Argentina's Milei Wants 'Strategic Alliance' with US to be State Policy

Argentinian President Javier Milei speaks during the opening of the 144th Ordinary Session of the National Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 01 March 2026. EPA/JUAN IGNACIO RONCORONI
Argentinian President Javier Milei speaks during the opening of the 144th Ordinary Session of the National Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 01 March 2026. EPA/JUAN IGNACIO RONCORONI
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Argentina's Milei Wants 'Strategic Alliance' with US to be State Policy

Argentinian President Javier Milei speaks during the opening of the 144th Ordinary Session of the National Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 01 March 2026. EPA/JUAN IGNACIO RONCORONI
Argentinian President Javier Milei speaks during the opening of the 144th Ordinary Session of the National Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 01 March 2026. EPA/JUAN IGNACIO RONCORONI

Argentina President Javier Milei said Sunday that he wants to make the "strategic alliance" with the United States led by ally President Donald Trump a "state policy."

In a state of the nation address to parliament, the Argentine leader said "the South Atlantic is the strategic battleground of the coming decades," arguing Argentina must be a "player" in the region.

"We must create the century of the Americas: Make Americas Great Again, from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego," he added, according to AFP.

Devoting the majority of his speech to his government's macroeconomic successes over the past two years, particularly in combating inflation, Milei said he wanted to press his reforms further.

He announced an ambitious package of 90 reforms in an address to parliament on Sunday, which he said would "redesign" Argentina "for the next 50 years."

The reforms are expected to address the economy, taxes, the criminal code, the electoral system, education, justice and defense, Milei said in his address, which was marked by verbal clashes with opposition lawmakers.

There will be "nine uninterrupted months of structural reforms that will reshape the institutional architecture of the New Argentina," he said.

President since 2023, Milei begins this parliamentary year in a position of political strength, bolstered by his electoral success in the midterm elections in October.



Indian Police Clash with Pro-Khamenei Protesters in Kashmir

Demonstrators hold a portrait of Iran's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei in Srinagar on March 2, 2026 after restrictions were imposed amid protests over his death by US-Israel strikes. Habib NAQASH / AFP
Demonstrators hold a portrait of Iran's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei in Srinagar on March 2, 2026 after restrictions were imposed amid protests over his death by US-Israel strikes. Habib NAQASH / AFP
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Indian Police Clash with Pro-Khamenei Protesters in Kashmir

Demonstrators hold a portrait of Iran's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei in Srinagar on March 2, 2026 after restrictions were imposed amid protests over his death by US-Israel strikes. Habib NAQASH / AFP
Demonstrators hold a portrait of Iran's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei in Srinagar on March 2, 2026 after restrictions were imposed amid protests over his death by US-Israel strikes. Habib NAQASH / AFP

Police in Indian-administered Kashmir fired teargas on Monday during clashes with thousands of demonstrators protesting the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei for a second day in a row.

The clashes came a day after tens of thousands of people in the Muslim-majority region joined peaceful street demonstrations against strikes by Israel and the United States that killed the Iranian leader.

On Monday, authorities closed schools and colleges for two days and imposed restrictions on public movement by barricading many arterial roads.

The restrictions were imposed "as a precautionary measure" after a group of organizations headed by the region's chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq called for a strike, authorities said.

The protesters clashed with security forces when they were stopped from marching to the main square in the main city of Srinagar, which was sealed off.

Demonstrations were also held in other pockets across the Kashmir valley, with protesters displaying portraits of Khamenei, slain Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Hassan Nasrallah of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

They also shouted anti-Israel and anti-US slogans while waving flags associated with Iran and Hezbollah, an AFP journalist at the scene said.

"Minimum teargas shelling was resorted to when they (the demonstrators) did not heed warnings to stop," a police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to media.

Kashmir, which has a significant number of Shia Muslims, shares ancient connections with Iran.

Khamenei was given a momentous welcome during his only visit to the territory in the early 1980s.

On Sunday, the territory's chief minister Omar Abdullah -- who does not control the security forces -- said mourners should be "allowed to grieve peacefully" and police should "refrain from using force or restrictive measures".

Khamenei and top military leaders were killed on Saturday, prompting Iranian authorities to retaliate with strikes on Israel and across the Gulf.


