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China’s leadership convenes next week for closed-door meetings to hammer out plans to shield the ailing economy from tariffs and trade threats from US President Donald Trump.The “Two Sessions” gatherings of the country’s parliament and top advisory body are primarily talking shops, rubber-stamping decisions made by the Communist Party while giving a veneer of openness …

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China on Friday vowed to take “all necessary countermeasures” after US President Donald Trump said he would impose an additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports — a decision Beijing warned would “seriously impact dialogue”.Trump’s latest move will come into effect on Tuesday alongside sweeping 25 percent levies on Canadian and Mexican imports, intensifying a …

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Talks resume in Cairo Friday on a second phase of an Israel-Hamas ceasefire that mediators hope will bring a lasting end to the Gaza conflict, a day after Israel’s military acknowledged its “complete failure” to prevent the 2023 Hamas attack that sparked the war.Mediator Egypt said Thursday that Israeli, Qatari and US delegations were already in Cairo for “intensive” talks on the next stage of the ceasefire, after a first phase only reached following months of gruelling negotiations.”The relevant parties have begun intensive talks to discuss the next phases of the truce agreement, amid ongoing efforts to ensure the implementation of the previously agreed understandings,” said Egypt’s State Information Service.The ceasefire, whose first phase is set to expire on Saturday, has largely halted the fighting that began when Hamas militants broke through Gaza’s security barrier on October 7, 2023, in an attack that resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.Israel’s retaliation has killed more than 48,000 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures the UN has deemed reliable.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent negotiators to Cairo on Thursday, after Hamas handed over the remains of four hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners under the truce.- ‘Too many civilians died’ -An internal Israeli army probe into the October 7 attack, released on Thursday, acknowledged the military’s “complete failure” to prevent it, according to a military official who briefed reporters about the report’s contents on condition of anonymity.”Too many civilians died that day asking themselves in their hearts or out loud, where was the IDF?” the official said, referring to the military.A senior military official said at the same briefing that the military acknowledges it was “overconfident” and had misconceptions about Hamas’s military capabilities before the attack.Following the scathing probe’s release, Israel’s military chief General Herzi Halevi said: “The responsibility is mine.”Halevi had already resigned last month citing the October 7 “failure”.During their attack, militants seized dozens of hostages, whose return was a key objective of the war.Netanyahu vowed to destroy Hamas and to bring home all the hostages, but has faced criticism and protests at home over his handling of the war and the hostage crisis.- ‘Murdered’ -A hostage-prisoner swap early Thursday was the final one under the initial stage of the truce that took effect on January 19.Over the past several weeks, Hamas freed in stages 25 living Israeli and dual-national hostages and returned the bodies of eight others. It also released five Thai hostages outside the deal’s terms.Israel, in return, was expected to free around 1,900 Palestinian prisoners. Israel’s Prison Service said that “643 terrorists were transferred from several prisons across the country” and released on Thursday under the terms of the truce after Hamas returned the bodies of four hostages.Hours after the handover on Thursday, an Israeli campaign group confirmed “with profound sorrow” the identities of the four bodies.Ohad Yahalomi, Tsachi Idan, Itzik Elgarat and Shlomo Mansour “have been laid to eternal rest in Israel”, said the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.Israel Berman, a businessman and former member of the Nahal Oz kibbutz community where Idan was abducted, said that “until the very last moment, we were hoping that Tsachi would return to us alive”. – ‘We were in hell’ -Among those freed in exchange was the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli jail, Nael Barghouti, who spent more than four decades behind bars. He was first arrested in 1978 and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of an Israeli officer and attacks on Israeli sites.”We were in hell and we came out of hell. Today is my real day of birth,” said one prisoner, Yahya Shraideh.AFP images showed some freed prisoners awaiting treatment or being assessed at the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, after their release.Several freed Palestinian prisoners were hospitalised following earlier swaps, and the emaciated state of some released Israeli hostages sparked outrage in Israel and beyond.After the swap, Hamas called on Israel to return to delayed talks on the truce’s next phase.”We have cut off the path before the enemy’s false justifications, and it has no choice but to start negotiations for the second phase,” Hamas said.

Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” won a special prize at the Cannes film festival last year and is hoping to go one better at the Oscars on Sunday.But the powerful drama, set during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” wave of protests and nominated for best international film in the 97th Academy Awards, will not be presented as an Iranian film.Instead, the movie — which is highly critical of the Iranian government and was shot in secret — will run as the entry for Germany, which co-produced it and where Rasoulof and three young stars of the film are now living in exile.Niousha Akhshi, Mahsa Rostami and Setareh Maleki were forced to flee Iran after making the film, leaving their families behind, and settled in Berlin.In an interview alongside the two other women, Maleki told AFP that being nominated for an Oscar “feels truly magical to us”.Maleki, 32, said she was proud that “a project made with minimal resources and a small team — due to its unique circumstances — has found its place in the biggest film events in the world”.Akhshi, 31, said the nomination was a tribute to “independent cinema that has not been subjugated and says what it wants”.A tense political drama set in Tehran, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” takes place against the backdrop of the protests sparked by the death of young Iranian-Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini.Amini died in custody in September 2022 after being arrested for an alleged breach of the mandatory dress code for women in the Islamic Republic of Iran.- ‘Unusual conditions’ -In the film, investigating judge Iman, who works at the Revolutionary Court in Tehran, becomes a zealous cog in the government machine, eagerly convicting demonstrators.But his two daughters secretly support the protests, while their mother is caught in the middle, desperately trying to keep the family from falling apart.”We shot it in very unusual conditions,” said Rostami, 32, who plays the older sister.Filming took place in early 2024 in secret in Iran, without Rasoulof who was already in hiding, and with great risks to the actresses who had agreed to appear without headscarves.”We had to appear in front of the camera with fear, we always feared that the camera could be stopped,” Rostami said.The filming was “very stressful and difficult, but despite all the pressure, it was also an incredibly enjoyable experience”, added Maleki, who plays the younger sister. “We, in Iran, are used to living underground — used to being ourselves in hidden spaces. And there, we were truly ourselves, with our own beliefs,” she said.The three actresses all participated in the protests after the death of Amini, with the unrest shown in the film through real-life social media footage.”We ourselves are part of the people, we were on the streets, throwing stones and having stones thrown at us, being hit by bullets,” said Akhshi, who plays a friend of the sisters who is blinded by a police shot.”For me, acting in this film was a way of conveying all the courage I had inside me,” she said.- Life in exile -The film’s success has been bittersweet for the three actresses, now facing the prospect of a life in exile like Rasoulof — who has been sentenced to eight years in jail in Iran.”It pains me to the depths of my heart,” said Rostami, her face expressionless. But the actresses agree that not being able to return to their home would be a price worth paying. “If you have appeared in a film without a headscarf in Iran, you cannot go on with your life, you have to leave. To continue (working), you are forced to leave your country,” Akhshi said.”I could have stayed, but that would have meant going to court, not knowing what my sentence would be, and living under constant stress,” Maleki added.From their new base in Berlin, where they are all learning German, the actresses will promote the movie throughout Europe and hope to find new projects in film or theatre.As for their home country, they dare to hope those in power will gradually become more liberal since society is changing “little by little”, according to Rostami.”The younger generation is no longer willing to accept things as they are, and that is hopeful,” said Akhshi.

In Kibbutz Nirim, hard by the Gaza border, the sound of hammers cuts through the silence that has settled on this small Israeli farming community since a ceasefire took effect on January 19.Hamas’s 2023 attack tore through the community of around 400 people, just two kilometres (little more than a mile) from the border but, 16 months later, Nirim is rebuilding now that the bombs have subsided.”It’s so important that we make it beautiful again,” said Adele Raemer, an Israeli-American who has lived in the kibbutz for 49 years.”We’re rebuilding our resilience to feel safe again here,” the 70-year-old retired teacher said.A row of houses in the northwest of the kibbutz — scarred but not destroyed in the Hamas attack — has been newly renovated, the walls of the single-storey buildings shining white in the winter sun.Further down the street, construction workers were laying tiles and applying more white paint to a house which had been gutted by rocket fire from Gaza in the weeks after October 7, 2023.The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.The militants killed four of Nirim’s 400 or so inhabitants and took five more hostage, according to figures from the Israeli military.Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza killed at least 48,365 people, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable. – ‘War could reignite’ -In the corner closest to the perimeter fence, within sight of Gaza, work has yet to begin on 30 houses which were the most heavily damaged.”It hurts being here in this corner,” Raemer said.Only a few trees are still standing, their branches lopped off after they were burnt in the attack.Raemer says she is preparing to move back into her own home deeper inside the kibbutz but does not know when she will return permanently.Her safe room, where she hid with her son during the attack, has been given a fresh coat of paint. Raemer described the day of the attack as an “11-hour nightmare”. Hamas gunmen tried, unsuccessfully, to break into her home through a side window and the front door. “I looked at my son. He looked at me. We told each other that we loved each other and basically said goodbye.”Despite those memories, Raemer said she is determined to return.”My plan is to start spending a few nights here at a time… If I feel secure enough, I may come back earlier.”Her decision rests, in part, on the fragile truce between Israel and Hamas, which is holding despite several close calls.”I realised that the war could reignite at any minute,” Raemer said.”I have made the decision that I will be coming home. I’m stubborn… Every family is going to have to decide for themselves.”- ‘Another solution’ – Fourteen kilometres (nine miles) northeast of Nirim, Kibbutz Beeri was even worse hit by the 2023 attack. The militants killed 101 of its residents and abducted 30, according to army figures.Beeri resident Alon Pauker, 59, an academic at Beit Berl College, told AFP a third of Beeri’s homes and many communal spaces were destroyed.He estimated reconstruction would take two years but said no decision had yet been taken on how much of the destruction should be cleared and how much preserved as a memorial.Pauker said the militants had turned the community into a “battlefield for 15 hours”. He and his wife had survived in their safe room. “We were very lucky… we didn’t have such a tragic situation,” he said. “They didn’t burn our houses and they didn’t try to get into our safe room.”Most of Beeri’s residents, including Pauker’s family, now live in temporary accommodation in Kibbutz Hatzerim, 18 kilometres (11 miles) southeast of their old homes.Pauker said there needed to be more clarity about the future political arrangements for Gaza before residents would feel secure enough to return home.”Mentally we have to know what the political situation should be. It depends on what there will be behind the border, because we can’t imagine ourselves living near a territory still controlled by Hamas.”We need another solution,” he said.