-called E3 group threaten to use a “snapback mechanism” that was part of a 2015 international deal with Iran that eased UN Security Council sanctions.

    Under the deal, which terminates in October, any party to the accord can restore the sanctions.

    All three have stepped up warnings to Iran about its suspension of cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

    That came after Israel launched a 12-day war with Iran in June, partly seeking to destroy its nuclear capability. The United States staged its own bombing raid during the war.

    “We have made clear that if Iran is not willing to reach a diplomatic solution before the end of August 2025, or does not seize the opportunity of an extension, E3 are prepared to trigger the snapback mechanism,” said the foreign ministers of France, Britain and of Germany.

    All three countries were signatories to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with the United States, China and Russia that offered the carrot and stick deal for Iran to slow its enrichment of uranium needed for a nuclear weapon.

    President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the accord in 2018 during his first term and ordered new sanctions.

    The European countries said they would stick to the accord. But their letter sets out engagements that the ministers say Iran has breached, including building up a uranium stock to more than 40 times the permitted level under the 2015 deal.

    “The E3 remain fully committed to a diplomatic resolution to the crisis caused by Iran’s nuclear programme and will continue to engage with a view to reaching a negotiated solution.

    “We are equally ready, and have unambiguous legal grounds, to notify the significant non-performance of JCPOA commitments by Iran … thereby triggering the snapback mechanism, should no satisfactory solution be reached by the end of August 2025,” the ministers wrote in the letter.

    End of cooperation

    The United States had already started contacts with Iran, which denies seeking a weapon, over its nuclear activities.

    But these were halted by the Israeli strikes in June on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

    Even before the strikes, the international powers had raised concerns about the lack of access given to IAEA inspectors.

    Iran halted all cooperation with the IAEA after the strikes, but it announced that the agency’s deputy chief was expected in Teheran for talks on a new cooperation deal.

    Last month Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi sent a letter to the UN saying that the European countries did not have the legal right to restore sanctions.

    The European ministers called this allegation “unfounded”.

    They insisted that as JCPOA signatories, they would be “clearly and unambiguously legally justified in using relevant provisions” of UN resolutions “to trigger UN snapback to reinstate UNSC resolutions against Iran which would prohibit enrichment and re-impose UN sanctions.”

  • New Zealand PM says Netanyahu has ‘lost the plot’

    New Zealand PM says Netanyahu has ‘lost the plot’

    WELLINGTON: New Zealand’s prime minister said Wednesday that Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu had “lost the plot”, accusing him of going too far in his efforts to wage war on Gaza.

    “What’s happening in Gaza is utterly, utterly appalling,” said Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.

    “Netanyahu has gone way too far. I think he has lost the plot,” added Luxon in unusually candid comments.

    “He is not listening to the international community and that is unacceptable.”

    Netanyahu recently rolled out plans to take control of Gaza City and wipe out Hamas, insisting it was “the best way to end the war” despite growing calls to halt the bloodshed.

    UN-backed experts have warned of widespread famine unfolding in the territory, where Israel has severely restricted the entry of humanitarian aid.

    Israel has faced mounting criticism over the war, which was triggered by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel.

    New Zealand on Monday hinted it could join the likes of Australia, Canada, France and Britain in recognising a Palestinian state.

    “New Zealand has been clear for some time that our recognition of a Palestinian state is a matter of when, not if,” Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said.

    “Cabinet will take a formal decision in September over whether New Zealand should recognise a state of Palestine at this juncture — and if so, when and how.”

  • Typhoon Podul intensifies as it nears Taiwan

    Typhoon Podul intensifies as it nears Taiwan

    KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan: Thousands of people sheltered and fishermen secured their boats across storm-battered southern Taiwan on Wednesday as Typhoon Podul intensified on its approach to the island.

    The typhoon is packing wind speeds of 155 kilometres (96 miles) per hour at its centre and “is strengthening”, Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecaster Lin Ting-yi told AFP.

    Podul is on track to hit lightly populated Taitung County at around noon (0400 GMT) before sweeping across the island and into the Taiwan Strait.

    “We are worried about this typhoon,” Kaohsiung fisherman Huang Wei told AFP as he used more ropes to tie down his boat and checked on other vessels.

    “We had already made general typhoon preparations yesterday, but this morning I woke up and saw news reports that the typhoon has intensified to be as strong as the last, (Typhoon) Krathon,” Huang said.

    Krathon slammed into Kaohsiung in October, with wind gusts of 162kph. Podul has gusts of 191kph, Lin said.

    More than 5,500 people have been evacuated from their homes ahead of Podul, disaster officials said Wednesday, as the typhoon threatens to pound central and southern regions still recovering from storms last month.

    Mountainous areas of Kaohsiung City and neighbouring Pingtung County, as well as Hualien and Taitung counties, could see torrential rain, the CWA said.

    Taitung resort worker Lo Wan-chun told AFP by telephone that locals feared the storm could be as strong as Typhoon Nepartak in 2016, when the county recorded its strongest gusts since 1901.

    “After 8:00 am, the storm began to intensify,” she said.

    “It’s still getting stronger. You can hear the wind is loud right now.

    “We don’t recommend guests go out.”

    All domestic flights across the island of 23 million people have been cancelled for Wednesday, along with dozens of international journeys.

    Many ferry services have been suspended and businesses and schools across the south are closed.

    More than 31,500 soldiers were ready to assist in typhoon preparations as well as rescue and relief efforts, disaster officials said.

    The CWA expects Kaohsiung and Pingtung could be drenched with a cumulative 400-600 millimetres (16-24 inches) of rain from Tuesday to Thursday.

    Typhoon Danas, which hit Taiwan in early July, killed two people and injured hundreds as the storm dumped more than 500mm of rain across the south over a weekend.

    That was followed by torrential rain from July 28 to August 4, with some areas recording more than Taiwan’s rainfall of 2.1 metres for 2024.

    The week of bad weather left five people dead, three missing, and 78 injured, a disaster official said previously.

    Taiwan is accustomed to frequent tropical storms from July to October.

    Scientists say human-driven climate change is causing more intense weather patterns that can make destructive floods more likely.