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US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he was trying to get money back for the billions of dollars sent to support Ukraine’s war against Russia.His comments came as Washington and Kyiv negotiate a mineral resources deal Trump wants as compensation for the wartime aid his predecessor Joe Biden gave Ukraine.It was the latest twist in a whirlwind first month since he took office, during which he has upended US foreign policy by making diplomatic overtures towards the Kremlin over the heads of Ukraine and Europe.Trump told delegates at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) near Washington: “I’m trying to get the money back, or secured.”I want them to give us something for all of the money that we put up. We’re asking for rare earth and oil, anything we can get.”We’re going to get our money back because it’s just not fair. And we will see, but I think we’re pretty close to a deal, and we better be close because that has been a horrible situation.”Hours earlier, a source told AFP that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was “not ready” to sign such a deal, despite growing US pressure.- War of words -Trump’s special envoy Keith Kellogg, who met Zelensky this week, said the Ukrainian president understood signing a deal with the United States was “critical.”But the Ukrainian source told AFP that Kyiv needed assurances first.”In the form in which the draft is now, the president is not ready to accept, we are still trying to make changes and add constructiveness,” the source close to the matter said.Ukraine wants any agreement signed with the United States to include security guarantees as it battles Russia’s nearly three-year invasion.The negotiations between the two countries come amid a deepening war of words between Trump and Zelensky that has raised alarm in Kyiv and Europe.On Wednesday, Trump branded his Ukrainian counterpart a “dictator” and called for him to “move fast” to end the war, a day after Russian and US officials held talks in Saudi Arabia without Kyiv.Washington has proposed a United Nations resolution on the Ukraine conflict that omitted any mention of Kyiv’s territory occupied by Russia, diplomatic sources told AFP.- ‘What kind of partnership is this?’ -Trump has asked for “$500 billion worth” of rare earth minerals to make up for aid given to Kyiv — a price tag Ukraine has balked at and which is much higher than published US aid figures.”There are no American obligations in the agreement regarding guarantees or investments, everything about them is very vague, and they want to extract $500 billion from us,” the Ukrainian source told AFP.”What kind of partnership is this? And why do we have to give $500 billion, there is no answer,” the source said, adding that Ukraine had proposed changes.The United States has given Ukraine more than $60 billion in military aid since Russia’s invasion, according to official figures — the largest such contribution among Kyiv’s allies but substantially lower than Trump’s figures.The Kiel Institute, a German economic research body, said that from 2022 until the end of 2024, the United States gave a total of 114.2 billion euros ($119.8 billion) in financial, humanitarian and military aid.- UK support ‘ironclad’ -A senior Ukrainian official told AFP Friday that despite the tensions, talks on a possible agreement were “ongoing.”The row comes as Ukraine is set to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion on Monday, and as Kyiv’s forces are slowly ceding ground on the front line.Moscow’s defense ministry earlier on Saturday claimed the capture of Novolyubivka in the eastern Lugansk region, which is now largely under Russian control.In a call with Zelensky on Saturday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged the “UK’s ironclad support for Ukraine”.Zelensky, in response, praised the United Kingdom for showing “leadership” on the war with Russia.Starmer also said it was in the “interests” of both Britain and the United States to “stand by” Ukraine, which needed a seat at the negotiating table and “strong security guarantees so the peace will last”, writing in a column for The Sun published late Saturday.Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced that Britain will unveil a significant package of sanctions against Russia on Monday.In London, thousands of people marched in support of Ukraine on Saturday, and polls in Britain suggest strong support for Kyiv.France’s Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Saturday that Paris was looking at increasing the number of its frigates and Rafale fighter jets, and stepping up production of drones.The measures were being taken to improve France’s defense capabilities because of threats related to the Ukraine conflict, he was quoted as saying in Sunday’s edition of Le Parisien newspaper.French President Emmanuel Macron is due in Washington for talks with Trump on Monday.The White House said Saturday that Trump had met with conservative Polish President Andrzej Duda backstage at CPAC, and praised Duda for “Poland’s commitment to increase their defense spending”.Duda, a vocal admirer of Trump, said he had told Zelensky in a phone call Friday to cooperate with the US president.

