International

Kenya’s under-fire police yesterday pledged a “transparent” investigation into the shocking discovery of eight mutilated female bodies dumped in a Nairobi garbage site.But tensions were running high at the crime scene in the Mukuru slum area in the south of the Kenyan capital, as police briefly fired tear gas to disperse a crowd of angry residents, an AFP journalist said.Police chiefs said they were pursuing possible links to cults, serial killers or rogue medical practitioners in their investigation into the macabre saga, which has horrified and angered the nation.The mutilated and dismembered bodies, trussed up in plastic bags, were hauled out of a sea of floating rubbish in an abandoned quarry in Mukuru.The discoveries have thrown another spotlight on Kenyan police and added more pressure on President William Ruto, who is struggling to contain a crisis over widespread anti-government protests that saw dozens of demonstrators killed.Acting national police chief Douglas Kanja said six corpses were found in Mukuru on Friday and more body parts were retrieved on Saturday, with preliminary investigations revealing that all were female.“They were severely dismembered in different states of decomposition and left in sacks,” Kanja told a press conference, describing it as a “heinous act”.He said police were committed to conducting “transparent, thorough and swift investigations” adding that they aimed to wrap up their inquiries in 21 days.Kanja, who was appointed only on Friday amid the fallout over last month’s protest bloodshed, also said that all officers at the police station located near the quarry had been transferred.Kenya’s police watchdog, the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA), on Friday had said it was investigating whether there was any police involvement in the dumped bodies, noting that the dumpsite was just 100 metres from the police post.The IPOA also said it was looking into claims of abductions of demonstrators who went missing after last month’s protests.But it did not make any link to those missing and the dumped bodies. The AFP journalist said in the absence of a police search yesterday, volunteers were combing through the vast piles of rubbish in search of more victims. Trouble briefly erupted when locals tried to take a bag they had hauled out of quarry to the police station, but were met with volleys of tear gas, the journalist said. Mohamed Amin, the head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, said the ages of the victims ranged from 18 to 30 and that all had been killed and butchered in the same manner.“Are we dealing with a cult that is associated with criminal activities, are we dealing with serial killers?” he said at the press briefing alongside Kanja.“We even could be dealing with rogue medical practitioners.”Kenya was left reeling last year by the discovery of mass graves in a forest near the Indian Ocean coast containing the bodies of more than 400 members of a doomsday sect, one of the world’s worst cult-related massacres. On Monday, self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie went on trial on terrorism charges, along with 94 co-defendants, over the deaths, accused of inciting his followers to starve themselves to death in order to meet their creator. He and the other accused also face charges of murder, manslaughter and child cruelty in separate cases over what has been dubbed the “Shakahola forest massacre”.The country’s law enforcement services are already under scrutiny over the protest deaths, with rights groups accusing police of using excessive force.Kanja took up his post only this week after national police chief Japhet Koome resigned in the face of public fury over the alleged police brutality.A total of 39 people were killed and more than 630 injured during the unrest, Kenya’s national rights commission said earlier this month. Kenyan police are often accused by rights groups of using excessive force and carrying out unlawful killings or running hit squads, but few have faced justice.

