US

Mideast war takes a bite out of Filipino street food vendors

BY PAM CASTRO

  • Garcia, who begins cooking at 3 am every morning before hauling his stew to a middle-class neighbourhood on a converted motorbike, said an 11 kilo tank of fuel, which typically lasts four days, that once cost 870 pesos (about $14.50) now costs 1,600 pesos.
  • Filipinos like their "pares", a traditional beef stew, served hot -- but the soaring cost of liquefied petroleum gas has made that prospect increasingly difficult since war erupted in the Middle East.
  • Garcia, who begins cooking at 3 am every morning before hauling his stew to a middle-class neighbourhood on a converted motorbike, said an 11 kilo tank of fuel, which typically lasts four days, that once cost 870 pesos (about $14.50) now costs 1,600 pesos.
Filipinos like their "pares", a traditional beef stew, served hot -- but the soaring cost of liquefied petroleum gas has made that prospect increasingly difficult since war erupted in the Middle East.
To save a few pesos 20-year-old Eric Garcia delicately turned a knob to adjust the flame under his warming trays to the lowest setting as he grapples with fuel costs that have nearly doubled in price.
While sticker shock at petrol stations has garnered the biggest headlines since the war forced the partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the rising price of LPG has hit the import-dependent archipelago's humble street food vendors.
A day before speaking to AFP, Garcia said he had been forced to raise the price of a bowl of pares to 65 pesos ($1.08) after fuel costs reduced his daily earnings by a quarter.
"I'm only earning 1,500 pesos (per day), because the rest is spent on LPG," he said.
Garcia, who begins cooking at 3 am every morning before hauling his stew to a middle-class neighbourhood on a converted motorbike, said an 11 kilo tank of fuel, which typically lasts four days, that once cost 870 pesos (about $14.50) now costs 1,600 pesos.
"It's the highest price of LPG that I've ever seen since I started here," said Carlo Manalad, a supervisor at a store selling tanks of the gas, 90 percent of which is imported.
"If (our suppliers') prices are high, we also raise our prices. Our profit is still the same," the 64-year-old told AFP.
Many of the capital's streetside food sellers, however, have no such luxury.
"If we raise our prices, our customers will buy from other stalls," said Ronilo Titom, who has run a curbside canteen that caters call centre workers and jeepney drivers, for two years.
Even while holding the line on prices, Titom said he had noticed his customer base slowly shrinking since the war erupted.
"Many of them have started to bring packed lunches instead (to save money)," said the 48-year-old who, like Garcia, is using his LPG ever more judiciously.
"Sometimes we let the soup get cold," he admitted, noting that the cost of ingredients for his dishes had also been on the uptick since the war broke out.  

'Very difficult for us'

The Philippines revealed Tuesday war-driven inflation figures that showed food prices had increased nearly twice as fast in March as the month before.
French fry vendor John Mark Abella, 25, who has also upped his prices by five pesos to compensate for LPG costs, told AFP he believed inflation was putting the squeeze on his mostly student customers.
"I think we've got fewer customers … because they're limiting their expenses because of the high prices of fuel and food," he said.
Sam Natividad, a 25-year-old call centre worker, said that was no illusion.
"I'm limiting my expenses because... I also have to pay bills at home. I don't have a big budget for my meals here," she told AFP at a roadside canteen, adding it was "understandable" if street vendors had to raise their prices.
Near Garcia's pares stall, Allan Palong, a driver for a motorbike ride-hailing app, said he understood the vendor's need to charge five pesos more for a bowl of stew, even if his own earnings were being crippled by fuel price hikes.
"It's very difficult for us now, all prices have gone up … the five-pesos mean a lot," he said, while calling on the government to slash the excise tax on imported fuel.
"What they're doing is not enough... we can't feel it."
pam-cwl/ane/tc

conflict

Over 200 arrested at pro-Palestinian rally in London

  • The protesters held placards in support of the banned group Palestine Action, making them liable for arrest.
  • Police in London said they had arrested more 200 pro-Palestinian protesters Saturday at a demonstration in support of the banned group Palestine Action.
  • The protesters held placards in support of the banned group Palestine Action, making them liable for arrest.
Police in London said they had arrested more 200 pro-Palestinian protesters Saturday at a demonstration in support of the banned group Palestine Action.
Officers carried away activists to cheers and clapping from other demonstrators who gathered for the sit-down demonstration in the capital's Trafalgar Square.
The protesters held placards in support of the banned group Palestine Action, making them liable for arrest.
Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organisation last July, making it a criminal offence to belong to or support the group, punishable by up to 14 years in prison. 
The High Court in London in mid-February upheld a challenge to the ban, saying it had interfered with the right to freedom of speech.
The government has been granted leave to appeal the decision.
London's Metropolitan Police paused arrests in the wake of the High Court ruling before announcing in late March that it would resume them.
"It's really important to continue to show up," said Freya, 28, manager of a London environmental organisation, one of those sitting towards the front of the crowd of protesters.
"It's important that we all continue to oppose genocide... The government might flip-flop in their legal argument but the morals of these people (here) do not change," she added.
Posting on X, London's Metropolitan Police said they had arrested 212 people aged between 27 and 82.

'Misguided crackdown'

Since the ban on Palestine Action was imposed there have been nearly 3,000 arrests, mainly for carrying placards defending it. Hundreds of people are facing charges.
Protester, Denis MacDermot, 73, from Edinburgh, said he had been arrested before and had no hesitation about turning out again.
"I'm a supporter of these great people," he said waving towards other protesters, adding that if the court process was definitive "there would be no need for all this".
Protest organisers Defend Our Juries said around 500 people had taken part in Saturday's demonstration, protesting "the UK Government's complicity in Israel's genocide in Gaza and the misguided crackdown on peaceful protest at home".
Police were "choosing to make arrests despite the government's ban on the group being ruled unlawful by the High Court, and leading lawyers warning that any arrests would be unlawful", it added in a statement.
The ban, which put Palestine Action on a blacklist that also includes Palestinian militants Hamas and the Lebanese Iran-backed group Hezbollah, has sparked a severe backlash.
A judge has put on hold all trials of people charged with supporting Palestine Action, scheduling a blanket review of cases for July 30.
Set up in 2020, Palestine Action's stated goal on its now-blocked website is to end "global participation in Israel's genocidal and apartheid regime".
It has mainly targeted weapons factories, especially those belonging to the Israeli defence group Elbit Systems.
har/jj

arch

Trump administration reveals plans for massive Washington arch

  • The structure "will be the GREATEST and MOST BEAUTIFUL Triumphal Arch, anywhere in the World," Trump wrote Friday on his social media platform on Friday.
  • US President Donald Trump's administration on Friday revealed renderings for a colossal triumphal arch proposed for construction in Washington near some of the nation's most revered monuments.
  • The structure "will be the GREATEST and MOST BEAUTIFUL Triumphal Arch, anywhere in the World," Trump wrote Friday on his social media platform on Friday.
US President Donald Trump's administration on Friday revealed renderings for a colossal triumphal arch proposed for construction in Washington near some of the nation's most revered monuments.
At 250 feet (76.2 meters) it would pip Mexico City's Monument to the Revolution by 30 feet, making it the largest structure of its kind in the world, and knocking Pyongyang's Arch of Triumph to third place.
The gold-accented arch would also tower over the 99-foot-tall Lincoln Memorial, sitting just across the Potomac River at the other end of Arlington Memorial Bridge, and be clearly visible from Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, the final resting place for many of the nation's military heroes.
The structure "will be the GREATEST and MOST BEAUTIFUL Triumphal Arch, anywhere in the World," Trump wrote Friday on his social media platform on Friday. "This will be a wonderful addition to the Washington D.C. area for all Americans to enjoy for many decades to come!"
The arch is one of several architectural projects -- including the construction of a large White House ballroom, lambasted by critics, and renovations to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts -- that Trump has undertaken to leave a mark on Washington in his second term.
Drawings and computer-generated renderings show a large, winged Lady Liberty flanked by two eagles -- all gilded -- atop a towering white arch.
Golden inscriptions read "One Nation Under God" and "Liberty and Justice for All" on opposite sides.
The arch, resembling the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, is proposed for a traffic circle on Columbia Island, which sits in the Potomac River that hugs Washington.
Trump, who was one of America's most famous real estate developers before entering the entertainment industry and later politics, has said it would be built to mark the 250th anniversary of America's founding and 1776 declaration of independence from Britain.
The plans were submitted for review to the US Commission of Fine Arts, a federal agency charged with advising the president on design matters.
Trump fired all members of the board in October and stacked it with allies as he embarks on a series of renovation and building projects across the US capital.
Last month, the same agency gave its approval to the design of a commemorative gold coin etched in Trump's likeness to be minted for the 250th anniversary.
pnb/mlm

