tobacco

France to ban smoking outdoors in most places: minister

BY LAURENT BARTHELEMY

  • The new ban, which will enter into force on July 1, will cover all spaces where children could be present, including "beaches, parks, public gardens, outside of schools, bus stops and sports venues", said the minister Catherine Vautrin.
  • France will ban smoking in all outdoor places that can be accessed by children, including beaches, parks and bus stops, the health and family minister announced Thursday.
  • The new ban, which will enter into force on July 1, will cover all spaces where children could be present, including "beaches, parks, public gardens, outside of schools, bus stops and sports venues", said the minister Catherine Vautrin.
France will ban smoking in all outdoor places that can be accessed by children, including beaches, parks and bus stops, the health and family minister announced Thursday.
Famed as a country where smokers linger over cigarettes on cafe terraces or strolling down cobblestone streets, France has increasingly tightened restrictions on tobacco use in public spaces in recent years.
The new ban, which will enter into force on July 1, will cover all spaces where children could be present, including "beaches, parks, public gardens, outside of schools, bus stops and sports venues", said the minister Catherine Vautrin.
"Tobacco must disappear where there are children," Vautrin said in an interview published by the regional Ouest-France daily on its website.
The freedom to smoke "stops where children's right to breathe clean air starts," she said.
The ban will also extend to schools, to stop students smoking in front of them.
Offenders face a fine of up to 135 euros ($154), Vautrin said.

Cafe terraces escape ban

The ban will not extend to France's iconic cafe terraces however, the minister said.
Electronic cigarettes, which have boomed in France in recent years, are also not covered.
France already forbids smoking in public spaces such as workplaces, airports and train stations, as well as playgrounds.
Anti-smoking groups had been fighting for a broader ban.
An estimated 35 percent of France's population are smokers -- higher than the averages for Europe (25 percent) and the world (21 percent), according to the World Health Organization.
Around 75,000 people are estimated to die from tobacco-related complications each year in France.
According to a recent opinion survey, six out of 10 French people (62%) favour banning smoking in public places.

'Tobacco-free generation'

The government's National Anti-Tobacco Programme for 2023 to 2027 proposed a smoking ban similar to the one announced by Vautrin, calling France to "rise to the challenge of a tobacco-free generation from 2032".
But anti-tobacco organisations had voiced concern the authorities were dragging their feet on implementing the measures.
More than 1,500 cities and villages had already imposed their own bans on smoking in public spaces such as parks, beaches and ski slopes.
Vautrin said there were no plans to place additional taxes on cigarettes "at the moment", citing the thriving black market that emerged after existing taxes were introduced in a bid to discourage smoking.
lby/yad/jhb/tw

disease

Cholera outbreak in Sudan capital kills 70 in two days

  • Cholera is endemic to Sudan, but outbreaks have become worse and more frequent since the war broke out.
  • A cholera outbreak in Sudan's war-ravaged capital has claimed 70 lives in two days, health officials said Thursday, as Khartoum faces a mounting health emergency after more than two years of brutal conflict.
  • Cholera is endemic to Sudan, but outbreaks have become worse and more frequent since the war broke out.
A cholera outbreak in Sudan's war-ravaged capital has claimed 70 lives in two days, health officials said Thursday, as Khartoum faces a mounting health emergency after more than two years of brutal conflict.
The health ministry for Khartoum state said it recorded 942 new infections and 25 deaths on Wednesday, following 1,177 cases and 45 deaths on Tuesday.
The surge in infections comes weeks after drone strikes blamed on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces knocked out water and electricity supplies across the capital.
The city has been a battleground throughout two years of war between the Sudanese army and the RSF.
The army-backed government announced last week that it had dislodged RSF fighters from their last bases in Khartoum state two months after retaking the heart of the capital from the paramilitaries.
Khartoum remains devastated with health and sanitation infrastructure barely functioning.
Up to 90 percent of hospitals in the conflict's main battlegrounds have been forced out of service by the fighting.
The cholera outbreak has piled further pressure on the healthcare system.
The federal health ministry reported 172 deaths in the week to Tuesday, 90 percent of them in Khartoum state.
Authorities say 89 percent of patients in isolation centres are recovering, but warn that deteriorating environmental conditions are driving a surge in cases.
UN chief Antonio Guterres's spokesman said Thursday cholera vaccinations have begun in Jebel Awila, the hardest hit district in Khartoum.
"The World Health Organization has also delivered more 22 metric tons of cholera and emergency health supplies to respond to local efforts," Stephane Dujarric said.

