Iran murals project defiance in war with US

Britain's parliament this week approved a bill to ban those aged 17 and under from ever legally buying tobacco products during their lifetime.

A first in Europe, the UK will be only the second country in the world to implement such a measure. Here are five things to know about the new landmark UK law. 

– What does it stipulate? –

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill legally bars anyone born on or after January 1, 2009 from buying cigarettes and other tobacco products in the UK, even after they become adults. 

It hands the government new powers to restrict the flavours and packaging of vapes and bans vaping in places where smoking is already banned, which is extended to children's playgrounds and areas near schools. 

Often containing nicotine, these products are popular among young people, partly due to the array of flavours and brightly coloured packaging on offer, according to critics. 

The government last June banned the sale of disposable vapes, which were cheap and also similarly marketed, while the new bill bans the advertising and sponsorship of all vapes and other nicotine products.

– Why make the changes? –

In 2024, the UK had around 5.3 million adult smokers, nearly 10 percent of the population, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Those aged 25-34 made up the highest proportion, the agency's figures showed. 

Although the number of smokers is at its lowest level in more than a decade, the habit remains the leading cause of preventable deaths in Britain, with 80,000 annually according to the government. 

A YouGov poll last year for the health charity Action on Smoking and Health found more than two-thirds of Britons support the so-called generational ban on tobacco sales. 

The charity's chief executive Hazel Cheeseman called the move "really symbolically important" because it signals the aim "to phase out the legal sale of tobacco over the lifetime of somebody who's currently 17".

"And that's a kind of shift in mindset." 

Cheeseman conceded it likely will not completely eliminate smoking among the cohort in the future, but expects it to "substantially decrease" rates.

– When will it come into force? -

The law will apply once the bill agreed by parliament earlier this week gets royal assent imminently.

The new rules will then take effect on different dates, some of which are still subject to consultation. 

The ban on sales to young people born after 2008 will begin on January 1, 2027, the year in which they turn 18 and become adults.

Thereafter, the legal minimum age to buy tobacco will be raised annually by one year, first to 19 years old, then 20 and so on. 

Christine Methnani, 66, a nurse in northern England, welcomed the law.   

"Teenagers will never start to smoke" after facing peer pressure, she told AFP.

"I see a lot of people who come into the surgery trying to give up smoking, but it's because they've been pressured into it as young teenagers."

– How will it be enforced? –

Smokers themselves will not be penalised. But any retailer who sells tobacco or related products, such as rolling papers, to a person born after 2008 will be liable for a fixed fine of £200 ($270). 

Some opponents of the law have warned it risks creating a black market. 

"Similar claims were made about previous tobacco control measures and were proven wrong," countered Alizee Froguel, policy manager at Cancer Research UK. 

"It's a common argument by the industry, but time and time again, that hasn't happened," she told AFP.

But Froguel acknowledged it was "likely" the industry would mount a legal challenge, noting it has "done that for the previous landmark laws on smoking in the past".

– What about globally? –

According to the British government, the UK will be the second country in the world to implement a generational ban, after the Maldives. 

The archipelago of 500,000 inhabitants in November banned the sale of tobacco to young people born after January 1, 2007. 

In France, Green lawmaker Nicolas Thierry has introduced a cross‑party bill to ban the sale of tobacco to anyone born after 2014. 

Similar proposals have been put forward in the US states of Hawaii and Indiana. 

New Zealand had been a pioneer, adopting plans for a ban for anyone born after 2008, but the centre-right National Party dropped the measure when it took power in 2023, before the ban had been implemented.

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© Agence France-Presse

(The Center Square) - A California man charged security with multiple weapons at a magnetometer screening area outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night before he shot one Secret Service agent at close range in the vest and then was apprehended.

A long gun and shell casings were recovered at the scene.

President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and members of Trump's cabinet were at the event and were deemed safe and Trump said that he spoke to the agent and he was OK.

“The vest did the job,” Trump said at a press conference on Saturday night.

Trump posted video of the attacker rushing the security area as well as photos of him in custody on social media.

Trump said that he believed the shooter was a "lone wolf" and that he is in a "dangerous profession" but that he wouldn't allow the assassination attempts to stop him from doing his job.

He went on to say that the Hilton was “not a particularly secure building” and that future dinners would be held in the new White House ballroom.

The event took place in the Washington, D.C. Hilton, less than 2 miles from the White House. The Hilton was also the place where John Hinckley Jr. shot President Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said that charges would be filed on Saturday night against the attacker. Trump said that the attacker’s California apartment was being investigated.

