Qlayaa (Lebanon) (AFP) – Israel's flag flew over the medieval castle of Beaufort in Lebanon on Sunday, as it warned Lebanese civilians to evacuate a large part of the south of the country ahead of stepped up ground operations.

Shelling was audible and smoke rose from the surrounding area as the invading army's banner was seen by AFP above the castle, which Israeli forces famously used as a base during their previous two-decade long occupation.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said troops had captured the historic strongpoint, which commands sweeping views of south Lebanon, as they expanded their ground operations, which Lebanon's prime minister has condemned as a "scorched earth" policy.

"Forty-four years after the heroic Battle of Beaufort, and on this day commemorating the soldiers who fell in the First Lebanon War, our troops have returned to the summit of Beaufort and once again raised the Israeli flag there," Katz said in a social media post.

"Under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and my direction, the IDF expanded the operations in Lebanon, crossed the Litani River, and captured the Beaufort Ridge -- one of the most important strategic points for defending the communities of the Galilee and safeguarding the security of our forces."

[...]

Lebanon's state news agency reported a series of strikes on the outskirts of the southern city of Tyre, including a strike near a hospital, as well as strikes on several southern villages.

[...]

The Lebanese health ministry says that Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,371 people since March 2.

Singapore (AFP) – Japan's defence minister took a veiled swipe at China on Sunday, pledging to keep strengthening the military despite Beijing's criticism of Tokyo's increasingly muscular security stance.

Under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Japan has quickened its pivot towards a more proactive defence policy, further shaking off -- with US encouragement -- a pacifist outlook in place since the end of World War II.

The change has drawn frequent rebukes from Beijing, which has accused Tokyo of following a reckless policy of "new militarism" that could destabilise the region.

Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi hit back on Sunday, saying "nothing could be further from the truth".

"Think about it. There is a country that has a huge arsenal of nuclear weapons and strategic bombers," Koizumi said at the annual IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

"Japan has neither of such weapons. And yet, Japan is labelled (as) 'new militarism'. Isn't it strange?" he said, without mentioning China by name.

China is thought to possess hundreds of nuclear warheads and has been rapidly developing its military in recent years.

A diplomatic spat between the Asian rivals has been rumbling since Takaichi suggested in November that Japan might intervene militarily if China were to attempt to seize Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing claims is part of its territory.

Koizumi said that China was expanding its military capabilities "without sufficient transparency" and that its military activities were "a matter of serious concern for Japan".

Tokyo would "steadily build up its defence capabilities and make continuous updates with a high degree of transparency", including in the fields of artificial intelligence, uncrewed systems as well as cyber and space defence, he said.

"Japan's past as a peace-loving nation has been valued by the region and by the international community. This fact will not be shaken by false claims, because it is a fact," he said.

...

Lima (AFP) – Hundreds of people marched in the streets of Peruvian capital Lima on Saturday in protest against right-wing presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori, eight days before a runoff vote in the South American country.

The protest in Lima began in San Martin Square and proceeded through the historic center of the city, passing by the front of Congress.

Under the banner of "Keiko Out, Fujimori Never Again," the peaceful demonstrators held signs with slogans against the candidate and her late father, former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, an AFP journalist observed.

At the front of the march were relatives of victims of human rights violations during the elder Fujimori's presidency between 1990 and 2000.

"Keiko represents injustice and fear. Keiko Fujimori shouldn't become president because, for us, she is a danger. If she wins, it will be like a fraudulent election," Irma Cayo, 30, told AFP.

In addition to the protest in Lima, there were demonstrations in the cities of Arequipa and Huancayo.

The June 7 runoff vote is expected to be as heated as the 2021 ballot, which also involved Fujimori against leftist Pedro Castillo, who won the vote but was removed from office in December 2022.

The first round of voting on April 12 featured a record 35 candidates vying for the presidency, with Fujimori ultimately gaining 17.1 percent of the vote, while runner-up Pedro Sanchez captured 12 percent.

Sanchez, 57, represents the left-wing candidate on the ballot. He previously served as Castillo's trade minister.

Hong Kong (AFP) – Claw machine lover Neiki Lee carefully lowers the metal jaws of a crane with a joystick into a pool of prizes, only to have the small toy slip from its clutches again and again.

Dozens of stores filled with claw machines have sprung up on streets and in malls across Hong Kong's finance hub in recent years, promising players a treasure trove of prizes and a sense of fulfilment.

The colourfully lit machines, often seen drawing people like moths to a flame, have come under regulatory scrutiny this month, as officials raised addiction concerns over the seemingly harmless games.

Lee, 48, admitted that she was "totally hooked" and that "this is definitely gambling", adding that she bets at least five Hong Kong dollars every time she attempts to win a higher-value plush toy.

