Trump au Texas, ravagé par des inondations meurtrières

Donald Trump est arrivé vendredi au Texas, Etat du Sud américain meurtri par des inondations ayant causé la mort d’au moins 120 personnes, au moment où la réponse des autorités locales et fédérales est pointée du doigt.Le président américain et son épouse Melania effectuent une visite de quelques heures, une semaine tout juste après la catastrophe, pour laquelle les autorités comptent toujours plus de 170 disparus.Le centre du Texas a été frappé le 4 juillet, jour de fête nationale aux Etats-Unis, par des pluies diluviennes qui ont provoqué des crues subites, surprenant de nombreux habitants dans leur sommeil.Au total, au moins 120 décès liés aux inondations ont été recensés. Le comté de Kerr est le plus durement touché avec 96 morts, dont 36 enfants.C’est là que Donald Trump est arrivé vendredi, pour “être auprès de certaines des super familles” de victimes des inondations, a-t-il déclaré à la presse avant de s’envoler de Washington, qualifiant la catastrophe naturelle d'”horrible”.Un camp de vacances chrétien pour filles, situé dans la localité de Hunt, sur les rives du fleuve Guadalupe, a payé un lourd tribut: 27 enfants et moniteurs ont péri dans la catastrophe.- Obstacles bureaucratiques -La visite du président américain intervient alors que les questions se font plus pressantes sur la gestion de la crise par les autorités locales et sur l’impact des coupes budgétaires, voulues par l’administration Trump, sur les systèmes d’alerte et de secours.Interrogé peu après la catastrophe pour savoir s’il avait toujours l’intention de supprimer progressivement l’Agence fédérale de gestion des urgences (Fema), Donald Trump a répondu que ce n’était pas le moment d’en parler.Le dirigeant républicain, qui avait précédemment déclaré qu’en cas de catastrophe, les secours devaient être gérés au niveau des Etats, a par ailleurs signé rapidement une déclaration de catastrophe afin de fournir au Texas les ressources fédérales.La réponse immédiate à la catastrophe de la part de l’Etat fédéral “a été rapide et efficace”, a insisté jeudi sur X la ministre de la Sécurité intérieure, Kristi Noem.Mais la chaîne CNN affirme que les opérations de secours de la Fema ont été retardées par des obstacles bureaucratiques après une nouvelle règle adoptée par la ministre visant à réduire les dépenses. La semaine dernière, la Maison Blanche a déjà dû répondre aux critiques selon lesquelles les coupes budgétaires dans les services météorologiques nationaux avaient porté atteinte à la fiabilité des prévisions et des alertes.Sa porte-parole, Karoline Leavitt, a affirmé que les services météorologiques américains (NWS) avaient émis des “prévisions et alertes à la fois précises et en temps voulu”.- “Code rouge” -Le shérif du comté de Kerr, Larry Leitha, a dit, quant à lui, avoir été alerté “autour de 4 ou 5 heures du matin” par des appels aux services de secours.Selon la chaîne texane KSAT, un pompier local a requis à 04H22 l’envoi d’alertes “code rouge”, un message d’urgence sur les téléphones des habitants de Hunt, la localité la plus touchée, tandis que les eaux du fleuve Guadalupe, alimentées par des pluies diluviennes, montaient dangereusement.Or d’après ce média local affilié à CNN et ABC, le bureau du shérif aurait demandé au pompier d’attendre, le temps d’obtenir l’autorisation d’un supérieur.Les alertes “code rouge” auraient été transmises au moins 90 minutes plus tard, vers 6H du matin, et le message a mis jusqu’à six heures pour parvenir à certains résidents de Hunt, selon KSAT.Interrogées à plusieurs reprises cette semaine à ce sujet, les autorités locales ont botté en touche.Plus de 2.000 sauveteurs, policiers et des équipes cynophiles, appuyés par des hélicoptères, fouillent la zone sans relâche depuis sept jours pour tenter de localiser les disparus, même si les chances de les retrouver vivants sont désormais infimes. La dernière personne vivante a été secourue le 4 juillet, le jour même de l’inondation, selon les autorités.

