World

PARIS — Thousands of people took to the streets across the world on Saturday to condemn violence against women on the international day highlighting the crime.

On the UN-designated International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, protesters marched in Europe and the Americas.

"The scourge of gender-based violence continues to inflict pain and injustice on too many," US President Joe Biden said in a statement.

"An estimated one in three women globally will experience physical violence, rape, or stalking at some point in their lifetimes. It's an outrage."

"Particularly in areas of conflict, countless women and girls suffer at the hands of perpetrators who commit gender-based violence and use rape as a weapon of war."

"We know what is at stake: whenever and wherever women and girls are under threat, so too is peace and stability", Biden said.

In Guatemala, protesters kicked off commemorations on Friday evening, placing candles to write out 438 — the number of women killed so far this year.

In Chile, protesters marched in Santiago, carrying portraits of victims.

Italy murder 

In Italy, which has been shaken by the murder of a 22-year-old university student allegedly by her former boyfriend, some 50,000 people, according to the AGI news agency, demonstrated in Rome, where the Colosseum was to be lit up in red later on Saturday.

The country has been horrified by the case of Giulia Cecchettin, who went missing for a week as she was due to receive her degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Padua.

Her body was eventually found in a gully about 120 kilometres north of Venice and her former boyfriend, 22-year-old Filippo Turetta, was arrested in Germany.

"This year... takes on particularly important connotations for us... for those in this country who care about the rights, claims and emancipation of all women, following yet another femicide, the killing of Giulia Cecchettin", said Luisa Loduce, a 22-year-old librarian.

In the year to November 12, there have been 102 murder cases with female victims in Italy, 82 of whom were killed by family members or current or former partners, according to the interior ministry.

In Turkey, some 500 women gathered in the Sisli district in Istanbul, as riot police stood by, unfurling banners reading “We will not remain silent” and “Women are united and fighting against male-state violence”.

Protesters also took to the streets in Ankara.

‘Educate your boys’ 

In France, several thousand of people, many wearing purple, the colour of women and gender equality, wove through the chilly streets of Paris and other cities, carrying signs reading: “One rape every six minutes in France” and “Protect your girls, educate your boys”.

“We don’t want to count the dead any more,” Maelle Lenoir, an official from the All of Us activist group, told reporters, urging the government to devote more money to eradicating violence against women.

France has recorded 121 women killed so far this year in femicides, the killing of a woman due to her gender, compared with 118 in 2022, according to government data.

Leonore Maunoury, 22, said that the justice system needed to be changed to deal effectively with the phenomenon, as she march in the eastern city of Strasbourg.

“Sexual violence is difficult to prove. Many cases are dismissed. The justice system is ill-adapted” to deal with the issue, she said.

THE HAGUE — The far-right, anti-Islam party of firebrand politician Geert Wilders has won a stunning victory in the Dutch election, partial results showed on Thursday, a political bombshell that will resound in Europe and around the world.

His PVV (Freedom Party) won 35 seats in parliament, a landslide according to initial results on Wednesday and a generally reliable exit poll. A left-wing bloc trailed far behind on 25 seats, with the centre-right party on 24.

If confirmed, Wilders' victory marks a sharp lurch to the right for the EU's fifth-largest economy that will be viewed with trepidation in Brussels — the PVV has promised a referendum on Dutch membership of the European Union.

Despite his electoral triumph, it is far from clear how Wilders can garner the necessary support for a broad enough coalition to form a stable government.

"I call on the parties... Now we will have to look for agreements with each other," Wilders told cheering supporters.

"The PVV can no longer be ignored," he said.

The leaders of the three other top parties had previously ruled out serving in a PVV-led coalition.

But Pieter Omtzigt, whose New Social Contract party won 20 seats according to the exit poll, appeared to soften his position, saying he was "available", although coalition talks would "not be easy".

Leader of the Green/Labour left-wing bloc, Frans Timmermans, seemed to rule out a coalition, saying: "Now is the time for us to defend democracy."