space

Parachutes: A vital part of Artemis II's trip home

BY MOISéS ÁVILA

  • But for a gentle, 17-mile-per-hour (27-kph) impact in the Pacific Ocean, Orion and the humans onboard need parachutes.
  • As the Orion spacecraft hurtles home, friction caused by re-entry into Earth's atmosphere will drastically decrease its speed from a potential 25,000 miles per hour (40,000 kilometers per hour).
  • But for a gentle, 17-mile-per-hour (27-kph) impact in the Pacific Ocean, Orion and the humans onboard need parachutes.
As the Orion spacecraft hurtles home, friction caused by re-entry into Earth's atmosphere will drastically decrease its speed from a potential 25,000 miles per hour (40,000 kilometers per hour).
But for a gentle, 17-mile-per-hour (27-kph) impact in the Pacific Ocean, Orion and the humans onboard need parachutes.
Artemis II is scheduled to splash down off the southern California coast at 5:07 pm local time (0007 GMT) after the most dangerous part of its mission -- re-entry.
Jared Daum, the parachute system manager for Artemis II, explains how it will work in comments to AFP that have been lightly edited for clarity.
Q: What is the role of parachutes during re-entry?
A: The heat shield gets us down to 350 miles per hour (560 kph), but that's all the heat shield can do due to the mass of the vehicle. So at that point we need something more.
So at 24,000 feet (7,300 meters), we start the deployment sequence to get us down to the water. The parachute system, in my opinion, is one of the most important systems on the spacecraft.
It decelerates the vehicle from about 350 miles per hour to about 17 miles per hour for a nice soft landing for the crew in the Pacific Ocean.
Q: How does it work?
A: [It's] a series of four types of parachutes, 11 total, starting with what we call the forward bay cover parachute. It's all Kevlar, about seven feet (two meters) in diameter, and its job is to lift off the cover to expose the rest of our hardware.
[Next] we have two mortar-deployed drogue parachutes, each about 23 feet (7 meters) in diameter. Their job is to stabilize and decelerate the vehicle from that 350 down to about 150 miles per hour (240 kph).
The [three] pilot parachutes [deployed next] are about nine feet (2.7 meters) in diameter, and their only job is to lift up our three main parachutes. Each main parachute is about 300 pounds (136 kg) and 11,000 square feet (1,022 square meters).
As we get into our larger parachutes, like the drogues and the mains, we have a lighter-weight nylon ... not unlike what you might build a tent out of, or an old-school windbreaker. It's very light but strong enough to produce the drag that we need to decelerate.
As the capsule splashes down, the parachutes will instantaneously deflate when the risers are severed ... and we'll see the parachutes fall into the ocean.
The flight software deploys the first parachutes all the way down through the main parachutes. Of course the crew has the ability to manually command the chutes ... if for some reason we have low confidence in the flight software.
Q: Is there a plan B?
A: Redundancy is key with spaceflight. It's not like you can drive your car down the road, get a flat tire, pull over, fix it and keep going. With these parachutes you have one shot and it's got to work then.
So we have redundancy built into each of the four types of parachutes. We can lose one forward bay cover parachute, one drogue, one pilot and one main parachute, and the astronauts will still have a safe landing.
Without the parachutes, the crew would have no safe way to get back. This vehicle is designed to use parachutes, as are all of our crewed spacecraft from now all through previous history.
mav/ksb/mjf/dw 

measles

Vaccine gaps fuel Bangladesh's deadly measles crisis

BY SHEIKH SABIHA ALAM

  • "The boy had (a) high fever and found it hard to breathe," Brishti told AFP, mopping the fevered brow of one-year-old Minhaz, cradled in her arms.
  • Rocking her baby to soothe his searing pain and gasping breaths, 18-year-old Rubia Akhtar Brishti recounts how her son nearly died in Bangladesh's deadly measles outbreak.
  • "The boy had (a) high fever and found it hard to breathe," Brishti told AFP, mopping the fevered brow of one-year-old Minhaz, cradled in her arms.
Rocking her baby to soothe his searing pain and gasping breaths, 18-year-old Rubia Akhtar Brishti recounts how her son nearly died in Bangladesh's deadly measles outbreak.
"The boy had (a) high fever and found it hard to breathe," Brishti told AFP, mopping the fevered brow of one-year-old Minhaz, cradled in her arms. "His whole body had rashes."
At least 143 people have died in the outbreak since March 15, the vast majority children, with more than 12,000 suspected cases -- the worst in the South Asian nation for 20 years.
Brishti, like dozens of others, rushed from her village seeking help in the capital Dhaka, where the DNCC Hospital in Mohakhali, set up originally for Covid-19, is flooded with cases.
The ward is filled with the sounds of coughing and cries of pain, as mothers hold nebulisers over their children's mouths to help their little lungs gulp for air, their tiny bodies marked by a searing rash.
Measles is one of the world's most contagious diseases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and spreads via coughs or sneezes.
While it can affect people of any age, it is most common among children and can cause complications, including brain swelling and severe breathing problems.
"Both of my children are sick now," said Nusrat Jahan, who had lost her vaccination cards and therefore missed getting her infants a shot. "Both the babies are suffering."
Her children were in different wards in the hospital.
"One is admitted on (the) first floor and another is on (the) second floor," she said. "I am caught in between (them), as both children cry for me."

Vaccine drive

Bangladesh has made significant advancements in vaccinations to tackle infectious diseases.
But a measles drive due in 2024 was delayed by the deadly uprising that toppled the autocratic government of Sheikh Hasina.
Many of the families with sick children in the ward say they come from areas where vaccine coverage was limited.
Yasmin Khatun, grandmother of one-year-old Safwan, said she had tried to get the baby protected.
"We took him to the centre but there were no vaccines available for measles," she said.
Health authorities are scrambling to stop the spread and roll out vaccination campaigns.
Health authorities launched an emergency measles-rubella campaign on April 5, alongside UN agencies, aiming to protect more than 1.2 million children.
Vaccines work the best when all are covered.
Government health services spokesperson Zahid Raihan said that among the affected children, 17 percent had received a single dose, while 11 percent had received two doses.
"In the absence of herd immunity, children can still get infected even after vaccination," Raihan said, saying 95 percent coverage of children was needed to ensure that.
"Last year, the coverage was only 59 percent," he said.
Golam Mothabbir, from Save the Children Bangladesh, said the hardest hit places included the crowded capital Dhaka, as well as the densely packed refugee camps of Cox's Bazar, home to more than a million people.
"We know that if not enough vaccines are administered or if the vaccine campaign isn't sustained, the outbreak will continue to spread, and paediatric wards will continue to fill," Mothabbir said.
sa/pjm/ane

Iran

Lego-style memes troll Trump after fragile US-Iran truce

BY ANUJ CHOPRA

  • IRAN WON," read the caption of its video on X after the two-week ceasefire agreement was announced on Tuesday.
  • Shortly after news of a US-Iran ceasefire, an Iranian group released a new Lego-style video lampooning President Donald Trump and declaring "Iran won," the latest in a wave of war-themed AI-generated propaganda flooding the internet.
  • IRAN WON," read the caption of its video on X after the two-week ceasefire agreement was announced on Tuesday.
Shortly after news of a US-Iran ceasefire, an Iranian group released a new Lego-style video lampooning President Donald Trump and declaring "Iran won," the latest in a wave of war-themed AI-generated propaganda flooding the internet.
Explosive Media, a group of pro-Iran creators that describes itself as independent but is widely suspected of government ties, has produced a series of such videos that have racked up millions of views during the conflict.
"The way to crush imperialism has been shown to the world. Trump surrendered. IRAN WON," read the caption of its video on X after the two-week ceasefire agreement was announced on Tuesday.
"TACO will always remain TACO," it added, referring to the acronym "Trump always chickens out."
The ceasefire -- already showing signs of strain -- followed a series of apocalyptic threats from Trump, including his warning that he would take Iran back into the "Stone Age."
With dramatic background music, the video depicts a Trump-like toy figure huddling with Arab leaders, hurling a chair at US military figures, while Iranian generals press a red button with the label "Back to the Stone Age," unleashing a torrent of destruction across the Middle East.
Another clip on X depicted Trump -- caricatured with an oversized yellow head and a flaming backside -- holding a sign that read: "VICTORY! I am a loser."

