عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

Gaza Open-air Cinema a Breath of Fresh Air for Palestinians

Palestinian children watch a film at a pop-up open-air cinema in Gaza city - AFP
Palestinian children watch a film at a pop-up open-air cinema in Gaza city - AFP
TT
TT

Gaza Open-air Cinema a Breath of Fresh Air for Palestinians

Palestinian children watch a film at a pop-up open-air cinema in Gaza city - AFP
Palestinian children watch a film at a pop-up open-air cinema in Gaza city - AFP

Gaza residents took their seats in front of a large projector screen set up on a sandy beach, a rare event in the blockaded enclave that has no operating cinemas.

Over two weeks in summer, the "Cinema of the Sea" festival which ended Monday screened some 15 films, many of them with Palestinian actors or producers.

Providing a respite from the heat, the waterfront "is the only outlet for the residents" in the impoverished territory, said Ali Muhanna, a theater director involved in the initiative.

Around 2.3 million Palestinians live in the Gaza Strip, which has been under a crippling Israeli-led blockade since Hamas seized power in 2007.

Sitting barefoot in a pink dress at the open-air cinema on Gaza City's beach, seven-year-old Salma Shamaleh was transfixed by the screen.

"I have never seen a TV this size," she told AFP as she watched "Ferdinand", an animated blockbuster that tells the story of a giant but soft-hearted black bull.

The first film screenings in Gaza date to the 1940s, with the opening of the Samer Cinema, whose building now houses a car dealership.

Cinemas were forced to close in the late 1980s during the first Palestinian uprising, or intifada. They reopened following the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in the 1990s but for years have largely been gathering dust.

Like across much of the eastern Mediterranean, Gazans have flocked to the seaside in recent weeks to escape soaring temperatures.

Shamaleh was thrilled by the cinematic experience. "Our house is nearby, I'll ask my mum for us to come every day," she said.

The festival's program featured "Farha", a Jordanian film which, through a young girl's perspective, depicts atrocities committed against Palestinians during the 1948 conflict that led to Israel's creation.

The hard-hitting film resonated with Mona Hanafi, 50, who watched it with her daughter and dozens of other spectators.

"The film is brilliant in addressing a realistic Palestinian story... The performance and directing are impressive," she said.

"Seeing the children and people watching the open cinema in Gaza made me happy," added Hanafi.

Another audience member, Hadeel Hajji, said she had "never seen anything like that in my life".

"I was with my family when I saw the screen from far away, so I came to watch," she told AFP.

"Cinema of the Sea" was organized by Al-Bahr Elna Cooperative cafe in partnership with the culture ministry.

The cooperative was established in 2020 by a group of artists, with start-up funding from Palestinian institutions. Since that initial cash dried up, the group has relied on donations.

For Muhanna, the cafe's founder, the festival has been an opportunity to show films which demonstrate how "Palestinians contributed to producing (cinema) and conveying the values of society".

Atef Askoul, head of the Hamas-appointed body responsible for approving public art events, said Gazans who suffer from miserable living conditions under the blockade have "the right to watch films and cinema".

Most Viewed

 
 
Varieties

Informed Source: Two Louvre Staff Arrested over Ticket Fraud

(FILES) Tourists stand next to barriers blocking the plaza with the Louvre Pyramid. (Photo by Martin LELIEVRE / AFP)
(FILES) Tourists stand next to barriers blocking the plaza with the Louvre Pyramid. (Photo by Martin LELIEVRE / AFP)
TT
TT

Informed Source: Two Louvre Staff Arrested over Ticket Fraud

(FILES) Tourists stand next to barriers blocking the plaza with the Louvre Pyramid. (Photo by Martin LELIEVRE / AFP)
(FILES) Tourists stand next to barriers blocking the plaza with the Louvre Pyramid. (Photo by Martin LELIEVRE / AFP)

French police have dismantled a "large-scale" ticket fraud network at the Louvre in Paris, the museum said Thursday, while a source following the case said two staff had been arrested.

The operation took place on Tuesday following "a report from the Louvre museum", a spokeswoman for the world-famous institution told AFP.

"Based on the information available to the museum, we suspect the existence of a network organizing large-scale fraud," she added.

She said the world's most visited museum was facing "a rise and diversification in ticketing fraud" and has, in response, implemented a "structured" anti-fraud plan in cooperation with its staff and the police.

According to a source following the case, the suspected fraud scheme was launched in the summer of 2024.

French daily Le Parisien said nine people were arrested, including two museum employees and two tour guides. The Chinese community was believed to be particularly targeted by the scam, the newspaper said.

