World

MONTEVIDEO — Tributes poured in from across Latin America on Tuesday following the death of Uruguay's former president Jose "Pepe" Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics.

The 90-year-old — who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity -- lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment.

"With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend," Uruguay's current leader, Yamandu Orsi, posted on X.

"Pepe, eternal!" a cyclist shouted out minutes later, while passing government buildings.

Mujica earned the moniker "world's poorest president" during his 2010-2015 presidency for giving away much of his salary to charity and living a simple life on his farm, with his fellow ex-guerrilla wife and three-legged dog.

The government announced three days of national mourning and said his body would be taken to the legislative palace on Wednesday to lie in state.

Activists from Mujica's Movement of Popular Participation (MPP) gathered outside the party's headquarters to make giant banners marked "Hasta siempre, viejo querido" (Until forever, old friend).

Leftist leaders from across Latin America and Europe paid tribute to the man described by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum as an "example for Latin America and the entire world".

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva echoed that message.

"His human greatness transcended the borders of Uruguay and his presidential mandate. The wisdom of his words formed a true song of unity and fraternity for Latin America," Lula said in a statement.

'Like ordinary people'

At the Madison, an unassuming corner cafe in central Montevideo, waiter Walter Larus recalled Mujica popping in for a steak shortly after winning office.

"He felt and lived like ordinary people, not like today's politicians who seem rich," the 53-year-old said.

In a 2012 AFP interview, Mujica denied being poor, saying his was, rather, a life of "austerity".

"I need little to live," he said.

He transformed Uruguay, a prosperous country of 3.4 million people best known for football and ranching, into one of Latin America's most progressive societies.

In later life, he was disappointed at the authoritarian drift of some left-wing governments, accusing repressive leaders in Venezuela and Nicaragua of "messing things up".

He was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus in May last year, and it spread to his liver.

His wife Lucia Topolansky said this week he was receiving palliative care.

'Humility and greatness'

He continued to campaign for the left after his cancer diagnosis, working fervently on the successful election campaign of history teacher Orsi, his political heir.

Former Bolivian president Evo Morales hailed his "experience and wisdom", while Brazil's government bid farewell to "one of the most important humanists of our time".

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Mujica had lived for "a better world," while Guatemala's Bernardo Arevalo held him up as "an example of humility and greatness."

China's foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian hailed Mujica as a "renowned leader" and a "good friend of the Chinese people."

From prison to politics

The blunt-spoken, snowy-haired farmer was a fierce critic of consumerism.

He attended official events in sandals and continued living on his small holding on the outskirts of Montevideo, where his prized possession was a 1987 Volkswagen Beetle.

In the 1960s, he co-founded the Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla movement Tupamaros, which started out robbing from the rich to give to the poor but later escalated its campaign to kidnappings, bombings and assassinations.

During those years, Mujica lived a life of derring-do. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds and took part in a mass prison breakout.

But when the Tupamaros collapsed in 1972, he was recaptured and spent all of Uruguay's 1973-1985 dictatorship in prison, where he was tortured and spent years in solitary confinement.

After his release, he threw himself into politics and in 1989 founded the MPP, the largest member of the leftist Broad Front coalition.

Elected to congress in 1995, he became a senator in 2000 and then agriculture minister in Uruguay's first-ever left-wing government.

As president, he was praised for his fight against poverty but criticised for failing to rein in public spending.

He is survived by his wife Topolansky. They had no children.

Mujica asked to be buried on his farm, next to his dog.

BUDAPEST — Hungary plans to target organisations deemed threats to its sovereignty under draft legislation submitted late on Tuesday, raising alarm among the opposition which warned of the "Putinisation" of the central European country.

The bill "on transparency in public life" is widely viewed as part of a clampdown by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government against NGOs and independent media ahead of next year's elections.

Since his return to power in 2010, the nationalist leader has tightened his control over courts, the media and civil society.

In mid-March, he vowed to undertake an "Easter cleanup" against his domestic opponents, whom he has branded "stink bugs".

As part of that drive, Hungary has passed constitutional changes targeting the country's LGBTQ community and dual nationals.

The latest legislation, published shortly before midnight on Tuesday on the parliament website, would empower the government to blacklist organisations -- including NGOs and media -- that "threaten the sovereignty of Hungary by using foreign funding to influence public life".

The bill stipulates that any organisation that "violates, negatively reflects or promotes action" against the values set out in the constitution, including "the primacy of marriage, family and biological sexes", is a threat to sovereignty.

Under the bill, blacklisted organisations would need to seek permission from the country's anti money-laundering body to receive foreign funds.