 'Age of AI slop'

Explosive Media, whose videos often tap into American popular culture, has portrayed Trump as old, isolated, and prone to childish tantrums, seemingly disconnected from reality.
Iranian state media and diplomatic accounts have leaned into their strategy, regularly posting similar so-called AI slop -- mass-produced content created by cheap artificial intelligence tools.
"Iran has crafted a wartime propaganda strategy tailored for the age of AI slop and algorithmic amplification," Joseph Bodnar, a senior research manager at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, told AFP.
"They are playing to the AI aesthetics and hyperbolic anti-imperialist narratives that draw attention, spark controversy and get rewarded by platforms."
In recent weeks, viral meme videos have depicted fictional Iranian military victories, world leaders in subservient scenarios -- dependent on Iranian leaders for oil -- and even the strategic Strait of Hormuz reimagined as a cartoonish toll booth.
"It is clear that Iran is putting out content that resonates," Bodnar said.
The English-language content of Explosive Media, which describes itself as an "Iranian Lego-style animation team," appears aimed at audiences outside Iran, where platforms like X have been blocked for years and are only accessible via VPN.
With Iranians facing what monitor Netblocks calls an "internet blackout," the ability of Explosive Media to produce and upload slick content has fueled suspicion of government ties.
The group rejected the claim on X as a "media distortion."

 Meme battlefield

The White House's X account has meanwhile posted its own war-themed content --  combining battlefield footage with clips from films such as "Iron Man," "Gladiator" and "Top Gun."
The content highlights an internet meme battlefield that has blurred the line between propaganda and entertainment.
And while the Trump administration used AI-generated content in its social media strategy well before the war, the virality of Explosive Media's clips suggests it may be contending on the digital front, experts say.
The group is "beating the Trump administration at its own game," said Nina Jankowicz, chief executive of the American Sunlight Project.
"The immature humor, the polarizing rhetoric, the idea of 'owning' opponents, and the clicks-at-whatever-cost strategy that Trump and allies have employed is now being mobilized against it."
ac/pnb/des

lifestyle

Chinese slimmers trade lost fat for beef

BY EMILY WANG

  • "This opportunity just came at the right time, so I signed up," Shu said.
  • In a community centre in eastern China, Shu Fangqiang shrugged off his jacket and stepped onto a scale, one of hundreds of locals signing up for an unusual weight loss programme -- "Trade Fat for Beef".
  • "This opportunity just came at the right time, so I signed up," Shu said.
In a community centre in eastern China, Shu Fangqiang shrugged off his jacket and stepped onto a scale, one of hundreds of locals signing up for an unusual weight loss programme -- "Trade Fat for Beef".
The rules are straightforward: for every half kilogram he loses, Shu will receive the same weight in boneless beef, or 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds) of beef on the bone.
The programme is one of many springing up across China, backed by local authorities anxious to tackle rising obesity rates, which are fast becoming a pressing public health issue.
Participants who are already keen to lose weight say the initiative is an added bonus.
"Even without the beef, I wanted to lose weight for my health," said Shu, whose body mass index (BMI) of 30 is classified as obese.
More than a third of Chinese adults were overweight in 2022, and around 8.3 percent were obese, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), compared with the United States, where 72.4 percent of adults are overweight and 42 percent are obese.
However, the number of obese people in China has tripled between 2004 and 2018, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
If current trends continue, the share of overweight and obese Chinese adults could reach 70.5 percent by 2030, the National Health Commission (NHC) says, whose obesity criteria is stricter than the WHO's.
"This opportunity just came at the right time, so I signed up," Shu said.
Participants of the campaign in the city of Wuxi were weighed once in March, and will return in January 2027 for a second and final weigh-in.
They will then be rewarded with expensive cuts like oxtail if they lose more weight -- though the total amount of free meat available is capped at 10 kilograms (22 pounds).
Organisers say more than 1,000 people have registered since the Wuxi campaign started in March -- with thousands more turned away for not meeting local community residence requirements.
Queues for weigh-ins reached up to a dozen people at a time in both the men and women's sections, an AFP journalist saw.
At the front of the queues, participants stepped on weighing scales which displayed their height, weight and BMI.
Staff members then measured their waists, logged their data on a form and used an encouraging stamp to mark it and to cheer participants on.
An on-site doctor offered personalised medical advice.

 'Flab for potatoes'

Similar grassroots initiatives have also surfaced in other localities across the country, with many shared widely on social media.
In the southwestern province of Yunnan, slimmers can take part in the "Flab for Potatoes" programme and if they shrink their waistlines considerably, can upgrade to chicken.
Countrywide, popular supermarket chain Yonghui has invited customers to register their losses over 10 days by weighing themselves in-store.
They can then trade every 1.5 kilograms lost for half a kilogram of beef, crayfish or kiwi.
When AFP visited the Wuxi community centre, banners at the weigh-in urged participants to slim down steadily rather than quickly, and to aim for health over thinness.
Organisers also posted warnings against weight-loss drugs, self-induced vomiting and extreme fasting, with doctors on hand to offer guidance.
Participant Shu told AFP he wanted to lose 20 kilograms.
"Being obese affects your mental state, your work performance and your overall well-being," he said.
"Sometimes when I'm heavier, I don't sleep well at night."
As of 2021, there were 402 million overweight or obese adults over 25 in China -- the world's largest population, according to a study published in The Lancet medical journal.
Another study, published in The Lancet in 2021, attributed the problem to rapid urbanisation and a shift toward processed, high-sugar and high-fat foods, as well as increasingly sedentary lifestyles.

 'Hard to resist'

In Wuxi, 44-year-old Zheng Haihua said she was signing up to encourage her to "move more and eat less", and to commit to exercising. 
"The biggest challenge for me is... controlling my appetite, because when you see delicious food, it's hard to resist," Zheng laughed. 
Local physician Wu Changyan sympathised, adding "there's life pressure, and the convenience of modern life makes it easy to eat more and eat too much."
The NHC and other authorities have launched national initiatives in an effort to counter the trend, concerned about links with chronic disease and increased healthcare costs.  
Local efforts like the Wuxi one are "a fun way to get people motivated", Wu told AFP. 
But Li Sheyu, a clinical professor at Sichuan University's West China Hospital, said the campaigns might have limited impact. 
"I would not consider it a gamechanger in the big picture," he said, noting they were essentially just a traditional incentive method for weight loss. 
"But (they are) a good example of disseminating weight-loss ideas to the public."
em/reb/dhw/ane/cms

technology

New Jersey city spurns data center as defiance spreads

BY THOMAS URBAIN

  • Residents learned of the project just nine days before a scheduled city council vote in mid-February.
  • Residents of a New Jersey city mobilized within days to kill a planned data center -- and now activists nationwide want to know how they did it.
  • Residents learned of the project just nine days before a scheduled city council vote in mid-February.
Residents of a New Jersey city mobilized within days to kill a planned data center -- and now activists nationwide want to know how they did it.
Grassroots resistance to these computing fortresses is spreading across the United States, even as Big Tech pours hundreds of billions of dollars a year into AI infrastructure, pushing new projects into communities from coast to coast.
Forty miles (65 kilometers) from the New York skyline, rubble still litters a vacant lot in New Brunswick -- bordered by a railway line on one side and homes on the other.
This former automotive plant was where Amzak Capital Management had planned to build its complex. For now, it remains empty -- a trophy, activists say, for a community that fought back.
Residents learned of the project just nine days before a scheduled city council vote in mid-February.
They moved fast. A video went viral; flyers spread across the city, notably on the nearby campus of Rutgers University. More than 300 people showed up to proceedings held in a room with a seating capacity of barely 80.
Before the matter was even opened for public comment, the city council announced the data center component was being stripped from the redevelopment plan, recalled Ben Dziobek, founder of environmental advocacy group Climate Revolution Action Network.
"We've got tons of people reaching out to us from around the country asking us how we did it," said Charlie Kratovil, a Democratic mayoral candidate and member of environmental group Food & Water Action.
"It is definitely tapping into something that is bigger than any one of us."
New Brunswick Mayor James Cahill told AFP that while data centers have become critical to modern economies, "communities across the country are grappling with how to integrate them locally."
Key considerations, he said, include energy consumption, environmental impact, real estate footprint and benefit to local residents.
Those concerns resonated deeply in New Brunswick.
A 23-year-old resident who asked to be identified by the initials CJ noted that the data center would have been built in the middle of a working-class neighborhood, far from the businesses, hospitals, and university buildings of the more affluent city center.
For Brandon Guillebeaux, a longtime resident of this heavily Hispanic community, the trade-offs simply didn't add up.
"If it had brought thousands of jobs, it would have been worth it," he said. "But this was only going to be a few." Once operational, data centers typically employ very few workers on site.

