AFP - Squid Business

Mondiaux de natation: Kirpichnikova en finale du 1500 m dans la douleur

Commerce: l’accord Etats-Unis/UE apporte “une stabilité temporaire” mais est “déséquilibré”, regrette Paris

Thailand and Cambodia truce talks due but strikes continue

Cambodge-Thaïlande: au cinquième jour des combats, l’espoir d’un cessez-le-feu

Les dirigeants thaïlandais et cambodgien sont attendus lundi en Malaisie pour apaiser les tensions qui ont dégénéré durant cinq jours d’affrontements meurtriers à leur frontière.La Thaïlande et le Cambodge s’opposent depuis des décennies sur le tracé de leur frontière commune, définie au temps de l’Indochine française, mais la région n’avait plus connu de tel épisode de violences depuis 2011. Les échanges de tirs, notamment d’artillerie, et les frappes aériennes ont fait depuis jeudi au moins 35 morts et provoqué le déplacement d’environ 200.000 personnes. Bangkok et Phnom Penh sont convenus de se rencontrer pour la première fois lundi après-midi près de Kuala Lumpur, sous l’œil des Etats-Unis et de la Chine, mais à quelques heures de la réunion, des combats continuaient de faire rage près de temples angkoriens contestés.Les deux capitales s’accusent mutuellement d’avoir ouvert les hostilités et de tenir un double langage, chaque camp ayant exprimé sa volonté de rétablir la paix, sans joindre les actes à leur parole jusque-là, malgré les appels de leurs principaux partenaires internationaux.”Nous ne pensons pas que le Cambodge agisse de bonne foi, compte tenu de leurs actions pour régler le problème. Ils doivent faire preuve d’une intention sincère”, a déclaré le Premier ministre thaïlandais par intérim Phumtham Wechayachai, depuis un aéroport de Bangkok.- Assaut nocturne -“Nous avons besoin de discussions bilatérales pour négocier l’arrêt des combats. Cependant, un cessez-le-feu ne signifie pas que tout reviendra comme avant”, a-t-il prévenu.Le Cambodge a affirmé lundi matin que le camp rival avait lancé un assaut près de temples contestés du nord-ouest.”A 03H10 du matin (20H10 GMT dimanche), les forces thaïlandaises ont continué d’attaquer en premier”, a indiqué lundi la porte-parole du ministère cambodgien de la Défense, Maly Socheata.”C’est le cinquième jour que la Thaïlande a envahi le territoire cambodgien avec des armes lourdes et le déploiement de beaucoup de soldats”, a-t-elle déclaré.Des journalistes de l’AFP présents à Samraong, dans le nord-ouest du Cambodge, à une vingtaine de kilomètres de la frontière, ont également entendu des bruits de tirs d’artillerie durant la nuit de dimanche à lundi.Dimanche soir, l’armée thaïlandaise a dit s’attendre à une “opération militaire majeure” de ses adversaires, en faisant état de combats à sept endroits différents.Phumtham Wechayachai et le Premier ministre cambodgien Hun Manet doivent se rencontrer à Putrajaya, la capitale administrative malaisienne, à 15H00 heure locale (07H00 GMT), selon Bangkok. Le chef du gouvernement malaisien Anwar Ibrahim joue le rôle de médiateur, son pays occupant la présidence tournante de l’Association des nations d’Asie du Sud-Est (Asean) dont la Thaïlande et le Cambodge sont membres.- Paix “le plus tôt possible” -La réunion sera aussi “co-organisée par le Etats-Unis, avec la participation de la Chine”, a précisé Hun Manet.Le président américain Donald Trump, qui a appelé le chef des deux camps samedi, a exhorté les deux pays à s’entendre autour d’un accord rapide, sous peine de geler les discussions portant sur les droits de douane prohibitifs qui doivent frapper ces deux économies dépendantes des exportations le 1er août.Des représentants américains sont en Malaisie pour “soutenir les efforts de paix”, a déclaré le secrétaire d’Etat américain Marco Rubio. “Nous voulons que ce conflit se termine le plus tôt possible.”Les affrontements ont officiellement fait 22 morts côté thaïlandais, dont huit soldats, et 13 morts, dont cinq militaires, côté cambodgien. Plus de 138.000 Thaïlandais ont évacué les zones à risques, selon Bangkok, et plus de 80.000 Cambodgiens ont fait de même, d’après Phnom Penh.Les relations diplomatiques entre les deux royaumes voisins, liés culturellement et économiquement, sont au plus bas depuis des décennies.L’épisode en cours tire son origine de la mort d’un soldat khmer, fin mai, lors d’un échange de tirs dans une zone contestée. Depuis, les deux royaumes ont annoncé une série de mesures qui ont tari les échanges commerciaux et le déplacement des personnes, sur fond de flambée du discours nationaliste.

