War-weary Lebanese weigh giving talks with Israel a chance

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced mounting pressure to quit on Friday over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as envoy to Washington, after it emerged the veteran politician had failed security vetting.

The affair has haunted Starmer for months amid growing anger over Mandelson's 2024 nomination to the top diplomatic post despite his close ties to late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Mandelson, a longtime insider with Starmer's ruling Labour party, has held multiple ministerial posts since the late 1990s -- but has been dogged by repeated scandals throughout his career.

The government has blamed foreign ministry officials for the latest debacle, saying neither Starmer nor his foreign minister were told about Mandelson's failed security check until this week.

The top civil servant in the foreign ministry, Olly Robbins, has now quit after Starmer "lost confidence in him" over the failure to tell him "about this decision", senior minister Darren Jones said on Friday.

Foreign ministry officials made the decision to allow Mandelson's appointment to proceed "against the recommendation of UK Security Vetting", the government said on Thursday.

Calls by opposition politicians for the prime minister to resign intensified Thursday as the government confirmed an initial report by the Guardian newspaper that had been appointed even after failing the background security check. 

The ambassador to Washington is seen as Britain's most prestigious and most important diplomatic post, in charge of nurturing the so-called "special relationship" with President Donald Trump. 

- 'Furious' -

Earlier in the year, two of Starmer's top political aides resigned over the scandal amid the growing political storm. 

Starmer has faced repeated questions about his judgment in selecting Mandelson, who he sacked in September last year only months after the former minister took up the post.

Opposition right-wing Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch wrote on X that "Starmer has betrayed our national security. He should go".

The prime minister has accused Mandelson of lying about the extent of his ties to Epstein during the vetting process.

Jones said Friday it was "unacceptable" that the foreign ministry had overruled the vetting process, and denied the premier had misled parliament, calling the error-strewn process "a failure of the state".

"You can imagine he (the PM) was furious as you would expect that he was only told about this on Tuesday evening," Jones told Sky News, adding Starmer would address parliament on Monday.

He also denied that Starmer's position was at risk. The "public can see in Keir Starmer that they have a strong, credible leader who has influence on the world stage," he insisted.

- Police investigation -

Starmer fired Mandelson as ambassador after documents released by a US Congressional committee revealed new details about the depth of his ties to Epstein. 

Police have now opened an investigation into allegations of misconduct in office by Mandelson, who was arrested and released on bail in February.

He has not been charged and denies criminal wrongdoing.

The force is investigating Mandelson over allegations he leaked sensitive documents to Epstein when he was a government minister, including during the 2008 financial crash.

The due diligence advice submitted to Starmer in December 2024 noted a series of reports detailing Mandelson's links with Epstein, who was convicted of sex crimes in Florida in 2008, including soliciting a minor.

It said their relationship "continued across 2009-2011", beginning when Mandelson was a government minister and continuing after the end of the UK's last Labour government in 2010.

It also noted that Mandelson "reportedly stayed in Epstein's house while he was in jail in June 2009".

Lawmakers earlier this year ordered the Labour government to release tens of thousands of emails, messages and documents detailing how Mandelson was vetted for the role.

The second tranche of documents is expected to be released in the coming weeks.

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The latest developments in the Middle East war:

- Lebanese return -

AFP images showed packed cars heading southwards along Lebanon's coastal highway before dawn, and crossing at sunrise what was left of a bridge bombed by Israel during the war.

The returns came despite Lebanese army warnings that advised residents of southern Lebanon not to return.

- Ceasefire 'violations' - 

Lebanon's army reported "several Israeli acts of aggression" that it said violated the ceasefire, in a post on X.

- Ceasefire takes effect -

A 10-day ceasefire agreed between neighbouring states Israel and Lebanon took effect at midnight local time (2100 GMT Thursday). Israel has been fighting Hezbollah since the militant group launched rocket attacks in support of Iran last month. 

Hezbollah has not officially said if it will recognise the ceasefire but one of its lawmakers told AFP on Thursday that the group would respect it if Israel stopped its attacks on its militants.

- Trump hopes Hezbollah 'acts nicely' -

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he hoped Hezbollah "acts nicely and well" during the 10-day ceasefire reached hours earlier between Lebanon and Israel. 