'On the brink'

UN humanitarian agency OCHA noted "significant discrepancies" in official data, "making it difficult to assess the true scale of the outbreak".
Cholera is endemic to Sudan, but outbreaks have become worse and more frequent since the war broke out.
Since August 2024, health authorities have recorded more than 65,000 cases and over 1,700 deaths across 12 of Sudan's 18 states.
Khartoum state alone has seen more than 7,700 cases, upwards of 1,000 in children under five, and 185 deaths since January.
"Sudan is on the brink of a full-scale public health disaster," said Eatizaz Yousif, the International Rescue Committee's Sudan director.
"The combination of conflict, displacement, destroyed critical infrastructure and limited access to clean water is fuelling the resurgence of cholera and other deadly diseases."
Aid agencies warn that without urgent action, the spread of disease is likely to worsen with the arrival of the rainy season next month, which severely limits humanitarian access.
The war between the paramilitaries and the regular army has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced 13 million since it erupted in April 2023.
At least three million people fled Khartoum state alone, but more than 34,000 have returned since its recapture by the army in recent months, according to UN figures.
Most have returned to find their homes devastated by the fighting, with no access to clean water or basic services.
According to the UN children's agency UNICEF, more than one million children are at risk in cholera-affected areas of Khartoum.
burs/srm/dv

tobacco

France to ban smoking outdoors in most places: minister

  • The restrictions will enter into force on July 1 and will include all places where children could be, such as "beaches, parks, public gardens, outside of schools, bus stops and sports venues," she said.
  • France will ban smoking in all outdoor places that can be frequented by children, like beaches, parks and bus stops, the health and family minister said in an interview published on Thursday.
  • The restrictions will enter into force on July 1 and will include all places where children could be, such as "beaches, parks, public gardens, outside of schools, bus stops and sports venues," she said.
France will ban smoking in all outdoor places that can be frequented by children, like beaches, parks and bus stops, the health and family minister said in an interview published on Thursday.
"Tobacco must disappear where there are children," Catherine Vautrin said in an interview published by the regional Ouest-France daily on its website.
The freedom to smoke "stops where children's right to breathe clean air starts," she said.
The restrictions will enter into force on July 1 and will include all places where children could be, such as "beaches, parks, public gardens, outside of schools, bus stops and sports venues," she said.
Violators could be fined up to 135 euros ($154), she said. 
Cafe terraces will be excluded from the ban, which will also not extend to electronic cigarettes, she said.
Some 75,000 people are estimated to die from tobacco-related complications each year in France.
According to a recent opinion survey, six out of 10 French people (62%) favour banning smoking in public places.
lby/yad/rmb

health

'Make America Healthy Again' report cites nonexistent studies: authors

BY MARISHA GOLDHAMER

  • Noah Kreski, a Columbia University researcher listed as an author of a paper on adolescent anxiety and depression during the Covid-19 pandemic, told AFP the citation is "not one of our studies" and "doesn't appear to be a study that exists at all."
  • At least four of the studies cited in a flagship White House report on children's health do not exist, authors listed in the document told AFP Thursday, casting doubt on the paper outlining Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s agenda.
  • Noah Kreski, a Columbia University researcher listed as an author of a paper on adolescent anxiety and depression during the Covid-19 pandemic, told AFP the citation is "not one of our studies" and "doesn't appear to be a study that exists at all."
At least four of the studies cited in a flagship White House report on children's health do not exist, authors listed in the document told AFP Thursday, casting doubt on the paper outlining Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s agenda.
The highly anticipated "Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) report was released May 22 by the presidential commission tasked with assessing drivers of childhood chronic disease.
But it includes broken citation links and credits authors with papers they say they did not write.
The errors were first reported Thursday by NOTUS, a US digital news website affiliated with the nonprofit Allbritton Journalism Institute.
Noah Kreski, a Columbia University researcher listed as an author of a paper on adolescent anxiety and depression during the Covid-19 pandemic, told AFP the citation is "not one of our studies" and "doesn't appear to be a study that exists at all."
The citation includes a link that purports to send users to an article in peer-reviewed medical journal JAMA, but which is broken. Jim Michalski of JAMA Network Media Relations said it "was not published in JAMA Pediatrics or in any JAMA Network journal."
AFP also spoke with Harold Farber, pediatrics professor at Baylor College of Medicine, who said the paper attributed to him "does not exist" nor had he ever collaborated with the co-authors credited in the MAHA report.
Similarly, Brian McNeill, spokesperson for Virginia Commonwealth University, confirmed that professor Robert Findling did not author a paper the report says he wrote about advertising of psychotropic medications for youth.
A fourth paper on ADHD medication, was also not published in the journal Pediatrics in 2008 as claimed in the MAHA report. 
"I can confirm that we didn't find that title in a site search," said Alex Hulvalchick, media relations specialist for the journal's publisher the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment, referring questions on the apparent errors to the White House.
Kennedy was approved as health secretary earlier this year despite widespread alarm from the medical community over his history of promoting vaccine misinformation and denying scientific facts. 
Since taking office, he has ordered the National Institutes of Health to probe the causes of autism -- a condition he has long falsely tied to the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
The report's chronic disease references appear to nod to that same disproven theory, discredited by numerous studies since the idea first aired in a late 1990s paper based on falsified data.
It also rails against the "over-medicalization" of children, citing surging prescriptions of psychiatric drugs and antibiotics, and blaming "corporate capture" for skewing scientific research.
mgs/st