'Heart palpitations' 

Immigration was the key topic of the campaign, and Wilders' hardline stance, including closing the borders and deporting illegal immigrants, struck a chord with Dutch voters.

"The Dutch hope that the people can get their country back and that we will ensure that the tsunami of asylum-seekers and immigration is reduced," Wilders said. 

Diederick van Wijk from the Clingendael Institute told AFP The Netherlands was now in "uncharted territory" after the "landslide victory" of Wilders.

He said the other parties had made a strategic error by focusing on immigration, playing into the PVV's hands.

Lizette Keyzer, a 60-year-old business manager, said she had "heart palpitations" when the exit poll results came out.

The country "is going in a right-wing direction. We hope that this does not completely become the case", added Keyzer.

Habib el Kaddouri, from the SMN association of Moroccan Dutch, said there was "very great distress and fear" in his community, according to local agency ANP. 

'Nexit' 

Wilders has been compared to Donald Trump, partly for his swept-back dyed hairstyle that resembles the former US president, but also for his rants against immigrants and Muslims.

During the campaign, he sought to tone down his message, saying he could put some of his more strident views on Islam "in the freezer".

He stressed he would be prime minister for everyone "regardless of their religion, background, sex or whatever", insisting the cost-of-living crisis was a bigger priority.

But as his opponents never tired of pointing out, his PVV manifesto told a different story.

With hallmark Wilders rhetoric, the manifesto said: "Asylum-seekers feast on delightful free cruise-ship buffets while Dutch families have to cut back on groceries."

The programme proposed a ban on Islamic schools, Korans and mosques. Headscarves would be banned from government buildings.

A "binding referendum" would be held on a "Nexit" — the idea of The Netherlands leaving the EU. The PVV also called for an "immediate halt" to development aid.

On foreign policy, the parallels to Trump were clear. "Netherlands first," trumpeted the manifesto.

Wilders already won plaudits from Hungary's nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who hailed "winds of change" after the exit poll. 

French far-right politician Marine Le Pen also offered her congratulations on Wilders' "spectacular performance" in the election.

'I am under attack' 

Wilders has remained defiant despite brushes with the law and death threats that have meant he has been under constant police protection since 2004.

"I don't regret fighting for freedom," Wilders told AFP in an interview ahead of elections in 2021. "Of course I take a stand. I am under attack, my country is under attack."

LONDON — Net migration to the UK hit a record high last year, official figures showed on Thursday, heaping pressure on Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who has vowed to reduce new arrivals.

Immigration — long a vexed political issue in Britain — is set to be a key issue in a general election expected next year, which the main opposition Labour Party are currently favourites to win.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said net migration — the difference between the number of people arriving in Britain and those leaving — was 745,000 in 2022, higher than previously thought.

It revised the figure upwards by 139,000 from what was already a record when released in May, citing "unexpected patterns" in the behaviour of migrants.

Sunak has long described regular immigration levels as "too high".

His party won a landslide under the leadership of Boris Johnson at the last election in 2019, largely on a promise to bring net migration numbers down.

The Conservatives have repeatedly promised that leaving the European Union, which ended the free movement of people from member states, would allow the UK to "take back control" of its borders.

But legal migration has soared since Britain formally left the EU in January 2020. In 2021, net migration was 488,000.

Some Tory backbenchers urged Sunak to "act now" to cut net migration and meet the party's 2019 pledge.

"This really is 'do or die' for our party," the New Conservatives group of right-wing lawmakers said in a statement.

A spokesperson for Sunak said it was clear net migration "remains far too high" and hinted that further measures to reduce it were on the horizon.

The government has already cracked down on visa applications for dependents of students and is reportedly mulling raising the minimum salary threshold for work visas.

"We believe there is much more to do and where the [visa] system is being abused we will leave no stone unturned in rooting that out," Sunak's spokesperson told reporters.

The ONS added though that net migration for the year to June 2023 is estimated to drop to 672,000.

'Failure' 

It said 1.2 million people came to Britain during that time, while 508,000 left.