A boat carrying 19 South American migrants blocked from entering the United States sank off the coast of Panama as they returned to their home countries, leaving an 8-year-old Venezuelan girl dead, authorities said Saturday.The boat went down Friday night “due to strong waves caused by bad weather” in Caribbean waters off northeast Panama, the country’s Senafront border service said.Aboard were migrants from Venezuela and Colombia, and two crew members. Aside from the girl who died, the others were all rescued, Senafront said.”The event occurred in the context of the reverse migratory flow,” the agency said.The migrants were returning home from Mexico and Central American countries after giving up on trying to enter the United States amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal entries.They were traveling by boat to avoid crossing Panama’s treacherous Darien jungle, with dangers including fast-flowing rivers, wild animals and criminal gangs.UN children’s agency UNICEF expressed its “solidarity” with those affected by the incident, stressing in a statement “the importance of safety in transit through Panama.”On Friday, AFP witnessed several boats departing from a rudimentary dock at the port of Carti in northern Panama, with dozens of migrants onboard. “What else were we going to do but return (home)?” a Venezuelan migrant said of the decision.”We’ve been stranded for over 15 days, going round and round from Mexico to here (Panama) and scraping together money out of nowhere.”Senafront said the doomed boat was in a group of three bound for La Miel, a Panamanian town on the border with Colombia. Two suspended their trips due to bad weather, but one continued ahead. “That decision led to the unfortunate incident,” the border police said.Since Trump took office on January 20, hundreds of South American migrants denied entry to the United States have begun the arduous journey back home, traveling in stages by foot, bus or boat and passing through shelters along the way.

Dozens of mattresses wait unused in a shelter for deported Mexicans that is still largely deserted a month after US President Donald Trump returned to office vowing to expel millions of migrants.It is a similar situation in several of the other 12 reception centers set up by Mexico in its northern border states to receive its nationals and foreign deportees, according to AFP reporters.Despite Trump’s pledge, so far there has been no jump in expulsions into Mexico, official figures show. And those Mexicans who are sent back often make their own way home rather than stay at the government refuges.In Tijuana, authorities declared an “emergency” in January in anticipation of a possible wave of deportees — a move aimed at freeing up funds to hire personnel and pay for shelters and legal services.But for now, mass expulsions remain more of a threat than a reality, according to Monica Vega, coordinator of the Flamingos shelter in the city just south of California.”So far, there is no indication that it’s happening, simply based on the numbers,” she said.Flamingos, one of nine reception centers opened by the government especially for returning Mexicans, has capacity for 2,600 people but has attended to an average of 55 deportees per day, Vega said.Since Trump took office on January 20, around 12,255 Mexicans and 3,344 foreigners have been deported to Mexico, according to the Latin American country’s immigration authority.In 2024, when Joe Biden was president, an average of 17,200 Mexicans and 3,091 foreigners were sent back across the border each month.Between October 2023 and September 2024, the Biden administration deported 271,484 migrants — the highest number in the past decade.Along with the drop in expulsions, arrivals at Mexico’s borders with the United States and Guatemala have fallen dramatically under Trump, according to official figures.At the southern Mexican border, the decline is 90 percent, according to the Mexican immigration authority.- ‘Mexico embraces you’ -The Mexican government has deployed 10,000 soldiers along the 3,100-kilometer (1,900-mile) border with the United States in exchange for Trump delaying threatened 25-percent tariffs.Along a stretch of the frontier south of El Paso, Texas, Rodolfo Rubio, an expert at the Colegio de Chihuahua in Ciudad Juarez, has observed a 60-percent drop in the flow of migrants.The government has assigned 1,250 officials to assist deportees under the “Mexico embraces you” program.But the absence of new arrivals means that in the Flamingos shelter, the helpers pass time chatting among themselves.In Matamoros, further east along the border, the most deportees that a shelter has seen in one day was 150, when its capacity is for 3,000.In Nuevo Laredo, another border city, a shelter with a capacity for 1,200 migrants has welcomed no more than 50 each day.With little to do, a member of the National Guard deployed to protect the facility was seen dozing at the site.Although there has been no surge in expulsions, the Mexican government has given no sign of wanting to scale down “Mexico embraces you” as long as Trump’s threat remains.It is estimated that at least 11 million unauthorized immigrants live in the United States, including several million Mexicans.Many of those who have been deported were left shocked and confused.”They pointed guns at me as if I were a criminal,” said Jose de Jesus Enriquez, 45, who had lived without papers in California for almost half his life, doing various jobs, including cleaning and construction.”They dragged me out, handcuffed me and treated me badly. I demanded a call with my lawyer, with the Mexican consulate or to go to an immigration judge. They refused it all,” he told AFP in Tijuana. 

