waste

Manila landfill fire leaves locals gasping

BY PAM CASTRO

  • "Honestly, sometimes the smell is so strong that it can still seep through the N95 masks.
  • Filipino ferry dispatcher Dave Delos Reyes has been handing out N95 masks for nearly three weeks to protect passengers against the smoke that a landfill fire has sent billowing above a stretch of Manila Bay.
  • "Honestly, sometimes the smell is so strong that it can still seep through the N95 masks.
Filipino ferry dispatcher Dave Delos Reyes has been handing out N95 masks for nearly three weeks to protect passengers against the smoke that a landfill fire has sent billowing above a stretch of Manila Bay.
The fire at Metro Manila's Navotas landfill is largely invisible to the naked eye, combusting as deep as 15 metres (50 feet) below the surface and releasing a toxic brew of methane as well as carbon dioxide.
Nearly 500 people who lived on islands near the site have been evacuated to the town centre of Obando municipality, about 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) away, but it is not nearly far enough to escape the smoke.
"Honestly, sometimes the smell is so strong that it can still seep through the N95 masks. It hurts our throat and heads," Delos Reyes told visiting AFP reporters on Thursday.
At its peak, smoke from the underground fire was affecting air quality across Metro Manila, where an "acutely unhealthy" reading was recorded in multiple areas, according to a local monitor.
Those numbers are finally returning to normal, the Philippine Space Agency's Ernest Macalalad told AFP, the result of around-the-clock efforts to snuff out the fire by covering it with tons of soil, depriving it of oxygen.
But in Obando, residents and evacuees alike said the smoke was still impacting their health and livelihoods.
AFP journalists who traveled to the landfill site by boat saw billows of thick, gray smoke completely enveloping houses on Salambao -- one of the islands from which people were evacuated.
"The smoke from the landfill comes and goes. We can feel it for around 20 minutes, then it will be gone," said Monica Verses, who sells candy and drinks from the open window of her tiny convenience store. 
"Every time the smoke reaches my store, my chest tightens, and I cough a lot," the 62-year-old said.
The US government's disaster agency has linked emissions from landfill fires to cancer, liver damage, rashes and reproductive disorders. 
Multiple residents told AFP the smoke from the landfill, which stopped receiving trash last August, only gets thicker at night.

'Not a typical fire'

Fires like the one at Navotas pose a different set of challenges from aboveground blazes, said Superintendent Anthony Arroyo, a spokesman for Manila's fire bureau.
"It's not a typical fire with surface combustion or a blaze... there's layers of rubbish in a mountainous area, and below that... methane gas," he said.
Fires that start below the surface often begin spontaneously, as organic matter decomposes and creates heat, fueled by oxygen that sneaks in through the cracks.
Flooding the area with water had not been considered, as it risked compromising the liner that prevents chemicals from leaking into the ground below, Arroyo said. 
Instead, firefighters and public works employees were covering the site inch by inch with soil dredged from a nearby site.
"The soil itself absorbs heat. At the same time, it serves as a smothering method, removing the oxygen from the subsurface fire."
While about 50 percent of the affected area has now been covered, work has been slow-going, Arroyo added, with heavy equipment unable to be used in some parts of the landfill due to its sloping walls of refuse.
For evacuees like Ramon Adino, 68, who is living in a cramped school classroom with 12 other families, a return to "normal life" is now just a matter of waiting.
"I'm slightly better now, but I'm still struggling to breathe normally... It's like I'm always catching my breath," he said, adding he hoped the fire would "be extinguished soon".
Food vendor Marissa Gusi, 62, said that while living conditions at the evacuation site were difficult, she planned to prioritise her health.
"I'd rather stay here indefinitely than lose my life because of that smoke," she said.
pam-cwl/jm

marathon

Marathon brothers run Ireland in race to find dementia cure

  • - 'A hard disease' -  Running with a fridge on board in London was "surreal", said Jordan, who did the stunt to bring attention to the disease. 
  • Jordan Adams, who ran the London marathon with a 25-kilogram fridge on his back last weekend, is now running around Ireland in a race to find a cure for a form of dementia both he and his brother are near certain to contract.
  • - 'A hard disease' -  Running with a fridge on board in London was "surreal", said Jordan, who did the stunt to bring attention to the disease. 
Jordan Adams, who ran the London marathon with a 25-kilogram fridge on his back last weekend, is now running around Ireland in a race to find a cure for a form of dementia both he and his brother are near certain to contract.
"This mission is ongoing, as is our family's devastation with dementia, one step at a time," Adams told a crowd who gathered to see him off on Wednesday in County Donegal, their latest stop.
The 30-year-old is running consecutive daily marathons for 32 days in each of Ireland's 32 counties -- north and south of the Irish border -- with the finish in Dublin on May 28. Without the fridge, though.
Assisted by his younger brother Cian, 25, who will mostly cycle the routes, the pair started in County Antrim in Northern Ireland on Monday, just a day after completing the 26.2-mile-long (42 kilometres) course in London. 
Nicknamed the FTD brothers, their mother Geraldine was diagnosed in 2010 aged 47 with a rare form of familial Frontal Temporal Dementia.
Overnight, Cian, then aged just 9, Jordan as a 15-year-old, their older sister and father became primary carers of their mum who died at 52 in 2016.
Two years later, Jordan learned he carries the MAT-T gene mutation which gives him a 99.9 percent chance of developing the same early-onset dementia. 
Soon after Cian tested positively for the same gene.
With terminal symptoms expected to aggressively emerge in their 40s, the brothers face a stark race against time.
"What makes this disease even more cruel is that we've lost twelve Irish relatives, including my mum and Nan," Jordan, from the English Midlands, told AFP.
"We wanted to come to Ireland where all the devastation started, to honour our Irish relatives," he said.
- 'A hard disease' - 
Running with a fridge on board in London was "surreal", said Jordan, who did the stunt to bring attention to the disease. 
But with Cian alongside to douse him with water, they reached the finish line together. 
"We both share the same diagnosis and the same future, so I know our mum was shining down with a lot of pride,"  Jordan told AFP.
The brothers are not new to extreme challenges. 
They ran around the United Kingdom two years ago, while Jordan has a seven-in-seven-days marathon challenge under his belt.
Undaunted by the Irish 32-in-32 test, Cian said it "comes in handy that he works as a physiotherapist.
"We've put together a good plan over the last six months, strength and conditioning, plyometrics, running training to get Jordan in the best nick possible for this challenge," Cian told AFP. 
"Touch wood, at the moment his legs feel good for it," he said.
The brothers have set themselves the goal of raising one million pounds in their mother's honour, and for research into an Alzheimer's cure that could save them.
After London, they are almost halfway there.
Carol Molloy, who helps run the local branch of the Alzheimer Society of Ireland (ASI), told AFP that around 64,000 people are living with dementia in the EU member.
An estimated one in 10 of those have a young-onset diagnosis, with that number expected to grow to around 150,000 by 2050, according to Molloy.
Some 50 percent of the proceeds of the brothers' marathon challenge will go to the ASI.
"What Jordan and Cian are doing is amazing, we are so grateful," said Molloy.
Dozens of local people joined the pair on their run, at least part of the way.
One participant Sean McFadden, a runner from Letterkenny who recently lost his father to dementia, said he would complete the full marathon route alongside the brothers in solidarity. 
"We have to hold our hearts out to the two lads and hope everything goes well," said the 50-year-old.
"It's a hard disease. For me today to be able to join in with the boys, it's quite special," he told AFP before setting off.
pmu/jkb/rh/ane

