AFP Asia Business

Iranian dissident director Jafar Panahi won the Palme d’Or top prize at the Cannes film festival on Saturday, using his acceptance speech to urge his country to unite for “freedom”.The latest film from the 64-year-old, “It Was Just an Accident”, tells the tale of five ordinary Iranians confronted with a man they believed tortured them in jail. The core of the political and wry drama examines the moral dilemma faced by people if they are given an opportunity to take revenge on their oppressors.Panahi used his own experiences in jail to write the screenplay.”Let’s set aside all problems, all differences. What matters most right now is our country and the freedom of our country,” he told the VIP-studded audience on the French Riviera. The leading light in the Iranian New Wave cinema movement has vowed to return to Tehran after the Cannes Festival despite the risks of prosecution. Banned from making films in 2010 and imprisoned twice, Panahi argued that cinema should be a space for free expression.”No one has the right to tell you what you (filmmakers) should do and what you should not do,” he told the audience, according to remarks in Persian which were translated into French by an interpreter.Iran was shaken by the “Women, Life, Freedom” protests in 2022 sparked by after the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was arrested for allegedly flouting dress rules for women.The demonstrations were quashed in a crackdown that saw thousands detained, according to the United Nations, and hundreds shot dead by security forces, according to activists.- Fairytale -Among the other Cannes awards, Brazil’s Wagner Moura, best known for playing Pablo Escobar in “Narcos” — picked up the best actor award for his performance in police thriller “The Secret Agent”.Its director, Kleber Mendonca Filho, also won the best director prize, making it a good evening for Brazil.France’s Nadia Melliti continued her fairytale fortnight in Cannes by clinching the gong for best actress.Melliti, who was spotted in the street by a casting agent and had never appeared in a film, plays a 17-year-old Muslim girl struggling with her homosexuality in Hafsia Herzi’s “The Little Sister”.”Sentimental Value” by Norway’s Joachim Trier, a moving family drama given a 19-minute standing ovation on Thursday, picked up the second prize Grand Prix.- Sabotage -Saturday’s closing ceremony was the final act of a drama-filled day in Cannes that saw the glitzy seaside resort suffer a more than five-hour power cut.The outage knocked out traffic lights and had visitors and locals scrambling for paper money because cash machines were out-of-order and restaurants were left unable to process card payments.Local officials said a suspected arson attack on a substation and vandalism of an electricity pylon had caused the disruption.  German director Mascha Schilinski joked that she had “had difficulty writing her speech” because of the black-out as she accepted a jury prize for her “Sound of Falling”.- Politics -Panahi has won a host of prizes at European film festivals and showcased his debut film “The White Balloon” in Cannes in 1995 which won an award for best first feature. The head of the Cannes 2025 jury, French actress Juliette Binoche, paid tribute to “It Was Just an Accident”.”This is a film that emerges from a place of resistance, a place of survival, and it felt essential to bring it put it on top today,” she told reporters afterwards.”Art will always prevail, humanity will always prevail.” Panahi has always refused to stop making films and his efforts to smuggle them out to foreign distributors and film festivals has become the stuff of legend.A year after being handed a 20-year ban on filmmaking in 2010 he dispatched a documentary with the cheeky title “This is Not a Film” to the Cannes Festival on a flash drive stashed in a cake.”I’m alive as long as I’m making films. If I’m not making films, then what happens to me no longer matters,” he told AFP this week. 

Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who won the top prize at the Cannes film festival on Saturday, is a twice-jailed arthouse cinema veteran whose films are banned in his homeland.The 64-year-old is a symbol of artistic defiance who repeatedly challenges his country’s strict censorship laws to produce movies about Iran’s social and cultural struggles.His latest production “It Was Just an Accident” tells the story of five formerly imprisoned Iranians who are confronted with a man they believe to have been their torturer in jail.Shot in secret, it is partly inspired by Panahi’s own experiences behind bars following his most recent near seven-month prison term in 2022-2023 which ended with a hunger strike. “I’m alive as long as I’m making films. If I’m not making films, then what happens to me no longer matters,” he told AFP in an interview last week. He has won a host of prizes at European film festivals and showcased his debut film “The White Balloon” in Cannes in 1995 which won an award for best first feature. Saturday’s win is his highest honour yet and was presented to him in person on his first visit to Cannes in 15 years.- 20-year ban – In 2010, Panahi was banned from making movies and leaving the country after supporting mass anti-government protests a year earlier and making a series of films that critiqued the state of modern Iran.Convicted of “propaganda against the system”, he was sentenced to six years in jail but served only two months behind bars before being released on bail.In the years that followed, Iranian authorities appeared content to turn a blind eye to his failure to toe the line, as long as his films did not appear overtly political. He continued to make films, however, and his efforts to smuggle them out to foreign distributors and film festivals became the stuff of legend.A year after being handed a 20-year ban on filmmaking he dispatched a documentary with the cheeky title “This is Not a Film” to the Cannes Festival on a flash drive stashed in a cake.His 2015 movie “Taxi” featured him acting as a taxi driver and was shot entirely in a car, allowing him to avoid the ever-watchful eyes of Iranian police while filming. His conversations with a cross-section of Iranians that come aboard — a lawyer barred from practising her trade, a badly-injured man who is making his will on the backseat — provided rich insights into everyday life in the Islamic republic.- Jail material -The tolerance of Panahi’s work ended in July 2022 when he was re-arrested in connection with protests by a group of filmmakers.He was ordered to serve out the sentence that had been hanging over him since 2010 in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, but was released nearly seven months later.He said he had used some of his conversations with fellow inmates as inspiration for the script of “It Was Just an Accident”, which he wrote himself.”When you put (an artist) in prison, you’re handing them an opportunity, giving them material, ideas, opening up a whole new world,” he said in Cannes.The core of the allegorical film examines the moral dilemma faced by people if they are given opportunity to take revenge on their oppressors.”We chose a range of characters, from violent to non-violent, from a simple man to someone completely detached from such concerns,” he told AFP.  “Through their actions and reactions, we reach — or perhaps fail to reach — a conclusion about what the right path might be.”- ‘Pressure’ -A child of the Tehran slums, Panahi is a leading exponent of Iranian New Wave cinema, alongside Abbas Kiarostami, whom he served as an assistant early in his career.In keeping with the movement, his films focus on the social realities of his homeland and give pride of place to non-professional actors.After “The White Balloon”, he was given the second-place jury prize in Cannes in 2003 for “Blood and Gold” and best screenplay in 2018 for his roadmovie “3 Faces”.He said he planned to return to Iran after this year’s festival despite the risks for him.He revealed on Wednesday that he and his cast had faced “pressure” since “It Was Just an Accident” was selected at Cannes, with several team members called in for questioning.Panahi has a film-making son who is following in his foot steps. Panah Panahi presented his first feature, “Hit the Road”, in 2021 in a section for young directors.burs-adp/fg/phz

Syrian authorities on Saturday announced an interior ministry restructuring that includes fighting cross-border drug and people smuggling as they seek to improve ties with Western nations that have lifted sanctions.Keen to reboot and rebuild nearly 14 years after a devastating civil war broke out, the new authorities in Damascus have hailed Washington’s lifting of US sanctions.The move was formalised Friday after being announced by President Donald Trump on a Gulf tour this month during which he shook hands with Syria’s jihadist-turned-interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa.Spokesman Noureddine al-Baba said the interior ministry restructure included reforms and creating “a modern civil security institution that adopts transparency and respects international human rights standards”.It includes setting up a citizens’ complaints department and incorporating the police and General Security agency into an Internal Security command, he told a press conference.A border security body for Syria’s land and sea frontiers will be tasked with “combating illegal activities, particularly drug and human smuggling networks”, Baba said.The restructure includes “strengthening the role of the anti-drug department and further developing its importance within Syria and abroad” after the country became a major exporter of illicit stimulant captagon, he added.Another department will handle security for government facilities and foreign missions, as embassies reopen in Syria following Bashar al-Assad’s ouster in December.A tourism police body will secure visitors and sites as the war-torn country — home to renowned UNESCO World Heritage sites — seeks to relaunch tourism.