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Ukraine war briefing: Kyiv denies its drone ‘deliberately’ hit Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

Russia’s state nuclear energy company Rosatom said on Saturday a Ukrainian drone had struck the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, but had not caused damage to key equipment. Rosatom’s head Alexei Likhachev called the incident “deliberate” and said it left a hole in the wall of a turbine hall. “This afternoon, a Ukrainian kamikaze combat drone struck the turbine hall building of Power Unit No. 6, resulting in a subsequent detonation,” Likhachev said in a statement. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was captured by Russia in March 2022 and remains close to the frontline in the south-eastern Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia region. Kyiv military have denied Russian claims as “yet another propaganda ploy”, saying its troops did not strike power unit No. 6 at the plant. “Ukrainian servicemen act strictly within the international humanitarian law and are fully aware of the consequences of any actions targeting nuclear facilities,” the military said in a statement. “At the relevant section of the frontline, there was no active fighting during the incident, and no weapons were used.” The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Saturday said it has been informed by the Zaporizhzhia plant that a drone had struck a turbine building at the site. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi expressed serious concern about the reported incident. “Attacking nuclear sites is like playing with fire,” he said. The IAEA’s team has requested access to examine the affected turbine building first-hand, the agency said in an X post. Ukrainian drone strikes caused fires at more Russian oil facilities overnight into Saturday, Russian officials said, in what appeared to be the latest attack on Moscow’s oil industry. Authorities in Russia’s Rostov region said falling drone debris sparked a fire that damaged an oil depot and tanker in the port of Taganrog, while officials in the neighbouring Krasnodar region reported a fire breaking out at an oil depot in Armavir for the same reason. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on X noted the Krasnodar attack and said: “We are rightfully bringing the war back to where it came from.” Ukrainian professional tennis player Oleksandra Oliynykova, an outspoken critic of Russia’s war against Ukraine, on Saturday criticised Russian tennis players at the French Open about their stance on the war, after her third-round exit at the French Open. Oliynykova lost in straight sets to Russia’s Diana Shnaider. The Ukrainian said players from Russia were allowed to participate in international tournaments even though they openly took part in events sponsored by Russian companies linked to the war effort or even after what she said was promoting the positions of Russia in relation to the war on social media.

Paris police arrest more than 130 as PSG fans celebrate Champions League win over Arsenal

Paris police deployed thousands of officers to control crowds at some of the city’s hotspots, using teargas and arresting more than 130 people, after Paris Saint-Germain’s win over Arsenal in Saturday’s Champions League final. Footage aired on the news channel BFM showed scenes of tensions and brief skirmishes around PSG’s Parc de Princes stadium in western Paris, where more than 40,000 people watched the club win its second consecutive title on penalties at the Puskas Arena in Budapest on giant screens. By 11pm (9pm BST), police had made more than 130 arrests, Paris police said. A police spokesperson told Reuters that six vehicles and two storefronts had been damaged. Some PSG fans aimed fireworks at police officers who responded with teargas during the celebrations, according to reports in France, while some were seen wearing T-shirts emblazoned with “FU*K ARSENAL 2026” as they stood next to burning Lime Bikes on the city’s streets. Smoke was seen rising from several areas during the clashes. Police were seen sprinting after groups of fans with riot gear and stamping out flares discarded on the road. The interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, said there was a “very robust, very solid system in place” to curb violence. A police spokesperson said: “Our responsibility is to guarantee everyone a festive celebration that is calm and fully secure.” France has deployed 22,000 police to uphold order in the capital. Last year, two people died and close to 200 were injured after PSG won the Champions League for the first time by beating Inter Milan. The Champs-Élysées boulevard, which authorities had partly cordoned off, was filling with mostly peaceful PSG fans, TV footage showed. Police estimated the crowd size at 20,000. Some supporters let off fireworks and lit flares.

