World News

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — At 6 a.m., in the Mataderos neighborhood of Buenos Aires, workers unload sides of beef from a truck outside a butcher shop as customers line up for wholesale purchases. Inside, 73-year-old owner Jorge García and his staff prepare meat orders before dawn.

Among the stacks of beef boxes and red meat cuts hanging from metal hooks, chicken and pork are increasingly present.

Red meat consumption in Argentina — historically one of the world’s biggest consumers of beef — has fallen to its lowest level in two decades amid economic austerity measures imposed by libertarian President Javier Milei.

As of April 2026, annual per capita beef consumption fell to 44.5 kilograms (98 pounds), down from 49.5 kilograms (109 pounds) during the same month a year earlier, according to the Agricultural Foundation for Argentina’s Development. In 2006, it was 63.4 kilos (139 pounds) per person.

“People are switching to cheaper proteins. They’re eating pork, they’re eating chicken,” said García.

Analysts attribute the decline to soaring beef prices, lower cattle supply and weakened household purchasing power. The opening of Argentina’s beef market to international trade has also pushed domestic prices closer to global levels.

“Beef moved into a completely different purchasing-power category. Workers’ wages fell far behind,” said Juampi Quintero, 25, a meat distributor who estimated consumption among his clients has fallen by more than half.

Since coming into office in December 2023 with an annual inflation at 211%, Milei promised to eliminate what he called “the cancer of inflation” through an adjustment plan that included cuts equivalent to nearly one-third of public spending, symbolized by the image of a chain saw.

The government succeeded in reversing the fiscal deficit and achieving a budget surplus — a rare result in Argentina’s recent history — but the social cost of the austerity measures has drawn criticism.

Within months, Milei’s administration eliminated 13 ministries, laid off about 30,000 public employees, halted public works projects and reduced funding for key areas such as education, healthcare and science, while also cutting subsidies for basic services such as electricity, gas, water and transportation.

“That affects household income because families now have to pay more for services that were previously subsidized by the state,” said economist Camilo Tiscornia. “As a result, they have less disposable income and must give up certain more expensive goods, such as beef.”

At the same time, household incomes did not rise at the same pace as beef prices, helping drive down consumption.

Wages for registered workers increased an average of 1.8% in February, the latest available data, compared with monthly inflation of 2.9%.

“Before, I had the freedom to buy what I wanted,” said Alberto Brajin, a 61-year-old retiree who runs a streetside barbecue stall in Buenos Aires.

Brajin said he now has to “trade down” to cheaper proteins such as chicken.

Beef prices rose more than 60% over the past year, reaching an average of 18,500 pesos ($13) per kilogram in Buenos Aires in May, according to the Argentine Beef Promotion Institute.

In July 2025, Milei’s government reduced export taxes on beef and poultry and removed production quotas to encourage overseas sales, reversing part of the restrictions imposed under former President Alberto Fernández to curb rising domestic prices. The easing of export regulations came just as Argentina’s beef production dropped by more than 10 percent due to floods and droughts, according to CICCRA, the nonprofit organization that represents Argentina’s beef producers.

Argentina’s government said this week that beef exports rose 54% in the first quarter compared with a year earlier, totaling nearly 200,000 tons worth more than $1 billion. The increase followed a U.S. decision earlier this year to expand Argentina’s tariff-free beef quota amid American cattle shortages.

With the market opening up, producers began selling beef — once affordable across much of Argentina’s social spectrum — at prices closer to international levels.

“Previously, all meats had similar prices, which encouraged high beef consumption that did not reflect its real production costs,” agricultural consultant Iván Ordóñez explained.

As beef becomes increasingly expensive for many Argentine families, chicken and pork are gaining ground as cheaper alternatives.

“We’ve chosen to buy pork and chicken because beef is too expensive,” said shop owner Ruth Simon.

Chicken costs an average of 4,900 pesos ($3.50) per kilogram, while pork ribs cost around 8,900 pesos ($6.30).

García, the butcher shop owner, said he began selling chicken and pork less than a year ago after noticing changes in customers’ eating habits.