A precedent?

A boom in generative AI has sent data center demand skyrocketing, with dozens of projects springing up across the United States.
The buildout comes at a cost: power-hungry facilities are straining local grids and driving up electricity bills, contributing to a nearly 17 percent jump in the average New Jersey household's energy costs last year.
Public sentiment is hardening. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found 65 percent of Americans oppose having a data center built in their community.
In early March, seven major AI sector players pledged to offset their electricity consumption by investing in new power generation -- though critics say voluntary commitments fall short of what is needed.
Other communities have pushed back, too. Last year, cities including Chandler, Arizona, and College Station, Texas, rejected proposed data centers -- though neither case drew the national attention that New Brunswick has.
"I really hope this sets a precedent," said CJ. "To show people that if they take action and publicly voice their opposition, they actually stand a chance" of winning.
That momentum is now reaching state capitals. In the coming weeks, Maine could become the first state to enact a moratorium on construction of these massive facilities -- which house millions of processors that form the backbone of the internet and AI.
In New Jersey -- the most densely populated state in the country -- numerous bills to regulate data centers are under consideration. Kratovil, the New Brunswick mayor, alongside prominent left-wing politicians including Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is pushing for a more comprehensive statewide moratorium.
"We want feasibility studies and a pause, so we know the actual local impacts -- not just rushing ahead at full speed," said Dziobek.
tu-gc/arp/pnb/des

politics

Russia bans Nobel-winning rights group, raids independent newspaper, in one day

  • Memorial and Novaya Gazeta, both founded around the collapse of the Soviet Union, are Russia's two most reputable and renowned organisations reporting and documenting human rights abuses.
  • Russia banned the Nobel Prize-winning human rights group Memorial and raided the offices of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta Thursday, in fresh blows to already diminished civil liberties in the country. 
  • Memorial and Novaya Gazeta, both founded around the collapse of the Soviet Union, are Russia's two most reputable and renowned organisations reporting and documenting human rights abuses.
Russia banned the Nobel Prize-winning human rights group Memorial and raided the offices of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta Thursday, in fresh blows to already diminished civil liberties in the country. 
Memorial and Novaya Gazeta, both founded around the collapse of the Soviet Union, are Russia's two most reputable and renowned organisations reporting and documenting human rights abuses.
Since sending troops against neighbouring Ukraine four years ago, the Kremlin has not only suppressed opposition to the war, but also launched a wider crackdown on  dissent, something unseen since Soviet times.
Memorial was founded in the late 1980s to document victims of Soviet-era political repression during which millions of people perished in the Gulag penal system.
Under pressure from the government almost since its birth, it was formally liquidated by Russia's Supreme Court in 2021 and since then has largely operated from abroad.
Thursday's court ruling to label Memorial as "extremist" effectively outlaws any cooperation with the rights group and makes its supporters subject to prosecution. 
Novaya Gazeta, established in 1993, was for years Russia's leading independent outlet and was targeted heavily for its critical reporting and investigations into rights violations and corruption. 
On Thursday, Russian law enforcement agents raided its offices and detained one of its top investigative journalists, the outlet said.  
The paper, which used to be published several times a week, cut down production inside the country after the war began, but its online version was still available despite court orders. 
Some of its staff were forced into exile and founded the online outlet Novaya Gazeta-Europe.
- Symbol of hope - 
Memorial's first chairman was the Nobel Prize-winning Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov and the group established the largest publicly available database on Gulag victims.
A symbol of hope during Russia's chaotic transition to democracy in the 1990s, it has since documented the country's slide into authoritarianism under President Vladimir Putin.
It has listed hundreds of political prisoners in modern Russia, among them critics of Putin and opponents of the Ukraine war.
Memorial has also documented rights violations linked to Russia's brutal wars in Chechnya and Syria, the plight of Ukrainian prisoners of war and kept a list of prisoners persecuted for their religion, including more than 200 Jehovah's Witnesses.
It counts more than 1,000 political prisoners in Russia as of 2026 -- up from 46 in 2015, amidst a crackdown on dissent during the Ukraine war.
The head of Memorial's legal department, Natalia Sekretaryeva, told AFP the Supreme Court's ruling was "absurd" but expected.

'Lawlessness'

Novaya Gazeta was founded by Dmitry Muratov, its long-standing editor-in-chief who jointly won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2021.
He had to formally step down from the post two years later after being declared a "foreign agent," a label akin to being an enemy of the state.   
One of the early investors in the newspaper was Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the USSR and the father of the perestroika liberal reforms.
After Thursday's raids, which started in the morning were still ongoing well into the night, the police detained one of the paper's top investigative reporters on alleged illegal personal data use, Novaya Gazeta said. 
The journalist, Oleg Roldugin, reported on corruption in Russia's top brass, including former President Dmitry Medvedev and the influential head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov.
"We are concerned about the condition of our colleagues and demand an end to this lawlessness!" the paper said on social media.
Several Novaya Gazeta reporters have been murdered in killings widely seen as retribution for their work.
They include Anna Politkovskaya, who spent years investigating allegations of abuses by Russia's military during its campaigns in Chechnya.
She was found dead in her apartment block on President Vladimir Putin's birthday in October 2006.
bur/jj

politics

Pentagon denies giving Vatican envoy 'bitter lecture'

  • In a speech in January, Pope Leo XIV, the first American pontiff, denounced what he called "diplomacy based on force" and in his Easter blessing he urged "those who have the power to unleash wars" to "choose peace."
  • The Pentagon on Thursday denied a report that the Vatican's US envoy was summoned in January for a "bitter" dressing down over remarks by Pope Leo that were seen as criticizing the Trump administration’s use of military force.
  • In a speech in January, Pope Leo XIV, the first American pontiff, denounced what he called "diplomacy based on force" and in his Easter blessing he urged "those who have the power to unleash wars" to "choose peace."
The Pentagon on Thursday denied a report that the Vatican's US envoy was summoned in January for a "bitter" dressing down over remarks by Pope Leo that were seen as criticizing the Trump administration’s use of military force.
According to The Free Press, which shares common ownership with CBS News, Cardinal Christophe Pierre was given a "bitter lecture" by US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby.
Colby reportedly told the Vatican representative that the United States "has the military power to do whatever it wants -- and that the Church had better take its side."
In a speech in January, Pope Leo XIV, the first American pontiff, denounced what he called "diplomacy based on force" and in his Easter blessing he urged "those who have the power to unleash wars" to "choose peace."
The Pentagon and the US ambassador to the Holy See denied The Free Press's account of the January meeting between Colby and Pierre, who has since retired.
"Recent reporting of the meeting is highly exaggerated and distorted," the Pentagon said on X. "The meeting between Pentagon and Vatican officials was a respectful and reasonable discussion."
"They discussed a range of topics, including issues of morality in foreign policy, the logic of the US National Security Strategy, Europe, Africa, Latin America and other topics," the post said.
Brian Burch, the US ambassador to the Vatican, said he had spoken on Wednesday with Pierre regarding the January meeting and the reporting about it "does not reflect what happened."
"The Cardinal emphatically denied the media's portrayal of his meeting with Colby," Burch said. "He described the meeting as 'frank, but very cordial' and a 'normal encounter.'"
cl/pnb/sla