virus

US cancels $590 million contract with Moderna for bird flu shot

  • The statement added Moderna would "explore alternatives" for funding the development and manufacturing of the vaccine.
  • US President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday canceled a $590 million contract with Moderna to develop an avian flu vaccine, the US biotech company said.
  • The statement added Moderna would "explore alternatives" for funding the development and manufacturing of the vaccine.
US President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday canceled a $590 million contract with Moderna to develop an avian flu vaccine, the US biotech company said.
It marked the latest move against vaccines by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who has spent decades promoting misinformation about immunization. 
The contract, announced on January 17 -- three days before Trump took office -- was for an mRNA vaccine targeting the H5N1 influenza strain, which has been circulating in birds and cattle. 
Experts have warned the virus could jump to humans and spark a pandemic.
American pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Moderna disclosed the news as it announced positive results from an early stage clinical trial of 300 people designed to test safety and immune response.
"While the termination of funding from HHS adds uncertainty, we are pleased by the robust immune response and safety profile observed in this interim analysis of the Phase 1/2 study of our H5 avian flu vaccine and we will explore alternative paths forward for the program," said CEO Stephane Bancel in a statement. 
"These clinical data in pandemic influenza underscore the critical role mRNA technology has played as a countermeasure to emerging health threats."
The statement added Moderna would "explore alternatives" for funding the development and manufacturing of the vaccine.
Dr. Ashish Jha, a public health expert who served as former president Joe Biden's Covid-19 response coordinator, reacted with dismay.
"The attack on mRNA vaccines is beyond absurd," he posted on X. "It was President Trump's Operation Warp Speed that gave us mRNA vaccines."
ia/sla

finance

WHO restructures, cuts budget after US withdrawal

BY ROBIN MILLARD

  • Washington did not attend the World Health Assembly.
  • The World Health Organization tried to stabilise its finances at its annual assembly which ended on Tuesday, but still remains well short of reaching its already reduced target.
  • Washington did not attend the World Health Assembly.
The World Health Organization tried to stabilise its finances at its annual assembly which ended on Tuesday, but still remains well short of reaching its already reduced target.
Hit by the withdrawal of its biggest donor, the United States, the WHO trimmed its already smaller 2026-2027 budget from $5.3 billion to $4.2 billion.
The UN health agency's programme budget for 2024-2025 was $6.8 billion.
The slimmer budget plan was approved during the World Health Assembly, which serves as the WHO's decision-making body.
But a funding gap of some $1.7 billion remains.

How WHO funding works

WHO budgets run in two-year cycles.
Founded in 1948, the agency initially received all its funding through "assessed contributions": nations' membership fees calculated according to wealth and population.
However, the WHO became increasingly reliant on "voluntary contributions", which only go towards outcomes specified by the donor.
By the 2020–2021 cycle, assessed contributions represented only 16 percent of the approved programme budget.
And the organisation had long been over-reliant on voluntary funding from a few major donors.

