AFP

It took less than 24 hours in Saudi Arabia for US President Joe Biden to tarnish an image he has long cultivated: that of a fierce defender of human rights. 

The life of any politician is dotted with campaign pledges that ultimately backfire, and for Biden that list now includes his 2019 vow to make the desert kingdom a “pariah” over its human rights record. 

Similarly his solemn description, delivered last year on US Independence Day, of Washington’s role on the global stage: “We stand as a beacon to the world.”

It was difficult for many to reconcile those words with the single-most searing image from Biden’s first visit to the Middle East as president: his fist-bump with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

US intelligence officials believe the crown prince, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, “approved” the 2018 operation that led to the killing and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. 

Taken outside a palace in the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah, the fist-bump image was immediately distributed by official Saudi news outlets before doing the rounds on social media.

It eventually landed on the front page of The Washington Post, where Khashoggi was a contributing columnist.

– ‘Shameful’ –

Prior to Biden’s arrival in Jeddah, the White House took several measures to try to mitigate blowback from an encounter it knew was coming. 

Biden published a column in the Post explaining his reasons for making the trip, saying he wanted to “strengthen a strategic partnership” while insisting that “fundamental freedoms are always on the agenda when I travel abroad”. 

At the start of the tour, which took him to Jerusalem and Bethlehem before Jeddah, his communications team said Biden would limit physical contact with those he met, citing coronavirus concerns. 

Some journalists immediately speculated that the measures — which Biden ended up not fully adhering to — were motivated less by public health and more by fear of an awkward photo-op with Prince Mohammed, often referred to by his initials, MBS. 

In the end, the first-bump in Jeddah “was worse than a handshake — it was shameful”, the Post’s CEO Fred Ryan said in a statement. 

“It projected a level of intimacy and comfort that delivers to MBS the unwarranted redemption he has been desperately seeking.” 

The travelling press corps wasn’t present for the scene. By the time they arrived at the palace in Jeddah, the two leaders had already gone inside. 

But soon the “fist-bump” was inescapable, broadcast on a seemingly constant loop by state media and Saudi government social media accounts.

White House-accredited journalists faced further restrictions as Biden held his meetings with the Saudi leadership. 

They were only allowed in briefly for a meeting of the American and Saudi government delegations, and they were kept some distance from the negotiating table. 

Brief statements from Biden and Prince Mohammed were rendered inaudible as boom microphones were not permitted. 

– ‘Autocrats are smiling’ –

After his meetings with Saudi royals ended Friday evening, the White House hastily arranged for Biden to deliver brief remarks and take a few questions. 

Biden told journalists he had raised the Khashoggi case “at the top” of his meeting with Prince Mohammed, adding that he’d made clear “what I thought of it at the time and what I think of it now”. 

On Saturday, Biden told leaders from nine Arab nations assembled for a summit that “the future will be won by countries that unleash the full potential of their populations… where citizens can question and criticise leaders without fear of reprisal”. 

But the fist-bump had already become the tour’s defining shot. 

Earlier, in Israel, Biden explained his decision to go to Saudi Arabia by appearing to allude to the political compromise it represented. 

“My views on Khashoggi have been absolutely, positively clear, and I have never been quiet about talking about human rights,” he told a press conference. 

But beyond human rights, Biden said the trip was intended “to promote US interests”, a likely nod to the need to push for more oil production from the world’s biggest crude exporter, as rising gas prices hurt his party’s prospects ahead of November mid-term elections. 

Back home in the US, Biden got no sympathy from human rights activists. 

“The autocrats of the world are smiling,” Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, said on Twitter. 

“Biden’s support for human rights can be sold for a smidgen of oil.”

Just like any other Portuguese bullfight, the elegant rider deftly guides his horse around the charging bull’s horns, before bending down to plant a bandarilha in its spine.

Except that no blood is spilled — the small spear is velcro-padded, and sticks to a cushion attached to the bull’s back — and most of the spectators’ cheers are in English.

The scene takes place in Turlock, a small town in the heart of rural California, where tens of thousands of Portuguese-Americans have lived for decades, keeping the traditions of their ancestral homeland alive, not least bullfighting.

But due to Californian law, there can be no bloodshed. 