A small landlocked African nation playing in the big league: with military might, image branding and political influence, Rwanda under President Paul Kagame has become a major strategic player with tentacles spread far and wide.De facto leader since the 1994 genocide and running for a fourth term as president in elections Monday, Kagame has established a sphere of influence far outweighing Rwanda’s size to develop the country and entrench his own power base.Unlike many other African nations, “Rwanda is pursuing a real foreign policy strategy”, says Paul-Simon Handy, East Africa director at the Institute for Security Studies. This strategy is similar to “smart power”, says Handy, combining hard power — the use of military and economic means for influence — and soft power.The Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) is one of the pillars of this policy, though its role is contradictory. The Democratic Republic of Congo has for years accused its neighbour of fomenting instability in the east and supporting armed groups.A recent UN experts report said 3,000-4,000 Rwandan soldiers are fighting alongside M23 rebels and that Kigali had “de facto control” of the group’s operations.Questioned repeatedly on the issue, Kagame has not explicitly denied the presence of Rwandan forces in DRC, instead pointing to the “persecution” of the Tutsi minority and the risk of instability on Rwanda’s border. “By nature, Rwanda’s security posture has always been defensive, not offensive. We only act when trouble is brought on us,” he said this month.Its murky role in the DRC has however cost Kigali some financial support from the West, which since 2012-2013 has cut development aid and investment.At the same time, Kagame has established his army as the “policeman of Africa”.Since 2024, the RDF has taken part in numerous UN peacekeeping missions. With 5,894 men deployed as of March 31, Rwanda is the fourth largest contributor, with forces in South Sudan and the Central African Republic.“By participating in and leading peacekeeping and unilateral military missions, Rwanda has significantly enhanced its global image and strategic relevance beyond its historical association with the 1994 genocide,” said Federico Donelli, assistant professor of international relations at the University of Trieste.It also reaps a financial windfall. The UN pays contributors $1,428 per soldier per month, meaning Kigali receives more than $100mn a year. The RDF has also been deployed under bilateral deals with, for example, CAR and Mozambique.These military commitments are often accompanied by economic agreements, offering development opportunities for Rwanda, which does not have its own natural resources or industrial base, and is reliant on international funding.In CAR, Rwandans enjoy privileged investment access to sectors such as mining, agriculture and construction, often led by Crystal Ventures, an investment firm owned by Kagame’s ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).DIPLOMATIC LEVERThese deals also represent a valuable diplomatic lever to ward off sanction threats over the DRC or its dismal human rights record.“Rwanda has never hidden its threat to withdraw from peacekeeping operations if it were to be sanctioned,” said Handy. “It has proven its effectiveness: DRC efforts to have Rwanda sanctioned for its support for the M23 were unsuccessful.” Donelli said Kagame has an ability to read global dynamics.“He knows that Western actors are increasingly reluctant to get involved in African crises,” he added.“In an increasingly chaotic regional context, he is using Rwanda’s role as a reliable partner in crises to reduce Western criticism and divert attention from domestic issues such as the lack of democratic development, centralisation of power and human rights concerns.” Kagame is accused of muzzling the media and political opposition, while according to the World Bank almost half the population lives on less than $2.15 a day.But he has sought to burnish Rwanda’s image abroad — selling itself as an African flagship for new technology, a hub for conferences and major sporting events, and a leading ecotourism destination.Sponsorship deals have seen “Visit Rwanda” emblazoned on the shirts of European football teams Arsenal, PSG and Bayern Munich.Rwanda has also boosted its presence in global organisations.In 2009, it became a member of the Commonwealth and hosted its 2022 summit, while a former minister is head of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (French-speaking union), another serves as deputy chair of the African Union Commission.Handy says Rwanda’s “smart power” was illustrated by the controversial deal to take in asylum seekers deported from Britain.“The interest was essentially financial but it was also the projection of an image of a peaceful country where it would be good for refugees to live.”Widely condemned by rights groups and blocked by UK courts, the scheme has now been scrapped by Britain’s new government — but Rwanda insists it is not obliged to return the £240mn ($311mn) payment already sent by London.

France celebrated military victories of the past at its annual Bastille Day parade Sunday, while its present political future appeared far from clear.President Emmanuel Macron inspected French and allied units which took part in France's World War II liberation 80 years ago.And Paris welcomed the Olympic flame to the city, less than two weeks before it hosts the Summer Games.But behind the pomp -- itself in a reduced format while Olympic preparations blocked the traditional Champs Elysees route -- France's tense search for a government appeared to be at a stalemate.All eyes were on the host, Macron, who last year cut a more impressive figure, hosting rising superpower India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they watched France's military might roll down the Champs Elysees.There was no international star guest this year, and there were no armoured vehicles as a reduced number of troops marched down the less majestic Avenue Foch.This month's snap elections, called by Macron to clarify France's direction after the far right sent shockwaves through the political establishment by coming first in EU polls, left the country without a parliamentary majority.- Government in limbo -Prime Minister Gabriel Attal is hanging on as caretaker head of government but the centrist has reportedly fallen out with Macron and is now focusing on his own future, taking charge of his reduced party in parliament.Other figures are mobilising with an eye on the 2027 presidential race, but there is little sign of a majority emerging from parliament, split between three camps.With government in limbo and Macron barred by the constitution from calling fresh elections for at least 12 months, far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen is eyeing the 2027 campaign with relish.Meanwhile, a rapidly cobbled-together left-wing alliance, the New Popular Front (NFP), now has the most MPs but no outright majority and no clear candidate for PM.Firebrand hardliner Jean-Luc Melenchon and his France Unbowed (LFI) party have alienated many even on the left and would be rejected by the centre and right.But LFI represents a large chunk of the NFP and, along with some greens and communists, had been touting Huguette Bello, the 73-year-old former communist and president of the regional council on Reunion in the Indian Ocean, as premier.But on Sunday she declined the role, saying that there was no consensus behind her candidacy, notably because of opposition from the centre-left Socialist Party, and that she wanted the NFP to agree to another name quickly.The European Union's second largest economy, a nuclear-armed G7 power and permanent member of the UN Security Council, is thus rudderless, a troubling situation for markets and France's allies alike.Against this backdrop, the reduced and rerouted parade risked becoming a new symbol of drift, even with the addition of the arrival in Paris of the Olympic Torch, ahead of the July 26 to August 11 Games.- Olympic relay -No tanks took part, and only 4,000 foot soldiers marched, down from 6,500 last year. The military fly-past saw 45 aeroplanes and 22 helicopters soar over Paris.Regiments honoured on the parade included those from France's allies and former French colonies that took part in the country's 1944 World War II liberation.The parade's final section turned to the upcoming games.Colonel Thibault Vallette of the elite Cadre Noir de Saumur cavalry school and 2016 equestrian gold medallist at the Rio Games rode the torch down the route before relay runners were to carry it around the capital.

