urges

Vatican says some 40,000 people gathered to listen to the head of the Roman Catholic Church in western city of Paysandu.

Pope Leo XIV has addressed tens of thousands of people who gathered for his first mass in western Uruguay as he continues his 12-day tour of Latin America.

The head of the Roman Catholic Church urged the crowd at Paris London Park in Paysandu on Saturday to be “bridge builders” and “share the joy” of their faith.

More than 30,000 people – many from Uruguay but also from neighbouring Argentina and Brazil – had registered in advance to attend the service, about 375km (230 miles) from the capital, Montevideo. The Vatican said another 10,000 had shown up beyond that, despite the morning rain and blustery, grey skies.

It was the first mass of Leo’s three-nation South American tour – which also includes Argentina and Peru – which had been in doubt after the 71-year-old American pope underwent lung cancer surgery last month.

The pontiff appeared to be in good health on Saturday. While flying from Rome to Montevideo, Leo told reporters his speedy recovery was due to “trusting God, good doctors, good surgeons, and overall, I think a healthy lifestyle”.

His visit to Latin America comes as the region contends with sharp political divisions, with several right-wing leaders coming to power since United States President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January last year. Bucking the trend, left-wing Brazilian President Lula da Silva was re-elected for a fourth term in office last month.

In Paysandu, Leo urged the crowd to “forward the mission of evangelisation with enthusiasm” and to be a “fraternal community that comes together and shares life, projects, dreams and hopes”.

During Saturday’s address, he also paid homage to the region’s beloved mate tea, which is regularly shared among groups who drink from the same straw in a symbolic show of community.

It “teaches us to share and be together”, the pontiff said.

Approximately 60,000 people are expected to gather for a night-time prayer vigil led by the pope in Montevideo later on Saturday.

Leo’s visit to Uruguay is the first to the country by a pope in nearly four decades.

He will head to Argentina on Sunday before finishing his tour in Peru.

During his trip to Argentina, the pope will address President Javier Milei, a strong proponent of free markets and a close ally of US President Donald Trump.

This comes as leading opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, returns to Venezuela and hints at criticism of Trump administration.

The United States has urged Venezuela to continue on a phased plan of economic recovery and political reconciliation before embarking on democratic elections.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the gradual plan during a meeting on the country’s political future with Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs Oliver Blanco on Monday. The meeting comes nearly a year after US forces abducted former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from Caracas and brought him to the US to face drug trafficking and other charges.

Neither Rubio nor Blanco spoke to the media after the meeting, but in a readout. The State Department said in a readout that Washington had reaffirmed President Donald Trump’s “three-phase plan for Venezuela: stabilization, economic recovery and political reconciliation, and democratic transition”.

Last week, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado returned to her country, thanking the US president and Rubio for their support. Machado, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who gifted her medal to Trump in 2025, said she had come to organise a movement in preparation for Venezuelan elections.

Rubio “has set out a sequence of events aimed at moving toward a democratic transition that makes clear the holding of presidential elections in 2027”, she said.

Machado is balancing an election campaign with a Trump administration that has sought to extract oil from Venezuela by striking deals with the government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who served as Maduro’s vice president and took over after his abduction.

In September, the Trump administration said it had struck a deal with Venezuela that would give Washington a stake in about one-fifth of the country’s oil resources.

The US said it was creating a joint venture with North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), owned by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt, which is the second-largest private oil operator in Venezuela, behind Chevron.

Under the deal, Caracas is giving the company 100-year rights over 17 oilfields with proven reserves of 65 billion barrels. The Pentagon will have a 35 percent stake in NABEP, and the US will be guaranteed the right to buy 20 percent of its oil output at cost, the Trump administration has said.

Shortly before Machado’s statements on Thursday, Rodriguez assured the nation that elections would be held in Venezuela “with the world as witness”, but did not specify a date.

When asked about a possible meeting with Rodriguez, Machado said she had not received any message from the interim president or from Washington.

In remarks after returning Venezuela, Machado seemed sceptical of the oil agreement with the US.

“This agreement does not reflect the levels of transparency that Venezuelan society wants,” Machado said.

ATLANTA — Two years after Kamala Harris lost the presidential election to Donald Trump, she still delights Democratic donors and activists with jabs against him, saying the Republican is “callous, corrupt and incompetent” and calling him the “decorator in chief” for his White House renovations and gold adornments.

The former vice president also has plenty to say about what her party, the electorate and the country should do next as she also considers whether to run again.