health

Cuban boy's sporting dreams on hold as surgery backlog grows

  • A few days later, the two children met in Havana and Juan Jose came away with a new spring in his step.
  • Juan Jose Guilarte is like any other 10-year-old as he races around a park in Cuba's capital Havana.
  • A few days later, the two children met in Havana and Juan Jose came away with a new spring in his step.
Juan Jose Guilarte is like any other 10-year-old as he races around a park in Cuba's capital Havana.
But one detail distinguishes the sports-mad youngster who dreams of Olympic glory: his prosthetic leg.
Juan Jose was born with a congenital malformation which resulted in his left leg developing only as far as the femur and the kneecap. 
His condition has never held back the effervescent youngster, who lists off a plethora of career ambitions, from "Youtuber, scientist and teacher" as well as elite athlete.
Twice a week he practises pentathlon -- running, obstacle racing, swimming, shooting and fencing -- and kung-fu.
In his bedroom, a Spiderman figurine occupies pride of place on his desk.
"I like him a lot because he is very fast and jumps a lot," he confided.
"He loves to dream, create and tell stories," his mother Sheila Guilarte said, noting that his condition never gets him down because he brims with self-confidence.
While no hurdle seems too high for Juan Jose to clear, his sporting ambitions have been thrown into flux by Cuba's worst economic crisis in decades, aggravated by a US oil blockade.
Since January, the Havana native has been waiting for an operation to prevent his thigh bone, which is still growing, piercing the skin of his stump, which would cause him unbearable pain.
Since the age of two he has already undergone three such procedures, after which he is fitted with a new prosthesis, adapted to his height and weight.
But a shortage of the anaesthetics used to sedate patients during surgery combined with recurring power outages have led to his latest operation being indefinitely postponed.

96,000 awaiting surgery

Cuba's health care system -- long a source of pride on the communist-run island -- was already in crisis before US President Donald Trump cut off oil exports to the cash-strapped island in January.
The move, coming on top of a six-decade-old US trade embargo, is part of a pressure campaign on the Cuban regime, which Trump has said is next in his crosshairs after Venezuela and Iran.
Faced with crippling shortages of both fuel and medication, hospitals have had to drastically reduce elective surgeries. 
According to the health ministry, 96.000 people, including 11,000 children, are on waiting lists for operations.
Before each sports session Juan Jose clips on a lightweight carbon-fibre prosthetic limb designed for running.
Getting his thigh into his prosthesis is more and more of a squeeze.
"It really hurts," he confided, adding: "I want to be operated on now."

From an American, with love

His carbon-fibre leg was a gift from a American boy with the same disability, who travelled to Cuba in 2023 to give away one of his artificial limbs after himself being on the receiving end of a donated prosthesis a few years earlier.
Juan Jose's neighbors saw the offer advertised on social media and immediately notified his family.
A few days later, the two children met in Havana and Juan Jose came away with a new spring in his step.
His prosthetist personalized the new appendage with a little Cuban flag -- which one day Juan Jose hopes to fly for his country.
"Since he was little he has said he's going to the Paralympics to win a medal," his mother said.
Juan Jose makes clear which podium place he's aiming for.
"I want to win gold!"
lis-jb/cb/dw

US

Departing US still owes money, says WHO chief

  • And the second is paying the arrears, so we hope they will do that but we haven't received anything yet."
  • The United States has still not paid off its membership fee arrears at the World Health Organization, the WHO chief said Wednesday, with Washington's intention to leave conditional on paying up.
  • And the second is paying the arrears, so we hope they will do that but we haven't received anything yet."
The United States has still not paid off its membership fee arrears at the World Health Organization, the WHO chief said Wednesday, with Washington's intention to leave conditional on paying up.
The UN health agency's director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he hoped the United States would come up with the money they owe -- a self-imposed condition for quitting the organisation.
US President Donald Trump, on his first day back in office in January 2025, handed the WHO his country's one-year withdrawal notice.
"In terms of the arrears from the US, the US withdrawal is conditioned with two things," Tedros told a press conference with the UN correspondents' association ACANU.
"One is notification one year in advance, which is actually met. And the second is paying the arrears, so we hope they will do that but we haven't received anything yet."
The United States was the biggest contributor to the WHO budget.
Tedros said there were "no signals" indicating that Washington would come up with the cash.
But he added: "To be honest, it's not about the money.
"The issue is health security needs universality and the US, by withdrawing, makes itself unsafe and makes the rest of the world unsafe. So it's lose-lose. 
"So our focus is not on the money. The focus is on helping the US to understand and reconsider.
"Where there is a vacuum, the virus wins. It's as simple as that.
"It's global cooperation and solidarity which is the best response."
Though the US flag no longer flies outside the WHO headquarters in Geneva, the WHO's decision-making body -- the annual assembly of member states -- will decide upon the US withdrawal when it meets from May 18-23.
The WHO constitution does not include a withdrawal clause.
But the United States reserved the right to withdraw when it joined the WHO in 1948 -- on condition of giving one year's notice and meeting its financial obligations in full for that fiscal year.
The notice period has now expired but Washington has still not paid its 2024 or 2025 dues, owing around $260 million.
The United States was traditionally the biggest donor to the WHO.
In January, as the notice expired, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attacked the WHO, claiming it had "tarnished and trashed everything that America has done for it", with "the insults to America" continuing to the end.
"The reverse is true," the WHO responded.
Despite the parting shot from Kennedy, the US health secretary still speaks with Tedros on a regular basis.
"We keep in touch every now and then," the WHO chief told reporters.
rjm/ag/phz

measles

Bangladesh measles outbreak kills over 220 children since March

  • Since March 15, the number of suspected cases nationwide has reached 34,980, mostly among children aged between six months and five years.
  • Bangladesh has recorded 227 child deaths since March in one of its worst outbreaks of measles in decades, with the number of suspected cases reaching nearly 35,000, government data showed Wednesday.
  • Since March 15, the number of suspected cases nationwide has reached 34,980, mostly among children aged between six months and five years.
Bangladesh has recorded 227 child deaths since March in one of its worst outbreaks of measles in decades, with the number of suspected cases reaching nearly 35,000, government data showed Wednesday.
One of the hardest hit areas is Kurukpata in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, home to Indigenous communities, which border war-torn Myanmar.
Children in these rural areas are often left out of vaccination coverage, and some families avoid vaccination programmes due to fear.
"The most affected area of Chittagong Hill tracts is Kurukpata, one of the remotest parts of Bangladesh," district health chief Sheikh Fazle Rabbi told AFP, saying more than 80 children had been treated for measles.
Local Kurukpata council head Kratpung Mro said the cases were unusually high.
"Communication from Kurukpata is difficult," he said. "People, mostly farmers, are among the poorest and cannot afford even boat or motorcycle fares to reach the hospital."
Kratpung Mro said the government should "launch awareness programmes and bring Indigenous communities under vaccination coverage".
Ngangoi Mro, 30, a farmer, brought his two-year-old son, Rengle Mro, who was suffering from high fever, cough and diarrhoea, to the clinic.
"We walked four kilometres (2.5 miles) and then took a vehicle to the hospital from our village, as my boy became very weak," he told AFP.
Measles is one of the world's most contagious diseases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and is spread through coughs and sneezes.
It can affect people of any age but is most common among children, and can cause complications that include brain swelling and severe respiratory problems.
Since March 15, the number of suspected cases nationwide has reached 34,980, mostly among children aged between six months and five years.
Bangladesh health officials, aid by the UN children's agency, WHO and the security forces are working to vaccinate children.
sa/pjm/jm

