World

PARIS — A French frigate that shot down two drones in the Red Sea was acting in self-defence after coming under attack from the unmanned aerial vehicles, the foreign ministry in Paris said on Monday.

The French general staff reported on Sunday that the Languedoc frigate, operating in the Red Sea, had opened fire on two drones heading straight towards it from the Yemen coast, destroying both.

The incident came after Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels threatened on Saturday to attack any vessels heading to Israeli ports unless food and medicine were allowed into the besieged Gaza Strip.

The foreign ministry said the drones were engaged in an "attack" on its vessel and had been downed in "legitimate defence".

The incident occurred amid "attacks and acts of piracy committed by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea", which represented a "worrying increase of assaults on the freedom of navigation in that zone", it added.

The ministry urged the Houthis to "immediately stop attacks on civilians" and the freedom of movement.

France was closely following developments in the Red Sea and called "on all actors to avoid any regional flare-up".

The general staff said on Sunday the drone interceptions happened at 20:30 GMT and 22:30 GMT on Saturday, 110 kilometres from the Yemeni coast and the port of Hudaydah, which is under rebel control.

The drones "were flying directly towards the vessel", the general staff said.

The frigate used surface-to-air missiles of the Aster 15 type, designed for defence against short- to medium-range threats, a military source told AFP, asking not to be named.

The French navy had not used surface-to-air missiles in self-defence before.

The incident came amid heightened tensions in the Red Sea and surrounding waters, following a series of maritime attacks by Houthi rebels since the start of the Hamas-Israel war on October 7.

In a statement posted on social media, the Houthis said they “will prevent the passage of ships heading to the Zionist entity” if humanitarian aid is not allowed into Hamas-ruled Gaza.

The Houthis have recently attacked ships they allege have direct links to Israel but the latest threat widens the scope of their targets.

Hamas welcomed the Houthi stance as “bold and courageous”.

A US destroyer shot down three drones earlier this month while providing assistance to commercial ships in the Red Sea that were targeted by attacks from Yemen, according to Washington.

It condemned what it said was “a direct threat” to maritime security.

Saturday’s incident was the first time that a French military vessel has been targeted by Houthis.

Israel has responded to the Hamas sudden attack with a relentless military offensive that the Hamas authorities in the besieged Palestinian territory say has killed thousands.

Yemen has a long coastline along the Gulf of Aden and the southern Red Sea, a strategic waterway to Israel in the north.

LONDON — UK leader Rishi Sunak faces the riskiest week of his premiership, with lawmakers gathering on Monday to decide whether to back his flagship policy to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Factions of MPs from across Sunak’s divided Conservatives have convened meetings to consider how to vote when the controversial legislation goes before parliament on Tuesday.

Sunak has put the plan at the heart of his pledge to stop irregular migration, making the issue a key battleground in a general election expected next year.

But opposition to the scheme from both right-wingers and centrists is widening schisms in the ruling party, putting Sunak’s year-and-a-bit leadership in jeopardy.

The government announced a new bill last week after supreme court judges ruled in November that the deportation plan was illegal, as Rwanda was not a safe country.

The legislation would compel judges to treat Rwanda as safe and proposes giving UK ministers powers to disregard sections of human rights legislation.

The proposals have sparked fresh concerns from opposition parties, human rights groups and more moderate Tories who oppose any violations of international law by Britain.

However, right-wingers — including Robert Jenrick, who quit as immigration minister last week and firebrand ex-home secretary Suella Braverman — say the legislation fails to go far enough.

Some on the right have called for Britain to withdraw from the European Court of Human Rights and other international treaties, to stop courts blocking removals.

Up to 100 backbench MPs from five different groupings on the Conservatives’ right-wing, including the powerful European Research Group (ERG), which advocated a hardline Brexit.

The ERG called the bill was “the toughest piece of migration legislation ever put forward by a UK government”.

But it said it only provided a “partial and incomplete solution” to expected legal challenges and would require “very significant amendments”.