Trump said that the event would hopefully be rescheduled within 30 days.

Minnesota star Anthony Edwards had to be helped to the locker room after suffering a knee injury shortly before half-time of the Timberwolves' NBA playoff game against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday.

Edwards was left clutching his left knee in pain after rising to block a shot by Denver's Cam Johnson and coming down awkwardly on that leg under the basket.

The All-Star guard was helped from the court and made his way to the locker room without putting weight on the leg and was later ruled out for the rest of the game.

Edwards, who battled a nagging right knee injury late in the regular season, had connected on just one of eight shot attempts for five points with three rebounds before he departed.

His injury piled the misery on the Timberwolves, who lost key contributor Donte DiVincenzo to a lower right leg injury less than two minutes into the contest.

DiVincenzo hit the court in pain after attempting a quick change of direction and immediately called for assistance.

He was seen in a wheelchair at half-time.

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It was meant to be a glitzy Saturday night at a Washington ballroom featuring President Donald Trump, but the glamor was shattered by gunshots that left guests diving to the floor and the US leader bundled out by security personnel.

Trump was seated on the dais at the White House Correspondents' Association's annual dinner -- the first time he is attending as president -- when loud bangs disrupted the revelry and caused him and others on stage to look up in alarm.

Video captured by AFPTV, other news outlets, and AFP reporters attending the event showed a chaotic scene unfolding.

Moments after what sounded like gunshots, cries of "Stay down!" and "Get down!" were heard while guests, including correspondents, officials in the Trump administration and some members of his cabinet took cover.

Amid the chaos, the president was quickly surrounded by US Secret Service personnel, their weapons drawn, and they quickly rushed Trump off the stage and through a back curtain as the crowd crouched in shock.

The big band music stopped, and people in ball gowns and tuxedos turned quiet as agents swarmed around tables and over guests on the floor of the massive ballroom of the Washington Hilton, the very hotel where president Ronald Reagan survived an assassination attempt 45 years earlier. 

"Shots fired upstairs," said Mehmet Oz, Trump's administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as he was being evacuated by security.

Also seen being rushed out of the ballroom was Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr -- whose uncle, president John F Kennedy, was felled by an assassin's bullet in 1963 in Dallas, Texas.

Alexandra Ingersoll, a correspondent for One America News, told AFP she was inside when the commotion began, and saw Secret Service spring into action to protect the president.

"I just ducked under the table and I was like 'I'm not going to risk this,'" she told AFP. "I didn't know if the shooter was neutralized or what was going on."

With still few details on what actually occurred, the entire ballroom was ordered evacuated, and several hundred guests made their way into the Hilton lobby and out into the chilly air.

Guests were seen hugging, making calls, texting friends and loved ones, and their news bureaux.

Later the Secret Service said in a statement that it was investigating a shooting near the main security screening perimeter for the event. 

"The president and the first lady are safe, along (with) all protectees," the agency said. "One individual is in custody."

It was not immediately clear whether the assailant fired shots, or security agents responded to the threat with gunfire of their own.

At about 8:40 pm (0040 GMT), an AFP reporter saw police officers racing through the streets surrounding the Hilton, lifting barriers, ushering passersby over to different streets, and clearing cars from the area as quickly as possible. A helicopter circled overhead.

A few minutes later, a motorcade left the Hilton, in the direction of the White House.

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Indonesian environmental activist Muhammad Rosidi shudders as he recalls the horrific moment two men on a motorbike threw acid through the open window of his car as he was driving on Sumatra island in February.

He was instantly consumed by a burning pain as the corrosive liquid ate into his hands, legs and groin.

"I knew right away it was acid. It felt like being doused in boiling water," the 43-year-old told AFP.

No arrest has been made weeks after the attack that Rosidi is convinced was triggered by his campaigning against illegal tin mining and smuggling in the Bangka Belitung islands off Sumatra.

He is one of an increasing number of activists and government critics rights groups say are being targeted in ever-more vicious attacks in the world's third-largest democracy.

The latest victim was 27-year-old Andrie Yunus, an activist from the KontraS human rights group who risks losing vision in one eye after two men on a scooter threw acid at him while he rode a motorbike in the capital Jakarta last month.

In an environment Amnesty International described this week as "rife with repression of dissent", protesters, journalists and even academics are also coming under threat.

"After the attack on Andrie, the threats actually increased... also death threats," Bhima Yudhistira Adhinegara, executive director of the CELIOS economic think tank, told AFP of his own experience.