China's President Xi Jinping expressed his "compassion and sympathy" to Donald Trump on Sunday, a spokesman said, following an assassination attempt on the former US president during a rally in the United States."China is closely following the situation surrounding the shooting of former President Donald Trump," a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement.

A total of eight bodies, all of them female, have been recovered so far from a dumpsite in a Nairobi slum, Kenya's acting police chief said on Sunday."They were severely dismembered in different states of decomposition and left in sacks," Douglas Kanja told a press conference, adding that investigations into the gruesome find are ongoing.Kanja said the first six corpses were found on Friday and body parts of another two women were found on Saturday."I would like to assure the public that we are committed to conducting transparent, thorough and swift investigations," he added.Kanja also called for public cooperation in the investigation "so that we bring the perpetrators of these heinous acts to book".Kanja took up his post only this week after the resignation of national police chief Japhet Koome in the wake of public fury over the deaths of dozens of protesters during anti-government demonstrations last month.

The FBI announced Sunday that it has identified the person involved in the attempted assassination of former US President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.The FBI said in a statement that the shooter was Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from Pennsylvanias Bethel Park.For his part, Chief of Communications for the US Secret Service Anthony Guglielmi said that the gunman was neutralized immediately.Earlier today, the former US President and Republican Party candidate for the upcoming elections, Donald Trump, was subjected to an assassination attempt in a shooting that targeted him during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

Former US President and Republican Party candidate Donald Trump was injured after being shot during a Saturday campaign rally in Pennsylvania.District Attorney of Butler County Richard Goldinger said that Trump will be fine and that he was secured by the Secret Service.The suspected shooter and at least one rally attendee were killed, Goldinger added.Video footage showed the moment Trump fell on the campaign rally stage, while Secret Service agents surrounded him.Trump was doing well and being checked out at a local medical facility after being whisked off stage with a bloody ear, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said.US President Joe Biden expressed his condemnation of the incident that occurred at Donald Trump's campaign rally in Pennsylvania."I have been briefed on the shooting at Donald Trump's rally in Pennsylvania. I'm grateful to hear that hes safe and doing well," Biden said."There's no place in America for this kind of violence. We must unite as one nation to condemn it," he added.

Senator Bernie Sanders, a prominent figure of the US political left, threw his support yesterday behind Joe Biden’s White House campaign, dismissing calls for the president to withdraw from the race over health concerns.“Enough! Mr Biden may not be the ideal candidate, but he will be the candidate and should be the candidate,” independent senator Sanders wrote in a New York Times column, adding that “it’s time for Democrats to stop the bickering and nit-picking”.Sanders’s column comes amid steadily growing calls from Democratic officials and donors for the 81-year-old Biden to step aside following a disastrous performance in his June 27 debate with former president Donald Trump.So far, some 20 members of Congress have called for him to leave the race.Most polls taken since the debate show Trump with a national lead over Biden, though within the margin of error.They also show some key battleground states, including Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, shifting in the Republican’s favour.And a majority of Americans – including Democrats – believe Biden is too old to serve again, according to a recent poll.Nor did the president help his own cause when, at a summit in Washington earlier this week, he mistakenly introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as his foe Vladimir Putin, before quickly correcting himself.Biden, however, insisted during an appearance on Friday that he is, and will remain, his party’s flagbearer.“I am running and we’re going to win,” he told an enthusiastic audience in Detroit, amid chants of “Don’t you quit”.Sanders noted in his op-ed that he had some strong disagreements with Biden.Like many of his youthful supporters, Sanders fervently opposes what he called “US support for Israel’s horrific war against the Palestinian people” in Gaza.Sanders, who at 82 is himself seeking reelection to the Senate in November, did acknowledge the signs of the president’s ageing.However, given Biden’s achievements – and the record of Trump, “who has 34 felony convictions and ... has told thousands of documented lies” – the senator brushed Biden’s shortcomings aside.“Yes, I know,” he wrote. “Mr Biden is old, is prone to gaffes, walks stiffly and had a disastrous debate with Mr Trump. But this I also know: A presidential election is not an entertainment contest. It does not begin or end with a 90-minute debate.”He blamed the eruption of anti-Biden rhetoric partly on “the corporate media (which) has obsessively focused on the June presidential debate and the cognitive capabilities of a man who has, perhaps, the most difficult and stressful job in the world”.Sanders also blamed those Democrats who he said had “joined that circular firing squad”.He challenged the president to do more – to “propose and fight for a bold agenda” that would help lift working families “who have been left behind for far too long”.However, Biden, he concluded, was “a good and decent Democratic president with a record of real accomplishment”, including helping rebuild the US economy and shoring up the country’s crumbling infrastructure.“For the sake of our kids and future generations, he must win.”

