World

SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan — French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Uzbekistan on Wednesday evening after a trip to Kazakhstan, part of a two-day tour to boost France’s footprint in Central Asia.

The French leader’s visit comes as European nations jostle for influence in the resource-rich region, where Russia, China, Turkey and Europe all have economic interests.

Visiting Kazakhstan’s capital Astana earlier, Macron said he wanted to “strengthen... complement and accelerate” France’s partnership with the country.

Central Asia, which has long been under Russian influence and was part of the Soviet Union, is receiving increasing attention from other powers as Moscow is taken up with its war in Ukraine.

Macron acknowledged the “geopolitical pressures” being put on Kazakhstan.

“I do not underestimate the geopolitical difficulties, the pressures, sometimes the jostling to which you may be subjected,” Macron told Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

“In a world where great powers want to become hegemonies and where regional powers are becoming unpredictable,” the French president said he welcomed Kazakhstan’s “refusal... to take the route of becoming a vassal”.

Tokayev in turn said France was his country’s “key and reliable partner in the EU” and that he wanted to give their partnership “extra impetus”.

“Kazakhstan is the world’s top uranium producer, contributing over a quarter of nuclear fuel consumed in Europe,” Tokayev said.

“With nuclear power comprising 63 per cent of France’s energy sector, there is vast potential for further cooperation,” he added.

Military radars 

The leaders signed a series of contracts in sectors ranging from minerals and energy to pharmaceuticals and aerospace.

French energy giant EDF is in the running to build Kazakhstan’s first nuclear power station — a project due to be decided on in a referendum this year.

The Elysee also announced Paris would supply Ground Master 400 air defence radar systems to Kazakhstan to boost the country’s “sovereignty”.

France is the fifth-biggest foreign investor in Kazakhstan, ahead of China, mainly because of the involvement of energy giant TotalEnergies in the massive Kashagan offshore oil field project.

The head of French uranium company Orano, which already has a mine in Kazakhstan, is in Macron’s delegation.

Trade turnover between France and Kazakhstan reached 5.3 billion euros ($5.6 billion) in 2022 and Kazakhstan supplies around 40 per cent of France’s uranium needs.

NEW YORK — Former cryptocurrency whiz kid Sam Bankman-Fried knowingly stole money from customers of his FTX platform, US prosecutors told a federal court in closing arguments on Wednesday.

“This is not about complex issues of cryptocurrencies,” Prosecutor Nicolas Roos told the jury after several days of whithering cross-examination of the fallen crypto king.

“It’s about deception. It’s about lies. It’s about stealing. It’s about greed,” he said of the 31-year-old who was estimated to be worth several billion dollars at the height of his fame.

Bankman-Fried is on trial in New York for siphoning funds invested by unknowing customers on his FTX cryptocurrency exchange platform, once the second biggest exchange for crypto investors. He faces decades in prison if convicted.

Up to $14 billion of client money fuelled the transactions and venture investments of Alameda Research, Bankman-Friends personally owned hedge fund.

The jury is faced with the question whether “the defendant knew taking the money was wrong”, Roos said.

“He knew it was wrong. He did it anyway [and] thought because he was smart he could get away with it,” the prosecutor argued.

To believe otherwise, “you’d have to believe that the defendant was actually clueless. You sat through this trial and you know that none of it is true”.

During the trial that began on October 3, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate admitted he made “mistakes” in managing his crypto empire, but that he never committed fraud.

He depicted himself as a young entrepreneur swamped with work who only became aware of the trouble at Alameda when it was too late.

He said the problems at Alameda arose because his directions were ignored by staff, including his former girlfriend Caroline Ellison, whom he had tapped to run Alameda.

Roos pointed out that three witnesses, Ellison and other close associates, each claimed that the ex-cryptocurrency genius had given instructions for Alameda to pilfer the coffers of FTX, virtually without limit.

“That’s fraud. That’s stealing, plain and simple,” Roos said.

The trial has revealed that company software authorised Alameda to borrow up to $65 billion from FTX via a “back door”, using the money for risky investments, political donations, and the purchase of swishy real estate.

But the blank check turned sour when the cryptocurrency industry got rocked by a series of defaults in 2022, causing the value of virtually all digital currencies and Alameda’s assets to plummet.

According to prosecutors, at the time of the bankruptcy of FTX, just over $8 billion belonging to customers vanished into bad investments at Alameda.

