The United Nations on Monday called for the unconditional release of the estimated 10,000 people arbitrarily detained in Eritrea, including politicians, journalists and students.

The Horn of Africa country has been ruled with an iron fist by President Isaias Afwerki, 79, since independence from Ethiopia in 1993, and ranks near the bottom of every rights indicator.

"The recent release of 13 Eritreans from nearly 18 years of arbitrary detention is an encouraging development," UN human rights office spokesman Seif Magango said in a statement.

"We call on the authorities to unconditionally release all individuals still arbitrarily detained across the country, including the G11 former senior government officials who were detained in 2001 after calling for governance reforms."

The UK-based NGO Human Rights Concern-Eritrea last week welcomed the release earlier this month of 13 people, including an ex-Olympian and former police officers, who had been imprisoned without charge, trial, or access to a lawyer.

It said during their detention in Mai Serwa prison, near the capital Asmara, some had been confined to metal containers where temperatures fluctuated between extreme heat and bitter cold.

Dissenting voices in the country, home to around 3.5 million people, disappear into prison camps, and civilians face military conscription or forced labour.

"There are estimated to be more than 10,000 people in arbitrary detention in Eritrea, among them politicians, journalists, priests and students," said Magango.

"Our office stands ready to continue its engagement with the Eritrean authorities to ensure Eritrea fully complies with its international human rights obligations."

(with AFP)

Belgrade (AFP) – Serbian prosecutors indicted the country's culture minister and three others on Monday over "alleged illegalities" in the approval process of a hotel project linked to US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Plans to transform the bombed-out former Yugoslav army headquarters in Belgrade into a high-rise hotel first stalled in May when allegations emerged that the move to revoke the building's protected status had been based on a forged document.

In a statement, organised crime prosecutors said they had indicted Culture Minister Nikola Selakovic and three others over alleged abuse of office and forgery of an official document that had allowed the removal of the site's "cultural-heritage status".

Despite an ongoing investigation, lawmakers moved to fast-track the development last month, claiming it was an urgent project.

Protests erupted afterwards in the capital, with demonstrators calling for the towering ruins to be preserved both for their unique modernist architecture and as a memorial to mark the 1999 NATO bombing that left the building damaged.

Affinity Partners, a Miami-based investment firm linked to Kushner, signed a 99-year land deal with the Serbian government last year to redevelop the site shortly after its cultural asset status was revoked.

But prosecutors said in May that the acting head of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, Goran Vasic, had admitted to forging an official document.

Vasic was one of the four indicted on Wednesday, alongside Selakovic and two other officials.

If found guilty, they could face up to five years in prison.

President Aleksandar Vucic, who has hosted Kushner several times, has publicly backed the project and previously said he would pardon anyone who faced charges over the development.

"I will not give them the opportunity to prosecute those who are not guilty of anything. I am guilty. I am the one who wanted Serbia's modernisation. I am the one who wanted to bring in a major investor," Vucic said on Monday during a visit to the southern city of Nis.

Phnom Penh (AFP) – Cambodia accused Thailand on Monday of striking deep inside its territory, bombing the province that is home to the centuries-old Angkor temples -- the country's top tourist draw -- for the first time in a reignited border conflict.

Five days of fighting in July killed dozens of people before a truce was brokered and then broken within months, part of a long-standing conflict rooted in the colonial-era demarcation of the countries' 800-kilometre (500-mile) frontier.

Renewed fighting between the Southeast Asian neighbours this month has killed at least 31 people, including soldiers and civilians, and displaced around 800,000, officials said.

Each side has blamed the other for instigating the fighting, claiming self-defence and trading accusations of attacks on civilians.

Cambodia, which is outgunned and outspent by Bangkok's military, said Thai forces had expanded their attack "deep into" Cambodian territory on Monday.

Cambodia's defence ministry said in a statement that a Thai fighter jet had bombed "near a displaced civilians camp in the area of Srei Snam district, Siem Reap province".

The area is located less than a two-hour drive from the the Angkor temple complex and its top tourist attraction, the UNESCO heritage site Angkor Wat.

Cambodia's Information Minister Neth Pheaktra told AFP it was the "furthest that the Thai military has struck into Cambodian territory" during the renewed clashes -- more than 70 kilometres (43 miles) from the border and far from a disputed area.

The minister said it was also the first time Thailand's military had bombed areas of Siem Reap province.

The bombing forced hundreds of already displaced families to flee an evacuation site, he added.