Their bank accounts would be regularly monitored, and any unauthorised transactions would be returned to the sender if the donation's goal is deemed to be "influencing public life".

Blacklisted organisations would face hefty fines if caught accepting foreign funds in secret -- 25 times the amount of the money received. Non-compliance with the penalty or any repeated offence would result in a ban on their activities.

The draft specifies that even Hungarian nationals holding other citizenships would be treated as foreigners.

"The law... is clear proof that they are doing everything they feel they need to do to hold on to power," independent lawmaker Akos Hadhazy said on Facebook, calling on people to "stand up against the Putinisation" of Hungary.

Under the bill, the Sovereignty Protection Office, which was established last year with broad investigative powers, would make proposals to the government to blacklist certain organisations.

The office has already conducted probes against various organisations critical of the government, including anti-graft group Transparency International Hungary and Atlatszo, a media outlet known for investigating corruption cases.

It deemed both to be threats to Hungary's sovereignty.

With the government coalition dominating parliament, the bill's adoption will be a formality. But the legislation will likely face resistance from Brussels. 

GENEVA — The UN rights chief voiced alarm on Tuesday at the large numbers of non-nationals being deported from the United States, in particular the hundreds sent to a mega-prison in El Salvador.

"This situation raises serious concerns regarding a wide array of rights that are fundamental to both US and international law," said Volker Turk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights.

His office pointed in a statement to US data showing that between January 20 and 142,000 individuals had been deported from the US.

It voiced particular concern at the situation after US President Donald Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act in March to send alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to a massive prison, CECOT, in El Salvador.

The US Supreme Court and several lower courts have since temporarily halted deportations using the obscure law, citing the lack of due process.

And yet, "the fate and whereabouts of at least 245 Venezuelans and some 30 Salvadorans removed to El Salvador remain unclear", the UN rights office said.

The rights office said it had received information from family members and lawyers regarding more than 100 Venezuelans believed to be held in CECOT.

"These reports indicate that many of the detainees were not informed of the US government's intention to deport them to be held in a third country, that many did not have access to a lawyer and that they were effectively unable to challenge the lawfulness of their removal before being flown out of the US," the statement said.

It highlighted that to date, no official lists of the detainees had been published by US or Salvadoran authorities, and their legal status in El Salvador remains unclear.

"Families we have spoken to have expressed a sense of complete powerlessness in the face of what has happened and their pain at seeing their relatives labelled and handled as violent criminals, even terrorists, without any court judgement as to validity of what is claimed against them," Turk said.

"The manner in which some of the individuals were detained and deported -- including the use of shackles on them -- as well as the demeaning rhetoric used against migrants, has also been profoundly disturbing."

The UN rights chief said he welcomed "the essential role that the US judiciary, legal community and civil society are playing to ensure the protection of human rights in this context".

"I have called on the US government to take the necessary measures to ensure compliance with due process, to give prompt and full effect to the determinations of its courts, to safeguard the rights of children and to stop the removal of any individual to any country where there is a real risk of torture or other irreparable harm."

KYIV, Ukraine — US President Donald Trump said Monday he was "thinking" about flying to Turkey for possible peace talks between Ukraine and Russia but the Kremlin was silent about whether Vladimir Putin would attend.

The meeting in Istanbul would be the first direct negotiations between Ukrainian and Russian officials since the early months of Moscow's invasion in 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed he will join, saying earlier he wanted Trump to be there and was ready for "direct and substantive negotiations with Putin".

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he is ready to host and urged the warring sides on Monday to seize the "window of opportunity" to reach a peace settlement.

Tens of thousands have been killed and millions forced to flee their homes since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, while Moscow's army now controls around one-fifth of the country -- including the Crimean peninsula, annexed in 2014.

Putin proposed the direct meeting as a counteroffer to a 30-day ceasefire put forward by Kyiv and its allies over the weekend, which Ukraine accused Russia of "completely ignoring" on Monday.

Trump told reporters earlier he would attend talks if he "thought it would be helpful".

"I was thinking about actually flying over there. There's a possibility of it, I guess, if I think things can happen," Trump told journalists at the White House prior to departing for a trip to the Middle East.

 'How long can it last?' 

After Trump on Sunday publically called on Ukraine to sit down with Russia, Zelensky said he would be willing to meet Putin in Turkey "personally".

"We are ready for direct talks with Putin," the Ukrainian leader confirmed again on Monday, after a call with Erdogan.

But when asked who Russia would send to Istanbul, the Kremlin declined to comment.

"We are focused on a serious search for ways to achieve a long-term peaceful settlement," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, without elaborating.

Peskov had earlier criticised European countries for pressuring Russia to accept a 30-day ceasefire ahead of the proposed talks.