Nearly a decade after activists led one of the largest anti-pipeline protests in US history, the fight shifts to court as Energy Transfer sues Greenpeace for $300 million in a case with far-reaching free speech implications.At the heart of the lawsuit is the Dakota Access Pipeline, which transports fracked crude oil from North Dakota to refineries and on to markets worldwide.Contentious from its inception, the project faced fierce opposition from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, which called it the “Black Snake” and warned of dire threats to ancestral lands. Beginning in 2016, protests and legal challenges sought to halt construction. By 2017, hundreds had been arrested and injured, prompting United Nations concerns over Indigenous sovereignty violations.Though the oil has flowed for years, pipeline operator Energy Transfer continues to pursue Greenpeace, accusing the group of leading the protests, conspiring to commit crimes, inciting violence, and defaming the company.Critics call the lawsuit a clear example of a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP), designed to silence dissent and drain resources.”Big Oil is trying to send a message to us, and they’re trying to silence Greenpeace as well as the wider movement,” Sushma Raman, interim executive director of Greenpeace told AFP. “But let us be clear, the limited interventions that Greenpeace entities took related to Standing Rock were peaceful, lawful, and in line with our values of non-violence and our work for a green and peaceful future.”- A legal war to ‘send a message’ -Energy Transfer denies that it is aiming to stifle free speech. “Our lawsuit against Greenpeace is about them not following the law,” the company said in a statement to AFP. “We support the rights of all Americans to express their opinions and lawfully protest. However, when it is not done in accordance with our laws, we have a legal system to deal with that. Beyond that we will let our case speak for itself.”In 2017, Energy Transfer sued Greenpeace in federal court, invoking the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) — a law typically used to prosecute organized crime.CEO Kelcy Warren stated in interviews that his “primary objective” was not financial compensation but to “send a message” — going so far as to suggest that activists “should be removed from the gene pool.”That case was tossed out by a federal court, but Energy Transfer quickly refiled at the state level in North Dakota — one of the minority of US states without anti-SLAPP protections.Waniya Locke, a member of Standing Rock Grassroots, pushed back at the idea Greenpeace led the movement.”I want it to be very clear that there were no NGOs that started or organized our resistance. And it was matriarch-led. It was led by women who stood strong, who stood on the riverbanks unarmed.”- Greenpeace fights back in Europe -Greenpeace is fighting back, becoming this month the first group to test the European Union’s anti-SLAPP directive by suing Energy Transfer in the Netherlands. “We are asking the district court of Amsterdam to declare that ET acted wrongfully by engaging in an abusive process,” Greenpeace International General Counsel Kristin Casper told AFP.The case seeks damages with interest and demands that Energy Transfer publish the court’s findings on its website.Similar lawsuits from fossil fuel companies, including Shell and Total, have targeted Greenpeace in recent years. “The good news is that when we fight back, we win,” said Casper, citing the dismissal of TotalEnergies v Greenpeace France last year.More than 400 organizations, along with public figures such as Billie Eilish, Jane Fonda, and Susan Sarandon, have signed an open letter supporting Greenpeace.”If Energy Transfer is successful in imposing a large monetary penalty on Greenpeace, that would encourage other companies to take similar actions and could significantly chill protests over a variety of issues — not just climate change,” Michael Gerrard, an environmental law professor at Columbia University told AFP. 