Cambodia relies heavily on its tourism sector, which, as in many nations, is still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic years.

Foreign tourist arrivals to Cambodia last year topped 6.7 million, the highest annual total on record, tourism ministry data showed.

But arrivals from July to September this year were down by about a third compared to 2019, the year before the pandemic.

Monthly ticket sales to the Angkor archaeological park were down at least 17 percent year-on-year from June to November, according to data from operator Angkor Enterprise.

Chhay Sivlin, president of the Cambodia Association of Travel Agents, told AFP that some tourists who planned to visit Cambodia via a Thai border crossing have cancelled plans or changed routes to go through neighbouring Vietnam or Laos.

She said the reports of bombing in Siem Reap province made "some tourists who have booked their trips already worry very much".

Some have cancelled travel plans while others have asked to delay their trip, she added.

US President Donald Trump, who intervened in the conflict earlier this year, said last week the two countries had agreed to a ceasefire beginning Saturday night.

But fighting raged over the weekend and into Monday, and Bangkok denied Trump's claim of a truce.

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul -- who dissolved parliament last week, paving the way for elections next year -- posted on Facebook on Sunday that his government would keep up the fight.

Military officials on both sides said clashes and strikes along the border were ongoing on Monday.

Safi (Morocco) (AFP) – A flash flood in a Moroccan coastal town killed at least 37 people, local officials said on Monday, as search and rescue operations continued.

Drought-hit Morocco often faces severe weather, but Sunday's flooding in Safi is already the deadliest such disaster in at least a decade.

A muddy torrent swept cars and bins from the streets in Safi, which is around 300 kilometres (186 miles) south of the capital Rabat.

National weather forecaster, the General Directorate of Meteorology (DGM), warned that more thunderstorms were likely over the next three days in several areas, including Safi.

Fourteen survivors are being treated at Mohammed V hospital in the town, with two of them in intensive care, according to local officials.

Schools have been closed for at least three days with mud and debris clogging the streets.

"The water overwhelmed us. We couldn't sleep all night. We lost everything, even my children's textbooks," mother-of-six Hanane Nasreddine told AFP, her voice trembling.

Nezha El Meghouari said she had had only moments to escape her home alive.

"I've lost all my clothes. Only my neighbour gave me some to cover myself. I have nothing left. I've lost everything," she said.

At least 70 homes and businesses in the historic town centre were flooded and 55-year-old shopkeeper Abdelkader Mezraoui said the retail economy had been devastated.

"Jewellery store owners have lost all their stock... and the same goes for clothing store owners," he said, calling for official compensation to save businesses.

Safi is known as a centre for arts and crafts, particularly terracotta pottery, and the streets were left littered with smashed bowls and tajines.

The Moroccan prosecutor's office announced the opening of an investigation to determine if anyone bore responsibility for the extent of the damage, according to official news agency MAP.

Local officials also held a meeting to adopt emergency measures.

Late on Sunday, the rescuer Azzedine Kattane told AFP about the strong "psychological impact of the tragedy" in light of the large number of victims.

As the waters receded, they left behind a landscape of mud and overturned cars. Onlookers watched Civil Protection units and local residents working to clear debris.

Morocco is struggling with a severe drought for the seventh consecutive year, while last year was the North African kingdom's hottest on record.

Climate change has made storms more intense, because a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture and warmer seas can turbocharge weather systems.

Flash floods killed hundreds in Morocco in 1995 and scores in 2002.

Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – Brussels is headed for a showdown this week over the European Union's free-trade deal with South American bloc Mercosur, after France launched a last-ditch effort to derail the signing of the landmark accord.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen is due in Brazil on Saturday to sign the agreement, which, 20 years in the making, would create the world's biggest free-trade area.

First though she needs to get approval from the EU's member states -- despite frontal opposition from key power France which warned Sunday the conditions were not in place for a vote.

President Emmanuel Macron's office said he had reached out to von der Leyen to personally request a delay.

But the commission, which steers trade policy for the EU, reiterated Monday it still expects the deal to be signed by the end of the year.

"Signing the deal now is a matter of crucial importance -- economically, diplomatically and geopolitically," said a spokesman for the EU's executive.

Wrangling is set to go down to the wire, with up to 10,000 farmers planning to descend on the Belgian capital to vent their anger at the deal during a leaders' summit Thursday and Friday.

The deal will allow the EU to export more vehicles, machinery, wines and spirits to Latin America, while facilitating the entry of South American beef, sugar, rice, honey and soybeans into Europe.