“The first time I came here in California, 15 years ago, it was like ‘woah, amazing’ because they have everything like Portugal,” said Joao Soller Garcia, a “cavaleiro” or horse rider, who travelled from Lisbon to take part in the bullfight.

“Go to a bullfight in Portugal and it’s the same thing,” he said shortly before entering the arena to be applauded by some 4,000 spectators.

The majority of the crowd are of Portuguese descent — mainly immigrants from the Azores islands, who began to settle this agricultural area in the early 20th century.

The community has been growing ever since, with its own newspapers, radio stations and associations.

– ‘Our lifestyle’ –

Some 350,000 Californians proudly claim Portuguese heritage, and often remain fiercely attached to their culture and language.

This is the case for Jose, 30, who came to watch the bullfight with friends.

Born in California, he switches from English to Portuguese seemingly without noticing.

“It comes naturally to me. A lot of people here speak Portuguese in their daily life, even the younger ones, ” he said.

“Sometimes it is easier for me to express my feelings or to joke in Portuguese. Portuguese is a very emotional language,” he added.

Above the arena, the Portuguese flag flies alongside the American flag, and the Portuguese national anthem strikes up before its US counterpart.

The bullfight itself is organized by a religious group, led by Antonio Mendes, a cattle breeder in his 70s who revived the tradition in 1993.

“We’re Portuguese and that’s part of our lifestyle, especially the island that I’m from — it’s just rooted,” he said.

– Grab by the horns –

Portuguese bullfights differ from the Spanish style, in that the animal is never killed in the arena.

But in traditional Portuguese events, the bull has been weakened by several bandarilha strikes by the time the “forcados” — eight men with no horses or protection — enter the arena to tackle the animal with their bare hands.

Because the bulls in Turlock are not hurt, breeders like Mendes have created a bloodline which is just as combative, but less heavy.

“Here the bulls weigh about 900 to 1000 pounds, because it’s bloodless. In Portugal, they are 1300, 1400 pounds. Big bulls,” said George Martins, a “forcado” captain.

Teams like Martins’ are often dubbed “suicide squads” for a reason — one of them literally has the task of grabbing the bull by the horns, suffering powerful headbutts to the stomach as his companions wrestle with the animal.

“It’s not just brute strength… it takes a lot of technique,” he said.

– ‘It sucks!’ –

Joao Soller Garcia, the “cavaleiro,” enjoys both the classic Portuguese style and its Californian adaptation.

“Compared to Portugal, it is a little bit more danger because the bull is not hurt,” he said.

“It’s completely bloodless and we have to be more careful… the bull is at full strength.”

But for Maxine Sousa-Correia, from a family of cattle breeders who have produced bulls for Californian fights since the 1970s, the use of velcro bandarilhas diminishes the spectacle.

“Unfortunately, this is a mere imitation… We invented the velcro pad and the Velcro on the end of the stick just so that it would at least add some color and some pageantry,” she said. 

“But at the same time, we’re not doing justice to this animal, because this is what this breed is all is for.

Her husband Frank Correia added: “I think it sucks!”

“It should be done the way it is in Portugal. But we can’t because we’re in the United States of America and, you know, they don’t appreciate the art.”

French scientists Maurice and Katia Krafft were brought together, and eventually killed, by their shared love of volcanoes.

Now the married couple are the subject of “Fire of Love,” a new film constructed from hours of dazzling, terrifying and occasionally quirky footage they shot close to — and even inside — erupting craters.

Playing in a limited number of US theaters, the documentary from National Geographic and prestigious indie distributor Neon (“Parasite”) is earning rave reviews and generating early awards buzz.

Director Sara Dosa first stumbled upon the pair’s “spectacular imagery” while researching another documentary about Icelandic volcanoes — but was drawn more to the “love that just radiates behind the lens, unlike anything else.”

For 25 years, the Kraffts had traveled the world together in search of active volcanoes, writing some 20 books and making five feature films, plus countless television programs and lectures.

But they are perhaps best remembered today for their deaths side-by-side on Japan’s Mount Unzen volcano, which erupted in 1991 after nearly two centuries dormant, sending a fatal cloud of gas and ash surging down its eastern flank.

“Fire of Love” begins and ends with this tragic information — yet it spends the bulk of its running time on the “love triangle” between the couple and their lifelong obsession.