“This is the moment where we turn that anger into action,” Harris said more than once during a busy schedule in the final stretch of the midterm campaign.

Harris campaigned for candidates across seven states, ending with a recent two-day visit to Georgia. It was, in part, the kind of nostalgic tour seen from Barack Obama and Bill Clinton — two-term presidents whose last campaigns are behind them — and the barnstorming from potential future contenders such as Govs. Gavin Newsom of California and Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

As the first Black woman elected to nationwide office, Harris urged fellow Black Americans to “honor the ancestors” with their votes. She also said she has become unapologetically “transactional” by demanding more from politicians.

Harris, a U.S. senator and attorney general from California before joining Joe Biden on the 2020 ticket, also pushed fellow Democrats to govern aggressively and she called for “structural work” that she said was necessary to reinvigorate American democracy: Supreme Court expansion, statehood for the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and reconsideration of the electoral college.

“I think she’s hitting all the right notes,” said Melinda Johnson, a retired nurse who attended a Fulton County Democratic Party fundraising gala that Harris headlined in Atlanta.

Harris made it to early presidential primary states, including Nevada, New Hampshire and Michigan. She also went to Mississippi, not exactly a hotbed of presidential politics, on behalf of U.S. Senate candidate Scott Colom.

“The South is in play,” she said. “When Democrats invest in the South, we can win in the South.”

In Georgia, Harris delved into civil rights history as she accused the U.S. Supreme Court of “backdoor racism” with its decision to gut the Voting Rights Act and allow Republicans to redraw boundaries for congressional districts that now elect nonwhite lawmakers.

“Ruthlessness” is key, she said at the Democratic dinner in Atlanta. “Not ruthlessness in the sense of cruelty … but in our willingness to use our power to deliver on our commitments.” Democrats, she said, “can no longer let process stand in the way of progress.”

Throughout her stops, Harris nodded implicitly to her loss to Trump.

“You know we’ve been spending the last year and a half, so many of us, going through a range of emotions,” she told students. “Anger, depression, sadness, frustration, a sense of helplessness and powerlessness.”

Warning that Trump could try to meddle in Tuesday’s election, she echoed one of the president’s mantras to encourage people to vote.

“In this case,” she said at Atlanta’s Elizabeth Baptist Church, “we just need to turn out in really large numbers that would be too big to rig.”

Barrow writes for the Associated Press.

Nobel Peace Prize winner returns to Venezuela from exile, pressing for elections and criticising a controversial US oil deal with Caracas.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has thanked US President Donald Trump’s administration for opening the “floodgate to freedom” by abducting President Nicolas Maduro in January.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate on Thursday also called for elections to be held in Venezuela next year, in her first public remarks since returning from more than 10 months in exile.

“Thanks to their vision, their courage, and their action on January 3, the floodgate to freedom has been opened,” Machado told a news conference in Caracas, naming Trump, his administration and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Rubio “has set out a sequence of events aimed at moving toward a democratic transition that makes clear the holding of presidential elections in 2027”, she said.

Machado has praised Trump before, presenting the president with her Nobel medal – a prize he feverishly coveted for himself in 2025.

A longtime activist, Machado fled Venezuela for Oslo in December to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. On Thursday, she said she had come home to “mobilise society”. US special forces veterans with an organisation called Grey Bull Rescue helped Machado escape by boat after she spent a year in hiding from Maduro’s regime.

Since Maduro’s abduction in January, the country has been ruled by his former Vice President Delcy Rodriguez.

Machado was greeted by cheering supporters as she travelled in her motorcade after she returned to Venezuela on Sunday. Rodriguez voiced distaste for the fanfare.

“The show could have been avoided – the airports are right here,” she said on state television.

When asked about a possible meeting with Rodriguez, the opposition leader said she had not received any message from her or from Washington.

Shortly before Machado’s statements on Thursday, Rodriguez assured the nation that elections would be held in Venezuela “with the world as witness” but did not specify a date.

Her return comes just weeks after a controversial US oil deal that will see Venezuela hand over 20 percent of its vast oil reserves.

“This agreement does not reflect the levels of transparency that Venezuelan society wants,” Machado said, criticising the deal.

Tehran warns that even limited strikes would trigger a response ‘several times greater’.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has blamed Washington for the unravelling of an interim deal aimed at ending the war with the United States and Israel, amid growing fears that the fighting could resume imminently.

In comments broadcast by Iranian Press TV on Saturday, But Pezeshkian also said that both sides should return to the deal and “conclude it”.