Louvre bosses have been under huge pressure after four thieves carried out a brazen robbery in October, making off with jewelry worth an estimated $102 million.

Authorities have arrested all four alleged members of the heist crew but have not found the stolen jewels.

In recent months trade unions have launched several days of strikes at the Louvre, pressing for more recruitment, more pay and better maintenance of the vast former royal palace.

Varieties

Greece's Cycladic Islands Swept Up in Concrete Fever

Real estate fever has broken out across Greece's Cyclades archipelago, threatening to destroy its picturesque landscapes. Aris MESSINIS / AFP
Real estate fever has broken out across Greece's Cyclades archipelago, threatening to destroy its picturesque landscapes. Aris MESSINIS / AFP
TT
TT

Greece's Cycladic Islands Swept Up in Concrete Fever

Real estate fever has broken out across Greece's Cyclades archipelago, threatening to destroy its picturesque landscapes. Aris MESSINIS / AFP
Real estate fever has broken out across Greece's Cyclades archipelago, threatening to destroy its picturesque landscapes. Aris MESSINIS / AFP

On the sloping shoreline of the Greek Aegean island of Milos, a vast construction site has left a gaping wound into the island's trademark volcanic rock.

The foundations are for a hotel extension that attracted so much controversy last year that the country's top administrative court ended up temporarily blocking its building permit, said AFP.

Construction machinery still dots the site for a planned 59-room extension to the luxury resort, some of whose suites have their own swimming pools.

Milos Mayor Manolis Mikelis calls the project an "environmental crime".

"The geological uniqueness of Milos is known worldwide. We don't want its identity to change," he told AFP in his office, adorned with a copy of the island's most famous export, the Hellenistic-era statue of the love goddess Venus.

Fueled by a tourism boom, real estate fever has broken out across the Cyclades archipelago, threatening to destroy iconic landscapes of whitewashed houses and blue church domes.

In December, several mayors from the Cyclades as well as the Dodecanese -- which includes the highly touristic islands of Rhodes and Kos -- sounded the alarm.

"The very existence of our islands is threatened," they warned in a resolution initiated by the mayor of Santorini, Nikos Zorzos.

Tourism has become "a field for planting luxury residences to sell or rent," said Zorzos, whose island -- a top global destination -- welcomes roughly 3.5 million visitors for a population of 15,500.

- Rejecting 'plunder' -

The "Cycladic islands are not grounds for pharaonic projects", the mayors continued.

V Tourism, the company operating the hotel, argues that the expansion was approved in 2024 with "favorable opinions from all competent authorities".

But Mikelis, the mayor, noted that there are legislation "loopholes" when it comes to construction.

Like Santorini, Milos is a volcanic isle that is home to one of Greece's most unique beaches, Sarakiniko.

With its spectacular white formations rounded by erosion, the so-called 'moon beach' has bathers packed tighter than an astronaut's suit during summertime.

Yet Sarakiniko is not protected under Greek law.

Another hotel project there was blocked last year, and the environment ministry has given the owners a month's time to fill in its construction dig.

'Voracious'

Ioannis Spilanis, emeritus professor at the University of the Aegean, says what is happening in the Cyclades "is voracious, predatory real estate".

Once marginal land intended for grazing "have become lucrative assets. (Locals) are offered very attractive prices that are still low for investors."

"Then you build or resell for ten times more," he said.

In Ios, a small island with a vibrant nightlife, a single investor -- a Greek who made a fortune on Wall Street -- now owns 30 percent of the island, the mayors said in their December statement.

Tourism contributes between 28 and 33.7 percent of GDP, according to the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE), making it a key sector that has propped up the country's economy for decades.

Some residents are gravely concerned about the real estate sweep's effects on Milos

Arrivals have been breaking record after record with more than 40 million visitors in 2024, a performance that was likely surpassed in 2025.

In Milos, which has more than 5,000 inhabitants, 48 new hotel projects are currently underway, according to the mayor, and 157 new building permits were awarded from January to the end of October 2025, according to the state statistical body.

On Paros, which has also experienced a real estate frenzy for several years, 459 building permits were granted over the same period, and on Santorini, 461.

The most ambitious projects in Greece are classified as "strategic investments", a fast-track procedure created in 2019 to facilitate investments deemed priorities.

But "there's often no oversight," said Spilanis, the academic.

Golden goose

And many of the new constructions are far removed from traditional Cycladic architecture.

But the tourism industry is a vital source of income on islands which are usually deserted in winter, and offering few other job prospects.

The tourism industry is a vital source of income on islands which are usually deserted in winter

"This island is a diamond, but unfortunately in recent years it’s become nothing but money, money, money," fumes a resident who spends half the year in Germany.