“Once we really learned about them as people… and the fact that they were married and also seemed to be in love with volcanoes — that’s when we thought, ‘okay, we want to make a film of these people,'” Dosa told AFP.

“We wanted to tell kind of a mythic love story that was told through the language of volcanoes,” she added.

“That’s what drew them together in the first place, and that was the propulsive material, the fuel of their relationship.”

– ‘Reckless love’ –

While Maurice was the more extroverted and ostensibly thrill-seeking of the pair — he paddles in an acid lake and plots to kayak down an active lava stream — Katia was similarly courageous in the face of peril.

Their gung-ho approach drew criticism from some of their scientific peers, but “I don’t think that we ever found them reckless, quite honestly,” said Dosa.

“They ultimately did lead a deeply meaningful life and die a meaningful death. And so much of that was this pursuit of love,” she added.

“I’m sure many people will say perhaps it was a reckless love, but for us, it was the way for them to live.”

After witnessing the staggering 1980 eruption of Mount St Helens in the northwestern United States, and the Nevado del Ruiz disaster that killed up to 25,000 Colombians five years later, the pair reoriented their work to lobby governments for better evacuation planning.

“Since they were some of the only people really capturing those images, they were uniquely suited to do that advocacy work,” said Dosa.

“And that is literally what they were trying to do as they died on mountains in 1991.”

– ‘Salve’ –

Aside from informing modern audiences about the pair’s work, Dosa hopes the film can remind viewers that the planet is not simply “a resource to be capitalized upon.” 

“These kinds of stories about the aliveness, the sentience of the Earth, are all the more important to counteract the exploitation,” she said.

Making the film during the pandemic and “having these guides, Katia and Maurice, teaching you how to navigate the unknown, and who knew how to reconcile fear — that was such a salve and a refuge for us.”

And then there is the aesthetic beauty of the footage itself, full of glowing red lava and alien-looking volcanic landscapes, all captured in a distinctive style with “the hallmarks of the French New Wave.”  

“For example, in the cinematography, there was a lot of playful snap zooms, which reminded us of films in France from the 60s and 70s,” she said.

“And their own writing — they authored nearly 20 books — almost recalled the bombastic and playful spirit of narration in Truffaut films.”

Dosa herself drew on that style, including the documentary’s own, breathy narration.

“One of the great narrative devices of the French New Wave was love triangle stories,” said Dosa.

“And for us, that was something that felt appropriate. Katia and Maurice truly did seem to have a third in their relationship — volcanoes.”

No Americans participated in the tactical operation by Mexican marines that saw notorious drug kingpin Rafael Caro Quintero taken into custody, the US ambassador to Mexico said Saturday.

Ken Salazar’s clarification followed some confusion over the extent of US involvement in the Friday operation, in which 14 servicemen of the Mexican Navy (SEMAR) died when their helicopter crashed.

Washington accuses Caro Quintero, 69, of ordering the kidnap, torture and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) special agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985.

He was detained by Mexican marines in the town of Choix in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, for “the purpose of extradition,” SEMAR said in a statement.

A statement Friday by DEA chief Anne Milgram lauded her agency’s “team in Mexico” for working “in partnership with Mexican authorities to capture and arrest Rafael Caro Quintero,” leading some to believe American personnel had taken part in the operation.

Ambassador Salazar clarified on Saturday that “no United States personnel participated in the tactical operation that resulted in Caro Quintero’s arrest.”

“We laud SEMAR for executing the operation, and lament the loss of 14 brave Mexican marines,” he added.

It was not initially known whether the helicopter carrying the marines had been taking part in operations against Caro Quintero, but Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador confirmed on Twitter late Friday that they were “supporting those who executed the arrest warrant.”

Caro Quintero had already been arrested in 1985, tried in Mexico and sentenced to 40 years in prison for Camarena’s murder.

But in 2013 a Mexican court ordered his release on a legal technicality after he served 28 years, a move that angered US authorities.

By the time Mexico’s Supreme Court overturned the decision, Caro Quintero had already gone into hiding.

The case plunged US-Mexican relations into a crisis, and it took decades for anti-drug agencies on both sides of the border to rebuild trust.

Caro Quintero, alias “Rafa,” has a $20 million bounty on his head and is described by the FBI — which put him on its list of 10 most-wanted fugitives — as “extremely dangerous.”