His remarks come amid growing fears that military action could resume as soon as this weekend, after US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he “may do another little Epic Fury”, using the codename of the US-Israeli war against Iran that started on February 28.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has warned that even limited strikes would trigger a response “several times greater”, according to comments reported by the semi-official Fars News Agency.

Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Ali Abdollahi said on Saturday that the US military would not be allowed in the Gulf “under any circumstances and at any time”. Abdollahi said Trump could only “dream” of seeing US forces enter the Gulf, adding that he would take his dream to the grave.

Trump has suggested he could take further military action against Iran, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he remains committed to overthrowing the country’s government.

Both leaders face elections, with Israelis set to choose their next government on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Trump’s Republican Party faces crucial midterm elections on November 3, with Democrats potentially winning control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Such an outcome would be a major blow to Trump, who still has more than two years left in his final term in the White House.

Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said on Saturday that Tehran would not “wait for permission to defend itself”, adding that the country “seeks peace but will respond to any aggression with severe consequences”.

“Our position is clear: we do not flee from dialogue for peace, and we do not hesitate in defending the country. Those who harbour the illusion of destroying Iran must correct their calculations,” Mohajerani wrote in a memo.

Her comments came as Iranian judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei met Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. The pair discussed how to tackle corruption and pursue compensation for Iranians affected by the US-Israeli war, among other issues.

Khamenei replaced his father as supreme leader after the latter was assassinated during the opening strikes of the war on February 28. He has not been seen in public since assuming the position in early March.

Parliament Speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf was reported to have met Khamenei earlier this week.

North Korea has said it plans to resume broadcasting anti-South Korea propaganda along the armed border between the two countries, as Seoul urged Pyongyang to discuss easing tensions.

Kim Yo Jong, a senior North Korean official and the sister of leader Kim Jong Un, said on Wednesday that North Korea will place loudspeakers along the entire border, following a visit with top military officials to fortifications along the contested frontier.

Kim warned Seoul of “the most horrible and distressing situation” if South Korea continued what Pyongyang calls interference in the North’s internal affairs.

She added in a follow-up statement on Thursday that North Korea would place “new counter means” on alert along the border, without elaborating, and have its loudspeakers on “standby” within days.

A landmine blast last month that wounded three South Korean soldiers in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two countries has ratcheted up tensions. Seoul accused North Korean troops of deliberately laying mines in the border zone as part of the North’s fortification work.

Kim had denied the allegation, calling the incident a South Korean fabrication. She said North Korean tactical units had taken up new positions, and accused South Korean troops of conducting warning broadcasts and firing warning shots at multiple locations near the border.

Seoul said the warning shots were fired as “legitimate and defensive measures”.

North Korea has been adding mines, barbed wire fences, anti-tank barriers and other fortifications to what is already one of the world’s most heavily armed borders.

South Korea’s Ministry of National Defence urged North Korea on Thursday to discuss measures to ease tension at the border and prevent any accidental military clash, its spokesperson said.

Pyongyang had cut off a military hotline with the South after declaring it would no longer seek dialogue or unification with what it called its “foe”.

Loudspeaker propaganda

Both North and South Korea have historically used loudspeakers to broadcast propaganda across the border, with South Korean broadcasts featuring K-pop music and news that have long irked Pyongyang and prompted tit-for-tat responses.

The two Koreas are separated by the DMZ, established after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice.

North Korea has been reinforcing its side of the DMZ with mines, barriers and fencing since 2024 as it seeks to establish what it calls a permanent border with South Korea.

Passengers were not happy after airline Ryanair poked fun at one type of passenger onboard their planes – encouraging them the ‘stop’ making a key mistake onboard

Ryanair has hit out at passengers who make one key mistake when traveling on one of their planes for a short haul flight. This follows the airline previously advising passengers to ‘please stop wearing’ jeans during flights.

When flying many people have three basic priorities, having a good seat, being as comfortable as possible while onboard, and spending as little money as possible. And while remaining seated in the same spot for extended periods can be decidedly uncomfortable, particularly when you’re short on legroom, people have started to take further steps to help pass time while onboard aeroplanes.

With cabin humidity on many commercial flights dropping below 20%, which is drier than a desert, many people opt to take facemasks, moisturiser and eye cream onboard in their hand luggage.

The thought behind the process it to prevent passenger’s skin from feeling tight, dull, or irritated upon arrival. Ryanair has established a reputation on social media, where they frequently poke fun at their own passengers, and jokingly threaten to introduce even more regulations and charges than they currently impose – such as extra legroom seats or late check-in fees.