‘Bigger and better than ever’: how Durham Pride beat Reform’s funding axe with help from the miners

As the annual Pride parade weaved its way through Durham, the rainbow flags, trans rights placards and sequined cowboy hats filled the medieval city’s cobbled streets with a huge splash of colour. But this year, the rainbow flags were almost matched in number by trade union banners, as miners, postal workers, and train drivers swelled the parade’s ranks in solidarity, making it the biggest in Durham Pride’s history. When Reform UK won control of Durham county council last year, one of the party’s first moves in power was to take down the rainbow flag that flew over its headquarters. Soon after, it announced it was axing funding for the city’s Pride event. “Durham Pride won’t be getting a single penny from this council next year,” the deputy leader, Darren Grimes, said last summer. “Taxpayers shouldn’t be bankrolling it.” But in a testament to an enduring relationship forged during the miners’ strikes of the 1980s, this year’s event has returned bigger than ever, thanks to funding from trade unions. Stephen Guy, the chair of the Durham Miners’ Association (DMA), said that when it became apparent Durham Pride was under threat, he took it upon himself to “encourage the trade union movement to step up and do the right thing, and stand shoulder to shoulder with the LGBT+ community”. That community “showed their heroism” during the miners’ strikes, he said. “They not only raised funds for us, but came to our communities, uplifted our spirits when they were down, and showed their solidarity.” He added: “That relationship’s prevailed ever since, [and so] the Durham Miners’ Association have decided to make this a priority in County Durham.” Mel Metcalf, who founded Durham Pride in 2014, said that while the event had lost about £2,500 in council funding, Reform’s move had brought in “about £25,000 from the unions and people who are supporting us more because of that decision”. He said the support had been “absolutely amazing”, adding: “I guess it’s a big thanks to Reform that our headliner is Claire Richards [from Steps] this year.” Metcalf continued: “I can’t stress how much people like CISWO [the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation], the Durham Miners’ Association, the TUC and the trades unions have [come] together and said: ‘Right, that money’s gone, but let’s find it.’ Not only did they find it, they’ve found more.” One of the single biggest donations came from Equity, the performing arts union. Its president, Lynda Rooke, said: “We are sending a message to Reform and any other group that is planning on attacking the cultural sector, which is: we see you, we will fight you, and we will succeed.” . The trade union presence at the event was bigger than it had ever seen before. The National Union of Mineworkers, Aslef, Unite, the CWU, and NASUWT the Teachers’ Union were among those who marched alongside the community with banners proudly raised. And in July, the LGBTQ+ community will in turn show its solidarity at the 140th Durham Miners’ Gala. “It was really important for us as a trade union movement to step in and make sure that Pride went ahead, and could be bigger and better than ever,” said Dave Pike, the regional secretary for TUC North East, Yorkshire & Humber. “I’m really proud that we managed to raise more money than Reform ever took away. I think it’s a really great example of solidarity in action. “This is normal for us as a trade union movement, but I think is especially important right now, given what Reform are peddling politically, and the way that they’re attacking LGBT people with their actions.” Mary Kelly Foy, the Labour MP for the City of Durham, donned a rainbow feather halo and angel wings to join the parade. “I think this is very, very special today,” she said. “We’re just showing that we’re here stronger than ever and we’re not going away.” “The trade union and Labour movement have been fantastic, we knew they would step up,” she added, dismissing Reform councillors as “silly, silly people in County Hall who just want divisive politics”. “We believe in rights and dignity and respect for everybody no matter who you are,” she said. “So I had no doubt that the trade union movement would step in and fund this.” Louise Brown from Gateshead joined the march wearing a rainbow wig, and carrying a sign saying: “Pride 1 Reform 0.” “When I heard Reform had said they’re not going to give a penny, as a lot of people here I thought well I’m definitely going to come,” she said. “You can’t just cut money for pride, I’m going to come and show solidarity.” “I think it’s disgraceful,” another marcher, Lisa V Hesling, said, adding: “I think an event like this that brings everybody together is exactly what we need, and a Reform council is not what we need.” “I’m from London originally so coming up here and learning the history, because I was very young with the miners’ strikes, so learning about how the gay community helped the miners, it’s brilliant.” The relationship between LGBTQ+ people and mining communities was immortalised in the film Pride, which showcased the work of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM), which offered fundraising and practical support to the National Union of Mineworkers during the year-long strike in 1984 and 1985. Mike Jackson, a founder member of LGSM who was played by This is England’s Joe Gilgun in the 2014 film, said local Pride events such as Durham’s were even more important than huge marches in bigger cities. “People like me left home because you couldn’t be gay really in a little isolated town up north,” he said. “Now people are actually having Prides in little isolated towns up north, and that makes all the difference. “It’s beyond our wildest dreams that we would ever find an organisation like the Durham Miners’ Association absolutely and unconditionally standing up in support of LGBT rights in the face of a council that’s basically turning its back on the LGBT community. “That’s wonderful. That’s real good grassroots stuff, and it’s a reflection of that unity that was struck between the large section of the LGBT community and the mining communities.” A Reform spokesperson said: “Durham county council took the decision to withdraw taxpayer funding because residents expect their money to be spent on core local services. “If trade unions and private supporters now wish to fund the event themselves, that is a matter for them. This demonstrates that the event can go ahead without relying on council tax payers to foot the bill.”