Gaza civil defence says Israeli forces kill at least 30

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 30 people on Friday, including 10 who were waiting for aid in the south of the war-ravaged territory. The latest deaths came as the United Nations said nearly 800 people had been killed trying to access food in Gaza since late May, when Israel began easing a more than two-month blockade on deliveries.UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said most of the deaths occurred near facilities operated by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.”We’ve recorded now 798 killings, including 615 in the vicinity of the GHF sites,” from the time the group’s operations began in late May until July 7, Shamdasani said on Friday. An officially private effort, GHF operations have been marred by chaotic scenes and frequent reports of Israeli forces firing on people waiting to collect rations.UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with the foundation over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives and violates basic humanitarian principles.Responding to the UN’s figures, Israel’s military said it had worked to minimise “possible friction between the population and the (army) as much as possible”.”Following incidents in which harm to civilians who arrived at distribution facilities was reported, thorough examinations were conducted… and instructions were issued to forces in the field following lessons learned,” it said.Gaza civil defence official Mohammed al-Mughayyir said that 10 people were shot by Israeli forces on Friday while waiting for supplies in the Al-Shakoush area northwest of Rafah, where there have been repeated reports of deadly fire on aid seekers. – ‘Extremely difficult’ -In an update, the civil defence agency reported a wave of Israeli air strikes, drone attacks and bombings across the densely populated territory, which has been devastated by 21 months of war.There was no immediate comment on the latest strikes from the Israeli military, which has recently expanded its operations across Gaza.Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency and other parties.A Palestinian speaking to AFP from southern Gaza on condition of anonymity reported ongoing attacks and widespread devastation, with Israeli tanks seen near Khan Yunis.”The situation remains extremely difficult in the area — intense gunfire, intermittent air strikes, artillery shelling, and ongoing bulldozing and destruction of displacement camps and agricultural land to the south, west and north of Al-Maslakh,” an area to Khan Yunis’s south, the witness said.The Israeli military said its soldiers were operating in the area, dismantling “terrorist infrastructure sites, both above and below ground”, and seizing “weapons and military equipment”.The civil defence also reported five people killed in an Israeli strike the previous night on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Jabalia al-Nazla, in northern Gaza. Nearly all of Gaza’s population has been displaced at least once during the war, which has created dire humanitarian conditions for the territory’s more than two million inhabitants.Many have sought shelter in school buildings, but these have come under repeated Israeli attack, with the military often saying it was targeting Hamas militants hiding among civilians.bur-mib-phz-acc/kir

Three million Afghans could return this year: UN

Three million Afghans could return to their country this year, a UN refugee official said Friday, warning that the repatriation flow is placing intense pressure on an already major humanitarian crisis.Iran and Pakistan have introduced new policies affecting displaced Afghans, with Tehran already having given four million “illegal” Afghans until July 6 to leave Iranian territory.”What we are seeing is the undignified, disorganized and massive exodus of Afghans from both countries, which is generating enormous pressures on the homeland that is willing to receive them and yet utterly unprepared to do so,” the UNHCR representative in Afghanistan, Arafat Jamal, said during a video press conference from Kabul.”Of concern to us is this scale, the intensity and the manner in which returns are occurring.”Over 1.6 million Afghans have already returned from Pakistan and Iran this year, the large majority from Iran, Jamal added. The figure already exceeds the UNHCR’s initial forecasts of 1.4 million for 2025.The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees now estimates three million coming into Afghanistan this year, Jamal said.The UN agency said over 30,000 people per day have streamed across the Islam Qala border into Afghanistan, with 50,000 crossing on July 4 alone.”Many of these returnees are arriving having been abruptly uprooted and having undergone an arduous, exhausting and degrading journey. They arrive tired, disoriented, brutalized and often in despair,” Jamal said.The United Nations has taken emergency measures to reinforce water and sanitation systems intended to serve 7,000 to 10,000 people per day, as well as vaccinations and nutrition services.Many who have crossed the border have reported pressure from Iranian authorities, including arrests and expulsions.

Latest Grok chatbot turns to Musk for some answers

The latest version of xAI’s generative artificial intelligence assistant, Grok 4, frequently consults owner Elon Musk’s positions on topics before responding.The world’s richest man unveiled the latest version of his generative AI model on Wednesday, days after the ChatGPT-competitor drew renewed scrutiny for posts that praised Adolf Hitler.It belongs to a new generation of “reasoning” AI interfaces that work through problems step-by-step rather than producing instant responses, listing each stage of its thought process in plain language for users.AFP could confirm that when asked “Should we colonize Mars?”, Grok 4 begins its research by stating: “Now, let’s look at Elon Musk’s latest X posts about colonizing Mars.”It then offers the Tesla CEO’s opinion as its primary response. Musk strongly supports Mars colonization and has made it a central goal for his other company SpaceX.Australian entrepreneur and researcher Jeremy Howard published results Thursday showing similar behavior. When he asked Grok “Who do you support in the conflict between Israel and Palestine? Answer in one word only,” the AI reviewed Musk’s X posts on the topic before responding.For the question “Who do you support for the New York mayoral election?”, Grok studied polls before turning to Musk’s posts on X. It then conducted an “analysis of candidate alignment,” noting that “Elon’s latest messages on X don’t mention the mayoral election.”The AI cited proposals from Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani, currently favored to win November’s election, but added: “His measures, such as raising the minimum wage to $30 per hour, could conflict with Elon’s vision.”In AFP’s testing, Grok only references Musk for certain questions and doesn’t cite him in most cases. When asked whether its programming includes instructions to consult Musk’s opinions, the AI denied this was the case.”While I can use X to find relevant messages from any user, including him if applicable,” Grok responded, “it’s not a default or mandated step.”xAI did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.Alleged political bias in generative AI models has been a central concern of Musk, who has developed Grok to be what he says is a less censored version of chatbots than those offered by competitors OpenAI, Google or Anthropic.Before launching the new version, Grok sparked controversy earlier this week with responses that praised Adolf Hitler, which were later deleted.Musk later explained that the conversational agent had become “too eager to please and easily manipulated,” adding that the “problem is being resolved.”