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will hold a campaign rally near Pittsburgh in the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania this weekend, as suspense builds over who he will choose as his running mate for the November 5 US election.Trump has said that he will announce his vice-presidential pick shortly before or during the Republican Party’s national convention, which kicks off tomorrow in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and where he and his No. 2 will be officially nominated.Trump mentioned Ohio Senator JD Vance, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott as possible running mates during a radio interview on the The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show on Friday.He said there could be “four or five” people under consideration and likened the selection process to a “highly sophisticated version of The Apprentice”, the TV reality show where contestants competed for a job at his company and helped turn Trump into a household name.The decision will come at a moment of tumult for Democrats following 81-year-old President Joe Biden’s faltering debate performance on June 27.A growing number of Democratic lawmakers have called for Biden to step down for a younger nominee, though Biden has insisted that he plans to stay in the race.Trump’s rally yesterday evening at the Butler Farm Show Grounds in Pennsylvania underscores the importance of the state, which Trump won in 2016 but lost to Biden in 2020.It is again one of the handful of states likely to determine the outcome of the presidential election in November, and both men are targeting the state with visits and campaign resources.Today Biden visited a black church in Philadelphia and held an event with union members in Harrisburg, the state capital.Trump held a rally in Philadelphia three weeks ago, an event he billed as a chance to court black voters.The former president will use the rally this weekend to talk about inflation, crime and other issues he blames on Biden, the Trump campaign said in a statement.“I think people expect to hear who his vice-president choice is going to be. I’m not sure they are going to get that,” said Christopher Nicholas, a Republican consultant in Pennsylvania, about the rally. “Trump has played this close to the vest.”

Around 9,000 people have been evacuated in northeastern Canada because of raging wildfires, officials said yesterday.Residents of the towns of Labrador City and Wabush in Newfoundland and Labrador province were ordered to leave their homes, said provincial fire duty officer Jeff Motty.“We are seeing extreme fire behaviour out there. The fire is moving about 50m per minute,” Motty said.Images shared on social media showed lines of cars waiting to fill up at gas stations as the sky was obscured by enormous clouds of smoke.“It was quite a shock to see that much smoke,” Labrador City resident Stacy Hunt told public broadcaster CBC. “And it’s been in pretty much the same place for hours now.”In this remote region residents must evacuate more than 500km (310 miles) east via the only road available.Motty said that the intensity of the fire made it impossible to use water bombers.Yesterday morning Labrador City’s mayor Belinda Adams again urged residents to evacuate.“The fire is still active,” she said in a video posted on social media.There were 11 active wildfires in Labrador on Friday evening and weather conditions increased the potential for fire activity over the weekend, the province stated.Labrador City, located near the Quebec border, had a population of about 9,000 in the 2021 census.Federal authorities said on Friday that the weather had been favourable for limiting fires since the start of summer, but that the country was entering the peak wildfire season.Last year, the country recorded the worst fire season in its history.Drier and hotter conditions in many parts of the country caused by climate change have increased the risk of major fires in recent years, according to experts.Canada is currently battling 575 active fires with more than 400 considered out of control.Many fires have broken out in recent days, particularly in the west of the country that has experienced a heatwave.

Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai called for Pakistan to stop deporting undocumented Afghans, saying she was especially concerned about the “dark future” awaiting women and girls sent back.“It is deeply concerning that Pakistan is forcing Afghan refugees based in Pakistan back into Afghanistan, and I’m deeply concerned about the women and girls”, the activist, who was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 2014, told AFP in an interview on Friday.Despite extending leave for Afghan refugees with permits to stay in Pakistan for another year, Islamabad this week said it would remove illegal migrants.More than 600,000 Afghans have fled Pakistan since Islamabad last year ordered undocumented migrants to leave or face arrest.Human rights monitors have warned that some sent to Afghanistan faced persecution by the Taliban, who came into power in 2021 and have imposed an austere form of Islam, barring girls from higher education and excluding women and girls from areas of public life.“A lot of these girls in Pakistan were studying, they were in school, these women were doing work”, said Malala, 27, who grew up in Pakistan’s Swat valley.She had to move to the UK after she was shot, aged just 15, for resisting the Pakistan Taliban’s then-ban on girls’ education in her hometown.“I hope that Pakistan reverses its policy and that they protect girls and women especially because of the dark future that they would be witnessing in Afghanistan”, she added.Speaking to AFP on her birthday, recognised by the UN as Malala Day, the activist launched into the challenges facing the only country in the world where girls over 12 are barred from school.“I cannot believe that I’m witnessing a time when girls have been banned from their education for more than three years”, she said, adding that while the situation was “shocking”, she “admired the resilience of the Afghan activists.”The Malala Fund is campaigning for the UN to formally broaden their definition of crimes against humanity to include “gender apartheid” — a phrase the UN has used to describe the situation in Afghanistan.Earlier this month, the UN and Taliban sat down for talks for the first time since the latter came to power but without women in attendance.Malala said the talks made a “compromise on the future of women and girls”, calling for a “principled engagement” with the Taliban.“World leaders need to realise that when they sit down with the Taliban... and they’re excluding women and girls, they are actually doing a Taliban a favour,” she said.“I want to call out those countries as well — that includes Canada and France — who have a feminist foreign policy” to “condemn” conversations, she added.Malala also called for an “urgent” ceasefire in the war in Gaza.“It is horrifying how many schools have been bombed in Gaza, even more recently the four schools”, she added, referring to four schools that were hit by Israeli air strikes this week.According to the education ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, 85% of educational facilities in the territory are out of service because of the war.“It is deeply concerning because we know that children do not have a future when they’re living under a war, when their schools and homes are destroyed”, said Malala.The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which co-ordinates nearly all aid to Gaza, said it used more than half its budget before the war to fund education.However, it is facing funding woes after several countries including the United States and Britain suspended aid following Israeli accusations that its workers were involved in Hamas’s attack against Israel on October 7.Some countries like Australia and Germany have however resumed funding when evidence could not be found to support Israel’s claims.“When it comes to humanitarian support, all countries should be making no compromise. They should make sure that all the immediate and urgent needs of people are provided, and UNRWA is an example of that”, Malala said of countries resuming funding for the group.“I do hope that all countries are providing aid and support because it’s about those innocent people and civilians who need to be protected”.