"But if I say that in public, everyone will jump down my throat!" she said.

In a 2024 report, the state ombudsman of the Hellenic Republic stressed the deterioration in quality of life on islands where residents can no longer find housing, as many owners prioritize lucrative short-term rentals, while waste management and water resources are also under major strain.

But there are signs of a slowdown in the Cyclades.

Santorini last year saw a 12.8-percent drop in air arrivals between June and September, while Mykonos had to settle for a meagre 2.4-percent increase.

Varieties

Kyiv Botanical Garden's Plants Wither Due to Frost, Power Cuts

Doctor of Biological Sciences Roman Ivannikov, Head of the Department of Tropical and Subtropical Plants of the Gryshko National Botanical Garden of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, speaks during an AFP interview in the garden's main greenhouse in Kyiv on February 11, 2026. (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP)
Doctor of Biological Sciences Roman Ivannikov, Head of the Department of Tropical and Subtropical Plants of the Gryshko National Botanical Garden of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, speaks during an AFP interview in the garden's main greenhouse in Kyiv on February 11, 2026. (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP)
TT
TT

Kyiv Botanical Garden's Plants Wither Due to Frost, Power Cuts

Doctor of Biological Sciences Roman Ivannikov, Head of the Department of Tropical and Subtropical Plants of the Gryshko National Botanical Garden of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, speaks during an AFP interview in the garden's main greenhouse in Kyiv on February 11, 2026. (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP)
Doctor of Biological Sciences Roman Ivannikov, Head of the Department of Tropical and Subtropical Plants of the Gryshko National Botanical Garden of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, speaks during an AFP interview in the garden's main greenhouse in Kyiv on February 11, 2026. (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP)

Roman Ivannikov has spent around 30 years pampering orchids, azaleas and figs at Ukraine's National Botanical Garden, but power cuts triggered by Russian strikes are threatening to freeze his cherished collection of tropical plants.

Moscow has been pummeling Ukrainian energy sites with drones and missiles, plunging thousands of households into darkness during the harshest winter since it started its invasion four years ago.

The almost-daily barrages, paired with the cold snap, have put lives at risk and created an unprecedented threat for Ivannikov's pride and joy: a collection of almost 4,000 species.

"Our children grew up on the paths of this garden. We have poured our lives into this," Ivannikov, 51, told AFP, struggling to fight back tears.

The temperature in the garden's main greenhouse was 12C.

"It's not even the lower bound of normal," Ivannikov said.

The temperature dipped even lower on four nights over recent weeks, when the heating cut off entirely.

Wearing a thick navy jacket over a wool sweater, Ivannikov, the head of the department of tropical and subtropical plants, picked up a leaf that had just come rustling down.

"You can see how many fallen leaves there are... Perfectly healthy leaves that could have kept feeding the plant and functioning for months are falling down," he said.

The plant, he explained, was optimizing energy needs and shedding part of its leaves in the lower tiers so it can keep the leaves at the top and "survive in these conditions".

He, fellow staff and scores of volunteers were shuffling between tasks like firing up stoves and spreading protective covers on a collection of smaller plants, like orchids.

Volodymyr Vynogradov, 66, has signed up to help cut firewood used to heat the greenhouses.

"There needs to be heating for the azaleas," he told AFP, his cheeks rosy from cold and a pile of split logs scattered around.

"Physically, it's a little bit of a warm-up... That's why I decided to help somehow. For myself and for the sake of flowers."

The garden's collection has been laboriously reassembled after it had perished during World War II -- through decades of purchases, exchanges and numerous scientific missions that took Ivannikov's senior colleagues across several continents.

They "used to go to places and bring back plants from areas where those forests are no longer there", making those replanted at the Kyiv garden susceptible to "irrecoverable losses".

"Those plants have been preserved with us, and that underscores their uniqueness: if we lose them, we won't be able to restore them," Ivannikov said.

Individual specimens have already wilted, but the scale of damage is impossible to assess -- the destructive impact of the cold could only start to show in weeks or even months to come.

"Flowering intervals will change, plants will bloom but won't be able to set seed for a year or two. Or, for example, they'll set seed, but it won't be viable -- it will be dead," Ivannikov, who is trying to stay hopeful, said.

"We just have to hold on until summer, until spring -- make it through however many days are needed."

His dream, he said, is to create a "large national bonsai collection", something he had already begun laying the groundwork for.

The institution meanwhile offers organized tours and works with military servicemen and displaced Ukrainians who find solace in gardening work.

"They feel alive and want to see what comes next. They see a future, they want to keep living -- and that's our mission."