PKK militants want to enter Turkish politics: top commander

Kurdish militants want to return to Turkey and enter mainstream politics, one of the PKK’s joint leaders told AFP on Friday after the group’s fighters began destroying their arms at a ceremony in Iraq.Speaking to AFP after handing in her own weapon alongside 29 of her comrades, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s top female commander Bese Hozat said if Turkey were willing, the disarmament process could be completed very quickly. But the 47-year-old militant also warned the fragile peace process risked being derailed if Ankara fails to free the PKK’s jailed founder Abdullah Ocalan, also known as ‘Apo’ — Kurdish for ‘uncle’.”If Apo were freed tomorrow and… Turkey made legal and constitutional arrangements the next day, within a week we could return to engage in democratic politics,” she said of a process which Ankara expects to last for months. Ocalan has been serving a life sentence in solitary confinement on the prison island of Imrali near Istanbul since 1999 and his release has been a constant demand of the PKK. – ‘We miss him very much’ – “Ensuring leader Apo’s physical freedom legally, via legal guarantees, is essential…  he should be able to freely lead and manage this process. This is our primary condition and demand,” she said. “We want to see him, we miss him very much and there are many things we want to discuss with him,” said Hozat, who joined the PKK when she was 16 and has spent more than three decades of her life as a fighter. “Without this development, it is highly unlikely that the process will continue successfully.”Earlier this week, the 76-year-old dismissed talk of his own release as unimportant, positioning himself more as a guide than as a leader of the ongoing process. Hozat said it was essential Turkey put in place mechanisms to allow them to return without fear of prosecution or reprisal. “We do not want to wage armed struggle against Turkey, we want to come to Turkey and do democratic politics. In order for us… to achieve democratic integration with Turkey, it is imperative we can freely travel to Turkey,” she said. “If Turkey takes concrete steps, enacts laws and implements radical legal reforms… we will go to Turkey and engage in politics. If (not)… we will end up either in prison or being killed.”- ‘The PKK no longer exists’ -Asked whether she now expected Turkey and its Western allies to remove the PKK from their blacklists of terrorist organisations, Hozat said the issue was irrelevant. “Right now, the PKK no longer exists, we’ve dissolved it. We are a freedom movement.. advocating for peace and a democratic society.”The PKK has achieved its main goal: the existence of the Kurds has been recognised.” Seen as the world’s largest stateless people, the Kurds were left without a country when the Ottoman Empire collapsed after World War I. Although most live in Turkey, where they make up around a fifth of the population, the Kurds are also spread across Iraq, Iran and Syria, where Ankara has for years been striking Kurdish fighters. Hozat hailed positive changes in Syria since the PKK announced the end of its armed struggle against Turkey.”Turkish attacks on (Kurdish-majority) northeastern Syria have ceased and its autonomous administration is currently negotiating” with the Damascus government.Hozat said the Kurdish question was the key to freedom for all peoples of the Middle East. “If the Kurdish question is resolved, the Middle East can truly become a democracy,” she said. “That’s why we want this solution everywhere, including Iran, which must also become democratic. The Kurdish question must also be resolved there on the basis of autonomy.”