He is being targeted for critiquing government programmes including President Prabowo Subianto's signature school feeding scheme, a major budget outlay.

A stranger recently texted Bhima to say that his name had appeared on the same hit list as Andrie's.

"We've been stepping up security... adding more CCTV and body protection. When going out, we don't go alone, we travel in pairs," he said.

- 'Hostility to criticism' -

Activists and observers say a climate of repression is taking root under a government that baulks at criticism under the leadership of ex-general Prabowo -- himself accused of human rights violations in the 1990s. He was never convicted, and he denies the accusations.

Andrie had been a vocal critic of what many perceive as the military's expanding role in government, and was attacked shortly after recording a podcast on the topic.

"We cannot separate the growing attacks on activists from the broader context of the current government's hostility to criticism," Amnesty International Indonesia spokesman Haeril Halim told AFP.

In a report this week, Amnesty said nearly 300 human rights defenders suffered intimidation or violence in Indonesia in 2025.

During mass anti-government riots last August, more than 4,000 people were arrested, it added, with hundreds assaulted by police and 10 civilians killed.

The media has also come under fire, with the Tempo media outlet receiving a rotting pig's head and six decapitated rats at its office last March in an apparent warning to stop asking uncomfortable questions.

"Attacks on critical civil society groups fighting for human rights are happening because democracy in Indonesia is steadily regressing," Arif Maulana, a human rights lawyer with the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, told AFP.

"The methods used... have become very serious threats to people's safety and lives," he said.

For Amnesty International Indonesia chief Usman Hamid, Indonesia "will truly become an authoritarian country if left unchecked".

The government denied claims of repression and said it welcomed criticism as "a valuable form of public participation that ensures the governance process runs smoothly".

Kurnia Ramadhana, a senior legal adviser in the Government Communications Office, pointed AFP to a recent poll by the Indonesian Survey Institute which found a vast majority of respondents were satisfied with the functioning of democracy and freedom of expression.

"Essentially, according to scientific data, the repression phenomenon, as found by Amnesty, is not proven," he said.

- 'Terrorism' -

The attack on Andrie sparked global outrage and calls for an independent investigation amid widespread fears of a cover-up in a country where such crimes are rarely punished.

Four military intelligence officers were arrested and the agency's chief resigned without his alleged role in the crime being disclosed.

Activists say the decision to try the four soldiers in a military court without the possibility of public scrutiny bodes ill for the pursuit of justice.

Kurnia insisted Prabowo was "making every effort to eliminate impunities for the perpetrators, even those from the military" in the Andrie case. 

The choice of acid as a weapon, said University of Indonesia criminologist Adrianus Meliala, is meant to send a message not only to the victim but also to warn others.

"Acid always leaves scars," he told AFP.

Rosidi still has nightmares and struggles with recurring infections, but he insists he will not be deterred.

"If no one is critical, who will care about our environment and our country?" he asked.

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A maze of over 40,000 kilometres (25,000 miles) of pipes located at the mouth of the Seine where it spills into the Channel, the TotalEnergies refinery is working full throttle to keep planes flying and trucks running.

Halfway up a 40-metre-high metal tower, the head of the refinery's technical division, Elise Thomazo, stops to explain the workings of the facility over the continuous hum of the machinery.

"We're on the hydrocracking unit, a conversion unit that will allow us to maximize the production of diesel and kerosene for road and aviation fuels," she told AFP.

After crude oil is distilled, this set of towers replete with pumps and compressors is where they separate out different elements that allow the production of petrol, diesel and jet fuel, explained Adlene Terkmani, operations manager for this part of the facility.

Gigantic circular reservoirs surround the towers.

Black ones hold crude oil as well as the "heaviest" or densest products like bitumen.

The lightest colour reservoirs hold the "lightest" products such as petrol.

The refinery has long been geared towards producing a large proportion of jet fuel and diesel, which until recently was popular for cars in France as well as trucks.

But now it is trying to maximise that production as much as possible as the Middle East war has not only cut off a huge chunk of the world's supply of crude oil, but refined products like diesel and jet fuel as well.

France produces only half of the diesel it consumes.

- A bit more fuel -

Refineries are designed and built around refining crude into certain proportions of products. There is a bit of flexibility, but beyond a certain point it requires building additional infrastructure, a costly and lengthy undertaking.

Thus the increased production of diesel and jet fuel will be limited.

"It won't exceed five percent, at best," said Thomazo.