“You have to adapt,” he said. “We can’t just sit around crying. No crying. We have to work. We have to keep our dignity. We have to fight.”

___

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

source

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — In Senegal, wrestling, known as laamb in the native Wolof, is a national sport deeply rooted in village life. The country’s top wrestlers earn the title “King of the Arenas,” drawing massive crowds and TV audiences.

Laamb is unique for its spectacle, featuring elaborate costumes, protective charms, and rituals. Fighters — draped in elaborate costumes and protective charms believed to ward off injury and channel spiritual power — perform to the beat of sabar drums, emphasizing the sport’s spiritual side, which for many is as important as the fight itself.

Over time, laamb has evolved into a professional sport with sponsors and prize money. For young men like Omar, 22, it offers a chance at wealth and fame, though most wrestlers face financial challenges and hope for success abroad.

For young men like Omar, 22, an amateur wrestler, the arena represents a shot at wealth and fame. “I do this because wrestling pays more than being a footballer in this country,” he said. “If I become a professional, I will be rich.”

However, most local league wrestlers earn modest salaries, and many struggle financially, pinning their hopes on academies and transfers abroad, while dreaming of the rare few who make it to the top.

—

This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

source

By Umaru Fofana and Robbie Corey-Boulet

FREETOWN, May 16 (Reuters) – Sierra Leone has agreed to take in hundreds of West African migrants who are being deported by the United States, its foreign minister told Reuters, the latest such deal by the Trump administration as it tries to accelerate removals. 

The first flight of so-called third-country deportees will arrive in Sierra Leone on May 20, Timothy Kabba said, transporting 25 nationals from Senegal, Ghana, Guinea and Nigeria. 

“Sierra Leone signed a Third Country National Agreement with the U.S. to accept 300 ECOWAS citizens from the U.S. per year with a maximum of 25 a month,” Kabba said, referring to the West African regional bloc.

The U.S. has previously sent third-country deportees to African states including Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Eswatini, drawing criticism from legal experts and rights groups over the legal basis for the transfers and the treatment of deportees sent to countries where they are not nationals.

DEPORTEES TO AFRICA HAVE BEEN FORCED HOME

Sierra Leone’s arrangement to accept only deportees from ECOWAS countries is similar to Ghana’s. Reuters has previously reported on how deportees sent to Ghana, Equatorial Guinea and elsewhere on the continent have then been forced to return to their home countries despite receiving court-ordered protection in the U.S. meant to prevent that from happening.

It is unclear whether the deportees sent to Sierra Leone will be allowed to stay there. A government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.Kabba did not say what Sierra Leone would get in return for taking in the deportees.

“It’s part of our bilateral relationship with the U.S. to assist with its immigration policy,” he said.

In a report published in February, Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said the total cost of third-country removals was unknown, but that more than $32 million had been sent directly to five countries – Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, El Salvador, Eswatini and Palau.

The U.S. and Sierra Leone have been at odds on deportations before. In 2017, during the first Trump administration, Washington said the U.S. Embassy in Freetown would deny tourist and business visas to Sierra Leonean foreign ministry and immigration officials because the government was refusing to take in Sierra Leonean deportees.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new agreement with Sierra Leone. The White House and the State Department have previously said the deportations are lawful.

(Reporting by Umaru Fofana and Robbie Corey-Boulet; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

source

BANGKOK (AP) — A train crashed into a public bus on Saturday in Thailand’s capital, Bangkok, killing at least eight people.

Thai news reported that the crash happened in late afternoon near an airport rail link station in the central area. The city’s emergency services Erawan Medical Center said at least eight were killed and more than 20 people were injured.

Videos of the moment of the crash shared on social media showed a line of vehicles had stopped at a railway crossing when a cargo train struck an orange bus at the front. The impact also dragged several nearby vehicles along the tracks before the bus was engulfed in flames. Several motorcycles and their riders were also seen being thrown onto the road after the collision.

Later videos showed a group of rescuers going inside the charred bus after the flames were controlled.

source

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on a two-day trip to Beijing next week, the Kremlin said Saturday.

The announcement comes less than 24 hours after U.S. President Donald Trump finished his own state visit to China, where he also met Xi to discuss trade and the U.S. and Israel’s war in Iran.