- ‘Of critical importance’ -Syria’s foreign ministry welcomed Washington’s lifting of sanctions, calling the move “a positive step in the right direction to reduce humanitarian and economic struggles in the country”.Turkish foreign ministry spokesperson Oncu Keceli said the recent US and European Union steps to lift sanctions were “of critical importance in efforts to bring stability and security to Syria”.The European Union announced the lifting of its economic sanctions on Syria earlier this month.Sharaa met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday on his third visit to Turkey since taking power on a visit to discuss “common issues”, Syria’s presidency said.Ankara is a major backer of Syria’s new authorities, who are negotiating with Kurdish forces that control swathes of the northeast and that Turkey considers “terrorists”.A government delegation made a first visit Saturday to the notorious Al-Hol camp in the northeast that hosts families of suspected Islamic State (IS) group jihadists.Trump said he wanted to give Syria’s new rulers “a chance at greatness” after their overthrow of Assad.While in Istanbul, Sharaa met with the US ambassador to Turkey, who doubles as Washington’s Syria envoy.In a statement, Tom Barrack said: “President Trump’s goal is to enable the new government to create the conditions for the Syrian people to not only survive but thrive.”He added that it would aid Washington’s “primary objective” of ensuring the “enduring defeat” of IS.US sanctions were first imposed on Syria in 1979 under the rule of Bashar al-Assad’s father Hafez.They were sharply expanded after the bloody repression of anti-government protests in 2011 triggered Syria’s civil war.The new administration has been looking to build relations with the West and roll back sanctions, but some governments expressed reluctance, pointing to the Islamist past of leading figures. – ‘Recovery and reconstruction’ -The sanctions relief extends to the new government on condition that Syria not provide safe haven for terrorist organisations and ensure security for religious and ethnic minorities, the US Treasury Department said.Concurrently, the US State Department issued a 180-day waiver for the Caesar Act to make sure that sanctions do not obstruct foreign investment in Syria.The 2020 legislation severely sanctioned any entity or company cooperating with the now ousted government.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the waiver would “facilitate the provision of electricity, energy, water and sanitation, and enable a more effective humanitarian response across Syria”.However, Rubio cautioned that Trump “has made clear his expectation that relief will be followed by prompt action by the Syrian government on important policy priorities”.He said lifting the sanctions aims to promote “recovery and reconstruction efforts”.Syria’s 14-year civil war killed more than half a million people and ravaged its infrastructure.The interior ministry’s spokesman said around a third of the population had been under suspicion by the Assad government’s feared intelligence and security services.Analysts say a full lifting of sanctions may take time, as some US restrictions are acts that need to be reversed by Congress.Syrian authorities also need to ensure an attractive environment for foreign investment.

Syrian authorities on Saturday announced an interior ministry restructuring that includes fighting cross-border drug and people smuggling as they seek to improve ties with Western nations that have lifted sanctions.Keen to reboot and rebuild after 14 years of devastating civil war, the new authorities in Damascus have hailed Washington’s lifting of US sanctions.The move was formalised Friday after being announced by President Donald Trump on a Gulf tour this month during which he shook hands with Syria’s jihadist-turned-interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa.Spokesman Noureddine al-Baba said the interior ministry restructure included reforms and creating “a modern civil security institution that adopts transparency and respects international human rights standards”.It includes setting up a citizens’ complaints department and incorporating the police and General Security agency into an Internal Security command, he told a press conference.A border security body for Syria’s land and sea frontiers will be tasked with “combating illegal activities, particularly drug and human smuggling networks”, Baba said.The restructure includes “strengthening the role of the anti-drug department and further developing its importance within Syria and abroad” after the country became a major exporter of illicit stimulant captagon, he added.Another department will handle security for government facilities and foreign missions, as embassies reopen in Syria following Bashar al-Assad’s ouster in December.A tourism police body will secure visitors and sites as the war-torn country — home to renowned UNESCO World Heritage sites — seeks to relaunch tourism.- ‘Of critical importance’ -Syria’s foreign ministry welcomed Washington’s lifting of sanctions, calling the move “a positive step in the right direction to reduce humanitarian and economic struggles in the country”.Turkish foreign ministry spokesperson Oncu Keceli said the recent US and European Union steps to lift sanctions were “of critical importance in efforts to bring stability and security to Syria”.The European Union announced the lifting of its economic sanctions on Syria earlier this month.Sharaa met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday on his third visit to Turkey since taking power on a visit to discuss “common issues”, Syria’s presidency said.Ankara is a major backer of Syria’s new authorities, who are negotiating with Kurdish forces that control swathes of the northeast and that Turkey considers “terrorists”.A government delegation made a first visit Saturday to the notorious Al-Hol camp in the northeast that hosts families of suspected Islamic State group jihadists.Trump said he wanted to give Syria’s new rulers “a chance at greatness” after their overthrow of Assad.US sanctions were first imposed on Syria in 1979 under the rule of Bashar al-Assad’s father Hafez.They were sharply expanded after the bloody repression of anti-government protests in 2011 triggered Syria’s civil war.The new administration has been looking to build relations with the West and roll back sanctions, but some governments expressed reluctance, pointing to the Islamist past of leading figures. – ‘Recovery and reconstruction’ -The sanctions relief extends to the new government on condition that Syria not provide safe haven for terrorist organisations and ensure security for religious and ethnic minorities, the US Treasury Department said.Concurrently, the US State Department issued a 180-day waiver for the Caesar Act to make sure that sanctions do not obstruct foreign investment in Syria.The 2020 legislation severely sanctioned any entity or company cooperating with the now ousted government.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the waiver would “facilitate the provision of electricity, energy, water and sanitation, and enable a more effective humanitarian response across Syria”.However, Rubio cautioned that Trump “has made clear his expectation that relief will be followed by prompt action by the Syrian government on important policy priorities”.He said lifting the sanctions aims to promote “recovery and reconstruction efforts”.Syria’s 14-year civil war killed more than half a million people and ravaged its infrastructure.The interior ministry’s Baba said around a third of the population had been under suspicion by the Assad regime’s feared intelligence and security services.Analysts say a full lifting of sanctions may take time, as some US restrictions are acts that need to be reversed by Congress.Syrian authorities also need to ensure an attractive environment for foreign investment.