Fearing negative fallout for its agricultural sector -- a concern shared by farmers in Poland and elsewhere -- France has been clamouring for robust safeguard clauses, tighter import controls and more stringent standards for Mercosur producers.

Paris faces an uphill battle to block the treaty, which only needs support from a weighted majority of EU countries to pass.

Powerhouse Germany, Spain and the Nordic countries are strong backers of the pact, eager to boost exports as Europe grapples with Chinese competition and US tariffs.

A source in the European Commission said the time to close the deal was "now or never".

But disagreements in a key week when the 27-nation bloc also has to decide on the divisive issue of using frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine are leaving some uneasy.

"If there is no compromise this week, we risk a serious European crisis. It will be a major failure for the commission, for Germany and for Spain," said one European diplomat.

A time for the member state vote is still to be determined.

Complicating matters, the European Parliament is to vote Tuesday on "safeguard" measures aimed at reassuring farmers -- and placating France.

EU states have already approved the safeguard clause in question, but lawmakers may decide to strengthen it further.

In another gesture aimed at Paris, the commission last week announced tighter checks on farm imports to ensure they meet EU standards, and pledged to update rules on pesticide residues to prevent banned substances entering via imports.

Von der Leyen intends to join the leaders of Mercosur members Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay in Foz do Iguacu, home of the famed Iguacu waterfalls, for the signing.

Even if she seals the deal in time to fly there, the battle will not be over.

The European Parliament must still give its final approval to the accord, likely in early 2026. Insiders expect a close vote, with national interests weighing heavily.

"All the French will vote against, most of the Poles too," said one parliamentary source, expecting opposition to run across party lines in those countries.

Add parliament's far-left and far-right groups, which broadly dislike the deal, the source said, and you reach around 300 of the assembly's 720 lawmakers -- which could make for an uncomfortably tight vote.

I want to have as many high-quality stations as possible.

Santiago (Chile) (AFP) – Chile elected its most right-wing president in 35 years of democracy on Sunday, with arch-conservative Jose Antonio Kast scoring a thumping victory over his leftist runoff rival.

With almost all the ballots counted, Kast won some 58 percent of the vote and held an unassailable lead over Jeannette Jara, a communist who headed a broad leftist coalition.

Kast campaigned on a promise to expel more than 300,000 immigrants, seal the northern border, take a "firm hand" on near-record crime rates and restart the stalled economy.

"Chile wanted change" he told thousands of elated supporters Sunday evening, vowing to "restore respect for the law," while pledging to govern for all Chileans and to listen to critics.

Once one of the Americas safest countries, Chile was hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, violent social protests and an influx of foreign organized crime groups.

In Santiago, Kast supporters beeped car horns, waved flags and cheered a man who has repeatedly defended the bloody dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

Retiree Gina Mello hoped Kast would "deploy the military" to the streets from day one, "lock up all the drug traffickers and deport anyone who came here to commit crimes."

Supporters sang the national anthem, chanted "Pinochet! Pinochet!" and clasped portraits of the late autocrat. Another Kast voter came dressed as US President Donald Trump.

For Kast, a 59-year-old father of nine, it was third time lucky, after two failed attempts at the presidency.

It is the latest victory for Latin America's right, after winning elections in Argentina, Bolivia, Honduras, El Salvador and Ecuador.

Quickly after the polls closed and the scale of the victory became clear, Jara called Kast to concede defeat, saying voters had spoken "loud and clear."

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Argentina's Javier Milei were among those who sent their congratulations.

Kast is far to the right of most Chileans on many social issues, including abortion, which he opposes without exceptions.

But many Chileans fed up with high crime and slow growth during four years of leftist rule said they would vote for change, despite misgivings.

Polls showed more than 60 percent of Chileans thought security is the top issue facing the country.

And while statistics show that violent crime -- fueled by Venezuelan, Peruvian, Colombian and Ecuadoran gangs -- has risen in the last 10 years, fears about crime have risen even faster.

Richard Kouyoumdjian, a security expert and former naval officer, said Kast would have to quickly develop a strategy to secure the border, strengthen the police, bring immigration under control and end an Indigenous insurgency in the south.

"On security its very basic what he's said," Kouyoumdjian told AFP. "It's policy in 200 characters on Facebook or Twitter."

Kast's hardline positions have raised fears that he will try to rewrite the history of a dictatorship that tortured and imprisoned tens of thousands of people.