Cambodge-Thaïlande: au cinquième jour des combats, l’espoir d’un cessez-le-feu

Tunisia plastic collectors spread as economic, migration woes deepen

A towel draped over his head, Hamza Jabbari sets bags of plastic bottles onto a scale. He is among Tunisia’s “barbechas”, informal plastic recyclers whose increasing numbers reflect the country’s economic — and migratory — woes.The 40-something-year-old said he starts the day off at dawn, hunching over bins and hunting for plastic before the rubbish trucks and other plastic collectors come.”It’s the most accessible work in Tunisia when there are no job offers,” Jabbari said, weighing a day’s haul in Bhar Lazreg, a working-class neighbourhood north of the capital, Tunis.The work is often gruelling, with a kilogramme of plastic bottles worth only 0.5 to 0.7 Tunisian dinar — less than $0.25.In Tunis, it’s common to see women weighed down by bags of plastic bottles along the roadside, or men weaving through traffic with towering loads strapped to their motorcycles.”Everyone does it,” said Jabbari.- ‘Supplementary job’ -Hamza Chaouch, head of the National Chamber of Recyclable Waste Collectors, estimated that there were roughly 25,000 plastic collectors across Tunisia, with 40 percent of them in the capital.Yet, with the job an informal one, there is no official count of how many plastic collectors operate in Tunisia.One thing is certain: their number has increased in recent years, said Chaouch, who also runs a plastic collection centre south of Tunis.”It’s because of the cost of living,” he explained. “At first, it was people with no income, but for the past two years, workers, retirees and cleaning women have also turned to this work as a supplementary job.”Around 16 percent of Tunisians lived under the poverty line as of 2021, the latest available official figures.Unemployment currently hovers around 16 percent, with inflation at 5.4 percent.The ranks of these recyclers have also grown with the arrival of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa — often hoping to reach Europe but caught in limbo with both the EU and Tunis cracking down on Mediterranean crossings.Tunisia is a key transit country for thousands of sub-Saharan migrants seeking to reach Europe by sea each year, with the Italian island of Lampedusa only 150 kilometres (90 miles) away.Abdelkoudouss, a 24-year-old from Guinea, said he began collecting plastic to make ends meet but also to save up enough money to return home after failing two crossing attempts to Europe.For the past two months, he has worked at a car wash, he said, but the low pay forced him to start recycling on the side.”Life here is not easy,” said Abdelkoudouss, adding he came to the capital after receiving “a lot of threats” amid tension between migrants and locals in Sfax, a coastal city in central Tunisia.- ‘Just trying to survive’ -Thousands of migrants had set up camp on the outskirts of Sfax, before authorities began dismantling the makeshift neighbourhoods this year. Tensions flared in early 2023 when President Kais Saied said “hordes of sub-Saharan migrants” were threatening the country’s demographic composition.Saied’s statement was widely circulated online and unleashed a wave of hostility that many migrants feel still lingers.”There’s a strong rivalry in this work,” said Jabbari, glancing at a group of sub-Saharan African migrants nearby.”These people have made life even more difficult for us. I can’t collect enough plastic because of them.”Chaouch, the collection centre manager, was even more blunt: “We don’t accept sub-Saharans at our centre. Priority goes to Tunisians.” In contrast, 79-year-old Abdallah Omri, who heads another centre in Bhar Lazreg, said he “welcomes everyone”.”The people who do this work are just trying to survive, whether they’re Tunisian, sub-Saharan or otherwise,” he said.”We’re cleaning up the country and feeding families,” he added proudly.