health

US judge orders Purdue Pharma to pay billions ahead of bankruptcy

  • The criminal sentencing caps off years of legal battles and paves the way for Purdue and its former owners, the Sackler family, to pay more than $8 billion as part of a settlement.
  • A US federal judge on Tuesday sentenced OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma to pay billions of dollars over its role in the opioid crisis, ahead of upcoming bankruptcy proceedings and its dissolution.
  • The criminal sentencing caps off years of legal battles and paves the way for Purdue and its former owners, the Sackler family, to pay more than $8 billion as part of a settlement.
A US federal judge on Tuesday sentenced OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma to pay billions of dollars over its role in the opioid crisis, ahead of upcoming bankruptcy proceedings and its dissolution.
The criminal sentencing caps off years of legal battles and paves the way for Purdue and its former owners, the Sackler family, to pay more than $8 billion as part of a settlement.
Between 1999 and 2023, around 806,000 people died from opioid overdoses in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Purdue and other opioid makers and distributors are accused of encouraging free-wheeling prescription of painkillers like OxyContin starting in the 1990s, while hiding how addictive the drugs are.
Last year, several US states reached a settlement with Purdue and the Sackler family, with a bankruptcy plan that will see funds routed to affected communities and individuals.
The total amount to be paid in fines, forfeitures and penalties surpasses $8 billion.
The company is set to be dissolved on May 1, with the remnants becoming Knoa Pharma, a public benefit company that will provide opioid use disorder treatments and overdose reversal medicines.
For more than six hours on Tuesday, US Judge Madeline Cox Arleo listened to dozens of victims and their families testify about the impact Purdue Pharma and the opioid epidemic had on them.
She then ordered Steve Miller, Purdue Pharma's board chair, to apologize to them.
During the proceedings to resolve a Department of Justice probe and clear the way for the settlement, Arleo read the names of more than 200 victims who had submitted written statements before the hearing.
"These people are not statistics in an epidemiological study," she said, adding that the testimonies were "heartbreaking."
The judge also apologized on behalf of the US government, saying it had "failed" to protect the public from Purdue Pharma, whose practices were "driven by greed" and had a "corporate strategy much like a criminal enterprise."
While many testifying on Tuesday urged the settlement agreement to be rejected -- in part because it protects the Sackler family from criminal prosecution -- Arleo called it the "best route I see among the options before me."
She urged the lawyers handling the bankruptcy proceedings to honor their promises of compensation.
For many people, opioid addiction begins with prescribed pain pills, such as OxyContin, before they increase their consumption and eventually turn to illicit drugs such as heroin and fentanyl, an extremely powerful synthetic opioid.
pel/llb/jgc/aks/hol

film

'Jurassic Park' star Sam Neill says cancer-free after gene therapy

  • Neill, 78, said in a weekend interview he had lived with the blood cancer for about five years but his chemotherapy treatment eventually stopped working.
  • Actor Sam Neill says he is cancer-free after five years of living with lymphoma, thanks to a genetic therapy that modified his immune system.
  • Neill, 78, said in a weekend interview he had lived with the blood cancer for about five years but his chemotherapy treatment eventually stopped working.
Actor Sam Neill says he is cancer-free after five years of living with lymphoma, thanks to a genetic therapy that modified his immune system.
The New Zealander, who starred as Dr Alan Grant in the 1993 blockbuster "Jurassic Park", revealed in a 2023 memoir he was "possibly dying" with stage-three non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Neill, 78, said in a weekend interview he had lived with the blood cancer for about five years but his chemotherapy treatment eventually stopped working.
"I was at a loss and it looked like I was on the way out, which wasn't ideal, obviously," he told Australia's Channel Seven News.
The actor was treated with CAR T-cell therapy, which uses a disabled virus to genetically reprogram human infection-fighting T-cells, enabling them to target specific cancers.
"I've just had a scan just now, and there is no cancer in my body -- that's an extraordinary thing," Neil said.
He is calling on Australian federal and state governments to fund CAR T-cell therapy for blood cancer patients across the country.
Neill's acting career began in the 1970s and has spanned dozens of roles in TV and film, including "Peaky Blinders", "The Hunt for Red October", and "The Piano". 
djw/oho/mtp

health

US opioid crisis victims testify at emotional Purdue Pharma hearing

BY RAPHAëLLE PELTIER

  • Purdue has admitted to promoting OxyContin by paying doctors to prescribe it, bringing in tens of billions of dollars for the laboratory and the Sackler family.
  • Dozens of victims of the US opioid crisis expressed their grief and anger as they testified on Tuesday against Purdue Pharma, the maker of the pain pill OxyContin which was ordered to pay billions by a judge ahead of its dissolution.
  • Purdue has admitted to promoting OxyContin by paying doctors to prescribe it, bringing in tens of billions of dollars for the laboratory and the Sackler family.
Dozens of victims of the US opioid crisis expressed their grief and anger as they testified on Tuesday against Purdue Pharma, the maker of the pain pill OxyContin which was ordered to pay billions by a judge ahead of its dissolution.
Between 1999 and 2023, around 806,000 people died from opioid overdoses in the United States, according to government data.
Purdue and other opioid makers and distributors are accused of aggressively marketing prescription painkillers like OxyContin starting in the 1990s, while hiding how addictive the drugs are.
Among the victims of the opioid epidemic was the mother of a teenage boy. "Because my mom died, I had depression and thoughts of killing myself," the son told the court in an emotional testimony via video call, sitting next to his father.
"I hope you feel guilty," he told the Sackler family, which owned Purdue for decades.
The family and company are due to pay more than $8 billion in fines, forfeitures and penalties.
The hearing to conclude a Department of Justice probe was originally scheduled to take place remotely, but US Judge Madeline Cox Arleo moved it to an in-person hearing after seeing protesters outside her courthouse in Newark, New Jersey.
"That's the least I could do," the judge told a victim who thanked her.
On Tuesday, some 40 victims and their families attended the hearing, with more joining online. Their testimonies, which Arleo described as "heartbreaking," ran for more than six hours.

'Hole in our family'

Alexis Pleus's son was prescribed OxyContin after suffering a high school football injury.
He died in 2014 from a heroin overdose, leaving a "gaping hole in our family for eternity," said Pleus.
Those who survived addiction spoke of their "guilt" of being alive, while families of those who died blamed themselves for not having done enough.
Many painted a picture of "destroyed" lives: divorces, losing custody of their children, prison, psychiatric hospitals, and astronomical medical bills in the hope of regaining "a normal, meaningful life."
The wives of two men who died recalled losing their homes. One of them said she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.
In many cases, families that were torn apart said the nightmare "started in the doctor's offices."
Purdue has admitted to promoting OxyContin by paying doctors to prescribe it, bringing in tens of billions of dollars for the laboratory and the Sackler family.
For many, opioid addiction begins with prescribed painkillers before they increase their consumption and eventually turn to illicit drugs such as heroin and fentanyl, an extremely powerful synthetic opioid.
Many in the courtroom wept during the hearing, and the judge was visibly emotional when listening to Julie Werner Strickler, whose son was prescribed his first pills in the army.
"These people are not statistics in an epidemiological study," the judge said when handing down the sentence.