"I'm fearful because I think we are going to have a lot of repression," said 71-year-old retiree Cecilia Mora.

"I see him as a Pinochet out of uniform," she said.

Pinochet left power in 1990, after Chileans rejected a bid to extend his 17-year rule via referendum. At the time Kast campaigned for Pinochet.

Kast's family background has also raised questions. Media investigations have revealed his German-born father was a member of Adolf Hitler's Nazi party and a soldier during World War II.

Kast insists his father was a forced conscript and did not support the Nazis.

Jara's stint as labor minister under outgoing leftist President Gabriel Boric proved to be an Achilles' Heel.

Boric's term was crippled by repeated failed attempts to reform the Pinochet-era constitution.

Since 2010, Chileans have alternated between left- and right-wing governments at every presidential election.

Kast will take office in March.

Hong Kong (AFP) – Hong Kong's oldest pro-democracy party has decided to disband, the group announced Sunday, after its members formally voted to dissolve the organisation and enter liquidation.

The Democratic Party was founded in 1994, near the end of British colonial rule, when Hong Kong's leading liberal groups merged.

"Over these thirty years, we have taken part in and borne witness to the development and transformation of Hong Kong society, watching its systems and environment undergo one profound change after another," the party said in a statement.

"Yet as the times have shifted, we now, with deep regret, must bring this chapter to a close," it added.

At Sunday's meeting, 117 out of 121 members voted for the group's liquidation, with the remaining four votes being blank ballots, Lo Kin-hei, the party's chair, told a news conference.

He said that it was a "collective decision" made by party members, adding that it is the best way forward for them.

"We are deeply grateful to all the citizens who have walked with the Democratic Party for the past 30 years," Lo said.

Former party leader Emily Lau reacted to the dissolution with dismay when leaving the meeting Sunday, telling reporters: "I don't understand why the Democratic Party would end up like this."

"I think Beijing needs to provide an explanation," she added.

Lo said the disbandment was due to Hong Kong's "political environment", but declined to provide details of the constraints the party was facing.

The Democratic Party's top concern was determining how the city would eventually elect its own leader and lawmakers through universal suffrage under China's "One Country, Two Systems" model.

It said in its manifesto that "as part of the Chinese citizenry, we have the rights and obligations to participate in and comment on the affairs of China".

Following Hong Kong's handover to China in 1997, the party became the most influential voice of opposition in the city's legislature and led peaceful street demonstrations.

The disbandment decision indicated the regression of Hong Kong from being a liberal society into an "authoritarian society", said Yeung Sum, a former party leader who has served jail time.

With the demise of Hong Kong's top pro-democracy parties, no candidate put forward a pro-democracy platform in the legislature election held this month -- which critics pointed to as another sign of the city's slide towards authoritarianism.

Yeung added that younger generations would feel frustrated if the political system went "backwards".

"I think this kind of fighting for democracy will carry on, even though we got ourselves disbanded today," the 78-year-old said. "We won't die away. We won't fade away."

Beijing tightened its grip on the Chinese finance hub after massive and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in 2019.

After the imposition of the national security law, the city's political opposition dwindled, with most democracy campaigners jailed or overseas.

The party holds no elected seats after its lawmakers resigned en masse from the Legislative Council in 2020.

Four party lawmakers were jailed last year for subversion under a Beijing-imposed national security law.

Former party leader Albert Ho is behind bars pending trial for national security charges that could see him jailed for life.

Hong Kong's second-largest opposition group, the Civic Party, closed its doors in 2023.

Another party, the League of Social Democrats, announced its disbandment in June this year, citing "immense political pressure".

"The Hong Kong government should be more open, they should accept more different kinds of opinions, even though there may be some opposition," Lo said on Sunday.

"But that is how the society works and that is how things progress," he added.

Providence (United States) (AFP) – Hundreds of police officers hunted Sunday for a gunman who killed two people and wounded nine others at Brown University, plunging the eastern US campus into lockdown.

The streets around the university in Providence, Rhode Island were filled with emergency vehicles hours after the shooter opened fire Saturday at a building where exams were taking place.

The violence is the latest in a long line of school attacks in the United States, where attempts to restrict access to firearms face political deadlock.

Witness Katie Sun told the Brown Daily Herald student newspaper she was studying in a nearby building when she heard gunfire. She ran to her dorm, leaving all her belongings behind.

"It was honestly quite terrifying. The shots seemed like they were coming from... where the classrooms are," she said.