The centrist One Nation group, which also has about 100 members, is expected to release its own statement later on Monday.

Tuesday is the first opportunity that MPs will have to vote on the legislation, in what is called a second reading.

‘Unite or die’ 

A government bill has not been defeated at this stage in the process for almost 40 years.

But several abstentions would also damage Sunak, who was elected unopposed by Tory MPs in October last year following Liz Truss’s calamitous 49-day reign.

If it scrapes through, right-wingers are also expected to try to rewrite the legislation at later stages while the House of Lords upper chamber would have an opportunity to block it.

Sunak has bet his pledge to “stop the boats” crossing the Channel on the Rwanda scheme — which has been stuck in the courts since the first deportees were pulled off a flight at the last minute in June 2022, after an injunction from the European Court of Human Rights.

Almost 30,000 irregular migrants have crossed the Channel from northern France in rudimentary vessels this year.

Tory divisions have worsened since Britain voted to leave the European Union in 2016, largely on a promise to “take back control” of its borders.

Sunak, who has told MPs the Conservatives must “unite or die”, has denied that Tuesday’s vote amounts to a confidence vote on his leadership.

Some Westminster watchers have speculated that he may be tempted to call an early election — which must be held by January 2025 — if he loses the vote.

The Conservatives, in power since 2010, have served up five prime ministers since the 2016 Brexit vote.

They currently lag well behind Labour, the main opposition party, in opinion polls.

UENOS AIRES — Argentina’s President Javier Milei took office on Monday with a stark warning to citizens to brace themselves for painful austerity measures as he seeks to cut spending and curb triple-digit inflation, all with empty coffers.

The 53-year-old libertarian addressed thousands of supporters from the steps of Congress, who waved flags and chanted “freedom!” and “chainsaw!” in reference to the power tool he carried around on the campaign trail to symbolise spending cuts.

“There is no money,” said Milei, vowing to put an end to “decades of decadence” by his overspending predecessors who he said had left him “the worst inheritance” of any prior government.

Latin America’s third-biggest economy is on its knees after decades of debt and financial mismanagement, with annual inflation at 140 per cent and 40 per cent of Argentines living in poverty.

Milei said his election was a turning point in history like “the fall of the Berlin wall”, and that the only solution for the economy is “shock treatment”.

“We know that in the short term the situation will worsen. But then we will see the fruits of our efforts.”

Milei — a self-described “anarcho-capitalist” — warned of spending cuts equivalent to 5 per cent of gross domestic product in a country where millions receive welfare handouts and have become accustomed to hefty energy and transportation subsidies.

‘I am the lion’ 

During his swearing in he received the presidential sash and baton, which was personalised with the faces of his five dogs — cloned from the cells of a beloved, deceased mastiff — carved into the handle

After his speech Milei made his way to the Casa Rosada (Pink House) presidential palace, waving to supporters and flanked by his sister Karina, his closest confidant and whom he has appointed secretary to the president.

He again addressed the crowd as he appeared on the balcony, singing “I am the lion” and chanting his slogan “Long live freedom, damn it!”

Earlier, Milei spoke briefly to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the steps of congress, and the two men shared a warm embrace.

Also attending the ceremony was Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orban — the only EU leader who has maintained close ties to Russia.

“The right is rising not only in Europe but all around the world,” Orban wrote on social media, sharing a picture of a meeting with his “good friend”, Brazil’s far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, also in town.

The chainsaw 

The Cabinet was the first victim of Milei’s symbolic chainsaw, as he cut the number of portfolios from 18 to nine, and swore in his new ministers.

Milei’s inauguration caps a meteoric rise for the former television panelist who entered politics only two years ago.

His rants against the “thieving” establishment fired up voters and drew comparisons to leaders like Bolsonaro and former US president Donald Trump.

With his deliberately disheveled mop of hair and rock star persona, he would wave a powered-up chainsaw at political rallies, vowing to “dynamite” the central bank and replace the ailing peso with the US dollar.