'Criminal enterprise'

After Arleo read the names of more than 200 victims who had submitted written statements, she ordered Steve Miller, Purdue Pharma's board chair, to apologize to them.
Arleo also apologized on behalf of the US government, saying it had "failed" to protect the public from Purdue, which she likened to a "criminal enterprise."
The sentence against Purdue paves the way for bankruptcy proceedings and its dissolution on May 1, as agreed in a settlement with several US states last year.
What remains of Purdue will be replaced by Knoa Pharma, a public benefit company that will provide opioid-use disorder treatments and overdose reversal medicines.
Several victims on Tuesday called for the rejection of the settlement, which would protect the Sackler family from criminal prosecution.
Expressing her frustration with the deal, Arleo said that it was still the "best route."
"It's no shock. This is the second time I've been in a courtroom where the judge was apologetic and basically said there should have been jail sentences included. But there's always a 'but,'" said Edward Bisch, who lost his teenage son in the epidemic.
For many victims and their families, the fight continues daily in community initiatives to prevent and treat opioid addiction, which are set to receive part of the sums owed by Purdue.
pel/ms/aks/hol

Everest

Australian climber on record sea-to-summit Everest bid

BY PAAVAN MATHEMA

  • Macartney-Snape spent three months walking from sea level to the Everest summit, and it was his documentary that sparked the idea for Foran.
  • Among the hundreds of climbers hoping to scale Everest this season, 27-year-old Australian Oliver Foran began his journey far away, cycling and then walking all the way from the sea.
  • Macartney-Snape spent three months walking from sea level to the Everest summit, and it was his documentary that sparked the idea for Foran.
Among the hundreds of climbers hoping to scale Everest this season, 27-year-old Australian Oliver Foran began his journey far away, cycling and then walking all the way from the sea.
Foran is seeking to break the 67-day "sea-to-summit" record, first pedalling 1,150 kilometres (715 miles) from the warm waves of the Bay of Bengal in India to Nepal and now trekking to the icy 8,849-metre (29,032-foot) peak.
"I always wanted to climb Mount Everest, but I wanted to do it in a special way," Foran told AFP by telephone on a break from his long hike upwards to Everest Base Camp, and then to the highest place on Earth.
It is also a deeply personal journey, with Foran raising funds for youth mental health.
The former real estate agent climbed his first major mountain, Nepal's 6,189-metre (20,305-foot) Island Peak, in 2024.
He then summited 6,812-metre (22,349-foot) Ama Dablam last year.
He hopes Everest will be his first 8,000-metre mountain.
He has been training -- cycling, exercising and working on his breathing -- for the past six months to build endurance for the altitude.

'Unique'

The sea-to-summit is a rare feat, first completed by another Australian, Tim Macartney-Snape, in 1990. Macartney-Snape spent three months walking from sea level to the Everest summit, and it was his documentary that sparked the idea for Foran.
The current record is held by South Korean climber Kim Chang-ho, who walked and then kayaked the Ganges river, cycled to Nepal and then trekked up to the base camp in 2013, five years before his death on another mountain.
Foran aims to slash a week off that record and reach the summit in 60 days.
"It is a challenging task and a unique one," said Gelje Sherpa, his lead guide and expedition organiser at AGA Adventures.
"There are so many facilities and options to summit Everest in a record time now, but he is using only his own human power. That is big." 
Foran cycled across India and Nepal in the first 16 days, navigating sweltering hot plains before steep, relentless hills. 
He said he is driven by "something bigger" than himself, the memory of his teenage grief when his mother died of brain cancer.
"I didn't know how to process it... Life on the outside looked pretty good, but inside I was just emptier than ever," he said.
The unresolved grief reached a breaking point seven years later.
Foran said he had "made up my mind that that was it" -- but a call to a friend proved life-saving.
"I made the decision then that... if I ever got the opportunity to stop somebody else from getting to that point or to give them another way, I would," he said.

'Inspiration'

That commitment underlines his Everest expedition.
Foran is partnering with Australian organisation Youturn with a target to raise $200,000 to build a youth mental health support centre back home.
Aaron Minton, a director at Youturn, said it would be a "youth-focused mental health and well-being hub".
Foran hopes his journey can offer both awareness and inspiration, sharing the good parts and the struggles of his journey through his social media.
"What's really motivating me is, hopefully, having an inspiration on some of these younger people -- that might be a little bit stuck with where they are right now in their lives," he said.
"Also, I'm doing it for my mum, because she can't, and I want to make her proud."
As he continues his ascent, an unexpected source of comfort that accompanies him is the Madonna song "Like a Prayer".
"My mum used to listen to it. And it now holds a special place in my heart," he said.
"So that's what I'm going to be whistling to myself when I'm walking up to the summit."
pm/pjm/pbt/fox

healthcare

Going online helps Pakistan's women doctors back to work

BY ZAIN ZAMAN JANJUA

  • In an impoverished neighbourhood of Karachi, Muhammad Adil was able to take his eight-year-old son to a nearby Sehat Kahani–run health unit because it saves him time and money.
  • With her four-year-old nestled nearby, doctor Saniya Jafri consults from home in Karachi with a patient on the other side of Pakistan via her laptop.
  • In an impoverished neighbourhood of Karachi, Muhammad Adil was able to take his eight-year-old son to a nearby Sehat Kahani–run health unit because it saves him time and money.
With her four-year-old nestled nearby, doctor Saniya Jafri consults from home in Karachi with a patient on the other side of Pakistan via her laptop.
She is one of thousands of Pakistani female doctors returning to practice through "telemedicine" after leaving the profession because of family obligations and workplace barriers to women in the conservative society.
Although women outnumber men in Pakistan's medical registrations, many stop practicing after marriage, exacerbating the fast-growing nation's shortage of doctors.
Jafri, a mother of three, gave up cardiology after marriage.
"I did not want to choose long working hours and be away from home for a long time," she told AFP. 
But an initiative by digital health firm Sehat Kahani helped her back into the workforce by providing a digital platform to connect home-based, mostly female doctors, with patients in underserved communities.
Private clients are also catered for.
The initiative has brought 7,500 doctors back into practice, its co-founder says, and aims to boost healthcare for disadvantaged areas in Pakistan that face a dearth of services -- especially female patients who often feel more comfortable speaking with women medical staff about health issues.
Gallup surveys and doctor associations suggest more than a third of Pakistan's female medical graduates never enter the profession -- or leave it after marriage -- due to lack of family support, poor childcare facilities, and harassment.
The situation is symptomatic of wider challenges for women in Pakistan who face significant economic and social disparities, with the World Economic Forum ranking the nation second-to-last for gender equality.
- 'Doctor Brides' –
Jafri now balances caring for her children and household chores with attending to patients online.
"I wanted to stay with my children," the 43-year-old said of the flexible arrangement.
An overwhelming majority of the tens of thousands of aspirants who compete for places in government-run medical universities are women -- a rare instance in Pakistan of female student admissions outnumbering men.
Yet working at hospitals and clinics is widely seen as incompatible with family life for women, especially those with young children.
"The lady doctor who advises mothers to exclusively breastfeed for six months does not have such a facility at her own workplace," said Zakiya Aurangzeb, President of the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association.
She said long hours and the risk of sexual harassment and mob violence from the families of patients who suffered poor outcomes also put off women and their families.
Seeing those challenges as well as Pakistan's dismal healthcare access in poor communities, doctor Sara Saeed Khurram set up Sehat Kahani, a digital network that includes 80 clinics where patients visit for a remote consultation with a doctor, guided by an in-person nurse.
She hoped to realise the full benefits of the years of training and government subsidies for degrees that many families seek for their daughters due to the social status they confer in Pakistan society, where a "Dr" honorific is considered to improve marriage prospects for women.
"When that wedding card goes out that you're marrying a doctor... it just raises the social stature of the entire family," said Khurram.
"Once that purpose is done... then it becomes very difficult for you to challenge the societal norms that exist in that family to let her work."
Khurram understands the situation first-hand.
"I also became what we call the doctor bride or the 'doctor bahu'," she said, using the Urdu term for "daughter-in-law".
Though she remained in the workforce, Khurram watched her mostly-female medical school cohort drop out of work one by one, facing pressure from in-laws to focus on tending the home.
- Healthcare gap –
The lack of female doctors is deepening the strain on Pakistan’s healthcare, a mix of public and private systems with sharp disparities between cities and rural areas in the country of 250 million people and poor outcomes for urban working-class neighbourhoods.
Around 70,000 women -- almost a fifth of the 370,000 total registered doctors -- are listed in official registries but not practicing, according to medical associations.
Ushering female doctors back to the workforce online also provides better options for patients.
In an impoverished neighbourhood of Karachi, Muhammad Adil was able to take his eight-year-old son to a nearby Sehat Kahani–run health unit because it saves him time and money.
"When we come here, we are able to save our daily wage because it's close," he said, after a free consultation with Jafri on his son's chickenpox.
Digital healthcare improved flexibility and could help women back into the workforce, Jafri said, but cautioned that ultimately family backing was key. 
"If a woman doctor receives support from her husband, parents, and in-laws, she can excel," she said.
"Those who get it go on to succeed, but many who don't are forced to give up".
zz/ceg/fox