"I hope Hezbollah acts nicely and well during this important period of time," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, saying it would be a "GREAT moment for them if they do. No more killing. Must finally have PEACE!"

- Iranian FM 'welcomed' Israel-Lebanon ceasefire -

Iran's foreign ministry welcomed the Israel-Lebanon truce, calling it part of the earlier two-week ceasefire deal struck between the Islamic republic and the United States to pause the Middle East war, state media reported. 

Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei "welcomed the announcement of the ceasefire in Lebanon and noted that the cessation of the war in Lebanon was part of the ceasefire understanding between Iran and the United States, mediated by Pakistan", state news agency IRNA posted on Telegram.

- Israel, Hezbollah exchange fire before truce starts -

Israel's emergency service, Magen David Adom, said two people were wounded, one of them seriously, in Karmiel and Nahariya after rocket fire in northern Israel as the army and Iran-backed Hezbollah exchanged new cross-border fire shortly before the truce was due to take effect.

- Netanyahu hails truce -

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the 10-day ceasefire with Lebanon offered an opportunity for a "historic peace agreement" with Beirut, but insisted that the disarmament of militant group Hezbollah remained a precondition.

Trump earlier said Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun had agreed to the truce starting at 2100 GMT on Thursday evening.

- Iran to hand over enriched uranium? -

Trump said that Iran had agreed to hand over its store of enriched uranium and that the two sides were "close" to a peace deal ending six weeks of conflict.

"They've agreed to give us back the nuclear dust," Trump told reporters at the White House, using his name for the enriched uranium stockpile that the United States says could be used to build nuclear weapons.

- Hezbollah in ceasefire -

Trump said the 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon would include Iran-backed Hezbollah.

"Today they're going to be having a ceasefire, and that'll include Hezbollah," Trump told reporters.

- Israeli strike kills seven -

An Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese town of Ghazieh has killed at least seven people and wounded 33, the health ministry said, hours before the ceasefire between the two countries went into effect.

Lebanese state media reported a "massacre against civilians" in the town, noting that rubble removal operations were ongoing, while the health ministry said its toll was "preliminary and not final".

- Lebanese PM welcomes ceasefire -

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said he "welcomes" Trump's announcement of the 10-day ceasefire with Israel.

A Hezbollah MP told AFP the Iran-backed militant group would respect the ceasefire if Israel stops its attacks on its fighters.

- Trump invites Israel, Lebanon to White House -

Trump said he would invite the leaders of Israel and Lebanon to the White House after the two countries agreed a ceasefire. 

"I will be inviting the Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, and the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, to the White House," Trump posted on Truth Social.

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The Wikimedia Foundation said Friday it will hold talks with the Indonesian government after Jakarta threatened to block Wikipedia over registration rules the firm says "departs from international human rights norms".

A meeting will take place next week to discuss Indonesia's demands for Wikimedia to register as an "electronic system provider" (PSE), the Wikipedia parent company said in a statement sent to AFP.

Under a 2020 regulation, all PSE companies, including those based outside the country, are required to register for what the government says are for legal and user protection purposes.

Critics have pointed to a provision that requires registered PSEs to take down content deemed as "causing public unrest and disturbing public order" as a free speech restriction.

The government on Wednesday gave the foundation seven days to register or face its services, including Wikipedia Indonesia, being blocked in the country of 284 million people.

"We intend to explain the Foundation's unique position as a nonprofit technology host for Wikipedia... and the significant ways that registration under Indonesia's MR5 regulation departs from international human rights norms and threatens the privacy and security of Wikipedia editors," the foundation's statement said.

It added "we will resist inappropriate orders, and we push back on laws that require very rapid and guaranteed disclosure of user data without the ability to raise appropriate legal objections".

A blockage of Wikipedia in Indonesia will "deny the fourth most populous country in the world access to the largest free knowledge repository", the statement said.

The Communication and Digital Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

Earlier in the week, the ministry said the Wikimedia Foundation had repeatedly sought extensions to registration.

Last October, Indonesia briefly suspended TikTok's local operating licence after the social media platform refused to share information sought by Jakarta about violent anti-government protests earlier in the year.

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A 10-day ceasefire deal struck between Lebanon and Israel took effect on Friday, sending displaced residents streaming south towards their homes, even as the Lebanese army warned of "a number of violations" in the area.