‘I want my life back’: drugs shortages lay bare economic impact of diamond crash in Botswana

In late 2023, Boitumelo Mosege fell sick. Her neck swelled up, her whole body itched and she fainted frequently. She was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and had to give up her work as a farmer on the outskirts of Molepolole, a town about 30 miles north-west of Botswana’s capital, Gaborone. In Botswana, public healthcare is supposed to be universal and free. However, Mosege said she had only sporadically received medication since becoming ill. The 53-year-old relies on her four children’s occasional piecework (where a worker is paid a fixed rate per task or unit produced), and her mother’s 1,400 pula (£77) monthly pension, to afford 2,000 pula-worth of medication every month. In early May, she said it was three months since she had last bought medicine. “I felt like I had lost my life right there,” Mosege said, recounting when she was told she had to buy her medication herself. “I felt suicidal.” Nearby, Kelly Jansen cares full time for her 83-year-old father, Gerhardus Jansen, who uses a wheelchair. They spend a third of his pension on medication and supplies including a blood pressure monitor and compression stockings. Jansen, 39, is searching for someone to donate an electric wheelchair, which would give her more freedom. “I want my life back,” she said. Last year, shortages of essential medicines and medical supplies led the president, Duma Boko, to declare a public health emergency, 10 months after he defeated the party that had ruled Botswana since independence from Britain in 1966. Health procurement had long been dysfunctional. But a multi-year economic downturn caused by a collapse in demand for diamonds, which are 80% of Botswana’s exports, tipped it over the edge, Boko wrote in an opinion piece for the Guardian in February. Meanwhile, the economic malaise has pushed up unemployment in what has long been one of the most stable and wealthiest countries in Africa. Boko blamed the Central Medical Stores (CMS), the state health procurement agency, for raising drug prices. Thabo Lucas Seleke, a University of Botswana health policy lecturer, said the agency’s problems had been known since at least 2010, when a government report said it needed wide-scale reforms. “It is a breeding ground for corruption,” Seleke said. “It has not improved, it is getting worse.” Botswana’s health ministry did not provide a comment, after a spokesperson requested written questions. At independence, Botswana was one of the world’s poorest countries. The fortunes of the landlocked, semi-arid state were transformed a year later, when De Beers geologists found diamonds. For the next few decades, it was one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. This wealth enabled Botswana to provide free primary and secondary education and become a world leader in tackling HIV/Aids. Its 2024 GDP per capita of $7,695 (£5,697) was the fourth highest in Africa, according to the World Bank. However, other healthcare outcomes haven’t kept pace with economic growth. Maternal deaths are higher than in similarly wealthy countries, according to the World Health Organization. Meanwhile, the crash in natural diamond prices – which have fallen 60% in four years and show no signs of recovery as consumers buy cheaper lab-grown stones – have dented Botswana’s relative prosperity. The IMF estimated that Botswana’s economy shrank 3% in 2024 and 1% last year. The rise in fuel prices caused by the US war with Iran will hit Botswana hard, as it is an oil importer, said Marisa Lourenço, an independent political risk consultant. “It doesn’t have much other buffer,” she said. “If we look at how much the economy contracted during Covid, it never really recovered from that.” Unemployment rose to 21% among its population of 2.5 million in the year to 31 March 2025, according to the most recent official data. Almost 29% of 15- to 35-year-olds were jobless. Oratile Olorato Kgatle’s eyes lit up as she spoke about wanting to work in public relations. But the 26-year-old, who lives with her aunt, has not had a single job interview in 18 months of applying. “I could feel that light just dimming with each day, until January when I went to [a psychiatric hospital] to seek help,” said Kgatle, who is limited to office work by Erb’s palsy, a condition that affects her strength and mobility. Botswana’s ailing economy has also affected middle-class families. Phenyo Tanka said her family stopped eating out and fired their domestic worker, after her husband was made redundant from his job as a mining engineer in December. Tanka, a 39-year-old mother of four, is also an example of Botswana’s failure to diversify its economy away from diamonds. She graduated with a degree in agriculture in 2011, but has never been able to find a job. Tanka hasn’t given up, though. She now sells homemade cakes and wants to set up a toilet paper factory. “I have two girls and I want them to know that they can also be independent, as ladies,” she said.