A Pakistan court overturned ex-prime minister Imran Khan’s conviction in the so-called illegal marriage charges on Saturday, though he remains jailed after being swiftly arrested over two other cases.The ruling came a day after his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party won more seats in parliament, ramping up pressure on the country’s fragile ruling coalition which is grappling to stabilise a broken economy.Khan was slapped with a trio of quick convictions in the days before February elections — cases analysts say were orchestrated to prevent his return to power.Those cases have now all been at least partially rolled back on appeal, with a treason conviction carrying a decade jail term overturned in April, and a 14-year graft sentence suspended in June, though the conviction still stands.Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi had also been sentenced to seven years for allegedly marrying too soon after her divorce, in a breach of Islamic law.But an Islamabad judge announced on Saturday that the couple’s appeals were accepted.“They are directed to be released forthwith if not required to be detained in any other case,” a written order said.All four jail sentences Khan received ahead of a February national election have now been overturned or suspended.Khan remains locked up, though, with his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party saying a court in eastern Lahore had approved his arrest over three cases alleging he incited riots in May 2023 even though he was in custody at the time.Spokesman Ahmed Janjua said it was “yet another gimmick to keep the illegal imprisonment prolonged”. Late on Saturday, PTI said Khan and Bibi had also been arrested on a separate graft case.Earlier this month a UN panel of experts found Khan’s detention “had no legal basis and appears to have been intended to disqualify him from running for political office”. The “prosecution was not grounded in law and was reportedly instrumentalised for a political purpose,” it said, calling for his immediate release after nearly a year in jail.Khan served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, when he was ousted after falling out with the military establishment, which wields huge influence over civilian politics.In opposition he waged a campaign of defiance against the generals, who directly ruled Pakistan for decades of its history, including accusing them of being behind an assassination attempt that wounded him.But the former cricket star’s comeback was hobbled by scores of legal cases, which analysts say were likely brought at the behest of the military establishment.Khan was first briefly arrested in May 2023, sparking nationwide outcry with PTI supporters reportedly targeting military facilities.The government and military cited the attacks as justification for a sweeping crackdown on PTI, which saw its senior leadership decimated by arrests and defections.PTI candidates were forced to stand as independents in the February 8 elections, which had been repeatedly delayed amid political chaos.Khan’s arrest and conviction for graft in August 2023 meant he was barred from standing for office himself, confined to a cell in Adiala Jail south of Islamabad.Despite the setbacks in a stunning riposte, candidates loyal to PTI secured more seats than any other party.Nonetheless they were blocked from power by a broad coalition of military-backed rival parties, amid widespread allegations of vote-tampering.Gallup Pakistan analyst Bilal Gilani said the rolling back of the cases against Khan now could suggest the establishment was softening its stance in the wake of the election — or that the courts were defying their attempts to keep him confined.“It is an important judgement, because essentially now there are a limited number of cases left,” he told AFP.“Immediate release is quite impossible, but... the chances of release are getting clearer by the day,” he added.

French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera swam in the Seine on Saturday, raising hopes the river will be clean enough for competitors at the Paris Olympics which start in less than a fortnight.The 46-year-old was accompanied by para-triathlete Alexis Hanquinquant, who will be host nation France’s flag-bearer at the Paralympics opening ceremony on August 28. Weather permitting, the river will be the star of the opening ceremony of the Olympics on July 26 and will then host the triathlon and the open water swimming. Oudea-Castera, dressed in a body suit, slipped as she entered the Seine, but stole the thunder from Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, with whom she has notoriously poor relations.Hidalgo had flagged up that she would swim on July 17 if the water quality was good enough.Oudea-Castera seized her opportunity — exclusively filmed by news channel BFMTV — a day after Paris city hall said the Seine has been clean enough to swim in for most of the past 12 days.The quality of the water met the required standard for “11 days or 10 days” of the past 12, city hall official Pierre Rabadan told broadcaster RFI.The Paris region has seen an unseasonably heavy amount of rain over recent weeks, which has raised the Seine’s pollution levels as untreated sewage is washed into the river.“We hope the weather will get a little better, but we are not worried about the possibility of holding the competitions,” Rabadan said. “They will take place.”