An office clerk, Lee said she has spent around HK$100,000 (US$12,800) on claw machines over two years -- roughly half her annual salary.

"For a HK$70 toy, you might eventually spend 700, or even 1,700, and still not be able to grab it," Lee told AFP.

"I really want to give it up. Every day I scold myself and tell myself to quit: no more, no more."

Player Tommy Yu, 23, said he sometimes spends hundreds of dollars a day on it despite saying some machines have "traps" built-in.

"When you put money in but don't get anything back, you feel like you've lost out," he said.

"Yet it keeps driving you to play."

Gambling counsellor Chu Ho Ming told AFP that "the more (the players) invest, the harder it is to leave empty-handed and walk away".

"This is the sunk cost fallacy," he said, adding that "it keeps the addictive behaviour loop".

Chu said his team have noticed an increase in youth playing games with "gambling elements".

Claw machine operators have been able to expand and operate largely unrestricted, after a court ruled in 2022 they are not required to possess public entertainment licenses.

But after a sharp rise in the number of public complaints related to so-called claw machine gambling over the last two years, Hong Kong authorities proposed this month to tighten regulations over prize-based arcades, calling the situation after the 2022 ruling "not ideal".

The design and business models of such gaming machines are "extremely diverse", officials said, adding that they were committed to tackle the "deep-seated issues".

Some lawmakers have suggested capping the prize value at HK$300 or below, in line with countries including Britain and Singapore.

Matthew Chan, who owns three claw machine shops in town, told AFP tighter regulation was needed as the industry "was heading in the wrong direction".

Chan bemoaned the government's slowness to act, citing that Taiwan's machines must offer a "guaranteed prize" if a certain amount of money is spent.

"The market already saw a downsize... (Hong Kong's) consumers have lost confidence in it," he said, adding that some machine operators were ramping up the difficulty and keeping players hooked.

But player Lee said she believed operators would find ways to evade any regulation enacted.

"It's impossible that a law... can be applied in a way that is both flawless and fair" for the industry, she said.

"It is difficult to root out addiction problems simply by passing a law."

Washington (United States) (AFP) – The Trump administration has walked back its announcement that non-citizens seeking permanent US residency, commonly called a Green Card, would need to return to their home country to apply, The New York Times reported.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told the newspaper on Friday that its policy announcement last week was not a requirement for all applicants, but would rather be implemented "on a case-by-case basis."

A Trump administration spokesman, Zach Kahler, said on May 22 that "from now on, an alien who is in the US temporarily and wants a Green Card must return to their home country to apply, except in extraordinary circumstances."

The announcement was viewed as a major shift in US policy and sparked major concern among the millions of immigrants seeking to become permanent US residents.

President Donald Trump campaigned for the White House on a pledge to expel millions of undocumented migrants, but his administration has also closed several legal pathways to US residency since he took office.

The United States grants more than one million Green Cards each year and, up until now, more than half of the applicants were already in the United States, according to the American Immigration Council.

A US official told AFP on Saturday that the policy "restates longstanding law and policy -- which was disregarded by the Biden Administration."

"This policy will not prevent any alien from obtaining a green card who legitimately and properly qualify. It will result in some aliens who do not merit the discretionary benefit ultimately applying with the Department of State overseas," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"This policy will have no noticeable impact on highly qualified applicants and skilled professionals who have followed the law," the official added.

"After all these years, a simple change in management may no longer be enough. We need to rethink the entire operation," said Szavuly, 46. She worked at state television for more than a decade until her contract was ended after she staged a hunger strike in protest.

Earlier this month, freshly sworn-in Prime Minister Peter Magyar, whose party beat Orban's by a landslide in April, ordered a complete audit of the operation and financing of state media, which he has branded a "lie factory".

Leaked documents, recordings and testimonies from former employees showed that editors pushed for one-sided coverage, praising the policies of Orban's government while demonising his rivals and foreign critics, including the EU.

Since the election, the public broadcaster has already changed its tone, while top private broadcaster TV2 -- owned by Orban-allied businessmen -- saw its main news anchors replaced and news director pushed out.

...

French lawmakers voted on Thursday to repeal the Code Noir, a law that regulated slavery in the French colonies that was never formally repealed even after the abolition of slavery in 1848. The vote reopened a debate around reparations in a country that has yet to fully come to terms with its history of colonialism.

The National Assembly voted 254-0 — a rare show of unanimity — to adopt a bill repealing the "Code Noir" or "Black Code", the 1685 decree King Louis XIV signed to govern slaves across France’s colonies.

The law turned human beings into chattel, allowing them to be worked, beaten, sold, raped and murdered.

The French were the third largest slave traders in Europe, after the British and the Portuguese.