What shouldn’t passengers do when on a short haul flight with Ryanair?

Nevertheless, Ryanair has now criticised travellers who insist on keeping their skin moisturised while onboard one of their aircrafts. Posting on their Facebook page, the airline issued a statement to their passengers.

They wrote: “Stop doing skincare onboard, it’s a 2-hour flight.” However, many passengers were furious with the airline and quickly flocked to the comment section to express their own views.

One person said: “Stop measuring my bag with a ruler like it’s national security, it’s a 2-hour flight.”

A second person added: “Please tell the cabin crew to put a smile on their face – It’s just a 2-hour flight.”

A third added: “Carry on like this and I’ll allow my husband to bring his foot file and use it on our trip over to UK on the November 5.”

A fourth said: “What are these bizarre Ryanair posts about?! You’d think their marketing team would manage social media in a more sophisticated way?!”

Others, however, commented on the post to express their own bugbears on short haul flights.

One person said: “Travel pillows for 1-2 hour flights still intrigue me more than skincare.”

A second added: “Skincare? I’ve actually seen a man clipping his nails! This should be strictly prohibited under financial sanctions!”

A third said: “Don’t start clapping before the plane has even landed!”

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Chuck Schumer urges FCC to reject petition allowing AI robocalls ahead of key November midterm elections.

United States Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York has urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) not to approve a petition by the conservative group Club for Growth to allow AI-generated robocalls ahead of the November midterm elections.

“Under this change, campaigns could use their opponents’ voice to send out a message that is, at best, disingenuous and, at worst, a blatant lie,” Schumer said on Monday.

The petition was originally filed on August 31, and the public comment period began on September 4 and expires on Monday.

Earlier this month, Anna Gomez, the Democratic member of the FCC, urged her colleagues not to allow consideration of the petition brought by the national conservative fiscal policy organisation.

Her concerns echoed Schumer’s. “[If] the FCC allows a dark money group to flood Americans’ phones with AI-generated robocalls they never agreed to receive, it would bring chaos so close to Election Day,” commissioner Gomez told the Reuters news agency at the time.

There is precedent for the concerns being raised. In the 2024 presidential election, ahead of the New Hampshire primary, voters received an AI-generated version in the voice of President Joe Biden, the then Democratic incumbent, telling them not to vote. The FCC said that a political consultant working with longshot primary challenger Dean Phillips was responsible.

At the state level, Louisiana, Tennessee and Vermont passed laws this year requiring disclosures for AI-generated campaign phone calls. While robocalls have been used in political campaigns for years, FCC rules prohibit such calls to cellphones without prior consent, but the restrictions do not apply to landlines.

Club for Growth’s president, David McIntosh, in a statement earlier this month, said that the group is asking for “the FCC to treat First Amendment-protected political speech the same way it already treats wireless calls about package deliveries, bank accounts, and doctor’s appointments”.

“There is no one at the FCC that has expressed any interest in moving to an order on this or any of the petitions, and there are zero plans to do so. The FCC seeks comment on petitions that come in as a matter of normal procedure,” a spokesperson for the FCC told Al Jazeera.

Trump-appointed Ambassador Mike Huckabee calls attack in occupied West Bank a ‘despicable act of terror’.

United States Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has demanded Israel prosecute and jail those responsible for the attack on Washington Post journalist Heidi Levine in the occupied West Bank.

“Attacking a female photographer is a despicable act of terror carried out by masked cowards,” Huckabee wrote on X on Saturday.

“Those who attacked unarmed reporter should spend YRS in prison,” he added. “We have called for a full investigation, arrest, and prosecution to the fullest extent of the law to whoever participated in this.”

Levine was covering Palestinians’ annual harvest of olives on Friday in the occupied West Bank when Israeli settlers brutally attacked her and several Palestinians.

Israeli settlers stormed the area, beat her and stole her passport, telephone, wallet and equipment, according to witnesses.

The perpetrators, armed with bottles and slingshots, “were kicking me for like 10 minutes, and I was trying to hold onto my cameras and my bag”, Levine said.

Jasper Nathaniel, an independent journalist who witnessed the attack, told Al Jazeera that Levine “was in very, very bad shape. She couldn’t really get up off the ground.”

Levine, 64, was taken to hospital after the assault in Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah.