France’s prime minister on Saturday was elected leader of his party’s National Assembly lawmakers as politicians from all sides jockeyed for position to form the next government.Gabriel Attal was the only candidate in the vote by the Renaissance party parliamentary group, which he plans to use as the base from which to rebuild the political force that got roundly beaten in a snap election called by President Emmanuel Macron.Of the 98 Renaissance deputies registered to vote, 84 backed Attal, who will start in his role next week.As Attal and other ministers eye a future outside government, deep cracks have appeared between the 35-year-old premier and his former mentor Macron.Macron did not get any mention in Attal’s message to Renaissance deputies outlining his leadership bid, with observers saying that the prime minister blames the president for calling the vote, which he said took the party to the brink of “extinction”.Sunday’s election runoff left the National Assembly without any overall majority, but a broad alliance — called New Popular Front (NFP) — of Socialists, Communists, Greens and the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) won the most seats, with 193 in the 577-strong lower chamber.Macron’s allies came second with 164 seats and the far-right National Rally (RN) third at 143.Macron, who still has nearly three years in office, lashed out at Attal and others in a closed-door meeting Friday, saying his political friends had made a “disastrous spectacle” of themselves since the snap election.Participants at the meeting — attended notably by Attal, his rival Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin and former prime minister Elisabeth Borne — told AFP that Macron had urged his allies to give priority “to the nation rather than to premature ambition”.According to the constitution, Macron will appoint the next prime minister, who must be able to survive a confidence motion in parliament.This appointment could come as early as next week when the new National Assembly session opens, but Macron could ask Attal to stay on while Paris hosts the Olympic Games starting July 26.Such a decision would also give the NFP bloc more time to hammer out agreement on a consensus candidate to pitch to Macron.The alliance’s members have been at loggerheads about a suitable frontrunner.LFI firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon is one of a handful of names debated within the bloc.

An Ecuadorian court sentenced a gang member to nearly 35 years in prison on Friday for plotting and ordering from his cell the murder of a journalist turned anti-corruption presidential candidate.Five people were handed hefty prison sentences for their role in the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio, who was shot dead last year just before the country’s election.Gang member Carlos Angulo, 31, was given 34 years and eight months in prison for having planned and ordered the murder, according to the sentence read out in court.Another defendant, Laura Castillo, received the same for providing weapons, money, vehicles and motorcycles to the Colombian hitmen who fatally shot Villavicencio on August 9 last year as he was leaving a rally in Quito.Villavicencio, a former investigative journalist who vowed to combat political corruption and drug trafficking, was killed days before the first round of voting in the presidential election.Six Colombian men were arrested hours after the shooting, but all of them were killed while in prison two months later.Seven additional suspects were later arrested, one of whom died and another who was acquitted.The remaining five went on trial.In addition to Angulo and Castillo, accomplices Erick Ramirez, Victor Flores and Alexandra Chimbo were handed 12-year prison terms.According to prosecutors, Flores handled security for the motorcycle on which the hitman who shot Villavicencio was travelling, while Chimbo was in charge of alerting the gunmen about the candidate’s departure. Ramirez did logistics work.Some of the suspects were accused of ties to “Los Lobos”, one of the main gangs in Ecuador fighting for control of the drug trade that has led to a spike in violence in recent years within the small South American country.A witness who testified during the trial claimed there was a $200,000 bounty on Villavicencio’s head due to his campaign against gangs and corruption.The witness also accused the suspects of working for individuals tied to the administration of former Ecuador president Rafael Correa, who is in exile after he was convicted on corruption charges in 2020.The former president, who lives in Belgium, denies any link to the assassination.“We need to know the whole truth and make sure this is not repeated again,” Amanda Villavicencio, daughter of the assassinated candidate, wrote on the social media platform X.Outside the court, relatives and supporters chanting slogans held up posters written “jail for cowardly murderers” and pictures of Villavicencio.Villavicencio’s work as an investigative journalist exposed high-ranking officials, including Correa’s allies.Since 2023 nearly a dozen politicians have been assassinated in Ecuador.Once-peaceful Ecuador is enduring an unprecedented wave of violence linked to narcotics trafficking.With ports on the Pacific, the country serves as a transit point for cocaine produced in Colombia and Peru and sent to the United States and Europe.The homicide rate in Ecuador, a country of about 17mn people, soared from six per 100,000 inhabitants in 2018 to 47 per 100,000 last year.