In a statement, the Kremlin said that Putin’s trip, planned for May 19-20, had been scheduled to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the 2001 Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship.

It said that the two leaders would discuss bilateral relations as well as “key international and regional issues” and economic cooperation.

Relations between China and Russia have deepened in recent years, particularly since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 left Moscow shunned on the global stage and heavily reliant on Beijing for trade due to Western sanctions.

When Putin visited China in September 2025, Xi welcomed his counterpart as an “old friend.” Putin also addressed Xi as “dear friend.”

The Russian leader is also scheduled to visit China for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in the city of Shenzhen in November.

Ukraine repatriated the bodies of fallen soldiers Saturday following an earlier exchange with Moscow involving prisoners of war.

Russia returned 528 bodies that “according to the Russian side, may belong to Ukrainian servicemen,” Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said in a statement.

Experts will now “take all necessary measures aimed at identifying the deceased who have been repatriated,” it said.

It comes after Russia and Ukraine swapped 205 prisoners of war on Friday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was the first phase of a planned swap of 1,000 POWs from each side. Some of the Ukrainians had been held by Russia since 2022 and fought in some of the war’s fiercest battles, he added.

Meanwhile, Russia launched overnight drone attacks against Ukraine’s southern Odesa region on Saturday, regional authorities said.

Russian drones struck a five-story apartment block and a one-story residential building, injuring two people, said regional head Oleh Kiper. The city’s port was also damaged, he added.

Russia launched 294 drones overnight, Ukraine’s Air Force said, adding that 269 of them were shot down.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said that its forces shot down 138 Ukrainian drones overnight over 14 Russian regions, including Moscow. Drones were also destroyed over the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, as well as the Black and Azov seas, it said.

___

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

source

By Lisa Leutner

VIENNA, May 16 (Reuters) – You will barely notice them on television, but a small band of stage hands nicknamed “ninjas” at the Eurovision Song Contest perform a feat as impressive as those on stage: swapping out countries’ sets in the 48 seconds between acts.

Although a huge LED-screen stage and backdrop provide many of the visual cues, each of the 25 countries competing in Saturday’s final of the contest has its own physical set that has to be hauled on to and off the stage and, in the case of the contest favourite Finland, set on fire.

All in less than a minute.

“That’s the set-up time these 20-odd people have to move from one ‘prop’ to the next and from one show’s set-up and dismantling to the next. It’s just mad what they manage to achieve,” said Christian Elgner, who, as head of props, oversees the sets, known as props in the contest’s jargon.

Each movement must be carefully planned and rehearsed by the group of two dozen stage hands, a performance all the more impressive given that they are mainly locals who are doing it as a side hustle.

“We have to be always in a rush and we are not allowed to make any mistakes because once we make a mistake the show is over,” said Ahmed Abdelati, a civil engineering student from Egypt living in Austria.

“I’m working here because I love music, like my other colleagues,” he said.

In a matter of weeks, the team dressed in black has become a well-oiled machine.

“I’m not sure who first used that term but it’s taken off in the past three, four days: backstage ninjas. I mainly call them dancers because the (set) assembly is danced – it’s choreographed,” Elgner said.

“There haven’t been any big mishaps so far. We rehearse often enough to always learn from the mishaps we have and to perfect everything.”

(Writing by Francois Murphy, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

source

MOSCOW, May 16 (Reuters) – Russian troops have taken control of the settlements of Borova and Kutkivka in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, the RIA state news agency reported on Saturday, citing the Defence Ministry.

Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.

(Reporting by Reuters, Editing by Louise Heavens)

source

May 15 (Reuters) – China’s U.N. ambassador on Friday criticized a proposed U.S.-Bahraini resolution on the Strait of Hormuz, saying the content and timing were not right and passing it would not be helpful.

The draft resolution demands Iran halt attacks and mining in the strait, but diplomats have said it is likely to meet with Russian and Chinese vetoes if it comes to a vote. Both countries vetoed a similar U.S.-backed resolution last month, arguing it was biased against Iran.