2026-2027 budget

In 2022, member states agreed to increase their assessed contributions to represent 50 percent of the WHO's core budget by the 2030-2031 cycle at the latest -- giving the WHO more stable, flexible and predictable income streams.
They upped membership fees by 20 percent as part of the 2024-2025 budget.
At this year's assembly, countries approved another 20 percent increase in membership fees, which should represent an additional $90 million in revenue per year.
They also endorsed the WHO's 2026-2027 budget of $4.2 billion.
"Your approval of the next increase in assessed contributions was a strong vote of confidence in your WHO at this critical time," the organisation's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Tuesday in closing the assembly.
Most of that money is already assured.
"We have now secured 60 percent of our base budget for 2026-2027; a remarkable result in today's financial climate," said Hanan Balkhy, the WHO's Eastern Mediterranean regional director.
But that means the agency is still $1.7 billion short, despite the reduced budget.

Pledges

At a pledging event last week, donors put in an additional $210 million for the 2025-2028 investment round, supporting the WHO's base budget.
That included $80 million from Switzerland, $57 million from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, $13.5 million from Sweden and $6 million from Qatar.
"In a challenging climate for global health, these funds will help us to preserve and extend our life-saving work," said Tedros.

United States

Upon returning to office in January, US President Donald Trump started the one-year process for leaving the WHO, and had frozen virtually all US foreign aid.
The United States was traditionally the WHO's largest donor. Washington's departure, and its refusal to pay its membership fees for 2024 and 2025, has left the WHO reeling financially.
Washington did not attend the World Health Assembly.
However, US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sent a video message in which he branded the organization as bloated and moribund, and urged other countries to "consider joining us" in creating new institutions instead.
Kennedy said the UN agency was under undue influence from China, gender ideology and the pharmaceutical industry.

Reorganisation

The budget cuts have forced the WHO to reorganise.
It is reducing its executive management team from 14 to seven due to the dramatic US funding cuts.
The number of departments is being reduced from 76 to 34.
The WHO has not yet announced any large-scale layoffs, unlike other UN agencies.
rjm/yad

euthanasia

France's lower house backs assisted dying bill

BY STéPHANIE LEROUGE

  • The National Assembly vote was an initial stage for the draft law, which will now go  between the lower house and the Senate for modifications acceptable to both houses.
  • France's lower house on Tuesday approved a right-to-die bill in the first reading, the initial step in a lengthy process that could grant patients medical assistance to end their lives in clearly defined circumstances.
  • The National Assembly vote was an initial stage for the draft law, which will now go  between the lower house and the Senate for modifications acceptable to both houses.
France's lower house on Tuesday approved a right-to-die bill in the first reading, the initial step in a lengthy process that could grant patients medical assistance to end their lives in clearly defined circumstances.
"The National Assembly's vote on legislation concerning the development of palliative care and assisted dying is an important step," President Emmanuel Macron said on X after 305 lawmakers approved the legislation and 199 voted against.
"With respect for sensitivities, doubts and hopes, the path of fraternity that I hoped for is gradually opening up."
Macron has insisted that any authorisation to choose death should be limited to people with incurable illnesses and intense physical or psychological pain.
The National Assembly vote was an initial stage for the draft law, which will now go  between the lower house and the Senate for modifications acceptable to both houses.
Some conservative groups oppose the law and Macron has said he could put the deeply divisive topic to a vote by referendum.
If approved, France would join a small group of European countries that give the right to aid in dying, including Germany, Spain, Austria and Switzerland. 
Until now, French patients wishing to end their lives have had to travel abroad, including to neighbouring Belgium.
A separate bill, submitted at the same time and concerned with end-of-life medical assistance including palliative care, passed on Tuesday without opposition.
All parties in parliament have allowed their lawmakers a free vote on the issue.
Leftist and centrist parties were expected to vote in favour of the right-to-die bill, with conservatives and far-right deputies seen broadly hostile.
The bill is widely referred to as focusing on "end of life" or "aid in dying" in the French debate, rather than "assisted suicide" or "euthanasia".

'Expressed such a wish'

The bill brought by Macron ally Olivier Falorni would allow medical staff to help "a person gain access to a lethal substance when they have expressed such a wish".
The patient would use the substance without aid or have it administered by a medically qualified person "if they are in no condition physically to do so themselves".
Health Minister Catherine Vautrin said at the weekend that the "French model" of assisted dying would be "strict and closely supervised".
Macron said last year that France needed legislation because "there are situations you cannot humanely accept". 
The goal was "to reconcile the autonomy of the individual with the solidarity of the nation", he said.
The bill faces stiff opposition from religious leaders in a country with a longstanding Catholic tradition, as well as many health workers.
Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, a devout Catholic, said Tuesday that he would abstain if he were a deputy because of lingering "questions". 
The draft law would allow assisted dying only in an "advanced" stage of illness, which it defines as "entering an irreversible process characterised by a worsening health condition of the sick person that affects the quality of their lives."
Current French legislation allows passive euthanasia, such as withholding artificial life support, and since 2016 doctors have also been authorised to induce "deep and continuous sedation" for terminally ill patients in pain.
But active euthanasia, where doctors administer lethal doses of drugs to patients, remains illegal.
Vautrin said she hopes that the Senate will begin examining the issue this year and submit its suggested changes back to the National Assembly in early 2026.
"I want this bill to get a final vote by 2027 which is still possible," said the minister.
France holds presidential elections in 2027 in which Macron cannot stand after serving two consecutive terms.
sl-parl-jh-as/tw