war

Mideast war threatens Africa's supply of humanitarian medicine

BY ELéONORE SENS

  • - Mideast hub - Situated at the crossroads between Asia, the world's leading producer of medicines, and Africa, the Middle East serves as the primary gateway for supplying the African continent.
  • The Middle East conflict is exacerbating tensions over the humanitarian supply of medicines in Africa, a sector already severely impacted by funding cuts, with nonprofits warning of emptying shelves.
  • - Mideast hub - Situated at the crossroads between Asia, the world's leading producer of medicines, and Africa, the Middle East serves as the primary gateway for supplying the African continent.
The Middle East conflict is exacerbating tensions over the humanitarian supply of medicines in Africa, a sector already severely impacted by funding cuts, with nonprofits warning of emptying shelves.
Rising fuel costs and the logistical difficulty of transport through the Strait of Hormuz are affecting the delivery of medication to crisis and conflict zones in Africa, where the situation is already dire following US aid cuts.
"By the end of April, some of our medicine stocks will be depleted," Rodrigue Alitanou, director of operations for medical NGO Alima, told AFP from his office in Dakar.
Alima, which operates in 13 African countries, is sounding the alarm.
"If this goes on for a month and a half, two months, the warnings we are sounding will transform into direct impacts on the continuity of our activities," he said.
Africa imports more than 70 percent of medication and more than 90 percent of pharmaceutical ingredients.
Alitanou is concerned about rising import costs due to soaring fuel prices.
"An extra $2,000 in costs means 200 fewer children suffering from malnutrition will receive treatment," he said.
"We're already seeing it in Sudan, we're already seeing it in the DRC and it's starting to become apparent in most countries," he added.

Mideast hub

Situated at the crossroads between Asia, the world's leading producer of medicines, and Africa, the Middle East serves as the primary gateway for supplying the African continent.
Several humanitarian supply centres in Dubai's humanitarian free zone have seen their operations disrupted, affecting logistics transport to Africa.
In Dubai, the World Health Organization's (WHO) logistics hub, which supplies medicines to more than 150 countries worldwide, had to cancel shipments at the start of the conflict due to the closure of airspace and revise routes for delivering supplies.
"Supply lead times are lengthening because we cannot pass through the Strait of Hormuz and have to go via the Cape of Good Hope, particularly with cargo ships, so it is more expensive and adds 15 days to a month to the supply chain," said Damien Dubois, purchasing and inventory officer at MSF Supply, a supply centre within Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
A spokeswoman for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria told AFP it had observed "delays and cost increases" although the organisation had not yet identified any shortages.
Anne Senequier, co-director of the Global Health Observatory at the Institute for International and Strategic Relations (IRIS), said that "at present we are not talking about a shortage of medicines due to the conflict, we are talking about an additional strain on an already fragile situation, with the risk of shortages emerging in certain vulnerable regions".
Those interviewed by AFP remain cautious regarding the ceasefire agreed Tuesday between the United States and Iran, with strikes continuing Wednesday in the Gulf and maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz still disrupted.
For Alitanou "this ceasefire is a first step, but it is not enough. Conflicts are ongoing in the Gulf states and continue to undermine our operations".
Agathe Lamouret, shipments coordinator at MSF Supply, said she believes "it's going to remain very unstable, especially as we don't know what will happen" after the two-week truce.
For his part, Christian Lindmeier, a WHO spokesman, said that "it will take several weeks to overcome the disruption caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz".

'Just-in-time' basis

Africa, which is heavily reliant on imports, is particularly vulnerable to geopolitical upheavals, said Ines Alaoui, head of international health policy at France-based Coalition Plus, an organisation uniting international HIV health groups.
"On the African continent we operate on a just-in-time basis. We don't produce or stockpile more than is necessary," she said.
The organisations within Coalition Plus were already bearing the brunt of US aid cuts, with shortages of preventive medicines and antiretrovirals observed on the ground.
The new crisis is "further eroding healthcare", Alaoui said, adding "we fear that people living with HIV will have to stop their treatment".
For Senequier of IRIS, "the risk is that certain vulnerable groups will turn to counterfeit medicines, which will put their health at risk".
els/bfm/kjm

US

Believers rejoice as Jerusalem's holy sites re-open

BY HIBA ASLAN, CéCILE FEUILLATRE

  • "Al-Aqsa mosque is Jerusalem's soul," another worshipper, who declined to share his name for security reasons, said.
  • Just before 5 am at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a Muslim worshipper prayed in tears.
  • "Al-Aqsa mosque is Jerusalem's soul," another worshipper, who declined to share his name for security reasons, said.
Just before 5 am at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a Muslim worshipper prayed in tears. A few hours later, similar emotion overcame Christians and Jews as the city's holy sites reopened following the truce with Iran.
Jerusalem's Old City contains major holy sites for all three Abrahamic religions, which had been shuttered since the start of the war sparked by the US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28.
For the first time in 41 days, Muslim worshippers returned to Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jews to the Western Wall and Christians to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
At Al-Aqsa, Islam's third holiest site which was closed during most of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan this year, thousands of worshippers performed the ritual dawn prayer under a heavy police presence.
One man stood by the entrance of the Al-Qibli prayer hall, handing out paper tissues to worshippers overcome with emotion.
Suzan Allam, who came with her husband and daughter, told AFP the return to Al-Aqsa was like "a party".
Hamza al-Afghani, a young Palestinian, spoke of an "indescribable joy".
"Al-Aqsa mosque is Jerusalem's soul," another worshipper, who declined to share his name for security reasons, said.
Police began to disperse Muslim worshippers at 6:30 am in order to allow religious Jews to enter the compound, causing anger in the crowd.
Under long‑standing arrangements, Jews may visit the compound -- which they revere as the site of the first and second Jewish temples -- but they are not permitted to pray there.
Israel says it is committed to upholding this status quo, though Palestinians fear it is being eroded as some religious Jews increasingly break those rules to come and pray.

'A miracle'

A stone's throw away from Al-Aqsa, the same religious fervour was present as Christians celebrated mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which encompasses the sites where Christians believe Jesus Christ was crucified, entombed and later resurrected.
Tears streamed from the eyes of Uwde Sliman, a 40-year-old Ethiopian draped in a white shawl, as she came out of the church.
"I don't have any words", she said apologetically and with a smile.
"It's been one month, it's very, very, very hard, but thank God we have life... all Christians are happy today."
Imad Marcos was enthusiastic at the Church's opening, posing in front of the building first with sunglasses on and then off.
"I wasn't sure that it was going to be open. But when I came over, it was a miracle" said the US-Egyptian businessman, who makes a pilgrimage to Jerusalem from Miami every year.
"I might travel tomorrow, not today. Because I will have to enjoy here the whole day," he said.
Father Andrea, who officiated mass on Thursday, was not surprised by the few worshippers present "in these difficult times".
"Little by little, we hope they'll come back", he said.

'Like at home'

At the Western Wall, dozens of Jewish worshippers prayed in the late morning.
"I'm so happy to be able to come back. Here I feel at home," Ayla, 19, said.
Yehuda Bandel, a 70-year-old retired teacher living in a suburb of the coastal city of Tel Aviv, felt the same joy.
Bandel came with his entire family to celebrate his grandson's upcoming bar mitzvah, the Jewish coming-of-age ritual.
"It's the first time that he is wearing tefillin", Bandel said enthusiastically, referring to the small black leather boxes containing Torah scrolls.
Beyond the reopening of the holy sites in Jerusalem, the Israeli authorities have lifted most of the restrictions linked to the state of emergency.
This excludes the country's northern border area near Lebanon, where the war against Iran-backed Hezbollah continues.
cf-ha/anr/lba/acc/dcp

crime

Stabbed for saying no: Is online misogyny fueling violence in Brazil?