Why $1bn in Balkans energy contracts are going to an obscure company connected to Donald Trump

On a graffitied Sarajevo backstreet, a path leads past an overgrown patch of garden to a white door. Beyond is the registered office of a company that is on the brink of winning contracts worth more than $1bn. AAFS Infrastructure and Energy is close to securing a concession to build and operate a pipeline across the Balkans to allow fossil gas shipped from the US to replace supplies that come from Russia. “This could be the most important infrastructure project ever in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” says one of the country’s top officials, who, like others, asks to remain anonymous to discuss sensitive negotiations. The company has no record of even attempting anything close to this scale. What it does have is personal connections to Donald Trump. One of AAFS’s representatives is a Washington lawyer who has acted for the Trumps in political cases. The other is the brother of the president’s former national security adviser. Both were part of a campaign that is close to Trump’s heart: the effort to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. A Guardian investigation, based on interviews with current and former Bosnian and US officials, leaked documents and corporate paperwork, has examined the obscure company that has been thrust into the global struggle for energy supremacy. It offers a glimpse of how international relations are changing under a presidency that blurs the line between government policy and the enrichment of the ruling family and those around it. “There is a logic, in our current world, of having administration-connected people involved in big economic projects or investments,” says a former senior US official in the region. “It is unsavoury but so much of my country’s politics is unsavoury these days.” In the former Yugoslavia, the stakes are higher than just who might get rich. US intervention could undermine the peace deal it brokered in 1995 to end a war that killed 100,000, many of them Muslim Bosniak civilians massacred by Serb paramilitaries. A generation on, Bosnia’s ethnic leaders are still manoeuvring for advantage. US officials have left Bosnia’s leaders in no doubt about what the Trump administration wants: the go-ahead for AAFS’s pipeline. AAFS’s Maga connections When the Guardian knocks at AAFS’s Sarajevo address, a woman calls down from an upstairs window that its local representative will be back soon. Amer Bekan arrives a few minutes later. A large middle-aged man, he says AAFS’s office will be moving to a big building with 100 employees. Bekan’s online CV calls him an “investor and entrepreneur with extensive experience”. He has tried politics as well. After coming last with 116 votes in a 2016 run for mayor in central Sarajevo, another campaign in 2020 led to him being accused of abusing the elections for personal gain, an allegation he denied. Bekan registered a Bosnian company called AAFS in 2021. It was only after he brought in his American partners last year that it hit the big time. Neither he nor they will say how they were introduced. Bekan’s AAFS is now owned by a US company of the same name that was registered in November. Located in a tourist district by the Potomac River, the address AAFS gives for its Washington office sits between a Lebanese restaurant and an Irish pub. A sign identifies it as the premises of Binnall Law Group. Jesse Binnall is a leading lawyer fighting the Maga cause. He was an aide to the 2016 campaign that carried Trump to the White House. In 2020, he was a leading voice undermining Joe Biden’s victory. He declared: “Donald Trump won … after you account for the fraud and irregularities that occurred.” He defended Trump and his oldest son, Donald Trump Jr, against a lawsuit that sought to hold them responsible when rioters tried to overturn the result by storming the Capitol building. Since Trump’s return to power last year, Binnall has secured a $1.25m settlement from the justice department for Michael Flynn, who was briefly national security adviser in the president’s first term. Despite having admitted lying to the FBI about covert contacts with Russia, Flynn alleged wrongful prosecution. Binnall also came to know Flynn’s brother Joe, a healthcare entrepreneur. They were fellow campaigners in the effort to discredit Biden’s victory. Flynn served as president of one of the movement’s best-funded vehicles, the America Project. And he was an adviser to Trump’s 2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns. The White House referred questions to the state department, which said: “The Southern Interconnection gas pipeline, which has been a [US government] priority for the past three administrations, will expand and diversify