Covid

US no longer recommends Covid shots for children, pregnant women

  • "I couldn't be more pleased to announce that as of today, the Covid vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) recommended immunization schedule," he said in a video posted to X. FDA officials also said vaccine manufacturers will need to conduct new clinical trials -- including comparisons against a saline placebo -- if they wish to retain approval for use in healthy people under 65.
  • The US will no longer recommend Covid-19 vaccines for children and healthy pregnant women, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday, calling it a "common sense" decision grounded in sound science.
  • "I couldn't be more pleased to announce that as of today, the Covid vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) recommended immunization schedule," he said in a video posted to X. FDA officials also said vaccine manufacturers will need to conduct new clinical trials -- including comparisons against a saline placebo -- if they wish to retain approval for use in healthy people under 65.
The US will no longer recommend Covid-19 vaccines for children and healthy pregnant women, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday, calling it a "common sense" decision grounded in sound science.
The change follows last week's announcement by Food and Drug Administration officials that they would limit approval of Covid shots -- a critical tool in ending the pandemic -- to adults aged 65 and older, as well as younger individuals with underlying health conditions.
Trump administration officials have framed the shift as bringing the US into closer alignment with countries like Britain, Germany and France where annual boosters are recommended only for the elderly and immunocompromised.
But it comes as Kennedy — who has long promoted misinformation about vaccines in general and the Covid shots in particular — pushes to overhaul federal public health policy. 
"I couldn't be more pleased to announce that as of today, the Covid vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) recommended immunization schedule," he said in a video posted to X.
FDA officials also said vaccine manufacturers will need to conduct new clinical trials -- including comparisons against a saline placebo -- if they wish to retain approval for use in healthy people under 65.
These recent changes have drawn criticism.
Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins University, told AFP last week that while the new approach matched that taken by other countries, "I do think, however, that the initial Covid-19 vaccine series should be part of routine childhood immunization."
Paul Offit, a top vaccine expert at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, warned the change could restrict access for people who still want boosters, particularly under the US's privatized health care system, where insurers may decline coverage.
The reversal on pregnant women marks a major departure from previous CDC guidance.
As of Tuesday morning, the agency's website -- which had yet to reflect Kennedy's announcement -- still stated that pregnant women are among people for whom it is "especially important" to receive the vaccine. 
"If you are pregnant or were recently pregnant, you are more likely to get very sick from COVID-19 compared to those who are not pregnant," it says.
ia/dw

euthanasia

European countries that allow assisted dying

  • - Debating law in Britain - UK lawmakers approved in November 2024, in a first vote on the issue, the legalisation of assisted dying for adults with an incurable illness who have a life expectancy of fewer than six months and are able to take the substance that causes their death themselves.
  • France's National Assembly votes Tuesday on proposed laws concerning palliative care and assisted dying.
  • - Debating law in Britain - UK lawmakers approved in November 2024, in a first vote on the issue, the legalisation of assisted dying for adults with an incurable illness who have a life expectancy of fewer than six months and are able to take the substance that causes their death themselves.
France's National Assembly votes Tuesday on proposed laws concerning palliative care and assisted dying.
In Europe, several countries already allow the terminally ill to receive help to end their lives.
Here is a round-up of the situation on the continent:
- Pioneers: Netherlands, Belgium - 
The Netherlands and Belgium were the first European countries to authorise euthanasia, namely death induced by a caregiver at the request of a patient. 
In the Netherlands, euthanasia has been strictly regulated since April 2002. 
A doctor and an independent expert must determine that the patient is suffering unbearably and without hope of improvement. 
This right was extended in 2023 to children under 12. 
In 2002 Belgium followed the Netherlands by adopting euthanasia and assisted suicide with similar caveats to the Dutch. 
In 2014 it went further by allowing terminally ill children of all ages to also request the procedure, with the consent of their parents. 
Luxembourg decriminalised euthanasia and assisted dying in 2009.
- Assisted suicide - 
Switzerland, which prohibits euthanasia, has for decades allowed assisted suicide, making it the go-to destination for patients from around Europe looking for assistance to end their suffering.
The growth of so-called "suicide tourism" has caused much soul-searching in Switzerland but the authorities decided in 2011 against restricting the practice.
Neighbouring Austria, a staunchly Catholic nation, also legalised assisted suicide in 2022 after its constitutional court ruled the country was violating citizens' fundamental rights with the prohibition.