Sean Baker, whose low-budget movie “Anora” is the frontrunner for next weekend’s Oscars, delivered an impassioned plea to “keep indie film alive” as he won top prize at the Spirit Awards Saturday.The annual Film Independent Spirit Awards ceremony, held in a giant tent at Los Angeles’ Santa Monica beach, only celebrates movies made for less than $30 million.Baker, long a leading figure of the US independent movie circuit, who is now shooting to mainstream success, won best feature and best director for “Anora,” which was shot for just $6 million. “Indie film is struggling right now more than ever,” said Baker.”I personally do not have children, but I know for a fact that if I did, I would not be able to make the movies that I make,” warned one of the United States’ most respected directors.His latest film “Anora” portrays Ani, a stripper and escort, whose whirlwind marriage to the son of a Russian oligarch rapidly unravels in disastrous circumstances.Mikey Madison, who plays Ani, won best lead performer honors at the Spirit Awards.Having launched at the Cannes film festival last May, where it won the Palme d’Or, “Anora” became an arthouse hit, grossing $40 million worldwide.It is widely tipped to win best picture at the Oscars.But Baker warned that the collapse of DVD sales, which once supported up-and-coming filmmakers, means creatives like him rarely make any money even when their movies succeed in theaters.He warned that major Hollywood studios swallow profits, refuse to “green light” movies tackling controversial subjects, and force directors to cast actors based on “how many followers they have on social media.””I’m an indie film lifer… the system has to change, because this is simply unsustainable,” said Baker.”Let’s not undervalue ourselves any longer,” he said, urging agents, financiers and studios to help creative directors “keep indie film alive.”- Oscars looming -Stars attending the low-key Spirit Awards gala included Emma Stone, Demi Moore, Michelle Yeoh and Jesse Eisenberg, who won best screenplay for “A Real Pain.”Kieran Culkin also won best supporting performance for the comedy, about two polar opposite US cousins retracing their Jewish heritage in Poland.”Flow,” a Latvian, dialogue-free animation about animals banding together to survive a mysterious flood, won best international film.Best documentary went to “No Other Land,” about the destruction of a village in the occupied West Bank.It is the favorite to win the same prize at the Academy Awards on March 2, yet still has not been able to find a distributor in the United States.”Nickel Boys,” another Oscar best picture nominee, about historic abuse at a Florida school and shot entirely from the first-person perspective, won best cinematography.”September 5,” about the terrorist massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, won best editing. The Spirit Awards will not affect this year’s Oscars, as voting has already ended for the season-capping 97th Academy Awards.

The director of a controversial movie about US President Donald Trump’s younger years apologized Saturday after admitting to an “over-familiar” gesture towards an actor who later complained of being groped.Ali Abbasi, a Danish-Iranian filmmaker, said on X that he was “truly sorry” for his behavior at a party that followed the Golden Globes awards ceremony in Los Angeles in January.Abbasi’s biopic “The Apprentice,” released weeks before last year’s US election, caused a stir with its unflattering representation of Trump, portraying him suffering erectile dysfunction and undergoing surgery for hair loss.”I fully understand that my action made someone uncomfortable, regardless of my intent, and for that I am truly sorry,” Abbasi wrote on social media of the groping incident.He said that he “made an over-familiar gesture — a slap on the rear” to a male acquaintance with whom he considered he had a friendly relationship, but said it was “intended as playful and not in any sexual way whatsoever.””I quickly realized I had misjudged the situation. I apologized to him on the spot, and the following day I made sure my apology was reiterated through my representatives,” Abbasi said.The director refuted an account in The Hollywood Reporter that his talent agency, Creative Artists Agency (CAA), had dropped him due to the allegation against him. “My decision to part ways was a long term career decision that was not shaped by short term motivations,” he said.”The Apprentice” is competing for Oscars in the categories of Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. It was released in US cinemas by indie studio Briarcliff Entertainment, as no major Hollywood studios were willing to risk distributing the polarizing movie.The most talked-about scene shows Trump raping his first wife, Ivana, after she belittles him for growing overweight and bald.In real life, Ivana accused Trump of raping her during divorce proceedings, but later rescinded the allegation. She died in 2022.