Bosnia and Herzegovina’s energy sector, giving BiH greater control over its energy supply by providing access to market-based natural gas and reducing dependence on a single, unreliable source.” Flynn and Binnall’s qualifications for a Balkans infrastructure venture are not immediately apparent. But since they joined, the project has enjoyed the full-throated support of the Trump administration. No competitive tender process Binnall, Flynn and Bekan’s initial discussions with Bosnian officials last autumn were about a $300m renovation of two airports. Then the Bosnian officials suggested they take on a much more significant project: the Southern Interconnection pipeline. The US has long supported the plan to connect Bosnia to a gas terminal on Croatia’s coast, which would reduce Vladimir Putin’s influence in southern Europe. During Biden’s time, the idea was for Bosnia’s state gas company to run the project. But the competing interests of Bosnia’s ethnic factions caused delay after delay. While some Bosnian officials were wary of handing the project to foreign private interests, others saw enlisting a company connected to Trump as a chance to break the deadlock. Time was running short. Bosnia is a candidate to join the EU, and Brussels has set a September 2027 deadline to cease buying gas from Russia, the source of Bosnia’s entire supply. Some senior Bosnian figures calculated that commissioning an American company could help not just energy security but safety more broadly in a region where war is a living memory. As Bekan says: “The US government protects its investments.” Yet some analysts fear Bosnia risks swapping one bully for another. No one appears to want to risk angering Trump, even if it means entrusting their hopes for a vital new energy artery to a venture with no demonstrated ability to get it done. Asked who AAFS’s shareholders are, Bekan says Binnall and Flynn plus others he declines to name. He suggests financing could come from “investment funds in the United States”, but says he cannot provide more information. Binnall says: “We are the right team for this. No other group combines on-the-ground presence in Bosnia with strong support in America. And we’re excited to take the leap because we believe Bosnia Herzegovina is the future.” A confidential AAFS proposal seen by the Guardian says the pipeline will cost €300m (£260m) with another €900m (£780m) for three power plants, with funding coming not from the Bosnian state but equity and debt. It does not specify what returns Flynn, Binnall and others involved expect for themselves. In March, new Bosnian legislation stipulated that AAFS should be the pipeline contractor. There has been no competitive tender, the usual way to ensure contracts go to a competent bidder for a fair price. Transparency International said: “Establishing such a practice in a country with one of the highest levels of corruption in Europe would lead to catastrophic consequences in the implementation of strategically important projects such as the Southern Interconnection gas pipeline.” Days later, as the Guardian revealed, the EU’s ambassador sent Bosnia’s leaders a private warning that they should be consulting with Brussels on any changes in energy policy to “avoid missing out on opportunities for further integration, as well as financial opportunities”. The US is undeterred. “This partnership strengthens energy independence and ends reliance on Russian gas,” its Sarajevo embassy posted on X in April. “A new era for energy security in the Western Balkans has begun.” Yet any new era will not begin until the Southern Interconnection is built. For that to happen, the Trump administration will need the friendship of the man who wants to break the country up. Ultranationalist wants to rip up peace accord Milorad Dodik, the ultranationalist leader of Bosnia’s Serbs, was until recently treated as a pariah by Washington. Biden’s administration accused Dodik of abusing public office “to accumulate personal wealth through graft, bribery, and other forms of corruption” and expanded sanctions against him and his family. “His divisive ethno-nationalistic rhetoric reflects his efforts to … divert attention from his corrupt activities,” a US Treasury statement said. Dodik called the sanctions “lies”. When Trump retook the presidency, Dodik embarked on a multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign to cultivate the Trump administration’s support and have the sanctions lifted. The lobbyists styled Dodik’s Serb nationalists as Trump’s allies against Islam. One of them was Michael Flynn, who earned $100,000 for a month’s work. In October, without explanation, the Trump administration cancelled the sanctions. On 7 April, Donald Trump Jr, the custodian of the family business empire, landed in Banja