Eight hours after the shooting, the gunman was still at large, and some 400 police ranging from FBI agents to campus cops swarmed the quaint New England campus.

"I can confirm that there are two individuals who have died this afternoon, and there are another eight in critical status, though stable," Providence Mayor Brett Smiley told a news conference.

A ninth person who "received fragments from the shooting" was later taken to the hospital, authorities said.

Police released 10 seconds of footage of the suspect walking briskly down a deserted street, seen from behind after opening fire inside a first-floor classroom.

Ten of the 11 victims were students, Brown University President Christina Paxson said in a late night briefing.

"My heart breaks for the students who were looking forward to a holiday break and instead are dealing with another horrifying mass shooting," Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse posted on X.

There have been more than 300 mass shootings in the United States so far this year including this one, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot.

A shelter order remains in place, Providence Emergency Management Agency said on social media.

Smiley, Providence's mayor, said that city officials "do not feel that it is necessary" for local residents to cancel holiday-related plans over the weekend or throughout the week.

"In the hours that have eclipsed since the initial shooting, we've received no additional credible information that there is any specific ongoing threat from this individual," Smiley added.

Final exams scheduled for Sunday have been postponed, University officials said.

The shooting took place at the Barus and Holley building, home to the engineering and physics departments, on campus of the Ivy League university.

Two exams had been scheduled to take place in the building at the time of the shooting, the university said.

Law enforcement described the suspect as a man dressed in all black.

"We're utilizing every resource possible to find this suspect. The shelter in place is still in order and I urge people to take that very seriously. Please do not come to the area," Deputy Police Chief Timothy O'Hara said in a news breifing.

The gunman was last seen leaving the building, and no weapon had been recovered, authorities said.

Brown sent an emergency alert at 4:22 pm (2122 GMT) reporting "an active shooter near Barus and Holley Engineering."

"Lock doors, silence phones and stay hidden until further notice," it said.

Law enforcement and first responders swarmed the scene, with local news station WPRI reporting "clothing and blood on the sidewalk."

US President Donald Trump had been briefed on the shooting.

"What a terrible thing it is," he said. "All we can do right now is pray for the victims."

Brown University in Providence, near Boston, has about 11,000 students.

The deadliest school shooting in US history took place at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007, when South Korean student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people and wounded 17 others before taking his own life.

Port Sudan (Sudan) (AFP) – Six United Nations peacekeepers from Bangladesh were killed on Saturday in a drone strike on Sudan's southern Kordofan region, the UN mission said, with Dhaka sharply condemning the attack.

The United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) said "six troops were killed and six injured", including four seriously, when a drone hit their camp in Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan state.

All of the victims are from Bangladesh, it said.

UN chief Antonio Guterres condemned the "horrific" attack, saying it "may constitute war crimes under international law".

"Attacks as the one today in South Kordofan against peacekeepers are unjustifiable. There will need to be accountability," he said in a statement.

Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus in a statement said he was "deeply saddened" by the attack, and put the toll at six dead and eight wounded.

He asked the UN to ensure that his country's personnel were offered "any necessary emergency support".

"The government of Bangladesh will stand by the families in this difficult moment," Yunus added.

Dhaka's foreign ministry said it "strongly condemned" the attack.

UN peacekeepers are deployed to Abyei, a disputed region between Sudan and South Sudan.

A medical source had earlier told AFP that the strike on a United Nations facility in Kadugli killed at least six people, with witnesses saying they were UN employees.

"Six people were killed in a bombing of the UN headquarters while they were inside the building," the medical source at the city's hospital said.

Eyewitnesses said a drone had hit the UN facility.

The Sudanese army published a video on its Facebook page showing fires blazing and two columns of smoke rising from the UNISFA base.

The army-aligned government based in Port Sudan issued a statement condemning the attack and accusing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of being behind it.

In a statement, the Sovereignty Council headed by army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan called the attack a "dangerous escalation".

The RSF in a statement on Telegram said it rejected "the claims and allegations... regarding an air attack that targeted the United Nations headquarters in Kadugli, and the accompanying false accusations against our forces of being behind it through the use of a drone".

Meanwhile, Sudanese Prime Minister Kamil Idris said that "the terrorist rebel militia has met all the conditions to be classified as a terrorist group", and urged the UN to "bring the perpetrators to justice".

Kadugli, where famine was declared in early November, has been besieged for a year and a half by the RSF.

...