Shortly after the truce went into effect at midnight local time (2100 GMT), the army told residents of the south -- many of whom had to flee their homes following sweeping Israeli evacuation warnings -- not to return, citing "several Israeli acts of aggression".

Nonetheless, AFP images showed packed cars heading southwards along Lebanon's coastal highway before dawn, and crossing at sunrise what was left of a bridge bombed by Israel during the war.

Displaced resident Alaa Damash acknowledged the warnings "to wait a bit" before rushing back home.

But the people's "love for their lands and houses, and their attachment to them, pushed them to go back there despite the fire threats", she said.

The ceasefire represents a key step in Washington's efforts to reach a deal to end its war with Iran, with Tehran insisting a Lebanon truce must be part of any agreement.

Mediator Islamabad has been leading the international push to restart face-to-face talks between Tehran and Washington with Trump signaling he might fly to Pakistan to sign any agreement -- adding they were "very close" to striking one.

The fighting in Lebanon broke out on March 2 when Tehran-backed Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel just a few days after the start of the Middle East war in retribution for the death of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei in the opening waves of US-Israeli strikes.

Gunfire rang out overnight in Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah holds sway, as the ceasefire came into effect -- an apparent bout of spontaneous celebration, although that could not be confirmed.

Traffic accumulated kilometres away from the only bridge connecting the coastal region south of Lebanon's Litani River to the rest of the country, as people lined up for hours waiting for a chance to return home, AFP journalists said. 

As the ceasefire came into effect, Israel's military said it had struck over 380 "Hezbollah terror organization targets in southern Lebanon" and was on "high alert" to resume strikes.

Trump said he had spoken to both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun ahead of the truce, adding the pair had agreed to the truce "in order to achieve PEACE between their Countries".

He later said he expected Netanyahu and Aoun to visit the White House "over the next four or five days". 

- 'Very happy' -

A top-level face-to-face meeting between the Lebanese and Israeli leadership would be a watershed moment for the region.

But it remained to be seen whether it would take place.

Netanyahu said the ceasefire with Lebanon offered an opportunity for a "historic peace agreement" with Beirut -- but insisted that the disarmament of militant group Hezbollah remained a precondition.

Trump said Hezbollah was included in the ceasefire, but according to the US State Department, the truce committed Lebanon itself to dismantle the Iran-backed militant group. 

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam welcomed Trump's announcement of the ceasefire, saying a truce was a "key Lebanese demand that we have pursued since the very first day of the war" between Hezbollah and Israel. 

But the Lebanese president had rejected Trump's request for a direct call with Netanyahu, an official source told AFP.

In Beirut, housewife Jamal Shehab, 61, applauded the truce.

"We are very happy that a ceasefire has been reached in Lebanon because we are tired of war and we want safety and peace," she said.

Trump called the development "very exciting", in response to a question from an AFP reporter as he left the White House. "Today they're going to be having a ceasefire, and that'll include Hezbollah."

A Hezbollah lawmaker told AFP it would "cautiously adhere" to the truce if Israel stopped attacks.

Ibrahim al-Moussawi thanked Iran for having applied pressure in Lebanon's favour -- adding that "the ceasefire would not have happened without Iran considering the ceasefire as equal to closing the Strait of Hormuz".

Netanyahu said Israel agreed to the truce but would maintain a 10-kilometre (six-mile) "security zone" along the border in southern Lebanon.

Lethal violence continued right up until shortly before the truce began, with Lebanon's health ministry saying at least seven people were killed and more than 30 wounded in an Israeli strike on the town of Ghazieh on Thursday.

An Israeli hospital spokesman also said three people had been injured on Thursday. 

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Mizzou track and field sent five long-distance runners to compete at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California. Three of those competitors ran on Thursday.

Monica Wanjiku and Mirriam Chepkiuri both competed in the women’s 10k run. Wanjiku placed fifth with a time of 32 minutes and 28.20 seconds. Chepkiuri ended the event in 17th at 34:21.83.

Drew Rogers was the final competitor, racing in the men’s 10k. Rogers finished in ninth with a time of 28:47.49.

The Tigers will compete at both the Big Red Classic and the Bryan Clay Invitational this weekend. Mizzou will being at the Big Red Classic on Friday in Lincoln, Nebraska.

There are no children in the Afghan border village of Barikot, where the school has been smashed by shells and the playground sits deserted after weeks of war with Pakistan.