Ships departing from French ports between the 17th and 19th centuries forcibly transported more than one million men, women and children from Africa into slavery, many in plantations in its overseas colonies in the Caribbean, according to expert estimates.

France abolished enslaving humans more than 170 years ago, and in 2001 recognised slavery and the slave trade as "crimes against humanity".

But a series of royal decrees from the 17th and 18th centuries that established the legal status of enslaved people in its colonies were never explicitly overturned.

[...]

The decrees ruled over the lives of enslaved people in the colonies.

They declared all enslaved people should be Catholics, and banned owners from making them work on Sundays, according to a copy on the French parliament's website.

But they also referred to them as "moveable goods" who could be inherited, outlined brutal punishment including mutilation of the ear for trying to escape, and condemned the children of enslaved people to the same fate as their parents.

Max Mathiasin, a lawmaker from the former colony turned overseas territory of Guadeloupe who is championing the bill, last week said repealing the decrees would be a "powerful symbolic and political gesture".

The Black Code "organised the denial of the humanity of women, men and children reduced to slavery because of their origin and the colour of their skin", he said.

France ended slavery in 1794 under the French Revolution, but Napoleon Bonaparte ordered troops to be sent to Guadeloupe in 1802 to restore the practice.

France then abolished it again in 1848.

But activists say the legacy of slavery endures through inequalities between mainland France and former colonies that are now overseas territories, as well as racism.

Macron last week said the issue of reparations should be addressed, but warned against making "false promises" and announced no specific measures.

Dieudonne Boutrin, an activist from the overseas territory of Martinique who is descended from enslaved people, said annulling the Black Code should have been done ages ago.

"It changes nothing. Black people are still looked at the same way," he said.

"Now we need to go beyond the symbolic," he said, urging a "real reparations programme", including for example more funds for educational projects to transmit history and help battle systemic racism.

[...]

Debate in the chamber turned raw.

Steevy Gustave, a lawmaker descended from enslaved people on the Caribbean island of Martinique, told colleagues the repeal was necessary “but no vote alone can repair centuries of shattered lives.”

“We are not descendants of slaves,” he said, bursting into tears. “We are descendants of human beings born free, then reduced to the worst — reduced to slavery.”

Serge Letchimy, an official from Martinique, in an open letter to Macron earlier this month also demanded reparations.

He urged "a law that clearly establishes the principle that the crimes of trafficking and slavery have caused lasting historical, cultural, social, economic and psychological harm".

He referred to a 10-point plan that Caribbean nations have put to European nations, including international debt cancellation, as well as support for healthcare and illiteracy eradication.

Among France's former colonies, Haiti – the poorest country in the Caribbean – stands out as having particularly suffered.

Haiti became the first independent black nation in the Americas in 1804, after enslaved people rebelled against their French masters in what was then the colony of Saint-Domingue.

In 1825, it accepted to pay France a huge sum in "reparations" in exchange for recognising its independence, but it was forced to take out loans with high interest rates from French bankers in order to pay it.

It only managed to pay off this "double debt" in 1952.

Macron last year said that a joint commission of French and Haitian historians would examine this and issue recommendations.

(with newswires)

Singapore (AFP) – Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth struck a comparatively soft tone towards China at a major defence forum on Saturday, saying there was "rightful alarm" over Beijing's military build-up but the United States sought a "respectful" regional balance.

Hegseth's headline speech at Singapore's Shangri-La Dialogue, which brings together top defence officials and experts from around 45 countries, contrasted with his strongly confrontational remarks on China at last year's event.

Unlike Beijing, which has sent a panel of military experts and scholars instead of defence minister Dong Jun for the second year running, Hegseth is leading a bumper US delegation to the event that provides chances for both open debate and behind-closed-doors diplomacy.

"When we look across the region today, there is rightful alarm regarding China's historic military build-up and the expansion of its military activities in the region and beyond," Hegseth said.

Washington does not seek "needless confrontation in the region", but rather "a genuinely stable equilibrium (in Asia) that works for Americans as well as our allies", he said.

That means "a favourable but durable balance of power in which no state, including China, can impose its hegemony and hold the security or prosperity of our nation and our allies in question", he added.

He said the United States sought "respectful" and "good-faith" engagement with Beijing, adding: "I wish my counterpart was here at this conference, but I look forward to other options when we can cross paths."

Trump visited China this month, talking up "fantastic" trade deals but giving few details and later suggesting Washington could use its arms sales to self-ruled Taiwan as a bargaining chip with Beijing.

There had been "no change" in Washington's stance towards Taiwan, but "any decision about future Taiwan arms sales... will rest with" US President Donald Trump, Hegseth said.

Analysts have said Dong's no-show reflects Beijing's confidence as an established power with little inclination to answer publicly for its assertive moves in the region.

