France and Germany moved to bolster defence of Polish airspace Thursday as the UN Security Council called an emergency meeting to discuss Warsaw’s accusation that Moscow launched a drone raid on its territory.Poland branded the incident, which prompted Polish and NATO forces to shoot down several drones overnight Tuesday to Wednesday, a deliberate “unprecedented” attack on the country, NATO and the European Union.Moscow denied targeting the country and said there was no evidence the drones were Russian. The drones intruded as Russia unleashed a barrage of strikes across Ukraine as part of an ongoing offensive there following its 2022 invasion.US President Donald Trump, who has been trying unsuccessfully to broker a halt to the war in Ukraine, told reporters on Thursday that the alleged incursion may have happened by “mistake”.But Polish President Karol Nawrocki warned Thursday during a visit to an airbase in western Poland that the incident was “an attempt to test the mechanism of action within NATO and our readiness to respond”.Germany said it would “extend and expand” its participation in NATO’s Air Policing programme, to provide more cover to Polish airspace.Its defence ministry said it would double the number of Eurofighter jets deployed to four and extend their mission by three months to the end of the year.And French President Emmanuel Macron announced in a post on X that France would “deploy three Rafale fighter jets to contribute to the protection of Polish airspace and of NATO’s Eastern Flank together with our Allies.”The UN Security Council’s South Korean presidency announced Thursday it would hold an emergency meeting to discuss Warsaw’s claim of a “violation of Polish airspace by Russia”.It will take place on Friday at 3:00 pm (1900 GMT).- Border security boosted -Stray Russian drones and missiles have entered the airspace of NATO members including Poland several times since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.Polish officials said on this occasion drones violated its airspace 19 times. There were no casualties and the damage was limited — a house and a car were destroyed.Poland’s National Security Council met Thursday and the defence minister was expected to brief parliament on the latest findings.Poland boosted its security Thursday, closing air traffic along its eastern borders with Belarus and Ukraine to civilian flights up to an altitude of three kilometres (1.9 miles) until December 9.The PAZP air traffic control agency announced that drones would also be banned.The country had already announced ramped-up measures on the Belarus border to cope with military drills the country is carrying out with its ally Russia between September 12 and 16. The few open border crossings with Belarus were to be closed from Friday due to the Zapad (“West”) drills.Reacting to the closure, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in a statement urged Poland “to consider the consequences of such destructive steps and to review its decision as soon as possible”.The border closure was to “justify a policy of further escalating tensions in the centre of Europe”, she added.- ‘Reckless’: NATO -Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned on Wednesday that the drone raid marked an unprecedented escalation of tension with Russia.Tusk called a NATO meeting on Wednesday, invoking Article 4 under which a member can convene urgent talks when it feels its “territorial integrity, political independence or security” are at risk — only the eighth time the measure has been used.A cornerstone of NATO is the principle that an attack on any member is deemed an attack on all.NATO chief Mark Rutte denounced Moscow’s “reckless behaviour” while hailing his organisation’s response. The alliance’s air defences had done their job, he told journalists.The European Union and Ukraine condemned the incident on Wednesday, and several European countries followed on Thursday.In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a regular news briefing China “hopes that all parties concerned will properly resolve their disputes through dialogue and consultation”.China has never denounced Russia’s war in Ukraine.Poland is a major supporter of Ukraine and hosts more than one million Ukrainian refugees. It is also a key transit point for Western humanitarian and military aid to the country.

The wildly popular Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny says he will skip the United States during an upcoming world tour because he fears raids by immigration agents at his concerts.Since July the singer has been playing to sold-out shows in San Juan, capital of the US territory in the Caribbean.He will kick off his “Debi Tirar Mas Fotos” (I Should Have Taken More Photos) international tour, which will take him to Latin America, Australia, Japan and Europe, starting in November.The artist said he will not perform shows in the United States, where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have arrested tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants, many of them Latinos, under a crackdown ordered by President Donald Trump’s administration.”There were many reasons why I didn’t show up in the US, and none of them were out of hate. I’ve performed there many times,” he told the British magazine i-D in an interview published Wednesday.Bad Bunny said his shows this summer in Puerto Rico have been very successful and he enjoyed meeting Latinos who have lived in the continental United States.He said the problem is “ICE could be outside” US concert venues, using an expletive to describe the agency. “And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about.”In June, Bad Bunny posted video footage on his social media channels from an ICE raid that took place on his home island.Since Trump took office in January for a second term, the number of undocumented immigrants detained in police raids has reached record highs.In June, there were 60,254 such arrests in the United States, a record for that month, compared with 40,500 arrests in January 2025 before Trump returned to the White House, according to an AFP analysis of government data.   In Puerto Rico, where ICE also operates, 500 immigrants, mainly from the nearby Dominican Republic, were arrested in the first four months of Trump’s second term, an ICE official, Rebecca Gonzalez-Ramos, said in an interview on National Public Radio.