Luka, the main city in the Serbian half of Bosnia, for an event in his honour. Dodik’s son, Igor, gave Trump Jr a warm welcome. “Your presence speaks volumes,” he said. “We depend on you and we rely on you. In return, you, America and the Republican administration led by your father will have a reliable, truthful and Christian ally in this part of the world.” Michael Murphy, a former US ambassador to Bosnia, says Dodik is currying favour in Trump circles as he seeks to rip up the 1995 peace accord by declaring the Serb region independent. “He wants them to embrace his larger agenda. In order to get that, he can’t screw with the pipeline.” Those embracing him, he adds, are “playing with fire”. Under Bosnia’s power-sharing arrangement, the Serbs could veto the pipeline. Dodik, who remains their leader despite giving up his official position, has every reason to do so. Like the recently defeated Victor Orbán in Hungary, Dodik is an ally of Putin. Not only does Bosnia’s existing pipeline bring Russian gas, magnifying Putin’s leverage in the Balkans, it also runs across the Serbs’ territory, giving them sway over energy supplies. But a senior Bosnian Serb politician says: “I saw this myself: Americans here have a number one priority and that’s the pipeline. They are very, very keen on this. Dodik, like everyone else, was told: Don’t play around with the project.” Trump Jr did not mention the pipeline or AAFS during his event. But he extolled the benefits of buying American gas. “That’s a no-brainer,” he said. “You can solve so many problems, both business-wise and, frankly, geopolitically on this one issue. I think it’s a major opportunity.” On 21 April, shortly after Trump Jr’s visit, Dodik indicated he would not obstruct Binnall and Flynn’s plan. That leaves the Trump associates’ takeover of a crucial European energy project close to complete. Additional reporting by Joseph Gedeon in Washington

Bound by blood: new film highlights Jamaica’s outlawed obeah belief system

A new movie from award-winning Jamaican film-maker Sosiessia Nixon shines a spotlight on Jamaica’s enduring west African-based magic and spiritual healing tradition known as obeah. Nixon’s tense, feature-length suspense, Stew Peas, tells of the story of Jamaican detective Tessa, who is obsessed with an old murder case. Tessa’s life begins to fall apart when it becomes clear that her husband, Neil, has fallen under the spell of her new maid, Marcia. The story takes a dark turn with the shocking revelation that Marcia has been adding a secret ingredient to Neil’s food – her menstrual blood. “This film focuses on the persisting Jamaican obeah belief, that a woman could ‘bind’ a man in a relationship by serving him a meal of the traditional kidney beans and meat stew, which becomes a potent love potion when her menstrual blood is added,” Nixon said. Nixon hopes the movie will spark a dialogue about the tension between Christianity and obeah, which is rooted in the country’s African heritage and still practised today despite being outlawed by colonisers in the 1700s – and still illegal today. “The practice of binding a man with stew peas remains very much taboo in Jamaica, and I wanted to open a conversation. I wanted to look at this belief system in depth. Jamaicans often say that belief kills and belief cures, meaning that whatever you believe, that is what is going to happen. So, does this thing really work?” Nixon said. Coming from St Thomas, an idyllic coastal parish on the south-eastern tip of Jamaica, sometimes nicknamed the “obeah parish”, Nixon said she was inspired by actual experiences. “Growing up in St Thomas, I was very much exposed to a lot of obeah,” Nixon said. Producer and actor, Ava Eagle Brown, who created Jamaica’s Black River film festival, said the film will resonate with Caribbean people everywhere. “There is so much of us in this film, the things that make us Jamaican – especially if you’re in the diaspora … it brings you back home.” Brown, who is also in the film, added: “It’s probably going to now have some men looking at their woman with suspicion and asking: ‘What did you put it in my stew peas?’” she said. “But on a serious level, I told my son to make sure he doesn’t eat any stew peas from any woman!” Sonjah Stanley Niaah, a Jamaican cultural studies scholar and the director for UWI’s Centre for Reparation Research, said the stew peas belief is linked to the African view that natural elements, including blood from menstruation, has an inherent potency. The idea, she added, was that the red kidney beans will mask the blood so the man being charmed cannot detect it. Stanley Niaah welcomed the opportunity to explore forms of African spiritualities, which she said are often misunderstood, after being vilified and outlawed by European colonialists