BY FRAN BLANDY

  • Her mother, Jaderluce Anisio de Oliveira, 53, was confronted by the scene in February after returning early to their home in Sao Goncalo, a city across the bay from Rio de Janeiro.
  • Alana Anisio Rosa, 20, politely turned down the man from her gym who kept sending her flowers and chocolates.
  • Her mother, Jaderluce Anisio de Oliveira, 53, was confronted by the scene in February after returning early to their home in Sao Goncalo, a city across the bay from Rio de Janeiro.
Alana Anisio Rosa, 20, politely turned down the man from her gym who kept sending her flowers and chocolates. A month later, he burst into her home and stabbed her around 50 times with a pocket knife.
Her mother, Jaderluce Anisio de Oliveira, 53, was confronted by the scene in February after returning early to their home in Sao Goncalo, a city across the bay from Rio de Janeiro.
"He just kept stabbing her, over and over again," Oliveira told AFP. "I pulled him off her. My entire living room was covered in blood."
As Alana emerged from an induced coma and recovered from multiple surgeries in the following weeks, videos on TikTok went viral in Brazil of men beating and stabbing mannequins with the slogan: "Training in case she says 'no.'"
Oliveira said that her daughter's attacker "followed this specific type of content," on social media.
In Brazil, alarm is rising about a surge in misogynistic "Red Pill" content online, which experts warn may be contributing to crimes against women in a country already struggling with high rates of gender-based violence.
In January, after a 17-year-old girl was allegedly gang-raped by five teenagers in Rio, one of the suspects turned himself in to police wearing a T-shirt that read "Regret Nothing" -- a phrase linked to prominent "Red Pill" influencers.
Two months later, a military policeman was arrested for allegedly shooting his wife, who wanted a divorce. In text messages published by local media, he describes himself as an "alpha male," saying she should be an "obedient, submissive, beta female."
Daniel Cara, a professor at the University of Sao Paulo (USP) who has researched "Red Pill" culture -- an international phenomenon -- said it both "legitimizes and encourages," violence against women.

'Radicalization of men'

Brazil recorded 1,568 murders of women in 2025, the highest number since femicide -- a specific, aggravated form of homicide -- became a crime a decade ago.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said recently that "men are becoming increasingly inhuman and violent."
Estela Bezerra, the head of Brazil's office on violence against women, told AFP she believes online misogyny plays a big role.
"This 'Red Pill' content is, fundamentally, hate speech. It propagates a set of values that threatens to drag our society... back into an era of barbarism."
The term comes from the 1999 hit film "The Matrix", in which taking a red pill reveals a hidden and often uncomfortable truth.
A study by the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro showed that 123 YouTube channels containing hate speech and promoting control over women had 23 million subscribers in March 2026.
This number grew 18 percent in two years.
Flavio Rolim, head of the police's cyber hate crime unit, told AFP that while not everyone consuming this kind of content turns to violence, there was a "process of radicalization," of men.
This starts with exposure to an ideology of "veiled violence" in which men aggrieved by feminism promote a return to traditional gender roles and male dominance in relationships.
Some men then migrate to online communities that share "videos of women being physically assaulted. All day long, content depicting women being raped circulates there."

'Dehumanization of an entire gender'

Once hidden in the dark recesses of the web, this content is now easy to find.
A quick scroll by AFP through one Telegram group showed memes about rape or videos of women being beaten. On some platforms, it has become commonplace to describe women as "rapeable," or not.
"This gives rise to a phenomenon that goes beyond mere desensitization: it is the dehumanization of an entire gender," said Rolim.
In February, a police operation targeted Brazilian men involved in an international network who would drug and rape women and share videos of the abuse.
Some conservative commentators argue the "Red Pill" movement is primarily about male self‑improvement and has no link to femicide.
"They've just made the Red Pill movement a scapegoat, blaming them for this and that, even though this sort of thing has been going on for years," Raiam Santos, a Brazilian influencer frequently associated with the community, said on YouTube.
Experts are particularly concerned about how this content has seeped into the algorithms of young people.
Rolim said the police had found groups of 15 or 16-year-olds in chat groups saying: "Why would I date a girl when I can just rape her?"
At a school in Rio de Janeiro, Ana Elizabeth Barcelos Barbosa, 13, told AFP that influencers pushing the idea that "a women's sole purpose is to serve men" is eroding girls' self-esteem.
"We start wondering: Are they actually telling the truth?" she said.
Growing concern over the phenomenon has led to a flurry of recent legislative proposals.
Lawmaker Reimont Luiz Otoni Santa Barbara has introduced the "Red Pill Bill," aimed at criminalizing content that he says promotes violence against women.
Another bill approved by the Senate last month aims to classify misogyny as a crime similar to racism.
fb/pnb/md

social-media

Researchers unmask trade in nude images on Telegram

  • AI Forensics called on the European Union to classify Telegram as a "very large online platform" (VLOP), which would subject it to stricter oversight under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
  • Tens of thousands of intimate images of women have been traded without the subjects' consent in Telegram groups and channels, researchers said Wednesday, calling for the platform to combat the practice.
  • AI Forensics called on the European Union to classify Telegram as a "very large online platform" (VLOP), which would subject it to stricter oversight under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
Tens of thousands of intimate images of women have been traded without the subjects' consent in Telegram groups and channels, researchers said Wednesday, calling for the platform to combat the practice.
Campaign group AI Forensics said it found almost 25,000 active users in a six-week study of Spanish and Italian groups who were sharing images such as unclothed women, often exchanged for cash.
The researchers tracked more than 80,000 files shared across 16 Telegram channels between December 2025 and February 2026.
Almost 75 percent of them were photos, with 25 percent video files and one percent audio recordings.
The files were "mostly sexually explicit," AI Forensics told AFP, with some including images of teenage girls.
Some of the pictures and videos were real images, while others were "deepfakes" generated with AI tools.
The study's authors also found that participants in the Telegram groups were engaged in practices including "doxxing" -- revealing personal information -- or coordinated harassment campaigns.
Some members called for the women depicted to be raped, or discussed sexual images of children.
Many of the images being shared in the groups came from other platforms including TikTok, Instagram or Snapchat.
"Social media platforms or other messaging apps function as sources of raw material, while Telegram appears to serve as a hub for the organisation, amplification, and circulation of abusive content," the authors wrote.
They criticised Telegram for its failure to prevent the groups persisting on its platform.
"During the observation period, several groups were shut down by Telegram only to reopen under the same names just a few hours later, suggesting that Telegram's moderation mechanisms are insufficient," the authors said.
"All the groups were active" at the time of writing the report, AI Forensics told AFP.
They highlighted that Telegram combines privacy features such as end-to-end encryption, in which only the sender and addressee of messages can read them, with mass distribution capabilities -- including the ability for channel operators to charge subscriptions or one-off fees to access their content.
This was "shaping the conditions under which abusive behaviour can develop with a relatively high sense of security and impunity," the authors said.
AI Forensics called on the European Union to classify Telegram as a "very large online platform" (VLOP), which would subject it to stricter oversight under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
Telegram told AFP that "sharing non-consensual intimate images, including pornographic deepfakes, is strictly forbidden by Telegram's terms of use".
It said its "moderation systems are more effective to prevent mass distribution of harmful content than those of the currently designated VLOPs".
The platform's co-founder, Russian-born Pavel Durov, was arrested in France in 2024 and is under formal investigation by French authorities.
He has denied allegations of complicity in running an online platform that allowed illicit transactions, images of child sex abuse and other illegal content.
mng-tgb/js

US

Nigeria sweats in heatwave as Iran war drives up costs to stay cool

BY TONYE BAKARE WITH NICHOLAS ROLL IN ABUJA

  • "The sun is too hot," Akanni told AFP, wedged between two equally sweaty passengers.
  • Azeez Akanni hopped on a yellow bus heading for the central business district on Lagos Island, beads of sweat rolling down his neck and arms. 
  • "The sun is too hot," Akanni told AFP, wedged between two equally sweaty passengers.
Azeez Akanni hopped on a yellow bus heading for the central business district on Lagos Island, beads of sweat rolling down his neck and arms. 
The 32-year-old clothier regularly navigates chaotic traffic to deliver luxury clothes and footwear to customers across the megacity of Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital. 
But his and millions of others' commutes have been snarled by brutal temperatures as Africa's most populous country fights a heatwave. 
Adding to the pain, a spike in fuel prices from the Iran war has sent costs for air conditioning and back-up generators shooting up alongside the mercury.
"The sun is too hot," Akanni told AFP, wedged between two equally sweaty passengers.
High temperatures are nothing new in the west African nation, perched just above the equator. 
But according to the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), things are getting worse: it warned in a 2025 report that in the decade from 2016-2025, nine out of the 10 years were "among the 12 warmest on record".
Last week, UK-based Korean DJ JinseoulMusic, who is currently touring Nigeria, shared her struggles in a post on Instagram to her more than 430,000 followers. 
"Surviving Nigerian heat with no light," she wrote, using the colloquial term for electricity. "Heat woke me up in the middle of the night."
Analysts blame the rising temperatures in Lagos on climate change, its coastal location, dense population, limited greenery and heavy traffic. 
The constant use of generators compounds the issue, as the petrol-guzzling machines release heat and greenhouse gases.
Public transport meanwhile is shambolic, with most commercial vehicles dilapidated and lacking working air conditioning. 
Temperatures peaked in Lagos at 35C at the end of March, according to NiMet.
They reached 38C in the capital Abuja, while Sokoto in the northwest hit 44C, with NiMet describing the conditions as "unhealthy".