The American photojournalist underwent surgery on her finger, which was nearly detached from her hand, and was left with a broken rib and multiple broken vertebrae, as well as lacerations, her daughter told The Associated Press news agency.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who wants to shore up his pro-settlement right-wing base ahead of closely fought October 27 elections, claimed on Friday that Palestinians or “far-left” activists may have been responsible for the attack on Levine and other Palestinians.

Huckabee, a staunch ally of Israel who has sharply criticised Israeli settler attacks against Americans, did not identify the culprits as settlers after Netanyahu tried to sow doubt as to their identity.

The ambassador, appointed by US President Donald Trump, met Palestinian-Americans in the occupied West Bank town of Turmus Aya in September to hear locals’ testimony about their experiences with pogroms. In August, Huckabee called a days-long Israeli settler siege an “act of terror”.

The US State Department criticised Friday’s attack using a cautious tone on Levine’s beating, stating condemnation of “criminal violence by any party”.

French Football Federation’s ethics body calls on fans to keep politics out of stadiums amid student protests.

The ethics body of the French football federation is urging fans to stay neutral amid the nationwide student protests that are drawing international attention.

The police response to the largely peaceful demonstrations has prompted widespread accusations of brutality, and football fans in stadiums have expressed their support for students.

Officers have made extensive use of tear gas and batons to disperse crowds. More than 6,600 arrests were made nationwide as of last week, an unusually high number for a French protest movement.

A police tear gas grenade shattered a 14-year-old’s jaw and many of his teeth, while a 15-year-old lost a hand in an incident involving a stun grenade. Other teenagers have also suffered life-changing injuries blamed on police weaponry during protests.

During a Ligue 1 match between Lens and Lyon last week, the home fans unfurled a banner calling for an end to the “disproportionate and systematic police violence,” according to the National Council for Football Ethics (CNE).

The CNE also noted that at the half-hour mark of the match between PSG and Le Mans, supporters displayed a banner reading: “Your militias repress; our youth resists.”

The ethics body said in a statement that it was easy to understand why young supporters, who are often students, might take advantage of matches to publicly express their support for the demonstrators.

However, it added that the principle of political neutrality is “enshrined” in the laws of sport, both internationally through the Olympic Charter and FIFA statutes, and at a national level.

The CNE recalled that any speech or display of a political, ideological, religious or trade union nature are prohibited, as is the wearing of symbols or clothing that expresses political, philosophical, religious or trade union affiliation.

“Sport should unite, not divide,” it said. “The National Council for Football Ethics therefore calls on all supporters, who are an integral part of the football family, to uphold the principle of neutrality in all circumstances.

“The aim is to ensure that the stadium does not become a political or trade union battleground, but remains a place of celebration and shared enjoyment centred on sport.”

Advisory comes amid growing concern about the devices being used to secretly record girls and women.

The European Union’s data watchdog has called for smart glasses to clearly show when they are recording, saying bystanders have the right to know when they are being photographed or filmed.

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) issued the non-binding recommendation on Tuesday, amid mounting concern about the devices being used to secretly record girls and women.

It said the use of smart glasses – which can resemble ordinary glasses but also take photos and videos, make phone calls and translate text when connected to the internet – raises “serious privacy concerns”.

EDPB chair Anu Talus said the glasses should have clear signals when they are recording, such as “bright LED lights, audio signals or voice activation cues, privacy-friendly smartphone notifications, or unique designs”.

“These warnings need to be reliable, hard to ignore, and always up to date,” said Talus. “Even in public spaces, bystanders should clearly understand that someone is filming or photographing them.”

The devices carry greater risks in “sensitive” spaces like schools and hospitals, as well as public spots like beaches, and raised concerns about children who are “more vulnerable to covert or intrusive processing of their personal data”, the EDPB warned.

The advisory comes amid campaigns in several European countries to ban or restrict smart glasses over privacy concerns.

Norway’s government said last week it was also worried about privacy invasions and wants a temporary ban on the use of smart glasses in certain public places. The capital Oslo already opted to ban glasses equipped with cameras in schools.

France’s e-Enfance association, which operates the national hotline for victims of online abuse, has also sounded the alarm about videos recorded with camera-equipped glasses and shared online.

Last month, French prosecutors said they had opened a criminal probe ⁠following sexual harassment complaints related to a social media trend of using smart glasses to film women on the street, without their consent, and posting the videos online.

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a “Stop Smart Glasses” campaign has launched a petition and call for supporters to contact stores to stop their sale. It reached more than 10,000 signatures, which means the UK government must respond.