Radical violence. Immigration raids. White supremacists. Leonardo DiCaprio’s politically charged new movie “One Battle After Another” could scarcely be more timely. Part-action, part-drama, with plenty of comedy and almost guaranteed a bagful of Oscar nominations, the film centers on an ageing revolutionary and his teenage daughter.It delivers a lesson on “what this next generation is going to have to deal with,” DiCaprio told a press conference Thursday.DiCaprio plays Bob, a political insurgent who specializes in explosives. The movie begins as he conducts undercover resistance operations at the US-Mexico border with his lover and co-conspirator, Perfidia (Teyana Taylor).But when villainous Sean Penn’s Colonel Lockjaw infiltrates the group, Bob is forced to flee with their infant Willa. Sixteen years later, the bulk of the story finds Bob’s outlaw history catching up with him and his now-adolescent daughter.Lockjaw is in hot pursuit, happy to order arbitrary immigration crackdowns on the community where he believes his target is hiding.The problem is, Bob has spent that time frying his brain with drugs and alcohol — and can’t remember the first thing about being a revolutionary.”I love the idea that you expect this character’s going to use massive espionage skills, but he cannot remember the password,” said DiCaprio. “His past is coming back to haunt him, and now it’s passed on to the next generation, a sort of trauma.”- ‘Politically charged’ -The film, out September 26 in the United States, comes from writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson, the auteur behind “There Will Be Blood,” “Magnolia,” “Boogie Nights” and “Licorice Pizza.”Reviews are under embargo, but immediate reaction from critics on social media has been effusive in praise. It is already seen as a clear frontrunner for best picture at the Academy Awards.Penn’s character is embroiled with a group of white supremacists called the Christmas Adventurers — a setup that provides comedy as well as darkness.”Well, they became less ludicrous even since we’ve shot the film. I see the culture adapting to take it all straight,” Penn earlier told the New York Times.DiCaprio told the same newspaper that the movie “is politically charged, but I think it has a lot to do with how tribal we’ve all become.” The film dissects “how we have stopped listening to one another, and how these characters thinking or acting in these extremes can bring a lot of hurt,” said the actor.The Times interview was conducted several weeks before the fatal shooting of right-wing US activist Charlie Kirk.”I hope that this movie really creates a lot of healthy dialog and a lot of necessary conversations that need to be had,” Taylor told Thursday’s press conference.- ‘Blast’ -By his own admission, Anderson “stole” the concept of “what happens when revolutionaries scatter” from the Thomas Pynchon novel “Vineland.”Anderson previously adapted Pynchon’s “Inherent Vice” for the screen. But this time the inspiration is much looser.”Rather than be respectful of the book like I did with ‘Inherent Vice,’ I just kind of took what I needed… and just started running with it,” Anderson told a Los Angeles special screening attended by AFP.DiCaprio, playing an atypically shabby and disheveled, paranoid hero, drew inspiration from “The Big Lebowski,” as well as Al Pacino’s character in “Dog Day Afternoon.””The humanity of the character, in a strange way — an incredibly flawed protagonist” appealed to DiCaprio.”It was a blast to make the movie.”

A decades-old book of cheerful, often lewd birthday messages has set off a political bomb in Washington — helping bring down the British ambassador and inflaming the most perilous scandal of Donald Trump’s presidency.Compiled to celebrate Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003, the three-volume book had remained secret for years.But his estate handed it over this week to Congress, which swiftly made its 238 pages public, offering a vivid window into the late sex offender’s well-connected world.Frequently referring to his playboy lifestyle, it also renewed long-running questions about what his elite associates knew of his alleged criminal activity with underage girls.The scandal proved too much for Peter Mandelson, a top British political operator fired Thursday from his prestigious post as ambassador to the United States.A 10-page entry allegedly submitted by Mandelson includes photos from his time with “best pal” Epstein in a tropical locale, apparently the financier’s notorious private island in the Caribbean.Epstein would sometimes disappear, “leaving you with some ‘interesting’ friends to entertain instead,” says a note, along with a photo of two women whose faces are obscured.British media then published emails from Mandelson, in which he offers support to Epstein after his 2008 conviction for procuring an underaged girl for prostitution, ultimately leading to his ouster.Other VIPs are peppered throughout. The most famous among them: Trump.- Political nightmare -For the 79-year-old Republican, the Epstein scandal is a political nightmare that refuses to die.Democrats have pounced since July, when Trump’s administration confirmed Epstein’s 2019 death was a suicide and deemed the release of more case files unnecessary — despite previously fanning conspiracies among fellow Republicans about a coverup.Trump now dismisses the saga as a Democratic “hoax.”However, under pressure from their own right-wing base, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives launched an investigation.That brought the birthday book to light, including Trump’s alleged note: a type-written message inserted into the sketched outline of a nude woman — with his signature for pubic hair.”May every day be another wonderful secret,” it reads.Trump and his allies claim the signature is fake. However, it bears striking resemblance to other documents he signed during the period.While the Wall Street Journal had previously reported on the existence of the letter — prompting Trump to file a $10 billion defamation suit — another note alluding to the president appears.”Jeffrey showing early talents with money + women! Sells ‘fully depreciated’ [redacted name] to Donald Trump,” reads the note, allegedly from businessman Joel Paschow, a longtime member of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.The text accompanies a photo of Epstein holding an oversized check marked “DJ Trump.” Next to him is a woman who has been identified in US media as someone who dated both Trump and Epstein in the 1990s.The page before includes a sketch of Epstein handing little girls balloons in 1983, then several topless women massaging him in 2003 — apparently a joking reference to his grooming of underage women.- Other VIPs -The book features a bevy of other prominent people.Ahead of Trump’s alleged letter is a poem from Stuart Pivar, a wealthy chemist and art collector, lightheartedly remarking that Epstein was “up to no good” but had thus far “avoided the penitentiary.”Next up is a note from Harvard economist Henry Rosovsky, who died in 2022.”For the man who has almost everything, but never enough of these!” it reads, followed by two painted prints of breasts.A note allegedly from famed private equity investor Leon Black refers to a “Maxwellian delight.”This refers to Epstein’s longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who compiled the birthday book, and is now serving a 20-year prison sentence for recruiting underage girls.Also included is a note from French model scout Jean-Luc Brunel, who would later be arrested in France on rape charges and whose 2022 prison death was also ruled suicide.Trump isn’t the only president to appear.A note from former president Bill Clinton praises Epstein’s “childlike curiosity” at 50.