"While it is too early to say if this is the start of a new downward trend, these more recent estimates indicate a slowing of immigration coupled with increasing emigration," the ONS said.

Interior Minister James Cleverly focused on this lower number.

"This figure is not showing a significant increase from last year's figures and is largely in line with our own immigration statistics," the home secretary said.

Most new arrivals were from non-EU countries, including India and Nigeria, continuing a trend seen since the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Study accounted for 39 per cent of non-EU arrivals, while 33 per cent came for work — up from 22 per cent last year.

The ONS attributed that rise to more health and care visas, with Britain's National Health Service under pressure to find staff.

On top of the record number of legal migrants, Sunak is struggling to cut the number of irregular arrivals crossing the Channel from northern France on small boats.

More than 28,000 have undertaken the dangerous crossing this year.

The government has deemed such crossings illegal but its much-trumpeted plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda was struck down by the courts last week.

Sunak has vowed new "emergency" legislation and a revised treaty with Kigali to get flights in the air by the spring.

The Tories, in power since 2010, lag well behind centre-left Labour in opinion polls ahead of an election that must be held by January 2025. 

Labour said of Thursday's figures highlighted the government's "failure" on immigration.

WASHINGTON — US President Joe Biden spoke with the leaders of Egypt, Israel and Qatar on Wednesday, the White House said, his first publicly announced talks with them since a hostage deal was announced between Israel and Hamas.

Biden and his government negotiated through Qatar and Egypt to arrange the deal, in which Hamas will free at least 50 hostages and Israel will release scores of Palestinian prisoners, while offering a four-day truce to war-battered Gaza.

Biden and Qatar Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani "committed to remain in close contact to ensure the deal is fully implemented", the White House said in a readout of the call.

“They reiterated the importance of protecting civilian lives, respecting international humanitarian law and increasing and sustaining humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza,” it said.

When the fighting will halt, and the hostages will be exchanged, remains to be seen, however, with Israeli officials telling AFP that there will be “no pause” before Friday, delaying a widely anticipated lull which had been expected to start at 10:00am local time

Biden told Sisi that “under no circumstances will the United States permit the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank” or “the redrawing of the borders of Gaza”, while also affirming that Gaza cannot “remain a sanctuary for Hamas”.

“The president affirmed his commitment to the establishment of a Palestinian state and recognised Egypt’s essential role in setting the conditions for that outcome.”

SEOUL — North Korea said on Wednesday it had succeeded in putting a military spy satellite in orbit after two previous failures, as the US led its allies in condemning the launch as a "brazen violation" of UN sanctions.

A rocket carrying the satellite blasted off Tuesday night from North Phyongan province, flew along its designated path and "accurately put the reconnaissance satellite 'Malligyong-1' on its orbit", state-run news agency KCNA reported.

North Korean leader Kim Jong -un was on hand to witness the blast off, and congratulated the scientists and technicians behind the mission, it added.

The United States quickly led condemnation of the launch as a "brazen violation" of UN sanctions and said it could destabilise the region.

South Korea reacted by saying it would resume surveillance operations along the border with North Korea that had been suspended in 2018 as part of a Seoul-Pyongyang agreement to reduce military tensions, the Yonhap news agency reported.

North Korea's previous efforts to put a spy satellite into orbit in May and August both failed. Seoul, Tokyo and Washington had repeatedly warned Pyongyang not to proceed with another launch, which would violate successive rounds of UN resolutions.

Space launch rockets and ballistic missiles have significant technological overlap, experts say, but different payloads, and Pyongyang is barred by UN resolutions from any tests involving ballistic technology.

Seoul's spy agency this month said Pyongyang appeared to have received technical advice from Russia, in return for sending at least 10 shipments of weapons for Moscow's war in Ukraine.

KCNA said after this mission that "the launch of reconnaissance satellite is a legitimate right of the DPRK for strengthening its self-defensive capabilities", as the country confronts what it calls threats from South Korea and the United States. DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) is the official name for North Korea.