Tunisia plastic collectors spread as economic, migration woes deepenMon, 28 Jul 2025 04:08:25 GMT

Tunisia plastic collectors spread as economic, migration woes deepenMon, 28 Jul 2025 04:08:25 GMT Read More »

China’s birthplace of kung fu rocked by embezzlement probe

La Thaïlande accuse le Cambodge de manquer de “bonne foi” avant des négociations sur un cessez-le-feu

Europe hopes for ‘no surprises’ as US weighs force withdrawals

After keeping Donald Trump happy with a pledge to up defence spending at NATO’s summit, Europe is now bracing for a key decision from the US president on the future of American forces on the continent.Washington is currently conducting a review of its military deployments worldwide — set to be unveiled in coming months — and the expectation is it will lead to drawdowns in Europe.That prospect is fraying the nerves of US allies, especially as fears swirl that Russia could look to attack a NATO country within the next few years if the war in Ukraine dies down. However, the alliance is basking in Trump’s newfound goodwill following its June summit in The Hague, and his officials are making encouraging noises that Europe will not be left in the lurch.”We’ve agreed to no surprises and no gaps in the strategic framework of Europe,” said Matthew Whitaker, US ambassador to NATO, adding he expected the review to come out in “late summer, early fall”.”I have daily conversations with our allies about the process,” he said.While successive US governments have mulled scaling back in Europe to focus more on China, Trump has insisted more forcefully than his predecessors that the continent should handle its own defence.”There’s every reason to expect a withdrawal from Europe,” said Marta Mucznik from the International Crisis Group. “The question is not whether it’s going to happen, but how fast.”When Trump returned to office in January many felt he was about to blow a hole in the seven-decade-old alliance.But the vibe in NATO circles is now far more upbeat than those desperate days.”There’s a sanguine mood, a lot of guesswork, but the early signals are quite positive,” one senior European diplomat told AFP, talking as others on condition of anonymity. “Certainly no panic or doom and gloom.”- ‘Inevitable’ -The Pentagon says there are nearly 85,000 US military personnel in Europe — a number that has fluctuated between 75,000 and 105,000 since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.”I think it is inevitable that they pull out some of their forces,” a second European diplomat told AFP. “But I don’t expect this to be like a dramatic overhaul. I think it’s going to be gradual. I think it’s going to be based on consultations.”Trump’s first target is likely to be the troops left over from a surge ordered by his predecessor Joe Biden after Moscow’s tanks rolled into Ukraine.Officials say relocating the rump of that 20,000-strong deployment would not hurt NATO’s deterrence too much — but alarm bells would ring if Trump looked to cut too deep into personnel numbers or close key bases.The issue is not just troop numbers — the US has capabilities such as air defences, long-range missiles and satellite surveillance that allies would struggle to replace in the short-term.”The kinds of defence investments by Europe that are being made coming out of The Hague summit may only be felt in real capability terms over many years,” said Ian Lesser from the German Marshall Fund think tank.”So the question of timing really does matter.”- ‘Inopportune moment’ -Washington’s desire to pull back from Europe may be tempered by Trump now taking a tougher line with Russia — and Moscow’s reluctance to bow to his demands to end the Ukraine war.”It seems an inopportune moment to send signals of weakness and reductions in the American security presence in Europe,” Lesser said.He also pointed to Trump’s struggles during his first term to pull troops out of Germany — the potential bill for relocating them along with political resistance in Washington scuppering the plan. While European diplomats are feeling more confident than before about the troop review, they admit nothing can be certain with the mercurial US president. Other issues such as Washington’s trade negotiations with the EU could rock transatlantic ties in the meantime and upend the good vibes.”It seems positive for now,” said a third European diplomat. “But what if we are all wrong and a force decrease will start in 2026. To be honest, there isn’t much to go on at this stage.”