The TotalEnergies facility, located on the outskirts of the port city of Le Havre, is France's largest, and is key to supplying the capital some 200 kilometres to the east.

The jet fuel is dispatched by pipeline to Charles de Gaulle airport on the outskirts of Paris, while motor fuels are dispatched to fuel depots for the capital region.

Each year the refinery processes some 12 million tonnes of crude oil, producing 12 percent of fuel sold in French filling stations. 

It also produces around 11 percent of the plastics made in France.

The refinery is supplied by oil tankers that dock nearby in the port of Le Havre, France's biggest. 

Before the war, the refinery received around a fifth of its crude from the Gulf, which it has replaced with shipments from the United States, Europe and Africa, according to the site's new director, Francois Bourrasse.

"We don't have any particular fears about supplies," he said.

The refinery's needs are covered for the coming weeks, and it is now working on securing deliveries for June.

"This is our normal working rhythm for obtaining supplies," said Bourrasse.

The tension on oil markets has helped refineries boost their earnings, but Bourrasse called for taking a longer perspective -- until the conflict, European refineries had seen their margins squeezed by low crude prices.

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The Eurovision Song Contest is famous for celebrating everything from cross-dressing ballad singers to heavy metal bands in monster masks, but geopolitics is threatening its 70th anniversary edition.

More than 1,000 artists this week urged a boycott, and several countries have already said they are staying away in protest over Israel's participation.

Just eight years ago in Lisbon, the competition managed by Europe's public broadcasters featured artists from 43 countries, but only 35 will be vying for the top prize on May 16 this year in Vienna, marking the smallest edition in recent years.

While Israel's presence poses a challenge this year, the world's largest live music event has long been interwoven with politics, experts say.

Hungary quit the contest in 2020, a decision widely seen as linked to its increasingly conservative political line.

Belarus was suspended in 2021 for suppressing media freedom, while Russia got kicked out after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, other countries including North Macedonia have pulled out in past years citing financial issues. 

– 'Slow death' –

Sanctioning Russia created a precedent and sparked "a debate", said Christina Oberg, the author of several studies on how Eurovision has become a stage for geopolitical tensions against its will.

Some are asking, she said, "why they haven't done the same with Israel in terms of saying that you're not allowed into the competition" because of the massive civilian death toll from Israel's two-year bombardment of Gaza.

Five broadcasters, including Spain, are expected to boycott the 2026 edition over Israel's participation. 

This is an unprecedented move by one of the "Big Five", as the Eurovision jargon calls the five largest financial contributors enjoying automatic qualification to the Grand Final. 

Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Slovenia have also decided to snub the upcoming edition for the same reason, complaining that its political neutrality is no longer guaranteed.

More than 1,000 musicians around the world have signed a petition under the banner of "no music for genocide" to exclude Israel's public broadcaster KAN "complicit" in "crimes" committed by Israel.

The signatories include star artists and bands such as Massive Attack, Peter Gabriel, Roger Waters and Sigur Ros.

Eurovision organiser, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), has defended KAN in the past, arguing that it meets all criteria for independence.

It has also announced changes and safeguards to the public voting system following accusations of manipulation in favour of the Israeli candidate last year.

If more broadcasters quit, it would be "sort of a slow death... because you need a certain amount of countries within it for it to still feel like this is for everyone," said Oberg, a professor at Linnaeus University in Sweden.

- In the spotlight -

Hosting this year's edition, Austria has labelled any cultural boycott as "stupid and pointless".

Though in fact it was Austria that led the way by snubbing the 1969 edition in Madrid "because of the dictatorship of Francisco Franco," according to Croatian-Australian Eurovision historian Dean Vuletic.

Eurovision remains a major tool for promoting inclusion and tolerance, and analysts agree it has always been more than a singing contest.

Artists parade under their countries' flags, and the event is broadcast live across Europe, providing an outstanding platform augmented by social media.

And with 166 million viewers claimed in 2025, the financial stakes are high for Eurovision, which has become a brand to protect.

"When the EBU started to attract sponsors in the late 1990s, produce merchandise, place the contest in larger halls and sell tickets to the public, it also started taking steps to avoid any damage to the contest's image," Vuletic told AFP.

Further tensions could arise this year as the spotlight will be on Denmark "in a way that never happened before", said Lisanne Wilken from Aarhus University in Denmark.

"The situation with Greenland and (US President Donald) Trump has put Denmark even more on the map," she said.

Trump's strident claims on the vast Arctic territory that belongs to Denmark have stirred a wave of concern and resistance within the European Union.