However, with few lawmakers from his party in congress, Milei has softened many of his stances since his election and allied with politicians he previously insulted, incorporating some into his Cabinet.

Economy Minister Luis Caputo and Security Minister Patricia Bullrich held their respective portfolios under former president Mauricio Macri (2015-2019), with whom Milei has forged an alliance.

Talk of shutting the central bank and dollarisation, meanwhile, has dissipated.

‘Stagflation’ 

Among the questions hanging over Argentines’ heads in the coming days will be whether Milei will devalue the strictly controlled peso and loosen the currency controls which have birthed a multitude of dollar exchanges.

Economist Victor Beker of the University of Belgrano said the first “litmus test” for Milei will be if he actually halts the money printing by the Central Bank of Argentina that he has so derided, which funds much of the government’s spending.

Milei has warned that it could take between 18 and 24 months to bring the country’s inflation under control.

For 2023, the International Monetary Fund has projected a contraction of 2.5 per cent in Argentine GDP.

“Perhaps it will take us many years to rebuild the country but maybe this is the beginning of a new era for us,” said Javier Lobos, 41, a shopkeeper.

LONDON — Anti-EU populist Nigel Farage’s star turn on a popular reality TV show is fuelling speculation the divisive figure may be plotting a sensational return to frontline British politics.

The 59-year-old Brexit figurehead has in recent weeks teased the idea of rejoining the struggling ruling Conservative Party, which he quit 30 years ago in protest over its stance on Europe.

He has also been airing his views to millions of viewers nightly from an Australian jungle on the latest series of “I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!”, all while embracing its gruesome challenges.

Right-wingers say the arch-Eurosceptic could help turn around the Tories’ fortunes before next year’s expected general election, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has so far failed to rule his return out.

Centrists and commentators suggest however it would be a death wish for the Conservatives, and that Farage is more likely to lead the right-wing fringe party Reform UK into the nationwide vote.

Since Farage helped persuade a majority of Britons to vote to leave the European Union in 2016, the Tory party has drifted away from former leader David Cameron’s “liberal conservatism”. lurching towards right-wing populism.

“His return to the Conservative fold after decades campaigning from outside the party would complete the takeover of the Tories by their radical right faction,” British politics expert Richard Hayton told AFP.

Red carpet 

Rumours that Farage was toying with rejoining the Tories — after leaving in 1992 when prime minister John Major signed the Maastricht Treaty on closer European integration — gathered steam in October when he stole the limelight at the Conservative conference.

The former member of the European parliament was feted by supporters and filmed dancing with an ex-minister at a conference party. It was his first time at the event since the late 1980s.

Farage — once dubbed “Mr Brexit” by former US president Donald Trump — told the Politics Home website he would be “very surprised if I were not Conservative leader by 2026”.

He added that he was serious but later said the comments were made “in jest”, leaving observers guessing.

Fellow Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg said the party should “roll out the red carpet” if Farage wanted to rejoin.

The then-chairman and more centrist Greg Hands quickly responded by saying, “no, no, no”.

One right-winger said this week he would “love” to see Farage as interior minister, while Sunak appeared to leave the door open to a comeback by telling reporters: “Our party has always been a broad church.”

‘Hero’ 

Sunak is on track to lose heavily to the main opposition Labour Party in the election if opinion polls are to be believed.

A recent survey suggested 11 per cent support for Reform, the successor to Ukip and the Brexit Party, which would be enough to see the Tories lose key seats to Labour.

Those on the right think bringing Farage back into the fold will help the Tories regain voters from Reform. The opposite may also be true.

“Welcoming Farage back in would be a strategic error that will likely drive more centrist swing voters away from the Conservatives towards Labour and the Liberal Democrats,” said Hayton.

Some Westminster watchers suspect Farage is not really serious about rejoining a party he has enjoyed undermining for the past three decades.

“It’s a way of coming back into the public spotlight. A bit of an ego trip as well,” David Jeffery, British politics lecturer at the University of Liverpool, told AFP.