Almost all of the 8,000 residents fled after the conflict erupted in late February, but AFP journalists travelled to the remote area of the Hindu Kush just after the road to Barikot reopened this week. 

Ruhollah Khpalwak, a shopkeeper whose store was destroyed, stood in the school science lab that was littered with broken glass. 

"This is the school where I studied. I feel really sad," said the 23-year-old. 

The site had welcomed pupils from primary through to high school, but the complex had extensive damage that residents attributed to Pakistani fire. 

Dust covered the abandoned books, while outdated schedules hung on the walls.

The Barikot school is one of 22 in need of urgent reconstruction in Afghanistan's northeastern Kunar province, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). 

About 12,000 students displaced or affected by the war need safe spaces to learn or catch up on classes in Afghanistan, OCHA said in a report this month.

Along Barikot's high street, shops were shut, and some had been reduced to rubble.

Hundreds of civilians were killed in Afghanistan along the border and elsewhere in the country, according to the UN, before China brokered talks that largely halted fighting. 

Pakistan's military did not respond to AFP's request to comment on its troops hitting Barikot, including the school and a medical centre. 

Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of harbouring militants from the Pakistani Taliban, which has carried out deadly attacks in Pakistan.

Afghan officials deny the allegation. Asked whether such militants were present in Barikot, several residents, including shopkeeper Khpalwak, told AFP they did not know. 

Faridoon Habibi, a pharmacist at the village hospital, said the situation "became very difficult" and staff were moved several kilometres (miles) away for their safety. 

"This hospital was like my home," the 32-year-old said at the facility, which remains closed after being damaged. 

The pharmacist referred to those across the border in Pakistan as brothers; the Pashtun communities have been divided for decades by a frontier drawn during the British colonial era. 

Barikot residents blamed Islamabad -- not their neighbours -- for the violence. 

- 'In dirt and sand' -

More than 94,000 Afghans have been displaced by the war, OCHA figures show, more than a quarter of them in Kunar province.

Thousands of them have settled along the banks of the Kunar River, living in makeshift tents made with UN tarpaulins, hessian sacks or pieces of plastic tied to tree branches.

It takes more than an hour to collect water from the nearest well because the river water is not drinkable.

Asmatullah Malangzay, a displaced computer technician, said life was tough in the camp. 

"Our women have faced many problems," said the 26-year-old, who lives in a tent with his wife and three children. 

"It's very difficult for them, because we don't have a proper toilet system here. We don't have enough water or a place for bathing," he told AFP. 

Malangzay and his family had a rug on the floor, a few cushions and a gas stove. 

Maisam Shafiey, spokesperson for the Norwegian Refugee Council, which supports displaced Afghans, said the situation was "dire". 

"Their urgent needs are shelter, WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) services, health services and other essential services," Shafiey told AFP. 

Mohammad Nabi Gujar, 40, a displaced father of nine, said he was "upset because our children have been deprived of school". 

The schools are already full in Marawara village, where the camp is located, and in the provincial capital Asadabad, said Kunar's information chief Najibullah Hanif. 

Provincial authorities are trying to find solutions, Hanif told AFP, including transferring families to more organised camps that were set up for survivors of a devastating earthquake last year. 

Mohammad Amin Shakir, 40, was a primary school principal before being displaced to a tiny tent. 

"It makes me cry, those students who were busy with their studies," said Shakir, whose school for 200 pupils was shut. 

"They are roaming here in dirt and sand. They are completely deprived of education here," he added. 

"This is their life here: in tents." 

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A 10-day ceasefire deal struck between Lebanon and Israel took effect on Friday, sending displaced residents streaming south towards their homes, even as the Lebanese army warned of "a number of violations" in the area.

Shortly after the truce went into effect at midnight local time (2100 GMT), the army told residents of the south -- many of whom had to flee their homes following sweeping Israeli evacuation warnings -- not to return, citing "several Israeli acts of aggression".

Nonetheless, AFP images showed packed cars heading southwards along Lebanon's coastal highway before dawn, and crossing at sunrise what was left of a bridge bombed by Israel during the war.

Displaced resident Alaa Damash acknowledged the warnings "to wait a bit" before rushing back home.

But the people's "love for their lands and houses, and their attachment to them, pushed them to go back there despite the fire threats", she said.