Strict conditions in Spain

Spain adopted a law in 2021 allowing euthanasia and medically assisted suicide for people with a serious and incurable illness.
The conditions are strict: the applicant must be capable and conscious, the request must be made in writing, reconfirmed later, and approved by an evaluation committee. 
In Portugal, the decriminalisation of euthanasia adopted in 2023 has not come into force following a decision by the Constitutional Court rejecting certain articles of the law. The new parliament elected in May will have to rule on the issue.

Regulation in Italy

Tuscany was the first Italian region to adopt regulation paving the way for assisted suicide after a regional parliamentary vote in February. 
However, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government challenged the regulation in the Constitutional Court, arguing it came under the central state's jurisdiction rather than the regions'. 
In September 2019, the Constitutional Court had outlined the conditions under which a patient could access assisted suicide without the helper facing criminal charges. 
The Italian parliament was supposed to legislate on the matter but it has taken no action. 
As a result, a pro-euthanasia association pushed for the adoption of regional rules, with Tuscany being the first to act.

Debating law in Britain

UK lawmakers approved in November 2024, in a first vote on the issue, the legalisation of assisted dying for adults with an incurable illness who have a life expectancy of fewer than six months and are able to take the substance that causes their death themselves.
The text, amended in May to allow medics to opt out, will now be voted by lawmakers on whether to send it to the House of Lords upper chamber for further scrutiny or reject it entirely. 
If passed, the law, which would apply in England and Wales, is still expected to be several years away.
Simultaneously, the Scottish parliament, with delegated powers over healthcare, passed its first vote on a bill to legalise assisted dying.
bur-ot-eab/kjm

athletics

Thai athlete, 105, unrivalled but not lonely at World Masters Games

BY ALLISON JACKSON AND JOY CHIANG

  • The next World Masters Games will be in Japan in 2027 after it was postponed twice during Covid-19. 
  • Sawang Janpram is in a league of his own at the World Masters Games in Taiwan -- at 105 he is the oldest competitor and the only person in his age group.
  • The next World Masters Games will be in Japan in 2027 after it was postponed twice during Covid-19. 
Sawang Janpram is in a league of his own at the World Masters Games in Taiwan -- at 105 he is the oldest competitor and the only person in his age group.
It meant that Thailand's Sawang was all but certain to win gold in the men's 100-plus discus, javelin, shot put and 100 metres.
All he had to do was finish, and the former school principal reached the 100m line in his solo race in a very respectable 38.55 seconds.
"I'm proud he's brought honour to our family," his 73-year-old daughter Siripan, a fellow evergreen athlete, told AFP.
They are among 25,950 athletes from 107 countries at the two-week World Masters Games in Taipei.
Held every four years, the event brings together competitors aged 30 and over from all walks of life for the sheer joy of taking part. 
This year's edition is more than twice as big as the 2024 Paris Olympics in terms of competitor numbers. 
Sawang, a father of five, began exercising at the age of 90, inspired by Siripan and a desire to avoid becoming bedridden like his friends.
Three to four times a week, Sawang joins his daughter to trot on a beach near their home in Rayong in eastern Thailand. 
"I sometimes like to walk, sometimes run," said Sawang, peering at AFP through aviator sunglasses as he explained his training regimen.
"Sometimes I do javelin throw, depending on what I have to do for competitions."
Other times, Sawang said he just goes to the local market.
It's proved to be a winning strategy, with the wiry centenarian winning more than 60 medals on the masters circuit. 
Sawang added four more golds to his collection this week.
- 'Exercise makes life better' - 
A smattering of spectators was in the stadium as Sawang competed in the shot put, his last event of the Games. 
Before the first throw, Sawang lined up with other sprightly shot putters in the 80+, 85+ and 90+ age groups to be introduced. 
Wearing knee braces, Sawang threw more than four metres on each of his five attempts, drawing cheers and claps from the younger athletes. 
Siripan, who also won two gold medals and a silver in her throwing events, joined her father on the podium after he received his fourth gold.
"I'm so proud of my father that he can still do this and that he is strong," Siripan said.
"People admire him wherever he goes."
The next World Masters Games will be in Japan in 2027 after it was postponed twice during Covid-19. 
Whether he competes there or in another masters event will be "up to my health", Sawang said. 
Before athletics, Sawang used to work on his farm, where he grew durian and rubber trees.  
Now he just focuses on sport.
"Excercise makes our life better and we get to meet friends who also exercise," Sawang said. 
"It's like our lives are livelier and we do not feel lonely at home."
joy-amj/pst