That publicity has been playing out on TV screens, where Farage reached the latter stages of “I’m a Celebrity.”

He debuted on the show last month by sticking his head through the window of a camper van full of snakes, and declaring: “I’m a hero to some people and an absolute villain to millions.

“In the jungle you’re going to find the real me. You might like me more, you might dislike me more, but you will at least find out.”

Political scientists note that the many Conservative MPs who harbour ambitions of leading the Tories are unlikely to welcome a likely future rival.

Jeffery suspects that when Farage leaves the jungle he is more likely to relead the populist Reform, which he founded in 2018.

“For Reform, having Farage back would be brilliant,” Jeffery said, despite the Brexiteer never being elected to the UK parliament in seven attempts.

TBILISI — Georgian non-governmental organisations staged a pro-European Union march in the capital Tbilisi on Saturday, a week ahead of the bloc’s decision on granting the country membership candidacy status.

EU leaders are set to discuss putting Tbilisi on a formal membership path and to launch accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova during a European Council meeting on December 14-15.

President Salome Zurabishvili joined the rally at Tbilisi’s Europe Square where demonstrators unfolded a 33 metre-long and 22 metre-wide EU flag, which organisers claimed to be the “largest in the world”.

She said she counted on EU leaders to grant her country candidate status, but also expressed concern over the position of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

He has threatened to block key decisions concerning Ukraine at the upcoming EU summit — risking to impact Georgia’s chances of obtaining candidate status at the same time.

“It would be extremely serious if Orban — under the influence of Russia — could force the European Union to go against decisions that lead towards a common European future, towards the shared freedom of Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova in the European space,” Zurabishvili said.

EU chief Charles Michel met Orban on November 27 to ease tensions, while French President Emmanuel Macron hosted him in Paris on Thursday in a bid to break the deadlock over Ukraine.

‘Hello Europe, goodbye Russia’ 

Beating drums, waving EU banners and Georgia’s five-cross flags, several hundred representatives of Georgian NGOs, marched on Saturday along Tbilisi’s main thoroughfare, Rustaveli Avenue.

“Georgians’ unity holds decisive importance on our path towards the EU,” the march organisers said in a statement. “We must once again demonstrate our unity and ensure our voice is heard.”

Demonstrators expressed optimism over Georgia’s chances to advance on its EU accession path.

“I’m sure we will get EU candidacy because we, Georgians, belong to Europe,” one of the rally participants, student Marika Gerliani, 20, told AFP.

Another demonstrator, 60-year-old mathematician Nika Tvauri, said: “It’s about Georgia returning home. Hello Europe, goodbye Russia.”

Georgia applied for EU membership alongside Ukraine and Moldova after Russia invaded its pro-Western neighbour in February 2022.

EU leaders have granted candidate status to Kyiv and Chisinau but urged Tbilisi to first implement judicial and electoral reforms, improve press freedom and curtail the power of oligarchs.

SYDNEY — A heatwave scorched Australia’s eastern coast and sent temperatures in Sydney to a three-year high on Saturday as firefighters battled runaway bushfires.

Many people crowded Sydney’s beaches or sought relief in the shade. Authorities warned the most vulnerable, including the elderly and very young, to shelter in cool buildings.

Sydney city centre’s Observatory Hill weather station reached 40ºC in the afternoon — the hottest since November 2020, according to weather bureau data.

In Richmond on Sydney’s far western fringes, the thermometer crept up to 43.8ºC.

“Today, with the high heat levels, I do say that it’s a time to ensure that we look after each other and stay safe,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a news conference. 

“Climate change is a threat to people’s health as well as to our environment and we need to acknowledge there’s a need for a comprehensive response.”

More than 70 bushfires and grass fires burned across New South Wales, with over a dozen out of control in the late afternoon, the state’s rural fire service said.

“With very hot, dry and windy conditions, and total fire bans in place, know your risk and what you will do if threatened by fire,” the fire service said in a message on social media.