The ceasefire represents a key step in Washington's efforts to reach a deal to end its war with Iran, with Tehran insisting a Lebanon truce must be part of any agreement.

Mediator Islamabad has been leading the international push to restart face-to-face talks between Tehran and Washington with Trump signaling he might fly to Pakistan to sign any agreement -- adding they were "very close" to striking one.

The fighting in Lebanon broke out on March 2 when Tehran-backed Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel just a few days after the start of the Middle East war in retribution for the death of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei in the opening waves of US-Israeli strikes.

Gunfire rang out overnight in Beirut's southern suburbs, where Hezbollah holds sway, as the ceasefire came into effect -- an apparent bout of spontaneous celebration, although that could not be confirmed.

Traffic accumulated kilometres away from the only bridge connecting the coastal region south of Lebanon's Litani River to the rest of the country, as people lined up for hours waiting for a chance to return home, AFP journalists said. 

As the ceasefire came into effect, Israel's military said it had struck over 380 "Hezbollah terror organization targets in southern Lebanon" and was on "high alert" to resume strikes.

Trump said he had spoken to both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun ahead of the truce, adding the pair had agreed to the truce "in order to achieve PEACE between their Countries".

He later said he expected Netanyahu and Aoun to visit the White House "over the next four or five days". 

- 'Very happy' -

A top-level face-to-face meeting between the Lebanese and Israeli leadership would be a watershed moment for the region.

But it remained to be seen whether it would take place.

Netanyahu said the ceasefire with Lebanon offered an opportunity for a "historic peace agreement" with Beirut -- but insisted that the disarmament of militant group Hezbollah remained a precondition.

Trump said Hezbollah was included in the ceasefire, but according to the US State Department, the truce committed Lebanon itself to dismantle the Iran-backed militant group. 

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam welcomed Trump's announcement of the ceasefire, saying a truce was a "key Lebanese demand that we have pursued since the very first day of the war" between Hezbollah and Israel. 

But the Lebanese president had rejected Trump's request for a direct call with Netanyahu, an official source told AFP.

In Beirut, housewife Jamal Shehab, 61, applauded the truce.

"We are very happy that a ceasefire has been reached in Lebanon because we are tired of war and we want safety and peace," she said.

Trump called the development "very exciting", in response to a question from an AFP reporter as he left the White House. "Today they're going to be having a ceasefire, and that'll include Hezbollah."

A Hezbollah lawmaker told AFP it would "cautiously adhere" to the truce if Israel stopped attacks.

Ibrahim al-Moussawi thanked Iran for having applied pressure in Lebanon's favour -- adding that "the ceasefire would not have happened without Iran considering the ceasefire as equal to closing the Strait of Hormuz".

Netanyahu said Israel agreed to the truce but would maintain a 10-kilometre (six-mile) "security zone" along the border in southern Lebanon.

Lethal violence continued right up until shortly before the truce began, with Lebanon's health ministry saying at least seven people were killed and more than 30 wounded in an Israeli strike on the town of Ghazieh on Thursday.

An Israeli hospital spokesman also said three people had been injured on Thursday. 

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Photographer Joel Meyerowitz, famous for capturing everyday life on the streets of his native New York and elsewhere, has no qualms about now sharing the stage with hordes of phone-wielding amateurs.

"The problems of the world and the joys of the world are visible because everyone has a camera," the 88-year-old told AFP.

The pioneer of colour images and so-called street photography is happy modern technology has given nearly everyone the chance to use the medium "as a means of expression".

"Nowadays... there are billions of people every day making photographs and there's a culture of imagery that is teaching people values about photography, about humanity, about dignity," he said.

Meyerowitz spoke at London's Somerset House, where photographs from his decades-spanning career go on show for 18 days from Friday as part of this year's Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition.

It has also honoured him with its annual "outstanding contribution to photography" award.

"It's thrilling to be recognised," he said, standing near his iconic pictures shot during a 1966-67 tour of Europe while a video projection presents a playful self-portraits project from 2020.

"When I began, it wasn't about a future in which I might win an award. It was about just doing the work... so I'm grateful."

- 'My city was hurt' -

Meyerowitz started his career as a painter and graphic designer before discovering photography just as colour imagery was emerging.

"The world is in colour -- it didn't even occur to me that I should use black-and-white," he recalled.