Global Edition

S. Korea probes syringe hoarding as war hits plastic makers

  • The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency told AFP on Tuesday that it "promptly began an investigation" into four medical device distributors suspected of violating the ban, following a complaint by the food and drug safety ministry.
  • South Korean police said on Tuesday they were investigating firms suspected of hoarding medical syringes, as the Middle East war hits supplies of an oil-derived component crucial for making many plastic goods.
  • The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency told AFP on Tuesday that it "promptly began an investigation" into four medical device distributors suspected of violating the ban, following a complaint by the food and drug safety ministry.
South Korean police said on Tuesday they were investigating firms suspected of hoarding medical syringes, as the Middle East war hits supplies of an oil-derived component crucial for making many plastic goods.
The US-Israeli strikes on Iran and the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz have rattled deliveries of naphtha, a liquid essential for making a key ingredient in many medical supplies.
The disruption has particularly affected petrochemical sectors in Asia and forced governments to take action, with South Korea imposing a ban this month on hoarding syringes and needles to guard against shortages.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency told AFP on Tuesday that it "promptly began an investigation" into four medical device distributors suspected of violating the ban, following a complaint by the food and drug safety ministry.
The agency vowed to strengthen inspections across the supply chain to crack down on illicit behaviour.
Under the ban, companies must not hold more than 150 percent of last year's average monthly sales volume in syringes and needles for five days or longer, or refuse sales without a valid reason.
But some firms appear to be exploiting the supply crunch by stockpiling syringes and selling them at higher prices, according to the ministry.
One distributor was found to have held excess inventory of about 130,000 units for more than five days, it said.
More than half of South Korea's naphtha imports last year came via the Strait of Hormuz, according to the presidential office.
President Lee Jae Myung pledged in a social media post on Saturday to take the "strongest possible" action against "antisocial behaviour that exploits community crises to worsen them and profit from them".
Lee's chief of staff announced this month that South Korea had secured an additional 2.1 million tonnes of naphtha from countries including Saudi Arabia and Oman via routes that do not pass through the strait.
sjh/mjw/jm

health

Horses unlikely saviours for those who serve in uniform

BY PIRATE IRWIN

  • Former Royal Air Force reservist John Lewis contemplated suicide, serving police officer Nick Morton had a mental health breakdown and ex- military intelligence operative Al Strudwick lost his self-confidence after having both his legs amputated because of sepsis.
  • Members of the armed forces and the police may put their lives on the line for their country but even they have their mental and physical limits and often it is horses, not humans, who can provide salvation.
  • Former Royal Air Force reservist John Lewis contemplated suicide, serving police officer Nick Morton had a mental health breakdown and ex- military intelligence operative Al Strudwick lost his self-confidence after having both his legs amputated because of sepsis.
Members of the armed forces and the police may put their lives on the line for their country but even they have their mental and physical limits and often it is horses, not humans, who can provide salvation.
Former Royal Air Force reservist John Lewis contemplated suicide, serving police officer Nick Morton had a mental health breakdown and ex- military intelligence operative Al Strudwick lost his self-confidence after having both his legs amputated because of sepsis.
All three shared a fear of horses, but it was to be the animals and not the therapists who would bring the trio back from the depths of despair after being put in touch with British charity Warrior Equine.
Such has been Warrior Equine's success that it has been selected as the charity for the prestigious Royal Windsor Horse Show, which takes place on May 14-17.
Morton had over 20 years of experience, but the accumulation of dealing with traumatic incidents, such as child murders, took its toll. 
"We are sometimes seen as that knight in shining armour, unflappable," he told AFP.
"But actually we're human beings. Same as our military colleagues are, we're all humans. 
"We weren't born police officers or soldiers," added Morton.

'Overwhelmingly controlling'

To keep costs at a minimum Warrior Equine, which was founded in 2019, has no permanent facilities or horses and uses both civilian equestrian centres and military horses for their three-day courses, of which between six and eight are held annually.
Warrior Equine was the brainchild of Ele Milwright, though she and equine instructor Jim Goddard had been working with veterans for several years before that.
As the wife of an RAF officer, Milwright had an inkling of how troubled some service personnel were after tours of duty.
"I did notice a lot of our friends and colleagues were coming back a little bit quirky," she said.
"You couldn't quite put your finger on it, but they came back and it was different.
"Nobody told you what to do about it. It was the elephant in the room. 
"So three things, understanding the value of horses, understanding how horses think, their psychology, and my commitment to help people with a military background or those who serve, all came together." 
The work involves the attendee leading the horse into a pen and using body language and energy to encourage the horse to move and interact.
As the attendees practise emotional self-regulation techniques, such as softening their body language, slowing their breathing and lowering their heart rate, they will aim to achieve a calm but focused state, which the horse will find safe to be around.
Lewis said the experience rescued him from the darkest of places.
The father of two had contemplated suicide after he suffered multiple fractures and spent months in hospital when a school bus squashed him between it and his vehicle.
"That vulnerability became exacerbated every time I was away from my family and my kids," he said.
"It became so overwhelmingly controlling. Even if I went into a supermarket to buy a loaf of bread and there wasn't any bread on the shelf, that was me failing to be able to protect them.
"Then I would get into conflict in the supermarket just because there wasn't bread on the shelf."

'Quite comical'

Lewis had tried several types of therapy and was so sceptical about Warrior Equine he turned back three times on his way to attend a course.
However, he eventually realised "I had to give this a go because ultimately, I was going to leave my kids with no dad."
It proved to be a cathartic moment.
"The point where the horse can detect that you're in control of those stress emotions going on inside you, they will, of their own free will, walk over to you and follow you around with no lead," said Lewis.
"They'll sit on your shoulder in this amazing way. And the way it's been described to us, and you can really see it, is that they just want to sit there and trust you."
Lewis says it has transformed his life and rid him of the excessive controlling behaviour.
"That dark tunnel doesn't even stare me in the face," he said.
"I know it's there. But I'm able to turn my back on it every single time."
Such has been the positive impact on Strudwick's self-confidence he climbed the Pen y Fan mountain in Wales -- part of the test for candidates for the British SAS special forces -- in a wheelchair.
"It made me realise how far I had come, from lying in a hospital bed for 50 nights, and being released with shot-away kidneys and a slowly recovering liver, to climbing a mountain," he said.
Despite the double amputation, Strudwick is blessed with self-deprecatory humour -- his forthcoming book is titled "Finding My Feet Again" -- as is his wife.
Shedding his prosthetic legs on a crowded beach in Cornwall, he went swimming with her.
"My little stumps kept sticking out of the water, which was quite comical," he said.
"My wife joked when we were about to get out of the water that I should crawl up the beach screaming 'shark!' and see people's reaction to it."
He resisted.
"It would have traumatised the youngsters!"
pi/gj