"The language of ultimatums is unacceptable to Russia. It is not appropriate. You cannot talk to Russia in such a language," Peskov told journalists.

Russia fired more than 100 drones at eastern Ukraine overnight, killing one person and wounding six, as well as damaging railway infrastructure and residential buildings, local officials said.

Residents in Bilytske, a small industrial town in east Ukraine, remained sceptical about the prospect of a ceasefire.

"We don't really believe, of course, but we hope," Alla, who woke up to the sound of explosions, told AFP.

Alyona, 39, standing next to her, said Putin and Zelensky needed to start negotiating.

"How long can it last? It's been three years already."

'Root causes' 

Putin has said any direct talks with Ukraine should focus on the "root causes" of the conflict, and did not "exclude" a possible ceasefire coming out of any talks in Istanbul.

Russia's references to the "root causes" of the conflict typically refer to alleged grievances with Kyiv and the West that Moscow has put forward as justification for its invasion.

They include pledges to "de-Nazify" and de-militarise Ukraine, protect Russian speakers in the country's east and push back against NATO expansion.

Kyiv and the West have rejected all of them, saying Russia's invasion is nothing more than an imperial-style land grab.

Russian and Ukrainian officials held talks in Istanbul in March 2022 aimed at halting the conflict but did not strike a deal.

Contact between the warring sides has been extremely limited since, mainly dedicated to humanitarian issues like prisoner-of-war exchanges and the return of killed soldiers' bodies.

EU leaders, including France's Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Friedrich Merz, have welcomed the prospect of direct talks, but pressed Russia to agree to a ceasefire first.

Germany warned the "clock is ticking" for Russia to agree by the end of Monday to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine or face potential new sanctions.

Russia's key ally China on Monday called for a "binding peace agreement" that was "acceptable to all parties".

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV called on Monday for the release of journalists jailed "for seeking and reporting the truth" and warned reporters against using their words to fan hatred.

The former Robert Francis Prevost, the first US pope, was speaking at an introductory audience with the media after being elected by cardinals in a secret conclave on Thursday.

"Peace begins with each one of us -- in the way we look at others, listen to others and speak about others," he told assembled journalists at the Vatican's vast Paul VI audience hall.

"In this sense, the way we communicate is of fundamental importance. We must say 'no' to the war of words and images. We must reject the paradigm of war.

"Let me, therefore, reiterate today the Church's solidarity with journalists who are imprisoned for seeking and reporting the truth, while also asking for their release.

"The Church recognises in these witnesses -- I am thinking of those who report on war even at the cost of their lives -- the courage of those who defend dignity, justice and the right of people to be informed, because only informed individuals can make free choices.

"The suffering of these imprisoned journalists challenges the conscience of nations and the international community, calling on all of us to safeguard the precious gift of free speech and of the press."

According to Reporters Without Borders, 550 journalists were detained in 2024, as of December 1.

Pope Leo, who himself was active on social media before becoming pope, also reminded journalists of their responsibilities.

"Let us disarm communication of all prejudice and resentment, fanaticism and even hatred; let us free it from aggression," he said.

"We do not need loud, forceful communication but rather communication that is capable of listening and of gathering the voices of the weak who have no voice.

"Let us disarm words and we will help to disarm the world."

He added that for those on the forefront of reporting conflicts, injustice and poverty, "I ask you to choose consciously and courageously the path of communication in favour of peace".

LONDON — The UK on Monday hosted European ministers for "critical" talks on "repelling Russian aggression", after Ukraine's allies demanded that Moscow accept a ceasefire.

Ministers from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the EU joined Foreign Secretary David Lammy in London for a meeting of the so-called "Weimar+" group.

The coalition was set up in February in response to shifting US policy towards the war between Ukraine and Russia, and European security in general, under President Donald Trump.

The meeting follows Saturday's visit by the leaders of France, Germany, Poland and the UK to Kyiv, where they called for Russia to agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire to allow for peace talks -- a proposal they said was backed by Washington.

The EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas renewed the calls for a ceasefire on Monday.

"If there is no ceasefire there cannot be talks under fire," she said in London, accusing Russia of "playing games".

"It takes two to want peace. It takes only one to want war. And we see that Russia clearly wants war," she added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday proposed direct negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul on May 15, but did not respond to the European call for a 30-day ceasefire.

Lammy said it was time for "Putin to get serious about peace in Europe, to get serious about a ceasefire, and to get serious about talks".

The Ukrainian air force said Russia had fired more than 100 drones overnight, despite the calls for a ceasefire to start on Monday.