Experts predict that Danish entry Soren Torpegaard Lund could benefit from a wave of empathy.

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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 42 points Saturday to propel the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 121-109 victory over Phoenix and a commanding 3-0 lead in their NBA playoff series.

The Thunder, trying to become the first repeat NBA champions since Golden State in 2017 and 2018, are now one win away from advancing to the Western Conference semi-finals.

But Eastern Conference top seeds Detroit fell 2-1 down to the eighth-seeded Orlando Magic, who fended off a late Pistons rally to secure a stirring 113-105 home victory.

The New York Knicks, seeded third in the East, reasserted their authority with a 114-98 victory over the Hawks in Atlanta and will head home for game five on Tuesday with their series tied at 2-2.

Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player and a finalist for this year's MVP, connected on 15-of-18 shots from the floor in a ruthlessly efficient shooting display.

He credited an aggressive offensive mindset from the entire team in the face of a solid Suns defense.

"I think we did a really good job tonight of playing to our identity offensively," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "Everyone was aggressive, everyone was playing within themselves and everyone was moving around the ball.

"It kept their defense as a whole, which is a really good defense, in a bind (as to) what to pick and choose."

Dillon Brooks scored 33 points for the Suns, who grabbed an early nine-point lead and kept it close in the second quarter but couldn't find a way to stop Gilgeous-Alexander down the stretch.

Ajay Mitchell scored 15 points and Alex Caruso added 13 off the bench for the Thunder.

They'll try to polish off a sweep in the best-of-seven series on Monday in Phoenix, where the Suns will be painfully aware that no NBA team has rallied from 0-3 down to win a playoff series.

In Orlando, Paolo Banchero and Desmond Bane scored 25 points each for the Magic, whose 17-point fourth-quarter lead was erased in a powerful late showing by Cade Cunningham, who led all scorers with 27 points.

But having nudged into a single-point lead with three minutes remaining, the Pistons didn't score again and Orlando closed it out with a 9-0 run.

- Magnitude of moment -

Banchero added 12 rebounds and nine assists, while Bane matched the Orlando franchise playoff record with seven three-pointers.

"We know how we stack up. We know what we got in this locker room. And so we don't fear them," Banchero said, adding that the Magic are "looking forward" to hosting game four on Monday.

Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff, whose team comfortably topped the East with 60 wins, said it was now a matter of taking it "one game at a time.

"If we win on Monday, we take home-court advantage back," Bickerstaff said.

That's exactly what the Knicks did with their big win in Atlanta after dropping two straight games by just one point each.

Karl-Anthony Towns had his first career playoff triple-double with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

OG Anunoby scored a game-high 22 points with 10 rebounds and Jalen Brunson added 19 points, staying in after appearing to tweak an ankle in the third quarter of a bruising contest.

"We understood the magnitude of the moment," Towns said. "It's going to take an effort like this every game if we expect to come out with a win against a team that's hungry and has a lot of athleticism, youth -- and they want the moment. 

"We've got to exceed the moment."

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Shots were allegedly fired as US President Donald Trump attended a press dinner in Washington on Saturday night, witnesses and AFP reporters said as loud bangs were heard at the hotel venue.

Guests at the black-tie White House Correspondents' Dinner scrambled to hide under tables.

Tactical teams with guns drawn took position on the stage where Trump had been sitting during dinner before he was evacuated.

Police swarmed the Washington Hilton Hotel where the event was taking place, and helicopters hovered overhead.

CNN and other US media reported trump was unhurt.

The pool report said an alleged shooter was in custody, citing the Secret Service, but the report was not officially confirmed.

Unconfirmed reports suggested one person was injured, though details about the cause of the injury were not available.

The incident erupted after the welcoming speech and during dinner, before Trump was due to speak.

Trump administration officials appeared to have been evacuated first and uncertainty remained as to what exactly happened.

A cabinet official, Mehmet Oz, said "shots fired upstairs" as he was rushed out by security.

Trump was the target of an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in 2024. A gunman fired several shots, killing a rally goer and lightly wounding the president in the ear.

A few months later, another man was arrested after a Secret Service agent saw the barrel of a rifle poking from the bushes on the perimeter of the West Palm Beach golf course where Trump was playing a round.

The Washington Hilton where Saturday's gala was taking place was the site where Republican  President Ronald Reagan was shot by a would-be assassin in 1981.

Organizers told guests that the White House Correspondents' Dinner would continue despite the incident.

Trump was attending the event for the first time while in office.