He is accused of co-founding the now-defunct Guadalajara drug cartel and currently runs an arm of the infamous Sinaloa cartel, according to US authorities.

The US Department of Justice expressed gratitude Friday to Mexican authorities over Caro Quintero’s arrest, confirming the US plans to seek his extradition.

“There is no hiding place for anyone who kidnaps, tortures, and murders American law enforcement,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said. 

Ukraine’s atomic energy agency accused Russia of using Europe’s largest nuclear power plant to store weapons and shell the surrounding regions of Nikopol and Dnipro that were hit Saturday.

More than 20 weeks since Russia invaded its neighbor, leading to thousands of deaths and millions of displaced Ukrainians, the war-ravaged nation’s President Volodymyr Zelensky blamed Moscow for seeking to cause maximum damage, but pledged that Ukraine will “endure” in the conflict.

Petro Kotin, president of Ukrainian nuclear agency Energoatom, called the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant “extremely tense” with up to 500 Russian soldiers controlling the plant.

The plant in southeast Ukraine has been under Russian control since the early weeks of Moscow’s invasion, though it is still operated by Ukrainian staff.

“The occupiers bring their machinery there, including missile systems, from which they already shell the other side of the river Dnipro and the territory of Nikopol,” he said in a Ukrainian television interview broadcast Friday.

Russian missiles fired Saturday struck residential buildings in the city of Nikopol, killing two people, Dnipro regional governor Valentin Reznichenko said.

In the northeast region around Ukraine’s second city of Kharkiv, governor Oleg Synegubov said an overnight Russian missile attack killed three in the town of Chuguiv.

In the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia, officials said the death toll rose to 24 from Russian strikes after a woman died of her injuries in hospital Saturday. Ukraine said three children were among the dead.

“Sixty-eight people continue treatment, including four children. Four people are still missing,” said Vinnytsia district chief Sergiy Borzov. 

– ‘Brutal blows’ –

Zelensky angrily accused the Russians of bombing campaigns that cause “maximum damage” to Ukrainian cities, and urged citizens to heed air raid signals.

In a Saturday evening address, Zelensky said Ukraine has “withstood Russia’s brutal blows” and managed to take back some of the territory it lost since the start of the war, and will eventually recapture more occupied land.

“We will endure. We will win,” he said, and “rebuild our lives.”

Russia claimed the strikes in Vinnytsia — hundreds of kilometres from frontline fighting — had killed Ukrainian military officials and foreign arms suppliers.

But Ukraine said the dead included four-year-old Liza Dmitrieva, who had Down’s syndrome and whose death spurred an outpouring of grief after footage of her final moments alive went viral on social media.

Liza’s mother is in critical condition after surgery.

The missile strikes on Vinnytsia were the latest attacks to carry a heavy civilian toll and came less than a week after strikes on Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region left nearly 50 dead.

Leaning on her cane, Olga Dekanenko walks through the rubble and debris of her home in Konstantinovka, an industrial town on the frontline in the east, that was heavily damaged in a Russian strike early Saturday.

Dekanenko was asleep when it happened. Her small bedroom overlooks the garden where the rocket landed. She woke up on the ground, covered in a mess of blankets, pillows and stones.

“We’re alive, it’s a good day,” 67-year-old Dekanenko tells AFP with a tired smile.

– ‘Clearing’ Donbas town –

A two-day meeting of finance ministers from the Group of 20 major economies looked for solutions to the food and energy crises caused by the war but the gathering ended Saturday in Indonesia without a joint communique after the conflict divided the global forum.

The failure to agree on a joint communique will hinder coordinated efforts to solve rising inflation and food shortages.

Canada meanwhile blasted Moscow’s participation in the G20 meeting as “absurd,” with Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland saying from Bali that Russia’s presence “was like inviting an arsonist to a meeting of firefighters.”

In Ukraine, the heaviest fighting has recently focused on the industrial Donbas region in the east, where grinding trench battles and artillery duels are morphing into a war of attrition.

Moscow-backed separatists said Friday they were closing in on their next target, Siversk, after wresting control of sister cities Lysychansk and Severodonetsk about 30 kilometres (18 miles) to its east.

Russia’s defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Saturday strikes targeted Ukrainian soldiers in a brigade that it said operated in the Siversk direction.

And Donetsk separatist official Daniil Versonov said rebel fighters were “clearing” eastern districts of Siversk in small groups.