MADRID — Princess Leonor, heir to the Spanish crown, swore loyalty to the constitution on Tuesday, her 18th birthday, a legal milestone that royal watchers hope will turn the page for the monarchy after several years marred by scandal.

Her parents, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, and younger sister Sofia watched on as Leonor took the oath before a joint session of both houses of parliament.

Outside, flag-waving, cheering crowds watched the brief ceremony live on giant screens set up around Madrid.

“So proud to live such a day in Spain, it should have been a national holiday,” said Blanca Palomares, a 23-year-old student who watched the ceremony in the Puerta del Sol square.

Wearing a white suit, Leonor pledged loyalty on the same copy of the constitution as her father 37 years ago. 

“I swear to faithfully fulfil my duties, to protect and have protected the Constitution and its laws, to respect the rights of citizens and autonomous communities and to be faithful to the king,” she said. 

Loud applause erupted in the chamber after, as the king embraced his oldest daughter. 

Church bells rang around Madrid and the country and crowds watching on screens also broke into applause and cheers. 

With the oath taken, Leonor can legally succeed Felipe and automatically becomes head of state in the event of the monarch’s absence. 

Afterwards, the crown princess drove to the royal palace through the streets of Madrid, many of them decorated with photos of her.

“Happy birthday!” “Long live Spain!” shouted onlookers.

Leonor has managed to win popular affection, with the latest edition of celebrity magazine Lecturas dedicating its front page to the rise of “Leonormania” this week. 

“I’m not a royalist, but the fact that it’s a woman makes me a bit more sympathetic,” said Andrea, 23, who came to central Madrid out of curiosity to witness the ceremony.

New chapter

Leonor speaks French, English and Catalan in addition to Spanish, and is learning a bit of Galician and Basque — two regional languages spoken in Spain. 

After finishing her International Baccalaureate at Atlantic College in Wales, the future commander-in-chief of Spain’s armed forces in August began three years of military training at a military academy in the north-eastern city of Zaragoza. 

Like her father Felipe, she is expected to spend a year in each section of the armed forces, beginning with the army, before completing her university studies.

Royal supporters hope that the young, photogenic Leonor can breathe new life into the royal family, which had been battered over the last few years by scandals surrounding her grandfather, Juan Carlos.

Juan Carlos came to the throne in 1975 after the death of dictator Francisco Franco.

He was widely respected for his role in helping guide Spain from dictatorship to democracy, but a steady flow of embarrassing stories about his love life and personal wealth eroded his standing.

He abdicated in 2014, dogged by scandals and health problems, and in 2020 went into self-imposed exile in Abu Dhabi amid investigations into his financial affairs, which have since been shelved.

Juan Carlos did not attend the ceremony in parliament, but media reported he would attend a private party at the El Pardo palace near Madrid later in the day — the first formal royal family gathering at which he’ll be present since going into exile.

When she ascends to the throne, Leonor will become Spain’s third full-fledged queen (instead of a queen consort), following Joanna of Castile in the 16th century and Isabella II in the 19th century.

NAIROBI — King Charles III begins a state visit to Kenya on Tuesday, where he will be confronted by widespread calls for an apology over Britain’s bloody colonial past.

Although the four-day trip by Charles and Queen Camilla has been billed as an opportunity to look to the future and build on the strong ties between London and Nairobi, the legacy of decades of British colonial rule looms large.

It is the 74-year-old British head of state’s first visit to an African and Commonwealth nation since ascending the throne in September last year on the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

The British High Commission said the visit, which follows trips to Germany and France earlier this year, will “spotlight the strong and dynamic partnership between the UK and Kenya”.

But it will also “acknowledge the more painful aspects” of Britain’s historic relationship with Kenya as the East African country prepares to celebrate 60 years of independence in December.

This includes the 1952-60 “Emergency”, when colonial authorities imposed a state of emergency in response to the Mau Mau guerrilla uprising, one of the bloodiest insurgencies against British rule.

At least 10,000 people — mainly from the Kikuyu tribe — were killed, although some historians and rights groups claim the true figure is higher.

Tens of thousands more were rounded up and detained without trial in camps where reports of executions, torture and vicious beatings were common.

The royal visit also comes as pressure mounts in some Caribbean Commonwealth countries to remove the British monarch as head of state, and as republican voices in the UK grow louder.

‘Brutal treatment’ 

Kenya nevertheless has special resonance for the royal family.

It is the country where, in 1952, Elizabeth learned of the death of her father, King George VI, marking the start of her historic 70-year reign.