health

US Supreme Court hears Bayer bid to end Roundup weedkiller suits

  • Bayer is arguing that it should be shielded from state lawsuits since the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the sale of Roundup to consumers and farmers without any warnings.
  • The US Supreme Court heard a bid on Monday by German pharmaceutical and agrichemical giant Bayer to put an end to a wave of lawsuits over the weedkiller Roundup.
  • Bayer is arguing that it should be shielded from state lawsuits since the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the sale of Roundup to consumers and farmers without any warnings.
The US Supreme Court heard a bid on Monday by German pharmaceutical and agrichemical giant Bayer to put an end to a wave of lawsuits over the weedkiller Roundup.
Bayer has spent more than $10 billion settling litigation linked to Roundup since it acquired its producer, the US group Monsanto, in 2018.
The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) considers glyphosate, one of Roundup's ingredients, a probable human carcinogen, but Bayer says scientific studies and regulatory approvals show the widely used weedkiller is safe.
The top US court agreed to hear Bayer's appeal of a $1.25 million Missouri jury award to a man, John Durnell, who claimed Roundup was responsible for his cancer -- one of thousands of similar "failure-to-warn" lawsuits facing the company.
Bayer is arguing that it should be shielded from state lawsuits since the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the sale of Roundup to consumers and farmers without any warnings.
"Every agency around the globe -- New Zealand, Japan, Australia, the European Union, Canada -- they've looked at glyphosate," Paul Clement, an attorney for Monsanto, told the justices.
"It's probably the most like studied herbicide in the history of man and they've all reached the conclusion based on more data and the kind of expert analysis they can do that there isn't a risk here," Clement said. "You shouldn't let a single Missouri jury second-guess that judgment."
The Trump administration has backed Bayer's stance that a federal statute on pesticide labels preempts state laws requiring warnings on products that may be carcinogenic.
It's not feasible to have 50 different states coming out with their own determinations, Deputy Solicitor General Sarah Harris said.
"Iowa says maybe this causes cancer. California says absolutely causes cancer. Some other state says this doesn't cause cancer at all, so put that on your label too," Harris said. "It completely undermines the uniformity of the labeling."
Clement, the Monsanto lawyer, also stressed a need for maintaining uniformity.
Failure to do so would "open the door for crippling liability and undermine the interest of farmers who depend on federally registered pesticides for their livelihood," he said.

'Slip through the cracks'

Ashley Keller, a lawyer representing Durnell, who blames his non-Hodgkin lymphoma on exposure to Roundup, said the EPA's analysis of the weedkiller should not be the final word.
"I think there are a lot of conscientious people working at that agency," Keller told the court. "I think we should also all agree that things slip through the cracks with that agency."
Both conservative and liberal justices asked tough questions to lawyers for the two sides and it was not immediately clear how they would rule.
Monsanto, in a statement issued after Monday's oral arguments, said a favorable court ruling "would provide essential regulatory clarity for companies who seek to bring currently approved and new products to market." 
The Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling by June or early July.
cl/dw 

government

California billionaire tax appears headed to the ballot

  • The proposal gathered 1.5 million signatures -- nearly twice the number required to get on the ballot.
  • A proposed emergency tax on California billionaires to help fund the state's cash-strapped healthcare system has gathered enough signatures to trigger a referendum in November, the union behind the measure announced.
  • The proposal gathered 1.5 million signatures -- nearly twice the number required to get on the ballot.
A proposed emergency tax on California billionaires to help fund the state's cash-strapped healthcare system has gathered enough signatures to trigger a referendum in November, the union behind the measure announced.
The proposal gathered 1.5 million signatures -- nearly twice the number required to get on the ballot.
"Most Californians and most billionaires recognize how reasonable and necessary this proposal is -- both to keep emergency rooms open and to save California businesses from closing," Suzanne Jimenez of the Services Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), the measure's lead sponsor, said late Sunday.
Under the California Billionaire Tax Act, the state's wealthiest residents would be hit with a one-time tax of five percent of their net worth.
Some 90 percent of the tens of billions of dollars in expected revenue would be used to fund the state healthcare system for five years to offset the massive federal cuts imposed by President Donald Trump's budget law.
While the tax would be a one-off, the proposal has sparked controversy in the most populous state and across the nation.
Opponents fear it will scare off Silicon Valley and trigger an exodus of the ultra-wealthy, which would hurt tax revenue. California is home to more than 250 billionaires, more than any other US state.
The American left has been divided on the issue. Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who is considered a potential 2028 presidential hopeful, opposes it, while progressive Senator Bernie Sanders is its chief supporter in Congress.
High-profile entrepreneurs are against it. According to US media, Google co-founder Larry Page, Oracle's Larry Ellison, and Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel have all taken steps to reduce their footprint in California.
And the cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence communities are funding ad campaigns against it.
Jimenez, the union leader, described the measure's wealthy opponents as "a very small group of the most controversial billionaires on the planet."
"Healthcare workers and our allies won't quit until we fully protect our patients from the looming healthcare disaster that will be caused by $100 billion in cuts to California healthcare," she added.
In the face of growing wealth inequality worldwide, taxation of the ultra-rich has become a flashpoint of debate in recent years.
Brazil put the idea of a billionaire tax on the G20 agenda when it hosted the forum's annual leaders' summit in 2024.
Last year France's parliament rejected the proposed 'Zucman tax,' a measure that would have taxed the ultra-wealthy at an annual rate of two percent.
rfo-mlm/ksb

pandemic

Final talks begin on missing piece for pandemic treaty

BY AGNèS PEDRERO

  • In May 2025, WHO members adopted a landmark agreement on tackling future health crises, after more than three years of negotiations sparked by the shock of Covid-19.
  • An extra week of negotiations to complete an international agreement on handling future pandemics kicked off in Geneva on Monday, with sharp divisions holding up an accord.
  • In May 2025, WHO members adopted a landmark agreement on tackling future health crises, after more than three years of negotiations sparked by the shock of Covid-19.
An extra week of negotiations to complete an international agreement on handling future pandemics kicked off in Geneva on Monday, with sharp divisions holding up an accord.
Wealthy countries and developing nations are at loggerheads in the talks at the World Health Organization over how the pandemic treaty, adopted last year, will work in practice.
The agreement's Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system deals with sharing access to pathogens with pandemic potential, then sharing benefits derived from them such as vaccines, tests and treatments.
"The world cannot afford to lose this opportunity and risk being unprepared for the next pandemic," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the start of the talks.
"It will not be perfect; no agreement ever is. But it can be fair; it can be functional," he told negotiators.
In May 2025, WHO members adopted a landmark agreement on tackling future health crises, after more than three years of negotiations sparked by the shock of Covid-19.
The accord aims to prevent a repeat of the disjointed international response that surrounded the coronavirus crisis, by improving global coordination, surveillance and access to vaccines.
PABS, the heart of the treaty, was left out to get the bulk of the deal over the line.

'Blame is shared'

"Developing countries are voicing their mistrust, fearing they will share their viruses without any guarantees of equitable access to vaccines in the event of a crisis," WHO chief scientist Sylvie Briand told AFP.
Other countries are asking whether the pharmaceutical industry has the capacity and motivation to contribute to a pandemic agreement "without a guarantee of return on investment", she said.
Countries have until Friday to negotiate PABS so it can be approved during the World Health Assembly of WHO member states, which opens on May 18.
"Progress has been slow" and finding compromise "will be very hard", though the European Union was now "making an effort to demonstrate some flexibility", said Jean Karydakis, a diplomat at Brazil's mission in Geneva.
The pathogen sharing clauses are considered crucial by developing states, particularly in Africa, where many countries felt cut adrift in the scramble for Covid-19 vaccines.
While NGOs have criticised wealthy nations' obduracy, a western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there were also "excessive demands from some developing countries", and thus "the blame is shared" for the deadlock.