Greeted by wild applause and chants of “USA! USA!” from a packed hall, US President Donald Trump received a triumphant welcome on Saturday at the annual conservative convention near Washington. In his uniform blue suit, the US leader took the stage facing a sea of red hats bearing the slogan of his “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) movement at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a yearly assembly of top Republicans in suburban Maryland. From the outset of his nearly 1.5 hour-long speech, the Republican launched into attacks on the “globalists” and “a sinister group of radical left Marxists, warmongers and corrupt special interests,” who, according to him, governed the country before his return to power.The wide-ranging address was punctuated by shouts of “J-6! J-6!” from a small group of supporters in the back of the room thanking the president for pardoning on the first day of his second term those charged with attacking the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. Mocking the age of his predecessor Joe Biden, 82, the 78-year-old billionaire leader said of the Democrat “every single thing he touched turned to shit,” to raucous cheers and laughter. – ‘Not a phony’ -Trump fans praised the speech and the man himself. Retiree Martha Weaver said she’d seen the president speak eight times, calling him “genuine.” He’s “a billionaire, but a normal person, you could probably have a normal conversation with him, as opposed to people who are just blowing smoke,” the 73-year-old told AFP. Fellow retiree Theresa Menz said: “He’s not a phony. He loves America, he loves people, he loves life.”People don’t get it. He’s putting us first,” said the 74-year-old, sporting a MAGA sweater. The CPAC convention has been around for decades, but has become a celebration of Trump, even more so this year with his victorious return to the White House. In the corridors of the sprawling National Harbor convention center, Trump’s image and name were omnipresent. Attendees could take selfies with a life-sized cardboard likeness, purchase sequined vests bearing the words “Trump: The Golden Era” or wear T-shirts showing Trump defiant with a bloodied ear after last July’s assassination attempt.Wearing a “Trump Was Right” T-shirt and a “Make America Great Again” cap, Carol Newton said the first month since his return to the White House has been a “whirlwind.” And after four years under Biden, “That’s what we needed,” said the 63-year-old retiree.Hailing from northwestern Washington state, Newton said she had seen the Republican billionaire “a half-dozen times.”And every time, she added, “You come away feeling good and, you know, enlightened and hopeful and enriched.”- ‘Golden Era’ -One woman donned a “Daddy’s Home” T-shirt bearing a picture of the Republican leader outside the White House, while another proudly displayed red, white and blue fingernails with “TRUMP” spelled out on one hand and “VANCE,” the US vice president, on the other.”People are happy that Trump is president, you know, and last year we were all hoping he would be,” said Clark Page, a 70-year-old retiree from Alabama, referring to the previous CPAC confab. Page, a former medical equipment salesman, said Trump’s first month back in office had been “fantastic.””Reagan was fantastic, too,” he added, referring to the conservative president from the 1980s, “but I’ve never seen a president as effective as Donald Trump.”While the CPAC attendees interviewed expressed universal excitement about Trump, some said this year’s convention was a bit disappointing.”It’s not as crowded as it has been,” said 39-year-old Rex Clark, who works for a military contractor. “I hope everybody’s not being complacent.”James Ong, a student at Catholic University in Washington, agreed. “There’s like, less enthusiasm here compared to past CPACs,” said Ong, who campaigned for Trump last year and is attending his third meeting of the group.The young people he saw at previous CPAC conventions, the 21-year-old Ong added, seem to have given way to “Baby Boomers” and older Americans. 

Four decades after they were cruelly forced apart, US-raised Adamary Garcia and her birth mother fell into each other’s arms Saturday at the airport in Santiago, Chile.Without speaking, they embraced tearfully: A rare reunification for one the thousands of Chileans taken from their mothers as babies and given up for adoption abroad.”The worst is over,” Edita Bizama, 64, said as she beheld her daughter for the first time since her birth 41 years ago.Garcia had flown to Santiago with four other women born in Chile and adopted in the United States.Reports have estimated there were 20,000 such cases from 1950 to 1990 — most of them during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.Garcia lives in Puerto Rico, where she works in the financial sector. On her way to reunite with her biological family, she spoke to AFP at a hotel in Houston.She broke down in tears as she recounted how, as a child, she accidentally found out she was adopted, and then tried for years to shelve the knowledge, before finally making peace with it.”I am fortunate. I have my mom and dad (in the United States), and now I have another mom and three brothers” in Chile, she said.Last October, a DNA test confirmed her origins and Garcia arranged to meet her birth mom through the foundation Connecting Roots, which has so far reconnected 36 Chilean women with children taken from them against their will.