That budding photographer of the early 1960s also immediately embraced the urban environment.

"When I went onto the street, I never looked back," Meyerowitz said.

"The energy of life in the street, the way people carried themselves, the interactions between people, instantaneous events happening and disappearing -- photography is about that."

Street pictures aside, Meyerowitz is equally well known for documenting Ground Zero following the September 11, 2001 attacks -- the sole photographer to have continued access to the site in the year after 9/11.

He spent several years creating an archive comprising 8,500 images, some of which were exhibited and feature in a book, "Aftermath: World Trade Center Archive".

Twenty-five years on, he recalled how the "life-changing" experience began from a desire to help -- as well as an act of defiance after then-mayor Rudy Giuliani barred photographers from the site.

"I'm a native New Yorker. My city was hurt. I needed to help in some way. I didn't know how... and then I figured it out," he explained.

"I thought 'screw you, buddy. We need this. This is history here. This is happening in America, in New York City, and you're saying no photographs?'

"So I just decided I'm going to go in there and do the work that was necessary that he was trying to ban."

Meyerowitz initially forged a worker's pass, before eventually befriending detectives on-site and securing a police department access badge.

"I wanted to get in bad enough... I'm glad I did it."

- No to AI -

Meyerowitz noted a constant hallmark of his career has been embracing technological innovation, from the adoption of colour at the outset to digital cameras decades later.

But he has opted against exploring AI's growing reach.

"I'm not at a point in my life where I want to go into the artificial intelligence route," he said.

"You might say (it's) lens-less photography. We'll know in the future what this means right now. I've chosen not to use it."

Despite that, London-based Meyerowitz, who is also editing all his unseen work for two new books, is still innovating.

The celebrated octogenarian is currently working on a project "very unlike anything I've ever done" that involves "not just making a straight photograph", he said.

"I'm not going to talk about it because it's, first of all, very risky -- culturally risky, I think -- and I haven't fulfilled it yet. I'm at work on it."

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Russia is trying to produce more pro-war  influencers through content creation camps, training teenagers to spread the Kremlin's hardline, anti-West narrative to the next generation.

Since invading Ukraine in 2022, Moscow has ramped up control of the domestic information space, outlawing criticism of the offensive through strict military censorship laws, throttling foreign media outlets and pushing its agenda across society.

Schools and young people have been targeted -- curricula and textbooks changed to include Russia's justification for its invasion and soldiers despatched to whip up pro-war enthusiasm in the classroom.

At one content creation camp in early April, more than 120 teenagers, clad in green sweaters and red berets, gathered in Moscow for lectures from soldiers and state media reporters on how to produce videos, use artificial intelligence and build audiences.

"We have created a huge team of kids, who understand how to broadcast government values and our organisation's values," Vladislav Golovin, a former soldier and chief of the general staff of Russia's Young Army cadets movement, said in a statement released by the group.

In a promotional video from the event, children were shown cheering a cadet racing against Golovin to see who could reload a sniper rifle the fastest.

Another organisation, the Movement of the First, runs competitions offering rewards for teenagers with the best blogs and biggest followings.

- 'Easy to radicalise' -

The training camps are part of what Keir Giles, director of the UK-based Conflict Studies Research Centre, calls a "concentrated campaign to restore the prestige of the Russian military."

"These 14–16-year-olds have grown up in an environment where they have never known anything other than Putinism. This is their reality, and so we should not be surprised if these new efforts to spread information reflect that reality," he told AFP.

The drive to instil young Russians with Kremlin-approved values comes from the very top.

In 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin quoted Otto Van Bismarck to summarise his approach.

"Wars are not won by generals, but by schoolteachers and parish priests," Putin said in a televised press conference.

"Educating young people in the spirit of patriotism is crucial," he added.

The revival of Soviet-era youth organisations, like the Young Army, Yunarmiya in Russian, and Movement of the First -- which says it has 14 million online members and 1,100 regional initiatives -- has been integral to those efforts.

In their beige military uniforms with red berets, the rows of teenage cadets often resemble a bright poppy field at set-piece state events, like grand military parades dedicated to Soviet victory in World War II.

As Russia has clamped down on media and the internet since ordering troops into Ukraine, the campaign has moved online.