Several hundred people marched in central Paris on Saturday to honour Ukrainian athletes who died in the war with Russia before they had a chance to compete in the Paris Olympics.Waving flags and wearing T-shirts with pictures of top athletes killed in the battle with the Russian invaders, demonstrators called on Russian and Belarusian competitors to be banned from the Games opening on July 26.“It will be very difficult for us to see a certain number of Russian and Belarusian athletes who, more or less openly, support the Putin regime, even if their flag will be white,” said Volodymyr Kogutyak, vice-president of the Union of Ukrainians in France.“And this is the saddest thing for us,” he told AFP. “That Ukrainian athletes who built a career in sports have died, and cannot come to these Olympic Games. And at the same time, some of those who support the murderers will participate.”Some 450 Ukrainian top athletes have died on the battlefield since the February 2022 Russian attack, march organisers said.They include Maksym Halinichev, a boxer and winner of a silver medal at the 2018 youth Olympics who joined the Ukrainian army and died on the frontline in 2023.Others were shooters Ivan Bidnyak and Yehor Kihitov, judo champion Stanislav Hulenkov, weight lifter Oleksandr Pielieshenko, and gymnastics coach Anastasia Ihnatenko who was killed by a Russian missile together with her husband and 18-month-old child.“We want the world to understand that Russia is (a) terrorist,” said Olga Krushkovska, a 33-year-old Ukrainian architect and artist who now lives in France.“The situation is very painful for me, for my children, for my family and our country,” she told AFP at the march. “We want the world to boycott anything to do with Russia, especially for the Olympic Games.”Also at the march Roman Tyshchenko, who recently earned his master’s degree, said he felt “angry” thinking about the Ukrainian athletes who died, but the 28-year-old added that he did not like “to make a distinction between athletes and all the other people” who were killed.“I’m just angry that people are dying and I feel like people abroad do not always understand that the war is still happening,” he said.Ukraine is expected to send more than 100 athletes to the Paris Games.The International Olympic Committee has ruled that Russian and Belarusian athletes cannot compete for their country, but are eligible to participate as so-called individual neutral athletes.

Three people were found dead at the site of landslide in western Japan after heavy rain hit the region, a local official said on Saturday.Rescue workers had been searching three people – a man in his 90s, a woman in her 80s, and a man in his 40s – who were living in a wooden house that collapsed after the landslide in Matsuyama, Ehime prefecture.The landside occurred early on Friday morning as the weather agency warned of heavy rain in western Japan, with officials calling on people to be on high alert for the risk of landslides and flooding in low-lying areas.Two men and a woman were confirmed dead after a search that continued through the night, an Ehime official told AFP.“We still don’t know if the three who were discovered are those who have been unaccounted for,” he said, noting that officials were trying to verify their identities.Japan is currently in its annual rainy season, which often brings heavy downpours, and sometimes results in flooding and landslides as well as casualties.Scientists say climate change is intensifying the risk of heavy rain in Japan and elsewhere, because a warmer atmosphere holds more water.The landslide occurred at the foot of a hill where the imposing Matsuyama Castle is located.As of early Friday morning, the Matsuyama area had recorded some 213mm (8.4”) of rainfall since Wednesday, an amount almost equal to the average for the entire month of July, public broadcaster NHK has reported.After the landslide, the city issued the highest-level evacuation alert for about 22,000 people in more than 13,000 households. – AFP

Nepali rescue teams recovered on Saturday the first body from around 50 people missing after monsoon rains triggered a landslide that swept two buses off a highway and into a river.The force of Friday’s landslide in central Chitwan district pushed the vehicles over concrete crash barriers and down a steep embankment, at least 30m (100’) from the road.“One body has been found about 55km (35 miles) from the accident site,” police spokesman Kumar Neupane told AFP.District official Khimananda Bhusal told AFP that roughly 50 people remained unaccounted for, revising down the number of missing from the 63 reported by authorities on Friday.“It is hard to confirm the total number because we don’t know if the buses stopped to add or remove passengers along the way,” he said.Dozens of rescuers spent hours struggling to comb the raging Trishuli river with rafts, sensor equipment and dive teams to find any trace of the passengers or the vehicles.Teams also moved downstream on Saturday in hope of locating the missing passengers.Fierce currents made worse by this week’s torrential downpours have hampered their efforts so far.Chitwan district chief Indra Dev Yadav said that all authorities in the area have been instructed to stay on alert for any signs of the missing.“The river is narrow here and very deep,” he told AFP. “The water level is high, its speed is high and its turbidity is also high.”The accident happened before dawn on Friday along the Narayanghat-Mugling highway, around 100km west of Kathmandu.One bus was heading from the capital to Gaur in Rautahat district in southern Nepal, and the other was en route to Kathmandu from southern Birgunj.A driver was killed in a separate accident on the same road after a boulder hit his bus.He died as he was being treated at a hospital.Deadly crashes are common in the Himalayan republic because of poorly constructed roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.Nearly 2,400 people lost their lives on Nepal’s roads in the 12 months to April, according to government figures.Twelve people were killed and 24 injured in an accident in January when a bus heading to Kathmandu from Nepalgunj fell into a river.Road travel becomes deadlier during the annual monsoon season as rains trigger landslides and floods across the mountainous country.Monsoon rains across South Asia from June to September offer respite from the summer heat and are crucial to replenishing water supplies, but also bring widespread death and destruction.The rainfall is hard to forecast and varies considerably, but scientists say climate change is making the monsoon stronger and more erratic.Floods, landslides and lightning strikes have killed 88 people across the country since the monsoon began in June, according to police figures.