- ‘Trickery, threats and coercion’ -Infants were taken from their mothers in Chile in a money-making scheme involving doctors, social workers and judges, according to investigations into the matter.They were delivered to foreign adoptive parents, in some cases for as much as $40,000.”How were these children taken? Some were (falsely) declared dead at birth, others were stolen from hospitals and institutions or taken from mothers who were manipulated and pressured into giving them up for adoption through trickery, threats and coercion,” Connecting Roots vice president Juan Luis Insunza told AFP.Before Saturday’s reunion, Bizama recounted how she was bullied into giving up her newborn daughter by a social worker who told her she could not adequately care for another child.She was 23 years old at the time, with two other children and a job as a domestic worker, she told AFP in her home city of San Antonio, some 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Santiago.The father of the child had left her.”Then they took the baby, and once everything (the paperwork) was done, they sent me away… I left, looking around, not knowing what to do. I wanted to run and find my baby, but it was already done.”Bizama said she “never forgot” about Adamary, even though she did not know even her name.”She was always here in my mind, in my heart. That’s why now I call her ‘daughter of my heart’.”For Garcia, whose search started last year after she read an article about baby thefts in Chile, “it has been complex to process this new reality,” in which she regards both her birth and adoptive mothers as victims.But from the first video call with Bizama, she said, she felt “only love.”- ‘Out of the blue’ -In Coconut Creek, Florida, the apartment of Adamary’s adoptive mother Doria Garcia’s abounds with photos of her daughter at different ages.The 80-year-old Cuban-American told AFP how in 1984, she traveled to Chile to receive her three-month-old daughter, after completing “the usual procedures.” “I have her little face ingrained in my memory: when they handed her to me, smiling,” the retired medical assistant recalled. “And when I held her in my arms, I swear it felt like my heart was bursting.”With pride she describes her daughter as a professional with a good job, but above all “happy.”It was through Adamary’s journey that she learned about Chile’s stolen babies, she said, and expressed gratitude that her daughter has found a “family that, out of the blue, appears when she’s already 41 years old.”burs-ps/mlr/acb

Italy’s Giorgia Meloni told American conservatives on Saturday that the United States and Europe would remain close under Donald Trump, despite soaring tensions between the allies including over the fate of Ukraine.The Italian prime minister was addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) via videolink from Rome, joining a roster of right-wing European politicians participating in the summit outside Washington.Ties between staunch allies Europe and the United States have been strained in the first weeks of Trump’s second term, as the US leader has reached out to Russia and warned of a shift away from Europe, raising fears of Trump’s commitment to the NATO alliance.Blaming “ruling classes” and “mainstream media,” Meloni insisted Europe was not “lost.””Our adversaries hope that President Trump will move away from us (Europe),” Meloni said. But, “knowing him as a strong and effective leader I bet that those who hope for divisions will be proven wrong.”Meloni, leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, was the only EU leader to attend Trump’s inauguration in January and her allies have presented her as a potential bridge between the European Union and the US president.But the nationalist leader has largely refrained from commenting on Trump’s blitz of initiatives and comments since then.Despite her strong support for Kyiv in its war with Russia, she has notably said nothing in public about Trump’s interventions on the conflict — this week calling Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator” and falsely blaming Ukraine for starting the war.Trump has moved to sideline Kyiv and European allies from talks on the future of the three-year-old conflict, alarming allies who think he will offer concessions to Moscow.On Saturday, Meloni said there was a “growing awareness in Europe that security is now the top priority” and praised support for Ukraine but did not comment on Trump’s actions. In Ukraine, “a proud people fight for their freedom against the brutal aggression,” she said.”We must continue today, working together for a just and lasting peace, a peace that can only be built with the contribution of all, but above all, with strong leaderships.” – Calls to cancel -Meloni addressed the conference despite opposition demands that she cancel after firebrand former Trump advisor Steve Bannon used an apparent Nazi salute at the event on Thursday, saying she “couldn’t miss” it.Opposition MPs demanded Meloni follow the example of Jordan Bardella, president of France’s anti-immigration National Rally (RN) party, who pulled out Friday because of what he called Bannon’s “gesture alluding to Nazi ideology.”Meloni “should have the decency to disassociate herself from this neo-fascist gathering,” Elly Schlein, leader of Italy’s center-left Democratic Party said.”She has not said a word for days about Trump’s insults and frontal attacks on Ukraine and the European Union,” she added in a statement Friday.”She is unable to defend Italian and European interests because she does not want to displease the new American administration.”Giorgio Mule, vice-president of the Chamber of the Deputies and a member of the right-wing Forza Italia, a partner in Meloni’s coalition government, said Saturday that Bannon’s gesture was “extremely serious.””I’m sure Giorgia Meloni will have no difficulty in distancing herself from it,” he told Giornale Radio.