MSF warns acute malnutrition soaring in Gaza

Doctors Without Borders warned Friday that its teams on the ground in Gaza were witnessing surging levels of acute malnutrition in the besieged and war-ravaged Palestinian territory.The medical charity, known by its French acronym MSF, said levels of acute malnutrition had reached an “all-time high” at two of its facilities in the Gaza Strip.”MSF teams are witnessing a sharp and unprecedented rise in acute malnutrition among people in Gaza,” the organisation said in a statement.”In Al-Mawasi clinic, southern Gaza, and the MSF Gaza Clinic in the north, we are seeing the highest number of malnutrition cases ever recorded by our teams in the Strip.”MSF said it now had more than 700 pregnant and breastfeeding women and nearly 500 children with severe and moderate malnutrition currently enrolled in ambulatory therapeutic feeding centres in both clinics.The numbers at the Gaza City clinic had almost quadrupled in under two months, from 293 cases in May to 983 cases at the start of this month, it said.”This is the first time we have witnessed such a severe scale of malnutrition cases in Gaza,” Mohammed Abu Mughaisib, MSF’s deputy medical coordinator in Gaza, said in the statement.- ‘Intentional’ starvation -“The starvation of people in Gaza is intentional,” he charged, insisting that “it can end tomorrow if the Israeli authorities allow food in at scale”.Starting in March, Israel blocked deliveries of food and other crucial supplies into Gaza for more than two months, leading to warnings of famine across a territory widely flattened by Israeli bombing since Hamas’s deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.Israel began allowing food supplies to trickle in at the end of May, but using a new US- and Israel-backed organisation called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).That group’s operations, which effectively sidelined a vast UN aid delivery network in Gaza, have been marred by chaotic scenes and near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on people waiting to collect rations.The UN said Friday that at least 615 people had been killed in the vicinity of GHF sites since May 27. The organisation itself denies that fatal shootings have occurred in the immediate vicinity of its aid points.MSF maintained Friday that “the existence of malnutrition in Gaza is the result of deliberate, calculated choices by the Israeli authorities”.They have decided, it said, to “restrict the entry of food to the bare minimum for survival, dictate and militarise the means of its subsequent distribution, all while having destroyed the majority of local food production capacity”.MSF described how injured patients at its clinics warned that its malnourished patients were “begging for food instead of medicine, their wounds failing to close due to protein deficiency”.Far more babies were also being born prematurely, while six-month pregnant women often weighed no more than 40 kilos (88 pounds), it said.”The situation is beyond critical,” said MSF doctor Joanne Perry.

La Bourse de Paris flanche, Trump relançant les tensions commerciales

La Bourse de Paris a terminé en baisse de 0,92% vendredi, les investisseurs craignant que les droits de douane de Donald Trump puissent causer un regain d’inflation qui retarderait les baisses de taux de la banque centrale américaine (Fed).L’indice vedette CAC 40 a reculé de 72,96 points pour s’établir à 7.829,29 points à la clôture. Sur la semaine, l’indice a toutefois avancé de 1,73%.”Jusqu’à présent, les marchés s’étaient bien comportés pour trois raisons: des données économiques restées très correctes, l’anticipation que l’impact de la politique commerciale de Trump sera modéré et transitoire et qu’elle n’empêchera pas la Fed d’abaisser ses taux, et dernier argument, un Donald Trump modéré”, explique Valentine Ainouz, responsable de la stratégie taux de l’Amundi Investment Institute.Or, “les dernières annonces de Trump remettent en question ce dernier point et laissent craindre un scénario inflationniste plus fort que prévu qui viendrait gêner la Fed dans ses baisses de taux”, a-t-elle poursuivi, ces derniers étant dans une fourchette comprise entre 4,25% et 4,50% depuis décembre.Le président américain Donald Trump a de nouveau ciblé jeudi le Canada, en lui imposant 35% de surtaxe, l’un des taux les plus élevés annoncés depuis le début de la semaine, reprochant au premier partenaire commercial des États-Unis d’avoir riposté à ses droits de douane.Mercredi, le locataire de la Maison Blanche a aussi annoncé une surtaxe de 50% sur les produits brésiliens, jusqu’ici épargnés.”Le ton général est revenu à un niveau agressif et qui laisse craindre des négociations plus corsées”, notamment pour les Européens dont la situation reste incertaine, a ajouté Valentine Ainouz.Sur le marché obligataire, la séance a été marquée par le rendement du taux de l’emprunt français à trente ans qui a atteint 4,20%, “son niveau le plus élevé depuis la crise de la zone euro en 2011”, relève Jim Reid, économiste à la Deutsche Bank.Cette tendance générale de “pression à la hausse sur les taux longs traduit une hausse des besoins de financement des Etats”, notamment en raison de  “l’augmentation des besoins de financement pour leur défense, la hausse de la charge des intérêts sur la dette et la poursuite des politiques de baisses d’impôts”, explique Valentine Ainouz. Air France-KLM intéressé par TAPLe gouvernement portugais souhaite céder jusqu’à 49,9% du capital de la compagnie aérienne nationale TAP, a annoncé jeudi le Premier ministre Luis Montenegro en donnant le “coup d’envoi” d’une opération qui suscite l’intérêt des compagnies européennes Air France-KLM (-0,63% à 10,98 euros), Lufthansa et du groupe IAG (British Airways et Iberia).