Kenyan police yesterday said that they had retrieved three more bags filled with dismembered female body parts in a grisly discovery at a rubbish dump that has horrified the nation.The sacks, pulled out of a sea of rubbish in an abandoned quarry in a Nairobi slum, contained various parts including severed legs and two torsos, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said in a statement.“We want to assure the public that our investigations will be thorough and shall cover a wide range of areas, including but not limited to the possible activities of cultists and serial killings.”Kenya had already been left reeling by the discovery last year of mass graves containing the bodies of hundreds of followers of a doomsday starvation cult leader.Police had on Friday reported that the mutilated bodies of at least six women were discovered at the dumpsite in Mukuru in the south of the Kenyan capital, while the state-funded police watchdog said nine bodies had been found, seven of them women.While the investigation proceeds, “we appeal to the members of the public to remain calm and give our detectives a chance to deliver justice to the victims of this horrendous scene,” the DCI statement said.Tensions have been running high at the site, with the DCI saying a team of detectives and forensic experts “were impeded by agitated members of the public from accessing the scene”.The Independent Police Oversight Authority on Friday had said it was investigating whether there was any police involvement in the gruesome saga.Earlier, Kenyan police were combing yesterday through a rubbish dump in a Nairobi slum watched by angry crowds.On Friday, police said the severely mutilated bodies of six women tied up in plastic bags were found in rubbish-strewn waters of an abandoned quarry.The Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) later said the remains of at least nine people had been recovered, seven of them female.“The bodies, wrapped in bags and secured by nylon ropes, had visible marks of torture and mutilation,” it said, noting that the dumpsite was less than 100 metres (yards) from a police station.The IPOA is also looking into claims of abductions of demonstrators who went missing after widespread anti-government protests turned deadly.Citizen TV reported that police fired in the air as tensions rose, but this could not be immediately verified.Kenya’s feared police force is often accused of extrajudicial killings and other abuses but convictions are rare.“The discovery comes amid a troubling surge in cases of mysterious disappearances and abductions, particularly following recent protests against the finance bill,” a coalition of civil society and rights groups said in a statement.“This horrific incident is a mass fatality issue, it represents a grave violation of human rights and raises serious concerns about the rule of law and security in our country.”Kenya’s law enforcement services are already under sharp scrutiny after dozens of people were killed during the demonstrations last month, with rights group accusing officers of using excessive force.National police chief Japhet Koome, the target of much public anger over the protest deaths, resigned Friday after less than two years in the post.He is the latest head to roll as President William Ruto scrambles to contain the worst crisis of his rule, triggered by deeply unpopular proposed tax hikes.Crowds gathered at the dumpsite Friday chanted “Ruto must go”, the slogan of Gen-Z Kenyans leading the protests which have now morphed into a wider campaign against the government, corruption and alleged police brutality.In a separate statement, the IPOA also called for public help in its investigations into reports of abductions, unlawful arrests and disappearances during the anti-government protests.It did not however make any link to those missing and the dumped bodies and some people on social media have described them as victims of femicide.The Directorate of Criminal Investigations said preliminary investigations suggested all the victims had been killed in the same manner, without elaborating. It said the bodies had been taken to the mortuary for postmortem examinations.The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions also voiced concern about possible rights violations, highlighting the location of the bodies so close to a police station.It directed the police to submit the results of their inquiry within 21 days, and also urged state agencies including the IPOA to expedite their investigations into the reports of abductions and killings allegedly committed by police.

Qatar reaffirmed that the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) plays a pivotal and indispensable role, serving as the backbone of humanitarian aid in Gaza, praising the tremendous efforts of UNRWA staff, led by HE Commissioner-General of UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini.This came in a speech delivered by HE Qatar's Permanent Representative to the UN, Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif al-Thani, at the meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee of the General Assembly for the Announcement of Voluntary Contributions to UNRWA, held at the UN headquarters in New York.Her Excellency said that this year's pledging conference comes under exceptional circumstances that are added on top of UNRWA's chronic lack of funding, pointing out that the unprecedented humanitarian disaster caused by the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip necessitates a massive humanitarian response.She also reiterated the welcoming of the findings of the independent review group, which invalidated allegations against UNRWA, and expressed gratitude to countries that have resumed or increased their financial contributions to the Agency.Her Excellency highlighted Qatar's additional financial contribution of USD 25mn in May to support UNRWA's core resources for 2024, on top of the USD 18mn it provided in December 2023 for the same purpose.HE Sheikha Alya said Qatar will continue to co-ordinate with the UNRWA Commissioner-General at various levels in the current period to ensure the continuation of efforts aimed at alleviating the suffering of the brotherly Palestinian people, noting that this is in addition to the various forms of humanitarian, financial and in-kind support provided by Qatar to the Palestinian people in line with its firm policy of solidarity with them. (QNA)