And it comes almost exactly four decades since Elizabeth’s own state visit in November 1983.

Charles and Camilla will be formally welcomed on Tuesday by Kenyan President William Ruto, who has hailed the visit as a “significant opportunity to enhance collaboration” in various fields.

During two days in the capital Nairobi, Charles will meet entrepreneurs and young Kenyans, and attend a state banquet hosted by Ruto.

He will also lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Uhuru Gardens, where Kenya declared independence in December 1963.

The royal couple will travel to the Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa, with a stop at a nature reserve and a meeting with religious leaders on the agenda.

Although the programme largely focuses on the environment, creative arts, technology and young people, Buckingham Palace said Charles will take time to “deepen his understanding of the wrongs suffered” by Kenyans during colonial rule.

On Sunday, the Kenya Human Rights Commission urged him to make an “unequivocal public apology... for the brutal and inhuman treatment inflicted on Kenyan citizens”, and pay reparations for colonial-era abuses.

‘Don’t have to beg’ 

Britain agreed in 2013 to compensate more than 5,000 Kenyans who had suffered abuse during the Mau Mau revolt, in a deal worth nearly 20 million pounds ($25 million at today’s rates).

Then foreign secretary William Hague said Britain “sincerely regrets” the abuses but stopped short of a full apology.

“The negative impacts of colonisation are still being felt to date, they are being passed from generation to generation, and it’s only fair the king apologises to begin the healing process,” delivery rider Simson Mwangi, 22, told AFP.

But 33-year-old chef Maureen Nkatha disagreed.

“He doesn’t have to apologise, it’s time for us to move on and forward. We are now an independent country and he is not coming to save us,” she said.

“We should welcome him like any other statesman, discuss areas of cooperation with him and bid him bye. We don’t have to beg.”

Kenya and Britain are key economic partners with two-way trade at around 1.2 billion pounds over the year to the end of March 2023.

But another lingering source of tension is the presence of British troops in Kenya, with soldiers accused of rape and murder, and civilians maimed by munitions.

In August, the Kenyan parliament launched an inquiry into the activities of the British army, which has a base near Nanyuki, a town about 200 kilometres north of Nairobi.

Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper has billed Kenya as “the first stop” on Charles’ “mission to save the Commonwealth”.

More than a dozen nations out of the Commonwealth grouping of 56 countries still recognise the UK monarch as head of state. 

But clamour to become a republic is growing among some, including Jamaica and Belize, with Barbados making the switch in 2021.

BERLIN — At least three workers were killed in the northern German city of Hamburg on Monday when a scaffolding collapsed at a building site, with a fourth person believed trapped in the rubble, a fire brigade spokeswoman told AFP.

The spokeswoman said a fifth labourer had been critically injured in the accident, in which the scaffolding suddenly broke apart in an eight-storey-high elevator shaft shortly after 0800 GMT.

The fire brigade had initially said that five labourers had been killed and an unspecified number were buried in the wreckage of the disaster. The cause of the collapse was not yet clear.

“The rescue operation is running in high gear,” the spokeswoman said.

Some 70 emergency responders were at the site seeking to rescue the trapped worker. The nationality of the victims was not yet determined.

The accident occurred in Hafen City, a once scruffy port district that has become one of the biggest urban construction projects in Europe.

The scaffolding came down at the Westfield Hamburg-Ueberseequartier, a business, residential and leisure development that is to include a major new cruise ship terminal when it is completed early next year.

The district combines new high-rise buildings with cafes, bars and riverside plazas designed to convert a previous industrial area into a lively quarter of Germany’s second city.

‘Highly dangerous’ 

Parent company Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield said in a statement sent to AFP that a “tragic accident” had occurred and that it was “supporting emergency responders and working with the authorities”.

“Our thoughts are primarily with the victims and all those who work at the building site” which has been fully evacuated, it said. 

“The rescue workers are on the scene and working closely with the police.”

The daily Bild said the scaffolding in a building elevator shaft came down on at least eight workers.

The entire construction site was evacuated, including some 700 workers, Bild said.

Police at the scene cordoned off the site with tape and a rescue helicopter and several ambulances arrived to transport injured workers recovered from the wreckage.

Public broadcaster NDR said the workers had fallen from the eighth floor of a building under construction. It said rescuers were using heavy equipment to clear the rubble and recover other victims.

It quoted a fire brigade spokesman as saying that the rescue work itself was “highly dangerous” for the staff at the scene.