politics

Row erupts as German city plans safe room for crack addicts

BY LOUIS VAN BOXEL-WOOLF

  • He added that the new crack centre should be opened as planned where the demand is highest.
  • A battle has broken out over plans to open a new help centre for crack addicts near Frankfurt's main railway station, an area notorious for its bustling illegal drugs scene.
  • He added that the new crack centre should be opened as planned where the demand is highest.
A battle has broken out over plans to open a new help centre for crack addicts near Frankfurt's main railway station, an area notorious for its bustling illegal drugs scene.
Visitors arriving by rail in Germany's skyscraper-lined banking capital are often surprised to walk straight into a rough urban district replete with drug dealers and red-light businesses.
Hundreds of addicts are drawn to the Bahnhofsviertel area, where several so-called consumption rooms offer sterile needles and allow users to inject heroin, smoke crack cocaine and take other illegal narcotics.
Public health officials argue that such measures have long helped desperate people suffering from addiction and saved many lives.
But critics have darkly dubbed the city "Crackfurt" and British tabloid The Sun last year christened the inner-city district "zombieland".
Local businessman Frank Lottermann, 56, who runs a design agency nearby, is lobbying for the new crack centre to be moved further away, to the other side of the railway lines. 
He told AFP he had been exasperated by the sight of human desperation and the sometimes terrible hygiene.
"It does something to you" to have to step over human excrement on the way to work, he said. "It does something to your head."
He opposes the plan for a new centre with space for about 50 people to smoke crack, a powerful stimulant which first came to Frankfurt in the 1990s and is now more popular than heroin.
"The city is not just about drugs," Lottermann said. "Just this area!" 
But, he added, "the drug scene is so open that people think they have to avoid Frankfurt".

'Save lives'

Frankfurt, home to big financial firms and the European Central Bank, is also a major air, rail and road hub. 
Its Bahnhofsviertel has been a red-light district since the post-war years, when US soldiers flocked there.
"People think that you can behave differently here, that you don't stick out," said Wolfgang Barth, a veteran local social worker.
Germany's first drug consumption room opened there in 1996, modelled on similar services in Switzerland.
Inside a plain room with stainless steel benches, heroin addicts can be seen "cooking" the drug on spoons over tea lights before injecting it into their arms or groins.
Today, three centres also provide addicts with food, beds and counselling.
"The primary goal is to save lives and not to criminalise people," says Christian Rupp, city spokesman for health and social affairs. 
Last year 20 people died of drug overdoses in Frankfurt, down from a peak of 147 in 1991. "Nobody has yet died of an overdose in a consumption room," Rupp said.
But some worry that the concentration of help centres signals a permissive attitude, attracting yet more addicts to the area.

'Drug tourism'

Hesse state's conservative premier, Boris Rhein, in March charged that the Bahnhofsviertel had become a "magnet for drug tourism... a closed ecosystem of buying, getting high, getting treatment and getting care and advice all in one place".
Local members of the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) party this month called for the closure of the area's consumption rooms altogether.
"Drug addicts need help," Lottermann said. "But setting up rooms right in the middle of the drug scene just promotes drug use." 
Rupp insisted the new centre needs to be in the Bahnhofsviertel to be accessible to addicts, who he said are "ill".
"A person in the end stage of this illness is not in a position to walk almost two kilometres," he said.
One crack user, a 43-year-old former tree surgeon named Stirpan, agreed.
"Who will walk for 15 minutes when all the stuff is here?" he said. 
"People get the drugs and want to smoke them immediately, they don't want to wait." 