The North plans to launch more satellites "in a short span of time" to step up its surveillance capability on South Korea, KCNA said.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said it was analysing the launch and did not confirm if the satellite had in fact been placed in orbit.

"North Korea's military satellite launch constitutes a provocative act that blatantly violates the UN Security Council resolutions prohibiting its use of ballistic missile technology as well as scientific and technological cooperation," the JCS said in a text message to reporters.

'Confidence in success' 

Seoul has been saying for weeks that Pyongyang was in the final stages of preparation to launch another spy satellite, warning it would take "necessary measures" if it went ahead.

The North's May attempt failed due to the "abnormal" startup of its second-stage engine, and the August bid due to an error in the "emergency blasting system" during the third-stage flight, according to Pyongyang state media at the time.

Tuesday's "launch that came hours before its time window notification seems to underscore two things: Pyongyang's confidence in success and intention to maximise surprise factor to the outside world", Choi Gi-il, professor of military studies at Sangji University, told AFP.

Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested in September after meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that his nation could help Pyongyang build satellites.

Seoul and Washington have both subsequently claimed Pyongyang has been shipping weapons to Russia, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warning this month that military ties between North Korea and Russia were "growing and dangerous".

Successfully putting a spy satellite into orbit would improve North Korea's intelligence-gathering capabilities, particularly over South Korea, and provide crucial data in any military conflict, experts say.

North Korea has conducted a record number of weapons tests this year.

Seoul, Washington and Tokyo have ramped up their defence cooperation in response, and on Tuesday a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, arrived at South Korea's Busan Naval Base.

MAPUTO — A programme using artificial intelligence to test inmates in a high security Mozambican jail for tuberculosis has spawned hope that the new tech can help eradicate the disease.

Teeming prisons are a hotbed of TB, the world’s second deadliest communicable disease after COVID, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Mozambique, a country of 32 million people, recorded about 120,000 infections last year.

Caused by a bacteria that most often affects the lungs, it infected more than 10 million people in 2022 and killed 1.3 million, according to WHO. 

Almost one in four infections last year occurred in Africa.

In the sprawling courtyard of the maximum security jail in the Mozambican capital Maputo, an inmate in an orange T-shirt stood before a tripod with a wide white tablet. 

Behind him, a doctor scoured a two-piece portable X-ray machine connected to an AI programme that has been hailed as a breakthrough in the fight against tuberculosis. 

“It processes it in real time, we have the results in less than five minutes,” the doctor said. 

The image popped on the computer of a technician sitting at a table outside a medical tent a few metres away, along with a diagnosis.

“Radiological signs suggestive of tuberculosis — negative,” the message said.

The programme is part of a large test run of the technology to scan all inmates at three prisons in Maputo. It is being conducted by a local non-profit organisation supported by the Stop TB Partnership, a UN-backed entity.

Early diagnosis is key to save lives and tackle the spread of the disease.

While a chronic cough is a hallmark of infection, people can also carry TB without showing symptoms. Prisons are a perfect breeding ground due to crammed cells and airborne transmission. 

Traditional spit, skin or blood tests for TB involves visits to a lab and the results can take up to three days. The quickest time for reliable results is 24 hours.

‘Great leap 

in technology’  

The combination of AI and portable X-ray machines is faster and eliminates the need for visits to clinics and radiologists, who can be scarce in poor rural areas, said Stop TB’s deputy head Suvanand Sahu.

“This is a great leap in technology,” he said.

At the Maputo Provincial Penitentiary, prisoners testing positive are placed in isolation, locked in a quarantine room behind a rusty metal door. 

Inside, about a dozen inmates wearing face masks sit on mattresses thrown on the ground. Clothing, blankets and other belongings hang from a line strung between two discoloured blue pillars. 

Serious cases are taken to a medical ward. 

Mozambique’s jails were about 50 per cent over capacity in 2022, according to the UN. 

“It’s not easy to see your friends playing and walking there but you have to accept that I am sick,” Kennet Fortune, an inmate who has spent 10 year behind bars for drug-related offences, said pointing at the trees in the prison yard. 