Ukraine has repeatedly urged allies to supply it with advanced, long-range precision artillery systems that would allow it to target Russian forces deeper inside Ukrainian-held territory.

burs-raz/cdw/dw/mlm

Ukraine’s atomic energy agency accused Russia of using Europe’s largest nuclear power plant to store weapons and shell the surrounding regions of Nikopol and Dnipro that were hit Saturday.

Petro Kotin, president of Ukrainian nuclear agency Energoatom, called the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant “extremely tense” with up to 500 Russian soldiers controlling the plant.

The plant in southeast Ukraine has been under Russian control since the early weeks of Moscow’s invasion, though it is still operated by Ukrainian staff.

“The occupiers bring their machinery there, including missile systems, from which they already shell the other side of the river Dnipro and the territory of Nikopol,” he said in a Ukrainian television interview broadcast Friday.

On Saturday, Russian missiles struck residential buildings in the city of Nikopol, killing two people, Dnipro regional governor Valentin Reznichenko said.

In the northeast region around Ukraine’s second city of Kharkiv, governor Oleg Synegubov said an overnight Russian missile attack killed three people in the town of Chuguiv.

In the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia, officials said the death toll rose to 24 from Russian strikes after a woman died of her injuries in hospital Saturday. Ukraine said three children were among the dead.

“Sixty-eight people continue treatment, including four children. Four people are still missing,” said Vinnytsia district chief Sergiy Borzov. 

– Grief outpouring for four-year-old –

President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the Russians of aiming to “cause maximum damage to Ukrainian cities”. 

“I’m urging you, once again: please don’t ignore the air raid signals now,” he said in his daily address Friday.

Russia claimed the strikes in Vinnytsia — hundreds of kilometres away from frontline fighting — had killed Ukrainian military officials and foreign arms suppliers.

But Ukraine said the dead included four-year-old Liza Dmitrieva, who had Down’s syndrome and whose death spurred an outpouring of grief after footage of her final moments alive went viral on social media.

Liza’s mother is in a “critical” condition after surgery.

The missile strikes on Vinnytsia were the latest attacks to carry a heavy civilian toll and came less than a week after strikes on Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region left nearly 50 dead.

Leaning on her cane, Olga Dekanenko walks through the rubble and debris of her home in Konstantinovka, an industrial town on the frontline in the east, that was heavily damaged in a Russian strike early Saturday.

Dekanenko was asleep when it happened. Her small bedroom overlooks the garden where the rocket landed. She woke up on the ground, covered in a mess of blankets, pillows and stones.

“We’re alive, it’s a good day,” 67-year-old Dekanenko tells AFP with a tired smile.

– ‘Clearing’ Donbas town –

Moscow invaded Ukraine on February 24 and the conflict has killed thousands of people, destroyed cities and forced millions to flee their homes.

A two-day meeting of finance ministers from the Group of 20 major economies looked for solutions to the food and energy crises caused by the war but the gathering ended Saturday in Indonesia without a joint communique after the conflict divided the global forum.

Observers said the failure to agree on a joint communique would hinder coordinated efforts to solve rising inflation and food shortages.

The heaviest fighting has recently focused on the industrial Donbas region in the east, where grinding trench battles and artillery duels are morphing into a war of attrition.

Britain said Friday the Kremlin “must bear the full responsibility” for the death of a British captive in east Ukraine.

“I am shocked to hear reports of the death of British aid worker Paul Urey while in the custody of a Russian proxy in Ukraine,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said. 

Moscow-backed separatists said Friday they were closing in on their next target, Siversk, after wresting control of sister cities Lysychansk and Severodonetsk about 30 kilometres (18 miles) to its east.

Russia’s defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Saturday strikes targeted Ukrainian soldiers in a brigade that “operated in the Siversk direction”.

And Donetsk separatist official Daniil Versonov said rebel fighters were “clearing” eastern districts of Siversk in small groups.

Ukraine has repeatedly urged allies to supply it with advanced, long-range precision artillery systems that would allow it to target Russian forces deeper inside Ukrainian-held territory.

Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said Friday that Ukraine had taken delivery of its first batch of sophisticated M270 rocket systems, adding to a growing arsenal of Western-supplied artillery Kyiv says is changing dynamics on the battlefield.

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