The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) invited Trump this year despite his repeated attacks on the media. The move had drawn backlash across newsrooms, and hundreds of journalists signed an open letter asking attendees to call out Trump's press restrictions.

Unlike all other presidents from the past 100 years, Trump has never attended the White House Correspondents' Dinner while in office -- until now.

The "Nerd Prom" as attendees dub it brings together hundreds of Washington journalists and media executives to raise funds for scholarships and awards.

In the Butler shooting, Trump was grazed on his right ear when a 20-year-old gunman opened fire from a nearby rooftop while the Republican presidential candidate was holding a campaign rally in Butler on July 13.

One person in the audience was killed and the gunman, Thomas Crooks, was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper.

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Yusra Qwaider is 97 years old, bedridden and helpless: within days, bulldozers from the Jerusalem municipality will come to tear down the home she's lived in for over 50 years. 

If the demolition in the Al-Bustan neighbourhood goes ahead, it will be the third time she's lost her home -- this time to make way for an archaeology and tourism park in the Silwan area just outside the Old City.

"I don't know what to do... I want to stay in my home," she told AFP from her bed in the house where she lives with 12 family members that the municipality says is illegal. 

"When it was built in 1970, there were no permits. We have tried every legal avenue," said her son Mohammed Qwaider, his face a picture of angst. 

Israeli NGO Ir Amim says demolitions in Al-Bustan have increased "dramatically" since Hamas's October 2023 attack, with the threat hanging over "the vast majority" of its 115 homes.

So far this year, 17 homes have been razed, compared with 13 in 2025 and 24 the year before, said the NGO, which works for an "equitable" sharing of the city.

It blamed the acceleration on a "sudden decision" by the municipality to halt talks with residents over "a proper housing solution for the area".

Thousands of homes in annexed east Jerusalem were built without permits, which its Palestinian residents say are almost impossible to obtain.

The municipality did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

- 'The King's Garden' - 

Standing by a mountain of rubble where five houses once stood, residents' committee head Fakhri Abu Diab told visiting diplomats the municipality "wants to demolish all 115 houses by October". 

"We ask you to prevent this, to let us stay in our homes. This is a political decision, and world leaders are doing nothing. You must do something," he pleaded. 

"It's a war crime what they're doing, demolishing homes and displacing us. We have nowhere to go," said the 64-year-old, whose own home was demolished in 2024.

At issue is the expansion of the City of David archaeology and tourism project in Silwan, believed to be the original site of ancient Jerusalem.

Razing Al-Bustan aims to make way for the adjacent "King's Garden" park for visitors to the City of David, which is run by the Elad settler organisation.  

Peace Now's Yonatan Mizrahi said Elad employed different strategies for taking over specific areas of Silwan.

"You have very few archaeological finds in Al-Bustan, so they're saying there's a biblical narrative about the king's garden and it 'probably' was where Al-Bustan is today," he said.

Ahmed Tibi, Israel's most prominent Arab lawmaker, said the main goal was "the Judaisation of Silwan" at the expense of its Palestinian residents.

"After October 7, there's been a huge difference. They felt they could get away with everything," he told AFP.

If the evictions are not stopped, over 2,000 Palestinians living close to Jerusalem's holiest sites risk being displaced in "one of the largest waves of expulsions in east Jerusalem since 1967", Ir Amim warned.

- Not allowing Palestinians to build - 

City councillor Laura Wharton, who represents the liberal Jerusalem Union alliance, said the most punitive element was the lack of building permits.

"Far worse than the demolition is the fact they're not allowing Palestinian residents to build," she said. 

"Your average Silwan resident doesn't have his house recognised, doesn't have a building permit, doesn't have a place to park -- the primary services they get are demolition services." 

Not so for the Jewish residents. 

"In the 20 or 30 years of demolitions here, not a single settler house has ever been demolished," Wharton said. 

That reality is not lost on Al-Bustan locals. 

"That Israeli is allowed to build; look, he's 50 meters away, no-one's stopping him. But for us it's forbidden," 60-year-old Omar Abu Rajab said bitterly, as he began razing his own home.

When the demolition order for his one-bedroom house was issued, he decided to self demolish to avoid the exorbitant costs of the municipality doing it.  

So far, he's racked up 64,000 shekels ($21,400) in fines, and if the municipality razed his house, it would cost tens of thousands more.

At the house, two of his grandsons have skipped school to help, swinging mallets at its plasterboard walls.

"We've lost everything, even though we own this land," he told AFP, saying he and his wife would move into his brother's house -- which is facing the same fate. 

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