For a film about sex work to win an Oscar is rare. For it to win the respect of sex workers is even rarer.If Sean Baker’s “Anora” triumphs at the Academy Awards next Sunday, as predicted by most pundits, it will have achieved both.”Sean gets sex work. He just does,” porn actress and director Casey Calvert tells AFP, as she prepares to film an explicit lesbian scene on a set in the San Fernando Valley.”Sean is the only working mainstream filmmaker who has the ability to get it right. He’s also the only one who cares about getting it right,” adds adult film veteran Eli Cross, who is the cinematographer for the day.Baker’s journey to the Oscars began in this valley next to Los Angeles, infamously and accurately dubbed the capital of the US porn industry.It was here that he shot “Starlet,” a micro-budget film about a young adult actress who forms an unlikely friendship with an elderly widow.Baker’s candid portrayal of an industry used to being maligned and sensationalized by Hollywood earned him the friendship of porn workers like Calvert, who later worked as a paid consultant on his film “Red Rocket.”She will be among the many pornographers and sex workers cheering on “Anora” as it competes for best picture, best director, best actress for Mikey Madison, and much more on March 2. “It’s so exciting to me that I can’t even think about it,” says Calvert.”It would feel like this industry that I love being recognized on a stage it’s never been recognized before on.”- ‘Really skeptical’ -“Anora” follows Ani, a New York stripper and escort, as she embarks on an ill-fated, whirlwind romance with a bratty young Russian customer who turns out to be the son of an oligarch.Typical of Baker’s movies, it is stuffed with details that “civilian” viewers might miss.These range from the pole-dancing bruises on Ani’s legs, to the way she licks her fingers before instigating a sex act.”It’s just such a sex worker thing to do. It’s so in character,” explains Calvert.Authenticity is not something sex workers expect from Hollywood.Most famously, “Pretty Woman” served up a sanitized fairy tale about a prostitute and her wealthy savior. “The sex work industry as a whole is really skeptical of any film having to do with sex work,” says Calvert.”Hollywood, historically speaking, has made a lot of movies about prostitution and escorting that are not particularly positive.”Following the world premiere of “Anora,” Baker told AFP he had deliberately avoided the “hooker with a heart of gold” cliches.For Calvert, Baker’s films stand out because they are not really about sex work — they are about the struggles, emotions and humanity of people who happen to do sex work for a living.”It’s not about the taboo of sex. It’s just about a marginalized community of people who he finds really interesting and wants to explore,” she says.- ‘Consensual’ -“Anora” has already won multiple awards, from the Cannes festival’s Palme d’Or to prizes from Hollywood’s directors, producers, writers and critics.Baker has repeatedly dedicated his success to sex workers, and Madison used her BAFTA acceptance speech to pledge to be “an ally.”That such remarks caused zero controversy arguably represents a sea change in Hollywood. A decade ago, industry heavyweights like Meryl Streep joined a campaign to oppose the decriminalization of sex work.It is part of a wider, age-old debate about the profession.Opponents warn that criminal gangs exploit and traffic vulnerable women. Proponents of a regulated industry say it would better protect sex workers, who have the right to do as they wish with their bodies.Pornographer Siouxsie Q said it was “amazing” to see a film portraying “consensual adult sex work” receiving mainstream accolades.”We’ve come a long way, baby — we really have,” she told AFP.- ‘Stigma’ -Still, Calvert says the “stigma” surrounding pornography remains fierce, with highly experienced and talented adult filmmakers rarely able to cross over into Hollywood work.On the day AFP visited her set, Calvert — known for directing what she calls “big budget cinematic features” in adult film — was shooting in a large but outwardly nondescript house on a suburban cul-de-sac.Neighbors chased away reporters carrying camera gear to the home, wary of what was taking place inside.Baker is an unusual mainstream director who casts real porn actors in his films, and is genuinely friends with many in both businesses.Calvert says that fact was “a huge reason why I think that the critical success of ‘Anora’ is so important.”Baker’s work “helps a ton to break down those barriers,” she said.