"From 11:00 pm on May 11, the enemy attacked with 108 Shaheds and other types of drones," the air force said, adding that "as of 08:30 am, 55 drones were confirmed downed".

'Existential' challenge

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky offered to meet Putin personally in Turkey, but did not say whether he would still attend if Russia refused the European ceasefire proposal.

Trump said direct talks were needed to determine whether peace was possible.

"President Putin of Russia doesn't want to have a Cease Fire Agreement with Ukraine, but rather wants to meet on Thursday, in Turkey, to negotiate a possible end to the BLOODBATH," he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

"Ukraine should agree to this, IMMEDIATELY. At least they will be able to determine whether or not a deal is possible, and if it is not, European leaders, and the US, will know where everything stands, and can proceed accordingly."

The London meeting, where Lammy is expected to announce further sanctions targeting those backing Russia's invasion, will be the sixth gathering of the Weimar+ group and the first hosted by the UK.

The talks would cover "repelling Russian aggression and bolstering European security", said the UK Foreign Office.

They will focus on "both our joint efforts to strengthen European security and securing a just and lasting peace for Ukraine", it added.

Lammy was joined by his German, Spanish and Polish counterparts, while France was represented by its minister for Europe Benjamin Haddad.

European leaders are "facing a once-in-a-generation moment for the collective security of our continent", Lammy said ahead of the talks.

"The challenge we face today is not only about the future of Ukraine -- it is existential for Europe as a whole."

Ceasefire plan

European leaders have reacted with scepticism to Putin's proposal for direct talks in Istanbul, with French President Emmanuel Macron warning that he was merely trying "to buy time".

"An unconditional ceasefire is not preceded by negotiations, by definition," he told reporters as he returned to Poland from the meeting in Ukraine.

He reiterated his position later Sunday, insisting on the "necessity for a ceasefire" before talks between Putin and Zelensky.

In a phone call with Lammy on Sunday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington's "top priority remains bringing an end to the fighting and an immediate ceasefire", State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.

MANILA — Millions of Filipinos braved long lines and soaring temperatures on Monday to vote in a mid-term election largely defined by the explosive feud between President Ferdinand Marcos and impeached Vice President Sara Duterte.

With temperatures hitting 34 degrees Celsius (in some places, George Garcia, head of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), said some voting machines were "overheating".

"It's slowing the voting process," he told reporters at a prison in southern Manila where inmates were casting ballots.

"Due to the extreme heat, the ink [on the ballots] does not dry immediately, and the ballot ends up stuck on the scanners," Garcia said, adding officials in some areas were resorting to aiming electric fans at the machines.

Monday's election will decide more than 18,000 posts, from seats in the House of Representatives to hotly contested municipal offices.

It is the battle for the Senate, however, that carries potentially major implications for the presidential election in 2028.

The 12 senators chosen nationally on Monday will form half the jury in an impeachment trial of Duterte later this year that could see her permanently barred from public office.

Duterte's long-running feud with former ally Marcos erupted in February when she was impeached by the House for alleged "high crimes", including corruption and an assassination plot against the president.

Barely a month later, her father -- former president Rodrigo Duterte -- was arrested and sent to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to face a charge of crimes against humanity over his deadly drug crackdown.

On Monday, 53-year-old Roland Agasa, one of the country's 68 million registered voters, said the feud had taken a mental toll heading into election day.

"The government is getting stressful," he said outside a Manila elementary school where the polling station was on the fourth and fifth floors.

"I hope we choose the deserving, those who can help the country," Agasa said, adding he planned to wait until the day cooled before braving the stairs to cast his vote.

"There was no pushing, but it was cramped. It was difficult, but we endured so that we could vote," Rizza Bacolod, 32, said at the same location.

Marcos cast his vote at an elementary school in his family's traditional stronghold of Ilocos Norte province. His mother Imelda, 95, was at his side.

Numbers game

Sara Duterte, who cast her vote at a high school in her family's southern bailiwick of Davao, will need nine votes in the 24-seat senate to preserve any hope of a future presidential run.

Heading into Monday, seven of the candidates polling in the top 12 were endorsed by Marcos, while four were aligned with his vice president.

Two, including the president's independent-minded sister Imee Marcos, were "adopted" as honorary members of the Duterte family's PDP-Laban Party on Saturday.

The move to add Marcos and television personality Camille Villar to the party's slate was intended to add "more allies to protect the Vice President against impeachment", according to a party resolution.

Despite his detention at The Hague, Rodrigo Duterte remains on the ballot in Davao city, where he is seeking to retake his former job as mayor.

Election violence

As polls opened on Monday, two men were killed and seven wounded in the central Philippines when men fired on a group outside a local party headquarters from a moving vehicle.