'Something drastic'

Barth, who opened the area's first help centre in 1989, said he was no stranger to local opposition.
Back then, he recalled, a local brothel owner threatened: "If a junkie throws up on my Mercedes, I'll come by your place and beat everyone up."
"It is important to talk to your neighbours," Barth said.
He added that the new crack centre should be opened as planned where the demand is highest.
Lottermann, for his part, also argued that Frankfurt should tolerate small-time drug dealing within help centres, to remove the practice from the streets.
Barth said he doubted that this would be tolerated in Germany anytime soon.
Stirpan, fiddling with his crack pipe, said it was hard to see what could be done to clean up the Bahnhofsviertel.
"You would have to do something drastic. You'd have to chase people out the area," he said. 
"The people here will do anything for a bit of crack."
vbw/fz/gil

politics

Trump admin sows doubt over vaccines in 'Make America Healthy Again' report

BY ISSAM AHMED

  • "At its core, this report is a call to action for common sense," Kennedy said at a White House event formally launching the assessment, which Trump hailed as a "historic milestone."
  • A highly anticipated White House report outlining Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s agenda devotes significant space to raising alarm over vaccines, while touching on environmental and nutrition concerns that remain at odds with broader administration actions.
  • "At its core, this report is a call to action for common sense," Kennedy said at a White House event formally launching the assessment, which Trump hailed as a "historic milestone."
A highly anticipated White House report outlining Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s agenda devotes significant space to raising alarm over vaccines, while touching on environmental and nutrition concerns that remain at odds with broader administration actions.
Kennedy has long warned of soaring childhood chronic illness, blaming ultra-processed foods, environmental toxins, and sedentary lifestyles. 
Critics, however, say he downplays the danger of infectious disease -- while President  Donald Trump's administration generally undercuts Kennedy's green goals by deferring to industry.  
In a document released Thursday by the "Make America Healthy Again" commission, the administration expands on those concerns yet also assails the US childhood vaccine regime, even reviving a debunked link to chronic disease.
"Despite the growth of the childhood vaccine schedule there has been limited scientific inquiry into the links between vaccines and chronic disease, the impacts of vaccine injury, and conflicts of interest in the development of the vaccine schedule," the report states. 
Since taking office, Kennedy has ordered the National Institutes of Health to probe the causes of autism -- a condition he has long falsely tied to the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
The report's chronic disease references appear to nod to that same disproven theory, discredited by numerous studies since the idea first aired in a late 1990s paper based on falsified data.
It also rails against the "over-medicalization" of children, citing surging prescriptions of psychiatric drugs and antibiotics, and blaming "corporate capture" for skewing scientific research.
"At its core, this report is a call to action for common sense," Kennedy said at a White House event formally launching the assessment, which Trump hailed as a "historic milestone."

Statements at odds with actions

Some of Kennedy's goals enjoy broad bipartisan appeal.  
Last month he urged industry to phase out synthetic food colorings  -- though experts fault the administration for making the step voluntary.  
Ultra-processed foods are another area of common ground as US childhood obesity continues to climb, yet the Trump administration has slashed funding for diet-improvement research.  
The commission likewise brands "forever chemicals" found in cookware, textiles and firefighting foam a grave menace  --  even though, just last week, the administration relaxed limits on those same pollutants in drinking water.  
Microplastics found in nearly all breast milk samples also get flagged for causing hormonal disruption -- yet the Trump administration has reversed a plan to ban single-use products in national parks, wildlife refuges, and other public lands.
"Even when the report has a good idea, like increasing consumption of whole, unprocessed foods, the remedies suggested are at odds with efforts of Kennedy, Trump, Musk, and Republicans in Congress to decimate federal workforce and government spending," said Peter Lurie of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
"How is the American diet to improve when Republicans are hell-bent on cutting SNAP benefits (food stamps), slashing school meals, ripping millions of Americans from their health insurance coverage,  withdrawing proposed rules that would reduce foodborne Salmonella, and laying off food inspectors?"
Before its publication, the report split Republicans over agricultural pesticides, long targeted by Kennedy during his environmental law career. 
Pro- Big Agriculture lawmakers and lobbyists found themselves pitted against Kennedy's fervent base, which includes wellness influencers and so-called "MAHA Moms." 
A key flashpoint was glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller -- but ultimately, pesticides received limited space. 
A single subsection names glyphosate, listing possible health effects "ranging from reproductive and developmental disorders to cancers, liver inflammation, and metabolic disturbance," while stating that human studies are limited and further research is needed to confirm real-world harm.  
ia/md