But some argue that China is also running the risk of having no senior policymaker present if two major security issues come up: reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and Beijing's claim to Taiwan.

...

Washington (United States) (AFP) – Senior US and Cuban military officers met on Friday at Guantanamo Bay, the US base on the communist island, as relations between the two countries deteriorate over President Donald Trump's threatened takeover.

US General Francis Donovan met with Cuban General Roberto Legra Sotolongo "for a brief exchange on operational security matters," US Southern Command said in a statement issued along with a photograph of the meeting.

"Gen. Donovan also led a perimeter security assessment of the naval base and discussed force protection, safety of service members and their families, and operational readiness with base officials."

Cuba's Ministry of Revolutionary Armed Forces stressed that "both delegations consider the meeting to have been positive" and they agreed "to maintain communication between the two military commands," according to a statement released on Facebook.

The uniformed men met at the US base at the southeastern tip of the island.

...

United Nations (United States) (AFP) – Israel is breaking all contact with United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, the country's ambassador announced Thursday, saying it was "outrageous" Israel is being blacklisted over alleged sexual violence in conflict zones.

"We are done with this secretary-general," Ambassador Danny Danon said in a video posted on X.

"The decision to blacklist Israel and accuse us of using sexual violence as a weapon of war is an outrageous decision," he said, referring to an upcoming report from Guterres' office.

"The secretary-general and his team continue to spread lies against Israel. To put us and Hamas terrorists on the same list, that's unacceptable."

Israel's foreign ministry called the country's inclusion on the UN sexual violence list "shameful and absurd."

The move "is further proof of the UN's true nature: a politicized and corrupt organization that has abandoned its founding principles and systematically targets Israel as its primary mission," ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein said on X.

The Israeli mission to the UN said in a statement it will have no contact with the secretary-general's office as long as Guterres remains in the role.

A spokesman for Guterres, whose term as UN chief ends on December 31, said the office was aware of Danon's remarks.

"For our part, the secretary-general's door remains open," the spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said.

The UN secretary-general's annual report on conflict-related sexual violence is customarily presented to relevant states ahead of publication.

Last August, the report warned Israel could be added to the list of parties suspected of, or responsible for, sexual violence in situations of armed conflict.

[...]

The UN cited "credible information" regarding sexual violence allegedly committed by Israeli security forces against Palestinians in prisons and other detention centers, saying UN inspectors had been denied access to the facilities.

...

Washington (United States) (AFP) – The United States on Wednesday reimposed sanctions on Francesca Albanese, a UN expert on the Palestinian territories who has harshly criticized Israel, after an appeals court overruled an earlier order prohibiting the action.

A notice on the Treasury Department's website showed that it had reimposed a sanctions designation on Albanese that blacklists her globally, making it impossible for her to use major credit cards or carry out bank transactions.

Albanese, who is Italian, has been a relentless critic of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians in her role as the UN Human Rights Council special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories.

The US Treasury's move came after a Friday order from an appeals court issued an administrative stay on an earlier ruling while the court considers the merits of the case.

The case was brought by Albanese's husband, Massimiliano Cali on behalf of their child, a US citizen who is still a minor.

Albanese has been at the forefront of accusing Israel of carrying out genocide [...].

[...]

Albanese denies allegations of antisemitism, which have also been made by Israel.

Washington (United States) (AFP) – President Donald Trump on Wednesday appeared to threaten to attack US ally Oman if it sides with Iran over reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump said Oman must "behave" or he would "blow them up," when he was asked if he would accept a short-term deal to allow Iran and the Gulf state to control the waterway.

"No, the strait is going to be open to everybody," Trump told reporters during a cabinet meeting at the White House.

"It's international waters and Oman will behave just like everybody else or we'll have to blow them up. They understand that, they'll be fine."

The White House did not immediately respond when asked by AFP if Trump had misspoken and had intended to refer to Iran rather than Oman.

Oman is a key US ally which has tried to mediate the Middle East war and has itself come under attack from Tehran.

The US State Department later posted a clip and transcript of Trump's comments about Oman, without any correction or clarification.

The 79-year-old did earlier appear to mix up Iran and Venezuela, saying that the South American nation -- whose leader Nicolas Maduro was toppled by US forces in January -- "no longer has a navy, no longer has an air force."

Trump has repeatedly used such phrasing to refer to Iran, which the US and Israel attacked on February 28.

Iran has indicated that it seeks to impose a new reality in the Strait of Hormuz, through which one fifth of the world's oil normally passes, exacting tolls on transiting ships and sharing the revenues with Oman.

Trump has grown increasingly frustrated as talks to end the Middle East war and reopen the strait appear to have stalled once more, just days after he said a deal was near.