who had linked them to resistance and rebellions among enslaved Africans. “People in this part of the world are people of African descent and there’s a pantheon of African spirituality that we have in our blood, that we have inherited … But [today], African spirituality has no attention, no substance, it’s not being taught in schools, we are so afraid of ourselves, we are neglecting it,” she said. She added: “What we now have is this very profound, alive and longstanding tension between Christian practices and African spirituality. Enslavement was sanctioned by the church. So, some aspects of the legislative architecture in the Caribbean were certainly driven by the need to have enslaved people not assemble, or gather for any reason, whether to worship their gods or to plan rebellions. This legislative architecture is very much present even today, when you see the Obeah Act still on the books in Jamaica.” Jamaica needs to keep making films that boldly represent the region, communities and cultures, even as it grapples with tough challenges such as rebuilding after Hurricane Melissa, Stanley Niaah said. Brown, who had to cancel this year’s film festival after Hurricane Melissa demolished parts of Black River, where the event is normally held, echoed Stanley Niaah’s sentiments, describing Stew Peas as “a ray of hope”, as Jamaica’s multibillion-dollar creative industry struggles to recover. “This year I had to postpone the Black River film festival, which was a real blow because it was part of how Jamaican creatives were starting to connect with the globe, including contacts from major networks like Canal+ and Netflix,” she said. She added: “The hurricane destroyed so much! It destroyed infrastructure, equipment and for some people it destroyed hope. And that is why we need projects like this that demonstrate the resilience of Jamaicans, and send a message to the world that we are still making music and movies and adding that quintessential Jamaican green, gold and black hue to entertainment.” Jamaica’s film commissioner Jackie Jacqueline Jackson said films such as Stew Peas are “a powerful testament to the resilience, ingenuity, and determination of Jamaica’s creative industry”. “It’s important to keep going and demonstrate that Jamaica is still open for business. By signalling this, it encourages international productions to return to Jamaica which positively affects jobs and film production expenditure,” she added.

Americans echo Pope Leo’s concerns about AI: ‘It threatens workers, privacy and human life’

In his first major papal text since assuming leadership of the Catholic church last year, Pope Leo issued a stark warning about the rise of artificial intelligence this week, denouncing the “culture of power” driving the AI age. Calling for the “most rigorous” ethical constraints on AI – which he described as one of the greatest threats facing humanity today – the first US-born pope also warned of “new forms of slavery” emerging through the digital economy. Speaking to the Guardian, readers in the US echoed the pope’s concerns, describing AI as an “unregulated” industry increasingly being used to the “detriment of too many people”, while also raising fears about surveillance, labor displacement, war and environmental harm. For Linda Given, a 74-year-old resident of Boston, Massachusetts, who ran a small gift store in Cambridge for nearly 40 years, the pope’s warning resonated deeply. “I think he’s right to emphasize the dignity of humans, and to warn that things in the AI field are moving both too fast, and without any significant oversight,” Given said, adding: “To use it as any kind of substitute for human interaction or human agency [is] awful … [and] the entirely likely possibility it could be manipulated to do destructive things.” Stephen Sincoskie, a 55-year-old print shop supervisor from Howell, New Jersey, expressed similar concerns. “Unregulated AI is a possible threat to workers, privacy and even human life. Unfortunately, the most corrupt family in politics … is making money to look the other way,” he said. “I’m concerned the use of AI will replace workers and assist in the ushering in of a fascistic surveillance state. I do not believe for one second the 1% are interested in paying out guaranteed monthly salaries for everyone to relax and enjoy a career and ‘debt free’ life.” Others focused on the effect AI is already having on education and critical thinking. Debra, a 58-year-old college professor in Massachusetts, said she worries students are losing critical thinking skills. “From my perspective, AI is robbing many students of the need to think critically, learn the ways of research and express themselves by writing,” she said, before adding: “I appreciate the perspective of the pope and just wish that the