AI and disinformation expert at the Technological University of Berlin, Veronika Solopova, said social media algorithms are ripe for the Kremlin to spread its narrative, delivering individually tailored content to evoke an emotional response.

"Young people are famously easy to radicalise, easy to jump to conclusions on the nature of injustices, which, for Russia, is then all conveniently converted into army enrolments," she added.

- 'Behind the camera' -

More than half of Russians aged 18-24 say social media is their main source of news, polling by the independent Levada Centre found in March.

Young people's "shorter attention spans, combined with the effortless shareability of clips and reels, make digital content an exceptionally powerful tool," said Giorgi Revishvili, a former Senior Advisor to the National Security Council of Georgia.

Social media content can be "direct and radical" or "very subtle, aimed not at generating support for Russia, but at decreasing solidarity with Ukraine," said Dietmar Pichler, a disinformation and propaganda analyst at INVED.

At the training camp in Moscow, the Young Army cadets were quick to grasp the power of their new skills.

"When you are the one behind the camera filming the entire process, making audiences happy, you realise ... you are the one who has aroused these emotions in people," a girl said in a promotional clip published by the organisers.

"The truth lies in a frame, and we are operating the camera."

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Pope Leo XIV will give a giant mass on Friday in Cameroon's economic capital Douala, the biggest event of a visit marked by his calls for peace and spat with US President Donald Trump.

More than a million people are expected to attend the mass in Douala, one of central Africa's largest ports, where the Cameroonian authorities bloodily repressed protests against the disputed re-election of longtime President Paul Biya six months ago.

Thousands of faithful were already streaming into the city Thursday night to claim their spots on the esplanade outside the stadium where the leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics will deliver mass.

The pope's landmark 11-day tour of Africa has seen him abandon his previous restraint to deliver impassioned pleas for world peace -- and tussle with fellow American Trump, after the US president lashed out at him for calling for an end to the war in the Middle East.

"The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants," Leo said on Thursday in a solemn speech at Saint Joseph's Cathedral in the city of Bamenda in northwestern Cameroon, the epicentre of a nearly decade-long separatist insurgency that has killed thousands of people.

Trump later said the pope could say what he liked, but needed to understand the realities of a "nasty world".

Far from the Trump spat, Leo has been greeted by adoring, singing-and-dancing crowds wherever he goes in Cameroon.

Douala's 50,000-seater Japoma Stadium is expected to be packed for his mass at 11:00 am (1000 GMT), before a visit to the Saint Paul's Catholic hospital.

But some Cameroonian Catholics had feared that Leo's visit could help Biya, who has ruled the country with an iron fist since 1982, burnish his image.

Douala was among the cities to see a violent crackdown on demonstrations against the re-election in October of a man who at 93 years of age is already the world's oldest head of state.

Witnesses have reported that the security forces fired live rounds into the crowds. The authorities have acknowledged dozens of deaths, without giving a precise toll.

- No to 'plunder' -

Without mentioning Trump or Biya by name, Leo has delivered unusually pointed speeches across his African tour -- ignoring Catholic US Vice President JD Vance's call to "stick to matters of morality".

"Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth," Leo said in Bamenda.

In a mass on Thursday, he also criticised "those who, in the name of profit, continue to lay their hands on the African continent to exploit and plunder it".

Cameroon is rich in natural resources such as oil, timber, cocoa, coffee and minerals, which have attracted both foreign firms and local elites for decades.

After arriving in the country on Wednesday, the pope urged Cameroon's leaders to root out corruption and abuses carried out in the name of order -- within Biya's earshot.

"Security is a priority, but it must always be exercised with respect for human rights," the pope told officials in the capital Yaounde.

Ahead of the visit, the Archbishop of Douala, Samuel Kleda -- one of the foremost critics of Biya within the Cameroonian clergy -- voiced hope that the pontiff's visit would help resolve the country's issues.

"Our country has gone through many crises; some crises are still ongoing. The fruit we must draw from this visit is to commit ourselves as architects of peace," Kleda said.

The Catholic Church plays an important social role in Cameroon, where more than a third of the population of 30 million people are Catholic.

Before Cameroon, Leo headed to Muslim-majority Algeria for a visit marred by two suicide bombings.

He leaves Cameroon for Angola on Saturday, before wrapping up his whirlwind 18,000-kilometre (11,200-mile) tour in Equatorial Guinea.

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