MSF Says 26 Staff Missing from South Sudan Violence

(FILES) A Palestinian man walks on his crutches to the Doctors Without Borders or Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) clinic, in the al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City on new year's Eve, December 31, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
(FILES) A Palestinian man walks on his crutches to the Doctors Without Borders or Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) clinic, in the al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City on new year's Eve, December 31, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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MSF Says 26 Staff Missing from South Sudan Violence

(FILES) A Palestinian man walks on his crutches to the Doctors Without Borders or Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) clinic, in the al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City on new year's Eve, December 31, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
(FILES) A Palestinian man walks on his crutches to the Doctors Without Borders or Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) clinic, in the al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City on new year's Eve, December 31, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Monday that 26 of its staff were "unaccounted for" after a surge in violence in South Sudan in recent weeks.

"Twenty-six of the 291 MSF colleagues working in Lankien and Pieri remain unaccounted for following the recent violence, and we have lost contact with them amid ongoing insecurity," the NGO said in a statement.

MSF has suspended medical services in Lankien and Pieri, both in Jonglei state which has seen major clashes between government and opposition forces since December, AFP reported.

An MSF facility in Lankien was hit by a government air strike on February 3, the NGO said.

"Many of our staff were forced to flee the violence alongside their families. Several are now displaced, sheltering in remote areas with little access to food, water or basic services," the statement added.

South Sudan, the world's youngest country, has been beset by civil war, poverty and massive corruption since it was formed in 2011.

The United Nations warns of a return to "all-out civil war" as a power-sharing deal between President Salva Kiir and his long-time rival, Riek Machar, has unravelled over the past year.

Recent fighting has focused on Jonglei, but the UN said on Sunday that surging violence in Abiemnom, near the Sudan border, had killed "dozens of civilians and some local officials".


At Least 25 Killed at Pakistan's Pro-Iran Weekend Protests

Security personnel fire tear gas as Shiite Muslims shout slogans during a protest outside the US consulate in Karachi after the death of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei amid US-Israel strikes. Asif HASSAN / AFP
Security personnel fire tear gas as Shiite Muslims shout slogans during a protest outside the US consulate in Karachi after the death of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei amid US-Israel strikes. Asif HASSAN / AFP
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At Least 25 Killed at Pakistan's Pro-Iran Weekend Protests

Security personnel fire tear gas as Shiite Muslims shout slogans during a protest outside the US consulate in Karachi after the death of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei amid US-Israel strikes. Asif HASSAN / AFP
Security personnel fire tear gas as Shiite Muslims shout slogans during a protest outside the US consulate in Karachi after the death of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei amid US-Israel strikes. Asif HASSAN / AFP

The death toll from Pakistan's violent weekend protests over the killing of Iran's supreme leader has reached at least 25, according to an AFP tally on Monday.

Demonstrations erupted in several major cities in Pakistan, including the southern megacity of Karachi where some protesters attempted to storm American diplomatic buildings.

An AFP journalist witnessed hundreds of pro-Iranian protesters trying to enter the United States consulate, prompting clashes with police.

At least 10 deaths were reported and over 70 were injured, the office of the Karachi police surgeon said, while a hospital toll seen by AFP listed nine people as having died from gunshot wounds.

In Pakistan's northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, at least 13 people were killed in clashes between protesters and police, officials said.

Seven people were killed in Gilgit, a rescue official said, while six others died in Skardu, a doctor told AFP on Monday.

Authorities have imposed a late-night curfew, which will remain in place until Wednesday in Gilgit and Skardu, where the army has been deployed on the streets.

Two more people were killed as thousands of people gathered in the streets of the capital, Islamabad, many holding photos of the late Iranian leader Ali Khamenei.

AFP journalists saw police firing tear gas to disperse crowds near the diplomatic enclave housing the US embassy on Sunday afternoon.

- 'Grief and sorrow' -

Israel and the United States launched their military operations on Iran early Saturday, quickly killing the long-ruling supreme leader and prompting outrage in neighboring Pakistan.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who has close ties with both the United States and Iran, said on Sunday evening that the killing of Khamenei was a "violation" of international law.

"It is an age old convention that the Heads of State/Government should not be targeted," Sharif wrote on X.

The "people of Pakistan join the people of Iran in their hour of grief and sorrow and extend the most sincere condolences on the martyrdom" of Khamenei, he added.

At Sunday's Karachi protest, people chanted slogans against the United States, Israel and their allies.

"We don't need anything in Pakistan that is linked with the US," a protester, Sabir Hussain, told AFP.

Earlier a crowd of young people climbed over the main gate and gained access to the driveway of the consular building, smashing some windows.

Police fired tear gas at the protesters, who dispersed, the AFP journalist saw.

The embassies of the United States and Britain both urged citizens in Pakistan to be cautious in the country.