Temperatures were set to cool in the evening, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

It urged vulnerable people to use fans and air conditioners or seek cool spots in libraries, community centres and shopping centres.

‘Take breaks 

from dancing’

The number of calls for ambulances rose by about 20 per cent compared to a normal day, New South Wales Ambulance chief superintendent Mark Gibbs told a news conference.

“Follow up on elderly relatives. Check in on your neighbours. Ensure that people are rehydrating,” Gibbs said.

“Monitor people for signs of dehydration or effects from the heat — and that may be a decreased level of consciousness, vomiting, lethargy, feeling fatigued, potentially muscle twitching.”

State health authorities called on people attending music festivals to protect themselves, with thousands expected at an event in western Sydney’s Olympic Park.

“Make sure you take breaks from dancing, seek shade when you can, drink water regularly, wear sun protection,” NSW Health said in a statement.

“Make use of festival-provided shade, water stations and misting fans.”

After several wet years, experts are expecting Australia’s summer to bring the most intense bushfire season since the 2019-2020 disaster. 

During that “Black Summer”, bushfires raged across Australia’s eastern seaboard, razing swathes of forest, killing millions of animals and blanketing cities in noxious smoke. 

Australia’s weather bureau confirmed in September that an El Nino weather pattern is underway, bringing hotter and drier conditions to the country.

Australia is one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of gas and coal, two key fossil fuels that are blamed for global heating.

Under Albanese’s centre-left government, the country has vowed to cut carbon emissions by 43 per cent before 2030 when compared to 2005 levels.

PAU, France — Activists on Thursday petitioned a French court to change the name of a neighbourhood and street in the seaside resort town of Biarritz over its racist connotations.

One of the south-western town’s districts has been officially called “The Negress” since 1861, while a road has been called “Negress Street” since 1986.

Anti-racism association Memoires et Partages (Memory and Sharing) says Napoleonic soldiers gave the district the nickname after a former enslaved woman who worked in an inn there.

The group says the words “negro” and “negress” were used “to designate a black person deprived of their humanity, the only way for European societies to render their enslavement morally acceptable”.

“The terms thus carry the mark of a crime against humanity that saw millions of Africans deported so they could work as slaves in colonial plantations,” it said.

Instead the association called for the neighbourhood to retake its old name of Harausta, which means “dusty quarter” in the regional Basque language.

Memoires et Partages asked the mayor’s office to change the names in 2020, but that request was rejected.

It filed a case with the administrative court in the nearby city of Pau on Thursday, and is expecting a ruling within the next fortnight.

A magistrate who examined the claim on Thursday morning gave a non-binding opinion that the word had indeed become “derogatory” but that the mayor’s office was within its rights to reject the request.

William Bourdon, the lawyer for the association, deplored what he called the “normalisation of a racist stereotype”.

Pierre Cambot, a lawyer for the mayor’s office, said it was more of a “semantic slip”.

“It was never the intention to humiliate anyone, but rather to pay tribute to this woman,” he said.

If the court rules against the association, it has said it will take its complaint to France’s top administrative court.

French ships played a big role in the transatlantic slave trade, especially through its western port city of Nantes, until the abolition of slavery in 1848.

In 2001, France became the first country to recognise slavery and the slave trade as “crimes against humanity”.

MOSCOW — Russia's upper house of parliament on Thursday set March 17, 2024 as the date for the next presidential election, in which longtime President Vladimir Putin is widely expected to run again.

In a meeting televised live, the senators unanimously approved the date in a decision that "practically kicks off the presidential campaign", according to the head of the chamber, Valentina Matvienko.

Putin, who has been in power in Russia either as president or prime minister since 2000, has not officially announced if he will stand in the vote, but is widely expected to do so.

The election will take place two years after Russia launched what it calls a special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022 and later annexed the Ukrainian regions of Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

The election "will be a sort of culmination of reunification" for the regions, Matvienko said.