The Philippines has a long history of election violence, with armed groups of political rivals routinely fighting over positions that control local government spending.

A day before, at least two people were killed in a clash between supporters of rival political camps in southern Mindanao Island's autonomous Muslim region, the Philippine army reported.

National police have been on alert for more than a week, and around 163,000 officers have been deployed to secure polling stations, escort election officials and guard checkpoints.

Comelec last week said it had recorded 81 acts of "politically related" violence between January 12 and May 7. Police told AFP that 16 of those had resulted in death.

CHAKOTHI, Pakistan — As an uneasy calm settled over villages on the Pakistan side of contested Kashmir on Sunday, families returned to their own beds but were sure to leave their bunkers stocked.

More than 60 people were killed in four days of intense conflict between arch-rivals Pakistan and India before a US-brokered truce was announced on Saturday.

At heart of the hostilities is Kashmir, a mountainous Muslim-majority region divided between the two countries but claimed in full by both, and where the heaviest casualties are often reported.

On the Pakistan side of the heavily militarised de facto border, known as the Line of Control (LoC), families wearied by decades of sporadic firing began to return home -- for now.

"I have absolutely no faith in India; I believe it will strike again. For people living in this area, it's crucial to build protective bunkers near their homes," said Kala Khan, a resident of Chakothi which overlooks the Neelum River that separates the two sides and from where they can see Indian military posts.

His eight-member family sheltered through the night and parts of the day under the 20-inch-thick concrete roofs of two bunkers.

"Whenever there was Indian shelling, I would take my family into it," he said of the past few days.

"We've stored mattresses, flour, rice, other food supplies, and even some valuable belongings in there."

According to an administrative officer in the region, more than a thousand bunkers have been built along the LoC, around a third by the government, to protect civilians from Indian shelling.

'No guarantee' 

Pakistan and India have fought several wars over Kashmir, and India has long battled an insurgency on its side by militant groups fighting for independence or a merger with Pakistan.

New Delhi accuses Islamabad of backing the militants, including an attack on tourists in April which sparked the latest conflict.

Pakistan said it was not involved and called for an independent investigation.

Limited firing overnight between Saturday and Sunday made some families hesitant to return to their homes on the LoC.

In Chakothi, nestled among lush green mountains, surrounded by an abundance of walnut trees at the foothills, half of the 300 shops were closed and few people ventured onto the streets.

"I've been living on the LoC for 50 years. Ceasefires are announced, but after a few days the firing starts again," said Muhammad Munir, a 53-year-old government employee in Chakothi.

It is the poor who suffer most from the endless uncertainty and hunt for safety along the LoC, he said, adding: "There's no guarantee that this latest ceasefire will hold -- we're certain of that."

When clashes broke out, Kashif Minhas, 25, a construction worker in Chakothi, desperately searched for a vehicle to move his wife and three children away from the fighting.

"I had to walk several kilometres before finally getting one and moving my family," he told AFP.

"In my view, the current ceasefire between India and Pakistan is just a formality. There's still a risk of renewed firing, and if it happens again, I'll move my family out once more."

A senior administrative officer stationed in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir where a mosque was struck by an Indian missile killing three people, told AFP there had been no reports of firing since Sunday morning.

'Serious doubts' 

In Indian-administered Kashmir, hundreds of thousands of people who had evacuated also began to cautiously return home after heavy Pakistani shelling -- many expressing the same fears as on the Pakistani side.

The four-day conflict struck deep into both countries, reaching major cities for the first time in decades -- with the majority of deaths in Pakistan, and almost all civilians.

Chakothi taxi driver Muhammad Akhlaq said the ceasefire was "no guarantee of lasting peace".

"I have serious doubts about it because the core issue that fuels hostility between the two countries still remains unresolved -- and that issue is Kashmir," said the 56-year-old.

BERLIN —Thousands of people protested against the far right across Germany on Sunday, as the AfD party appeals a decision to label it an "extremist" group.

Germany's domestic intelligence service last week labelled the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party a "right-wing extremist" group, accusing it of seeking to undermine the country's democracy.

It suspended the classification while AfD's appeal of the measure moves through the courts.

On Sunday anti-AfD demonstrators marched in 60 localities across Germany, following a call by the "Together against the Right" group.

In Berlin 3,000 protesters gathered in front of the famed Brandenburg gate, according to the police. Organisers put the turnout at 7,000.

"Together against fascism," they chanted.

"AfD is not a normal party and should not be treated as such," the organiser group said on its website. "It is now time to seriously examine banning the party."

The AfD however has been growing in popularity. In February's elections it came second only to the new Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservatives.

It says the intelligence service decision against it is politically motivated.