He is currently undergoing treatment and the process can take months. “When the time comes, I’ll be out,” he said.

A WHO report this month found that global deaths from tuberculosis dipped in 2022, showing progress towards eradicating the disease. 

The UN health agency said 7.5 million people were diagnosed with TB in 2022 — the highest figure since it began monitoring in 1995. 

Sahu of Stop TB said he was hoping that the success of pilot programmes could help get funding to scale up the use of AI in diagnosing tuberculosis.

“Only a few years ago, if I was to say in a meeting that we can bring X-rays to all communities and have them read by a artificial intelligence with no need for radiologists, they would have kicked me out of the room and told me to go write a sci-fi novel,” he said.

WASHINGTON — Joe Biden joked about his age as he turned 81 on Monday, but the issue is no laughing matter for many voters who are worried he is too old for reelection next year.

"By the way it's my birthday today... It's difficult turning 60," the president said with a chuckle at the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardoning ceremony at the White House.

In front of an audience including schoolchildren, he then quipped: "This is the 76th anniversary of this event, and I want you to know I wasn't there for the first one."

But a moment in which he mixed up US singers Taylor Swift and Britney Spears soon baffled his guests, and renewed focus on his age.

The Democrat is the oldest president in American history, and if he wins a second term next year he will be 86 by the time he leaves.

Poll after poll shows that a majority of voters think he is too old to be commander-in-chief. Incidents in which he has tripped, including on the stairs of Air Force One, repeatedly go viral.

Voters don't so far have the same concerns about his likely election rival Donald Trump, despite the fact that the Republican is 77 and has been known to make similar slip-ups.

Trump warned in a speech in September, for example, that the United States was on the verge of "World War II", and recently said Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was the leader of Turkey.

'Wisdom'

"It's not about age. It's about the president's experience," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday.

She also hailed Biden’s “wisdom” and “stamina”, reminding reporters of his grueling, secret trip to war-torn Kyiv earlier this year.

Biden will celebrate his birthday as he normally does with his family during their annual visit to the island of Nantucket this week, “with a coconut cake, which is something that they traditionally do”, Jean-Pierre added.

The White House has been dismissive of opinion polls, with Democrats notching up a series of recent electoral successes.

Yet the numbers make grim reading for the party. Seventy-four per cent of people said Biden would be too old to serve a second term, compared to 50 per cent for Trump, a recent ABC/Washington Post poll showed.

Biden is “not doing a lot wrong” but is struggling to change perceptions on his age, as well as other issues like the economy, said David Karol, who teaches government and politics at the University of Maryland.

“He is lucid, but people just have this perception,” Karol told AFP.

The issue in general has been unfairly “weaponised” in US politics, added S. Jay Olshansky, a longevity researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

“Ageing is not what it used to be,” Olshansky told AFP.

 ‘Super-Agers’ 

Biden and Trump are both likely to be “Super-Agers”, a term coined by researchers to describe a small group of people who keep their full faculties until late in life, said Olshansky.

His research has also found that for US presidents, “biological time seems to tick at a slower pace” than for other people, as they apparently thrive on the stress of the job.

That said, Biden’s campaign has taken to highlighting Trump’s own slipups ahead of a possible 2024 rematch.

Eager to hit back, Trump released a doctor’s letter on Monday referencing an examination two months ago in which tests showed his “cognitive exams were exceptional”.

Biden’s age is bound to come under even deeper scrutiny during a grueling election campaign.

Republicans have trained their fire on the person who is just a heartbeat away from the presidency, should the worst happen: Vice President Kamala Harris.

Harris blazed a trail as the first woman, Black person and person of South Asian descent to hold the vice president’s office, but her approval ratings are as bad as her boss’s, at under 40 per cent.

The vice president was one of the first to offer her best wishes to Biden on his birthday on social media, saying she was “proud to be in the fight alongside you”.

First Lady Jill Biden followed with a simple message, adorned with a hearts emoji: “Happy Birthday, Joe! I love you.”