The Pass Blue news portal, which focuses on U.N. news, posted a short clip of an impromptu interview with China’s U.N. envoy Fu Gong in which he said, when asked about the resolution: “We don’t think the content is right, and the timing is not right.

“What we need is to urge both sides to engage in serious and good-faith negotiations that can resolve the issue. So passing a resolution at this stage, we don’t think is going to be helpful,” he said.

Fu said that if it were up to China as the current president of the 15-member U.N. Security Council, the resolution would not be put up for a vote.

China’s U.N. mission said it was China’s responsibility as council president to arrange a vote if the resolution drafters requested this, but so far there had been no request.

The U.S. mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fu’s remarks came after U.S. President Donald Trump held a two-day summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping that ended on Friday, during which, according to the White House, they agreed that the strait must remain open and Xi made clear China’s opposition to the militarization of the waterway and any effort to charge a toll for its use.

Xi did not comment on the issue, although China’s foreign ministry aired Beijing’s frustration with the Iran war, saying: “This conflict, which should never have happened, has no reason to continue.”

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

source

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli airstrike in Gaza on Friday targeted the leader of Hamas ’ military wing, Israeli officials said, but it wasn’t immediately clear if Izz al-Din al-Haddad was killed or injured.

Hamas did not immediately acknowledge or comment on the strike.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said an airstrike carried out by the military Friday evening targeted al-Haddad, the leader of Hamas’ Qassam brigades.

There were at least two Israeli strikes Friday evening in Gaza City, one of which Israel said targeted al-Haddad. One strike targeted a residential building and another a vehicle. Seven people were killed and dozens of others wounded, according to health officials in the Palestine Red Crescent Society’s Saraya Field Hospital and Shifa hospital, where the casualties were taken

In a statement, Netanyahu and Katz said that al-Haddad was “one of the architects” of the Oct. 7 attack.

Gaza has seen near-daily Israeli fire despite a fragile ceasefire agreement reached in October. More than 850 people have been killed since then, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The Health Ministry is part of Gaza’s Hamas-run government, but staffed by medical professionals who maintain and publish detailed records, viewed as generally reliable by the international community.

Netanyahu and Katz threatened that Israel will continue to work against all those who took part in the Oct. 7 attack, in which militants killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. Over 72,700 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its offensive in response to Hamas’ 2023 attack.

“Sooner or later, Israel will reach you,” the statement read.

Palestinian citizens reported more airstrikes that followed the one that targeted al-Haddad. It was not immediately clear what the Israeli military was targeting.

Since the shaky ceasefire was reached, both Israel and Hamas have traded accusations of violations. Israel has targeted Hamas members inside the coastal enclave, the last of whom was the son of Hamas’ lead negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya.

___

Ezzidin reported from Cairo.

___

Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

source

CANNES, France, May 15 (Reuters) – Asghar Farhadi, director of the first Iranian film to win the Oscar for best foreign language movie, on Friday described as deeply painful the deaths of thousands of people in a January crackdown on protesters and the ongoing war affecting Iran.

“I was actually in Tehran last week, and I am still carrying the impact of these events with me,” the two-time Oscar-winning director told journalists at the Cannes Film Festival, where his film “Parallel Tales” premiered the night before. 

“Both are deeply painful, and neither will ever be forgotten.”

In January, anti-government protests across Iran were quashed in the biggest crackdown in the Islamic Republic’s history. At the end of February, U.S. and Israeli airstrikes launched a war against Iran that has drawn in the broader Middle East. 

Farhadi, who has been based largely outside Iran since 2023, added that it was painful to read news about innocent people being killed every day. 

Farhadi’s “A Separation” became the first Iranian movie to win the Oscar for best foreign language film in 2012.

He won the same Oscar five years later with “The Salesman,” though he boycotted the ceremony in protest against the travel ban affecting several Muslim-majority countries during U.S. President Donald Trump’s first presidential term.

“Parallel Tales,” a drama set in Paris featuring French-language stars Isabelle Huppert and Vincent Cassel, is in competition for the festival’s top prize against 21 other films.

(Reporting by Miranda Murray; editing by Barbara Lewis)

source