Anonymous access?

The treaty already says participating pharmaceutical companies should make available 20 percent of their production of vaccines, tests and treatments to the WHO for redistribution -- with at least half as a donation and the rest "at affordable prices".
However, the terms and conditions remain to be defined, as does access to health data and tools outside pandemics.
NGOs and developing countries want to impose mandatory rules for laboratories to ensure poor countries receive vaccines.
"During the Ebola outbreaks, samples from African patients led to treatments developed without such obligations," said Olena Zarytska of the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
The result, she said, was limited supplies in Africa and stockpiles in the United States, which under President Donald Trump has withdrawn from the WHO.
Developing countries also want a user registration and tracking system for the PABS database, while developed countries, "basically Germany, Norway and Switzerland, advocate for maintaining anonymous access", said K. M. Gopakumar, senior researcher with the Third World Network.
Anonymous access would make it "impossible" to track who is using pathogen information and whether they are sharing the benefits, 100 non-governmental organisations, including Oxfam, said in a joint letter to the WHO.
"In practice, this means that genetic resources originating in developing countries can be accessed, commercialised, and exploited with complete impunity," the letter said.
apo/rjm/nl/tw

conflict

Zelensky accuses Russia of 'nuclear terrorism' on Chernobyl anniversary

  • In a social media post marking the Chernobyl anniversary, Zelensky said Russia's invasion was "again bringing the world to the brink of a man-made disaster".
  • President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of "nuclear terrorism" on Sunday, as Ukraine marked the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster amid deadly new drone attacks. 
  • In a social media post marking the Chernobyl anniversary, Zelensky said Russia's invasion was "again bringing the world to the brink of a man-made disaster".
President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of "nuclear terrorism" on Sunday, as Ukraine marked the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster amid deadly new drone attacks. 
Five people were killed across Ukraine after Moscow launched more than 100 drones overnight, the latest in an almost nightly barrage the country has faced since the beginning of the war in 2022.
In a social media post marking the Chernobyl anniversary, Zelensky said Russia's invasion was "again bringing the world to the brink of a man-made disaster".
He highlighted how Russian drones regularly pass over Chernobyl and that one had hit its protective shell last year.
"The world must not allow this nuclear terrorism to continue, and the best way is to force Russia to stop its reckless attacks," he added.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, and Moldovan President Maia Sandu joined the commemorative events. 
Commenting on damage to the shell, which the environment group Greenpeace says raises the risk of a radioactive leak, Grossi said that "repairs should start as soon as possible and that leaving the situation as it is now is problematic."
Any repairs to the massive metal outer structure, which may potentially take up to four years, are virtually impossible due to Russia's invasion, according to Greenpeace. 

Worst nuclear accident

Russia's nuclear agency Rosatom, the successor of the Soviet atomic energy ministry, which managed the facility, said: "To remember Chernobyl means to remember the people who bore the brunt of the disaster, and to take that experience into account in every decision we make today, to prevent a similar catastrophe." 
Rosatom took over the plant in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia, Europe's biggest civilian nuclear power complex, after it was occupied by Russia early in the invasion. The plant is now in shutdown mode. But Moscow and Kyiv repeatedly accuse each other of targeting the plant during the conflict, and Ukraine has called for sanctions against Rosatom. 
Including Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine has four nuclear power plants, which are vital for the country's power supplies amid constant blackouts caused by relentless Russian attacks on energy infrastructure.  
The 1986 explosion at Chernobyl was the worst civilian nuclear disaster in history and changed global perceptions of atomic energy.
Thousands are estimated to have died as a result of exposure to the radiation, though assessments of the precise human toll vary. Some 600,000 people involved in the clean-up operation -- known as "liquidators" -- were exposed to high levels of radiation.
Hundreds of thousands more were evacuated due to the radioactive contamination. The zone around the plant has become an exclusion zone, with abandoned towns, fields and forests. 
In total, the disaster made large swathes of land in northern Ukraine and southern Belarus effectively uninhabitable.

Overnight strikes

Moscow and Kyiv exchanged drone barrages ahead of the anniversary events, causing civilian deaths in both countries. 
Russian night-time strikes across Ukraine killed five people and wounded at least four others in the east, Ukrainian officials said.
In Russian-occupied Crimea and the Lugansk region, four people were killed in Ukrainian drone strikes, said local Moscow-backed authorities. 
Meanwhile, the death toll from a 20-hour Russian barrage Saturday on Ukraine's central-eastern city of Dnipro rose to nine, authorities said.  
Diplomatic efforts to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II are at a standstill with US mediation efforts diverted by the outbreak of the Middle East war in February. 
bur-asy/tw

disinformation

'Natural' birth control risks unwanted pregnancy, experts warn

BY CAMILLE KAUFFMANN AND CHLOé RABS

  • Helping drive this trend are influencers on social media, who often promote natural birth control as a way for women to "liberate" themselves from the hormonal effects of the pill.
  • After taking the pill for a decade, Elodie Monnier Legrand decided to try "natural" birth control, an increasingly popular trend that requires tracking fertility to avoid becoming pregnant.
  • Helping drive this trend are influencers on social media, who often promote natural birth control as a way for women to "liberate" themselves from the hormonal effects of the pill.
After taking the pill for a decade, Elodie Monnier Legrand decided to try "natural" birth control, an increasingly popular trend that requires tracking fertility to avoid becoming pregnant.
"I wanted my body to return to its natural state," the French 30-year-old business owner told AFP.
However after getting two abortions within six months, she discovered the app she was using had slightly miscalculated her fertility cycle.
"It's not an exact science," Legrand said.
She is one of a rising number of women who are abandoning hormonal contraception such as the pill. 
In France, 7.5 percent of women used natural contraceptive methods in 2023, rising from 4.6 percent in 2016, according to the INSERM institute.
Helping drive this trend are influencers on social media, who often promote natural birth control as a way for women to "liberate" themselves from the hormonal effects of the pill.
However experts warn that some common claims about the pill's side effects represent misinformation -- and that methods based on tracking fertility require strict adherence to be effective.
Geoffroy Robin, a gynaecologist at the University Hospital of Lille in France, told AFP that the interest in natural methods was fuelled by "a climate of hormone-phobia".
He also pointed out that the pill had long been seen as a "tool of women's emancipation".
 

Different methods

 
Louise, a 26-year-old in France who did not want to give her surname, told AFP that "hormonal contraception was a complete disaster" for her.
When she was 18, her body rejected a hormonal IUD. After getting an implant, she said she suffered from side effects including weight gain, mood swings and depression.
For the last six years, she has been using the calendar method of natural birth control.
This requires calculating the window when women are fertile -- which is around 10 days a month -- and abstaining from sex during this period.
The temperature method involves daily checks to detect if women's bodies have gotten a little warmer, which happens during ovulation.
For the "Billings" method, women must inspect their vagina daily to see if there is a build-up of cervical mucus. The "sympto-thermal" method combines the latter two techniques.
The embrace of natural contraception -- also called fertility awareness -- comes as the use of the pill has declined in many countries.
A study published last year in BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health estimated that hormonal contraception in England and Wales fell from 19 percent in 2018 to 11 percent in 2023.
The research also suggested there was a link between the increasing use of natural birth control and a rising number of abortions.
According to the experts AFP spoke to, natural techniques are significantly less effective than traditional methods. 
INSERM said they should only be considered by women "who accept a risk of pregnancy".
A review conducted by INSERM in 2022 found that less than 20 percent of around 100 fertility apps it analysed made correct predictions about fertility cycles. Most apps also shared users' data with third parties, often without their knowledge, the review found.
 

'Just another business?'