Damascus (AFP) – Two American troops and a civilian interpreter were killed in central Syria on Saturday after an alleged member of the Islamic State (IS) group opened fire on a joint US-Syrian patrol, officials said.

"We mourn the loss of three Great American Patriots in Syria," US President Donald Trump said on his Truth Social platform, vowing "very serious retaliation."

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the attack took place in Palmyra, home to UNESCO-listed ancient ruins and once controlled by the IS group -- also known as ISIS -- during the height of its territorial expansion in Syria.

The deadly attack had been "an ambush by a lone ISIS gunman," who was "engaged and killed," US Central Command said on X.

Trump called it "an ISIS attack against the US, and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them."

Three other wounded US troops were "doing well," Trump said.

The soldiers "were conducting a key leader engagement" in support of counterterrorism operations when the attack occurred, Parnell said, while US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said the ambush targeted "a joint US–Syrian government patrol".

The incident is the first of its kind reported since Islamist-led forces overthrew longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in December last year, and rekindled the country's ties with the United States.

Trump said Syria's new President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who visited the White House last month, was "extremely angry and disturbed by this attack."

Syria's foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani said in a post on X that Damascus "strongly condemns the terrorist attack that targeted a joint Syria-US counterterrorism patrol near Palmyra".

"We extend our condolences to the families of the victims, as well as to the American government and people, and wish the wounded a speedy recovery."

A Syrian military official who requested anonymity said the shots were fired "during a meeting between Syrian and American officers" at a Syrian base in Palmyra.

A witness, who asked to remain anonymous, said he heard the shots coming from inside the base.

However, a Pentagon official speaking on the condition of anonymity told AFP the attack "took place in an area where the Syrian President does not have control."

In an interview on state television, Syrian Interior Ministry spokesman Anwar al-Baba said there had been "prior warnings from the internal security command to allied forces in the desert region" of a potential IS "infiltration".

"The international coalition forces did not take the Syrian warnings of a possible IS infiltration into consideration," he said.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria, the meeting came as part of an "American strategy to strengthen its presence and foothold in the Syrian desert".

The official SANA news agency reported that helicopters evacuated the wounded to the Al-Tanf base in southern Syria, where American troops are deployed as part of the Washington-led global coalition against the IS group.

Last month, during al-Sharaa's historic visit to Washington, Damascus formally joined the coalition.

IS seized swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territory in 2014 during Syria's civil war, before being territorially defeated in the country five years later.

Its fighters still maintain a presence, however, particularly in Syria's vast desert.

US forces are deployed in Syria's Kurdish-controlled northeast as well as at Al-Tanf near the border with Jordan.

Budapest (AFP) – A demonstration in the Hungarian capital Budapest Saturday drew tens of thousands of protesters demanding that Prime Minister Viktor Orban resign due to perceived inaction over allegations of child abuse in state-run institutions.

Since returning to power in 2010, the nationalist premier has vowed to prioritise protection of children but multiple high-profile child abuse scandals have rocked his government in recent times.

Saturday's protest was called by opposition leader Peter Magyar, whose TISZA party is leading opinion polls ahead of parliamentary elections in spring, after fresh allegations surfaced at a juvenile detention centre in the capital.

"Normally a government would be toppled after a case like this," 16-year-old David Kozak told AFP.

"For them the problem is not that the abuses happened, but that they were revealed."

At least 50,000 demonstrators hit the streets, some of them brandishing cuddly children's toys, according to AFP journalists.

Magyar led the crowd, holding a banner that read "Let's protect children".

The latest scandal erupted when CCTV footage emerged showing the then director of the Szolo Street juvenile detention centre kicking a boy in the head.

Four staff members were taken into custody earlier this week, and the government has placed all such facilities under police supervision.

Three other employees had been arrested earlier, including another former director who is accused of running a prostitution ring.

"We should be outraged at what is being done with the most vulnerable children," said Zsuzsa Szalay, a 73-year-old pensioner taking part in the protest.

On Friday, Magyar released a previously unpublished official report from 2021 which found that over a fifth of children in state-run care institutions have been abused.

The government has insisted that action was being taken against suspected child abuse.

The 2021 report was passed on to the relevant authorities in 2022 "to assist their work," the interior ministry said in a statement.

Orban has condemned the latest abuse case, saying even "young criminals should not be treated this way".

Last year, Katalin Novak was forced to resign as president after it emerged she pardoned a convicted child abuser's accomplice.

That scandal has shaken his tight group on power and helped fuel the rise of Magyar, a former government insider.