church could apply the logic used with respect to AI to their church’s positions on matters relating to gender and sexuality. For instance, it’s ridiculous that women cannot serve as priests in the church. That should be an easy one to fix, but unfortunately these supposedly holy men can’t see their way clearly to recognizing that inherent human dignity extends to women too.” For Scott Gibb, a 70-year-old retiree in California, the issue came down to moral leadership. “Someone needs to have some moral clarity around this issue and it sure isn’t Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk. They are soulless,” Gibb, who is not Catholic but supports Pope Leo, said. Lauren, a Baltimore, Maryland-based reader who works in international aid and relief, also praised the pope’s intervention. “His encyclical and his remarks constitute much needed moral leadership in this time, especially when the tech leaders are interested mainly in profit at the expense of humanity,” she said. She also pointed to AI’s environmental costs and growing use in warfare. “Yes, AI is consuming natural resources and land at an alarming pace, for dubious benefits. At its best, if the product succeeds as tech leaders want it to, it will replace humans and make it difficult for regular people to earn a living. It is already used in war, and there are concerns it has accelerated conflicts and led to the killing of civilians. The expansion of AI is happening without any input from citizens, and the threat from AI is enormous.” Sam Bakkila, a 37-year-old computer science and instructional designer based in New York City, agreed with many of the pope’s criticisms. “AI is being developed and pushed by some of the worst leaders in the American technology and venture capital industries, whose whole strategy is to move fast, break things, and take advantage of government bureaucracy’s inability to regulate them in a timely manner to create hugely powerful monopolies before the government can catch up,” Bakkila, whose livelihood depends on helping students use AI professionally, said. “I don’t think it’s possible to understand anything happening in American politics right now without thinking through the impact of AI. I think that tech CEOs lined up behind Donald Trump knowing that this four-year period would be crucial for AI adoption, and that they supported him knowing that he would both avoid regulating AI and would secure hundreds of billions of dollars of government funding for AI infrastructure and integrating AI into defense networks.” Bakkila continued: “AI is pushing American corporations further towards monopolies … and these corporations have now realized that it is in their interest to secure a political environment that will not regulate them.” Paul, a 67-year-old former professor of ethics and logic in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, compared AI to nuclear weapons, arguing that both possess the capacity for mass harm. “They both target everywhere and nearly anyone on the planet. Why have nukes never been used? Simply put: humans successfully applied commonly held ethical/moral rules to prevent their use. Absent my nation’s gross folly in bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they’ve not been used since. We have, worldwide, invoked a shared ethical stance: we shall not use them,” he said. “AI has equal power to create conditions/actions to harm, even kill millions of humans. It is designed to enslave us. Yet, there isn’t a whit of ethical programming built in, except to serve a global oligarchy in domination of everything,” Paul added. Not all readers, however, agreed that the pope’s views should carry particular authority in the global debate on AI. “I don’t understand why the pope’s remarks should have any bearing on anything whatsoever. In an increasingly secular world, why does somebody who claims to speak for an alleged deity have any relevance?” said Charlie Hinkle, a 60-year-old tech worker from Charlotte, North Carolina. He continued: “The Catholic church might be the largest organized religion in the world, but its believers have long seemed to go their own way on issues (contraception, LGBTQ rights, women’s empowerment, etc). The pope, as far as I am concerned, is irrelevant.” A 76-year-old firefighter based in Oklahoma similarly dismissed the broader framing of religion versus AI. “I find the debate over AI versus religion, any religion, to be pointless, akin to arguing which is worse, Ebola or hantavirus, when both are equally odious. The insistence on a reliance on either religion or AI exposes a serious weakness in the human condition, that being the need for some external validation or support, which leads to manipulation and use of the individual by the purveyors of one or the other,” he said.