 
Robin warned that "natural methods are absolutely ineffective" for those with irregular cycles -- roughly one out of every five women.
And there are several factors that can skew measurements.
For example, yeast infection or medication such as antihistamines can disrupt the secretion of vaginal mucus. Paracetamol, antibiotics or even a change in work schedule can alter a woman's temperature.
This means that natural methods are not suitable for everyone, the experts stressed, recommending that women considering a change consult their gynaecologist.
French sociologist Cecile Thome said the rise of natural contraceptive methods, driven by promises of "taking control of one's body," is part of the booming wellness industry.
These arguments were compelling for Legrand, who paid seven euros a month for a fertility app and bought a "smart ring" for over 200 euros to monitor her temperature. 
After getting two abortions, she contacted the app's customer service.
"Their responses were very cold, it wasn't very humane," she said.
The abortions were "hard on her body, hard psychologically," she emphasised.
While Legrand still finds the subject "super interesting," she wondered if "ultimately, it is just another business."
cka-cra-dl/giv

politics

Children's lives at risk from US funding cuts to vaccine alliance: CEO

BY ERIC RANDOLPH

  • "Our malaria programme has taken the heaviest cuts," Gavi CEO Sania Nishtar told AFP in an interview from Rwanda.
  • The head of a global vaccine organisation told AFP on Friday that aid cuts by the United States and other donors have forced it to slash its malaria programme in Africa, threatening tens of thousands of children's lives.
  • "Our malaria programme has taken the heaviest cuts," Gavi CEO Sania Nishtar told AFP in an interview from Rwanda.
The head of a global vaccine organisation told AFP on Friday that aid cuts by the United States and other donors have forced it to slash its malaria programme in Africa, threatening tens of thousands of children's lives.
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, brings together government and private donors to help developing countries acquire jabs for key diseases at affordable prices.
Last year, the United States pulled support worth $1.58 billion, with its vaccine-sceptic health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr claiming without evidence that there were safety concerns.  
"Our malaria programme has taken the heaviest cuts," Gavi CEO Sania Nishtar told AFP in an interview from Rwanda.
Gavi has been supporting the rollout of the malaria vaccine, approved in 2021, in 25 countries across Africa, where the disease claims some 600,000 lives a year, mostly children.
The goal of reaching 85 percent coverage in the targeted countries by 2030 has been reduced to 70 percent, she said. 
Gavi had projected the rollout would prevent 180,000 deaths, and while final spending choices still rest with African governments, the impact of the cuts "will likely be tens of thousands of children's lives lost", said Nishtar. 
"This is hugely disappointing," she added.
"If you've ever seen a child with malaria convulsions in a hospital, you know what this means. It's a horrible sight." 

African vaccines

Nishtar also told AFP of the challenges in its effort to develop vaccine manufacturing in Africa -- an issue brought into stark relief during the Covid pandemic when developed countries hoarded jabs, leaving Africans last in line. 
Gavi announced a $1 billion subsidy programme in 2024 to help potential African vaccine-makers get up and running. 
But 18 months later, "none of the manufacturers have been able to redeem a subsidy as of now", said Nishtar.
Firms in South Africa, Senegal, Morocco and Ghana are among those in the hunt but Nishtar said it was clear they needed more upfront financing and support to get labs and production lines off the ground, and she would be proposing that to Gavi's board in July. 
"We are bending backwards to help but we don't have a magic wand," she said, calling on African governments to help with tax breaks and investments of their own. 

'Silver lining'

Gavi had aimed to collect $11.9 billion for its 2026-2030 strategy but is still short by $1.9 billion, mostly due to the US withdrawal but also caused by reductions from other Western donors.
Nishtar was reluctant to criticise Washington, which she hopes can still be convinced to rejoin the alliance. 
"We are very hopeful of a renewed partnership with the US because they are so important to Gavi," she said. 
The cuts also had a "silver lining", she said, by encouraging African governments to invest more in their health systems despite financial challenges.
"Africa needs help at this point in time, and we should all support them," said Nishtar. 
"But African heads of states are allocating monies towards health and finding innovative ways of doing that: earmarked taxes, special levies... There is a willingness to invest," she said. 
"Last year, we ended with $300 million in co-financing contributions (from Africa) tangibly in our bank account."
er/phz

parliament

Assisted dying bill scuppered as UK advocates vow to fight on

BY HELEN ROWE

  • Both chambers of Britain's parliament must approve legislation for it to become law, and bills that are still in progress when a session ends usually fail.
  • A bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales failed in parliament on Friday after getting bogged down in Britain's unelected upper house, as campaigners vowed to fight on.
  • Both chambers of Britain's parliament must approve legislation for it to become law, and bills that are still in progress when a session ends usually fail.
A bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales failed in parliament on Friday after getting bogged down in Britain's unelected upper house, as campaigners vowed to fight on.
Charlie Falconer, who sponsored the legislation in the House of Lords, accused opponents of "pure obstructionism" after the bill simply ran out of time.
MPs in the House of Commons had backed legalising euthanasia for adults who have been given less than six months to live and can clearly express a wish to die, in a historic vote last June.
But more than 1,200 bill amendments subsequently introduced in the second chamber meant that after the end of Friday's debate there was no chance it would pass before parliament concludes its current session next week.
"It was an absolute travesty of our processes which a few Lords manipulated by putting down 1,200 amendments... and then talking and talking and talking," Falconer said minutes after the bill failed.
"The problem was pure obstructionism by a small number," he insisted.
Kim Leadbeater, the MP who introduced the bill in the House of Commons in 2024, added she believed there was a "real sense of injustice... that what's happened is wrong".
Both chambers of Britain's parliament must approve legislation for it to become law, and bills that are still in progress when a session ends usually fail.
"We're incredibly angry with what's happened but we're determined to get it through, this is not the end, we will not be stopped," campaigner Rebecca Wilcox told AFP. 
Her mother Esther Rantzen -- a high-profile television personality -- has a terminal diagnosis.
Wilcox added assisted dying advocates hope that an MP will carry on the fight when parliament reconvenes mid-May for its next term. 
The current draft law was a private member's bill, not government legislation, which requires an MP to introduce it and faces a bigger challenge to get parliamentary time and get on the statute books. 
"We're hoping one (MP) of them will resurrect this bill (and) it will go through parliament. We're pretty confident of that," Wilcox said.
 

'Deliberate delaying'

 
The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would have seen Britain emulate several other countries in Europe and elsewhere to allow some form of assisted dying.
More than 200 lawmakers signed a letter late Thursday blaming the bill's scuppering on "deliberate delaying tactics pursued by a minority of peers opposed to its passage".
"I'm really sad, really upset, really disappointed, but also a little bit angry," Leadbeater said earlier Friday adding the terminally ill would continue to be denied "choice, compassion and dignity".
Leadbeater vowed supportive MPs will "go again" in the next parliamentary session, though the legislative process will have reset and a different MP will likely need to introduce a new bill.
"The issue is not going away -- there's a very clear direction of travel around the world," she said, adding polling in Britain showed support for the change.
But critics, including the Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF) which represents medical professionals opposed to assisted dying, said they were "relieved".
"It is not possible to construct an assisted suicide service that is safe, equitable, and resistant to placing unacceptable pressure on the most vulnerable", a spokesperson said in statement to AFP.
Under the proposed legislation, any patient's wish to die would have to be signed off by two doctors and a panel of experts.
They would have to be able to administer the life-ending substance themselves.
Its supporters said it would give people with an incurable illness dignity and choice at the end of their lives.
Lawmakers in the self-governing British dependencies of Jersey and the Isle of Man have already approved euthanasia legislation but the moves are still awaiting royal assent.
Lawmakers in Edinburgh in March rejected a bill in the devolved Scottish parliament to legalise assisted dying.
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