Rising fuel prices

Nigeria's unique economic situation as Africa's fourth-largest economy, but with a dilapidated power grid much less stable than some of its poorer neighbours, has led to the widespread use of private generators, at least among those who can afford them.
That number may be dwindling as fuel prices soar due to the Iran war.
"I no longer use it because of the hike in price," Emmanuel Chinonso, 40, a ride-share driver in Abuja, told AFP.
When the grid goes out on a sweltering night, so does his fan, he said.
Like elsewhere in the country, gasoline prices have nearly doubled in the capital, from around 850 naira per litre to more than 1,300 -- a record high in a country where petrol sold for around 195 naira at the start of 2023. 
Many drivers, like Chinonso, keep their car air conditioning off to conserve fuel -- and "plead" for a tip from customers in return for switching it on.
"If you explain to them, some of them are very understanding and kind," he said.

Health warnings

Despite humid air thick with dust and vehicle fumes, and engines idling as vehicles waited for passengers on a recent Wednesday, thousands of Lagos traders continued to display their goods under direct sunlight, despite warnings against prolonged exposure. 
Hawkers balancing basins of iced fizzy drinks moved through traffic, offering quick relief to commuters.
With the cost of living on the rise following years of high inflation, many traders exposed to the sun and polluted air are more concerned about putting food on the table than air quality. 
"The weather is not good," Aminat Jimoh told AFP as he fried tofu by a cluttered roadside. "But we have to endure because we cannot eat if we don't come here."
The heatwave could also worsen Nigeria's malaria burden. According to the World Health Organization, climate change -- through increased rainfall, temperatures and humidity -- can in some cases accelerate malaria transmission by enabling mosquitoes to breed faster.
Nigeria recorded about a quarter of the world's malaria cases and 30 percent of global deaths in 2024, according to the WHO.
The approaching rainy season offers some relief as storms tamp down temperatures.
But it will also bring its own challenges, such as flooding.
"I know that rain has its own problem but I can't wait for this heat to go," Akanni said. 
tba-nro/sn/sbk

television

Wave of nostalgia as 2000s TV makes a comeback

BY RAPHAëLLE PELTIER

  • Beyond the rebooted "Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair," medical sitcom "Scrubs" -- which originally ran from 2001 to 2010 -- returned to ABC and Hulu early this year, with most of the original cast including Zach Braff and Donald Faison.
  • In the early 2000s, television viewers first discovered "Malcolm in the Middle," the hilarious tale of a teenager trying to survive the antics of his dysfunctional family.
  • Beyond the rebooted "Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair," medical sitcom "Scrubs" -- which originally ran from 2001 to 2010 -- returned to ABC and Hulu early this year, with most of the original cast including Zach Braff and Donald Faison.
In the early 2000s, television viewers first discovered "Malcolm in the Middle," the hilarious tale of a teenager trying to survive the antics of his dysfunctional family.
Twenty-five years later, the "Malcolm" gang is back on Disney+, with nearly all of the original cast including Emmy winner Bryan Cranston -- part of a wave of revivals tapping into a public craving for cozy nostalgia.
The strategy is also a moneymaker for networks and streaming services, as tried-and-true content comes with minimal financial risk -- and often huge fan interest.
From the Trojan War to Superman, "we've been continuing to take characters, universes, dramatic spaces, and repurpose them for a long, long time," says Robert Thompson, a professor of media and pop culture at Syracuse University.
But the trend has soared in the streaming era, because "going back to properties that are already established is one way of avoiding a lot of potential risks in that," Thompson told AFP.
"All of the millions of dollars that were spent marketing, promoting, establishing the brand of those things way back when they were on in the first place -- those bills have already been paid."
Beyond the rebooted "Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair," medical sitcom "Scrubs" -- which originally ran from 2001 to 2010 -- returned to ABC and Hulu early this year, with most of the original cast including Zach Braff and Donald Faison.
In July, Amazon's Prime Video will debut "Elle," a prequel series focused on the high school years of Elle Woods, the pink-obsessed heroine played by Reese Witherspoon in the "Legally Blonde" films that debuted in 2001.
Not all of these projects come to fruition.
Hulu opted not to move forward with a much-anticipated reboot of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997-2003), despite having a filmed pilot ready to go.
But Fox is relaunching "Baywatch," the sun-kissed 1989-2001 series focused on California lifeguards that made Pamela Anderson a household name.
And some series that debuted in the 2000s, like "Grey's Anatomy," "NCIS" and "Law and Order: SVU," are still going strong -- with both new episodes airing on networks and older episodes figuring among the most streamed content each year.

'Comfort'

So why are viewers, who are bombarded with content choices, going back to shows made a quarter-century ago?
For Sohni Kaur, who researched the subject while pursuing psychology and media studies at Scripps College, it comes down to good old nostalgia.
"I think this is a pretty common coping mechanism for a lot of people" to return to shows they enjoyed in their youth, Kaur said.
During the coronavirus pandemic, she rewatched all of the "Twilight" vampire romance films, which were released from 2008 to 2012, and Bollywood flicks from the 1990s. 
"It does really provide a lot of comfort to me" to watch older films and TV shows, said the practicing psychologist.
"Looking back and revisiting something that we already know about kind of relieves that anxiety, or it kind of just distracts us from all of the current changes that are happening."
Some television series -- such as "Friends" (1994-2004) or "Gilmore Girls" (2000-2007) -- naturally generate more nostalgia because they feature families or close-knit friend groups, Kaur said.
But even the "Scream" horror movies, which debuted in 1996, are still going strong, with "Scream 7" taking in more than $200 million worldwide so far this year, according to Box Office Mojo.
For Thompson, "some of this nostalgic stuff goes on a cycle, usually somewhere around 20 years."
In that span, children and teens who loved the original series have become adults, and return to things that defined their younger years.
Now, those adults have purchasing power to buy tickets or subscribe to streaming platforms. And they can introduce their children to the content as well.
Kaur also says the phenomenon recalls a "moment right before it switched over into that really rapidly increasing technological growth."
"I think going back to that, again, feels safe," she said.
In the late 90s and the 2000s, television programs still generated pop culture watershed moments that everyone experienced at once.
Rebooting those series represents the "cultural centrality to television that was made before the turn of the century and even into the new century," Thompson said.
Another throwback is that streamers are increasingly rolling back the years to adopt the weekly airing of an episode at a time, in order to reinvent the era of appointment television.
HBO Max's medical drama "The Pitt," which stars Emmy winner Noah Wyle, is being released that way, and certainly recalls the heyday of the show that first made Wyle a star: NBC's "ER," which debuted in 1994 and helped George Clooney shoot to fame.
pel/sst/mlm

visit

In Algeria, Saint Augustine's city anticipates Pope Leo's visit

BY ABDELHAFID DAAMACHE

  • Augustine was born in 354 in the ancient city of Thagaste, now known as Souk Ahras, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Annaba -- which lies atop the ancient Roman city of Hippo.
  • On Algeria's sparkling Mediterranean coast, the city of Annaba is teeming with excitement as the one-time home of Saint Augustine readies for the country's first visit by a Catholic pontiff.
  • Augustine was born in 354 in the ancient city of Thagaste, now known as Souk Ahras, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Annaba -- which lies atop the ancient Roman city of Hippo.
On Algeria's sparkling Mediterranean coast, the city of Annaba is teeming with excitement as the one-time home of Saint Augustine readies for the country's first visit by a Catholic pontiff.
For the city's small Christian community, Pope Leo XIV's visit is a powerful nod of recognition, and at the Basilica of Saint Augustine, preparations are well underway, overseen by rector Father Fred Wekesa.
Municipal workers, aided by members of the Order of Saint Augustine, are hard at work repainting the walls and polishing the statues ahead of the pope's visit to Algeria from April 13 to 15.
Elected in May last year, Pope Leo in his first speech loudly proclaimed his affinity for Saint Augustine, describing himself as a "son" of the famed theologian.
Augustine was born in 354 in the ancient city of Thagaste, now known as Souk Ahras, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Annaba -- which lies atop the ancient Roman city of Hippo.
He would become the bishop of Hippo in 395, and it was there that he wrote his famous "Confessions", before dying in 430.
For Wekesa, Pope Leo's arrival will be "a great joy".
"He is the first pope to have thought of us and of coming to visit us. It is therefore a deeply significant moment," he added.
"We are what I call a 'small flock', a minority. But that does not mean we are forgotten," he said. "On the contrary... the Pope's presence supports us as a minority. It carries a message of encouragement and solidarity."