The United Arab Emirates breached its May temperature record for the second day in a row, hitting 51.6 degrees Celsius on Saturday, within touching distance of the highest ever temperature recorded in the country.”The highest temperature recorded over the country today is 51.6C in Sweihan (Al Ain) at 13:45 UAE local time (0945 GMT),” the National Center of Meteorology said in a post on X, just 0.4C off the overall heat record in the Gulf country. The meteorology office told AFP the highest ever temperature recorded in the UAE since documentation began in 2003 was reported at 52C on Abu Dhabi’s Al Yasat Island in 2010. The desert nation, a top global oil exporter, lies in one of the planet’s hottest regions and one which is particularly vulnerable to climate change.The temperature in Sweihan — which lies 97km (60 miles) west of Abu Dhabi — and of 50.4C a day earlier in the Emirati capital exceeded the previous record for May of 50.2 Celsius recorded in 2009, according to the meteorology office. On Saturday in Dubai, where high temperatures in the mid-40 degrees Celsius were recorded, motorists complained air conditioning in their cars was struggling to stifle the sweltering heat, surprised the phenomenon had hit so early in the year.On the streets, Dubai inhabitants were still out and about — some armed with parasols — and vendors selling water and local juice bars appeared to enjoy an uptick in customers. The UAE, host of the COP28 climate talks in 2023, has just emerged from a record-breaking April with an average daily high of 42.6 degrees Celsius.- Extremely hot days -Scientists have shown that recurring heatwaves are a clear marker of global warming and that these heatwaves are set to become more frequent, longer and more intense. The number of extremely hot days has nearly doubled globally in the past three decades.Outdoor workers in Arab states face some of the highest exposure to heat stress in the world, with 83.6 percent suffering from excessive heat exposure on the job, according to a 2024 report from the International Labour Organization, a United Nations agency.The risks from a warming planet were on stark display last June, when more than 1,300 people died while performing the annual Muslim hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, according to an official tally — most of them unauthorised pilgrims exposed to long periods outdoors.According to a 2022 Greenpeace study, the Middle East is at high risk of water and food scarcity as well as severe heat waves as a result of climate change.The report, which focused on six countries including the UAE, found the region was warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, making its food and water supplies “extremely vulnerable” to climate change.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed at least 15 people on Saturday across the Palestinian territory, where Israel has ramped up its military offensive in recent days.Civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP the dead included a couple who were killed with their two young children in a pre-dawn strike on a house in the Amal quarter of the southern city of Khan Yunis.To the west of the city, at least five people were killed by a drone strike on a crowd of people that had gathered to wait for aid trucks, he said.At Khan Yunis’s Nasser Hospital, tearful mourners gathered around white-shrouded bodies outside.”Suddenly, a missile from an F-16 destroyed the entire house, and all of them were civilians — my sister, her husband and their children,” said Wissam Al-Madhoun.”We found them lying in the street. What did this child do to (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu?”The Israeli military said it was unable to comment on individual strikes without their “precise geographical coordinates”.In a statement, the military said that over the past day the air force had struck more than 100 targets across the territory, including members of “terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip, military structures, underground routes and additional terrorist infrastructure”.Israel resumed operations in Gaza on March 18, ending a two-month ceasefire.Gaza’s health ministry said Saturday that at least 3,747 people had been killed in the territory since then, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,901, mostly civilians.- ‘Cruellest phase’ -Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Militants also took 251 hostages, 57 of whom remain in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said on Friday that Palestinians were enduring “the cruellest phase” of the war in Gaza, where a lengthy Israeli blockade has led to widespread shortages of food and medicine.Limited aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip restarted on Monday for the first time since March 2, amid mounting condemnation of the Israeli blockade.The World Food Programme said 15 of its trucks were looted late Thursday night, calling on Israel “to get far greater volumes of food assistance into Gaza faster”.”Hunger, desperation, and anxiety over whether more food aid is coming, is contributing to rising insecurity,” it said.The Gaza City municipality, meanwhile, warned Saturday of “a potential large-scale water crisis” due to a lack of supplies needed for urgent repairs.It said damage from the war had “affected the majority of Gaza’s water infrastructure, leaving large portions of the population vulnerable to severe water shortages”.It added that temperatures were rising and demand was expected to increase.