'Honour'

Annaba, about 550 kilometres east of Algiers, has been transformed into a vast construction site in the meantime.
Work is underway to resurface and paint the road leading up to the basilica, perched on a hill overlooking the archaeological site that houses the remains of the Basilica of Peace, from which Saint Augustine once spread his teachings.
Imad, 54, said Pope Leo's visit is "a great honour for us, the Algerians of Annaba, because it is an important symbol of peace, not just for our community but for all Christians and Muslims".
Algerian authorities see the visit as having particular importance, with preparations personally overseen by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
Father Wekesa said he felt moved by the "spontaneous enthusiasm of the Algerians", who invited the pontiff as soon as he expressed a wish to visit.
He is certain that the visit "will also change the way Algeria is viewed" abroad and show the country's "true face".
"All too often, some people view this country only through the lens of the 'dark years'," he lamented, alluding to the country's bloody civil war from 1992 to 2002, when 200,000 people were killed in the conflict between Islamists and security forces.
Between 1994 and 1996, 19 Christian clerics were killed, including the bishop of Oran, Pierre Claverie, and the seven monks of Tibhirine, who were beatified in 2018.
"With the Holy Father's visit... the whole world will see the hospitality and generosity of the Algerian people", and "that we are capable of living together in peace", Wekesa continued.
Human rights groups say the repression of religious minorities has continued in Algeria in recent years, with three organisations -- Human Rights Watch, EuroMed Rights and MENA Rights Group -- issuing a joint letter Tuesday calling on the pontiff to push the issue during his visit.
"We ask that you call on the authorities to end discrimination against religious minorities and respect their right to freedom of religion or belief, including practicing their religion freely," the letter stated. 

'Solidarity'

The vast majority of Annaba's Christian community is made up of scholarship students from sub-Saharan African countries and foreign workers, alongside a handful of Algerian converts, according to Wekesa.
Among those set to attend the pontiff's visit are students from the University of Batna, 270 kilometres south of Annaba, who came especially to participate in preparations.
For Patricia Kouago, 22, the arrival of a pope is an occasion "for Christians and Muslims to come together".
"It is also a sense of solidarity that we are building. His arrival could strengthen the bonds between us," she added.
ad/iba/fka/pcl/jsa/smw/dcp/st/sbk

space

NASA releases picture of 'Earthset' shot by Artemis crew

  • Captured from Orion as Earth dips beyond the lunar horizon." 
  • NASA on Tuesday released a historic photograph of Earth dipping below the lunar horizon, more than 57 years after an iconic "Earthrise" image was captured by an Apollo 8 astronaut.
  • Captured from Orion as Earth dips beyond the lunar horizon." 
NASA on Tuesday released a historic photograph of Earth dipping below the lunar horizon, more than 57 years after an iconic "Earthrise" image was captured by an Apollo 8 astronaut.
Members of the Artemis II crew captured the shot from their Orion capsule during the mission's record-setting lunar flyby, echoing the legendary "Earthrise" photograph taken by US astronaut Bill Anders in December, 1968 during the first space mission to carry humans around the Moon.
The US space agency posted its "Earthset" photo on X, as did the White House.
"Humanity, from the other side," the White House said. "First photo from the far side of the Moon. Captured from Orion as Earth dips beyond the lunar horizon." 
The crew of four -- US astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, and Victor Glover, as well as Canadian Jeremy Hansen -- are on a historic mission to loop around Earth's natural satellite as part of a broader program paving the way for a Moon landing in 2028.
The astronauts have reported in vivid detail features of the lunar surface and later witnessed a solar eclipse, when the Moon passed in front of the Sun.
The White House also posted a NASA photograph of the eclipse, revealing what it said is "a view few in human history have ever witnessed."
Back in 1968, Apollo 8 orbited the Moon 10 times without landing. During one orbit, Anders captured Earth's brilliant blue hue standing out against the vast darkness of space and accentuated by the desolate, grey lunar horizon in the foreground.
"Earthrise" often appears in selections of the most iconic images, and was included in 2003 in Life magazine's book entitled "100 Photographs That Changed the World."
bur-ico/mlm/ksb

Israel

UN Security Council vote expected on Hormuz resolution

BY AMéLIE BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS

  • Bahrain, with the backing of the United States and other oil-exporting Gulf countries, launched negotiations two weeks ago on a draft that would have given a clear UN mandate to any state wishing to use force to unblock the strait.
  • The UN Security Council is expected to vote Tuesday on a watered-down resolution calling for the unblocking of the Strait of Hormuz -- far from the sponsoring Gulf countries' initial goal of obtaining clearance to free it by force.
  • Bahrain, with the backing of the United States and other oil-exporting Gulf countries, launched negotiations two weeks ago on a draft that would have given a clear UN mandate to any state wishing to use force to unblock the strait.
The UN Security Council is expected to vote Tuesday on a watered-down resolution calling for the unblocking of the Strait of Hormuz -- far from the sponsoring Gulf countries' initial goal of obtaining clearance to free it by force.
The vote is expected at 11:00 am (1500 GMT), though the outcome is not certain. The text in question has been diluted in recent days in the hope of avoiding rejection.
A draft seen by AFP on Monday no longer mentions authorization to use force -- even defensively.
The vote comes just hours before Donald Trump's 8:00 pm (midnight GMT) deadline for Iran to make a deal or face the US military destroying its power plants and bridges.
Bahrain, with the backing of the United States and other oil-exporting Gulf countries, launched negotiations two weeks ago on a draft that would have given a clear UN mandate to any state wishing to use force to unblock the strait.
Iran has imposed an effective blockade on the critical waterway since the United States and Israel launched the war on February 28, sending ripple effects throughout the global economy.
"We cannot accept economic terrorism affecting our region and the world, the whole world is being affected by the developments," Jamal Alrowaiei, Bahrain's ambassador to the UN, said last week.
But objections from several veto-holding permanent members -- including France, Russia and China -- have forced the text to be watered down and the vote delayed multiple times.
French opposition appeared to be lifted by the addition of wording that meant any action would need to be "defensive."
The Security Council adopted a strong resolution against Tehran in mid-March, condemning its blocking of the strait.
The Council must now "swiftly develop the necessary defensive response" to the situation, French Ambassador Jerome Bonnafont said on Thursday.

Veto?

However, Russia, a long-standing ally of Iran, as well as China could still veto the text. For this reason, a vote scheduled for last Friday was delayed.
The latest draft reviewed by AFP "strongly encourages states...to coordinate efforts, defensive in nature, commensurate to the circumstances, to contribute to ensuring the safety and security of navigation, including through the escort of merchant and commercial vessels," rather than explicitly authorizing force.
It also "demands," that Iran "immediately cease all attacks against merchant and commercial vessels and any attempt to impede transit passage or freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz."
Additionally, it calls for the end to attacks on civilian water, oil, and gas infrastructure.
"Bahrain and its backers would secure a clear diplomatic rejection of Iran's obstruction of the Strait, even if they fell short of obtaining authorization for the use of force," Daniel Forti, the head of UN affairs at the International Crisis Group, told AFP. 
"Meanwhile, China and Russia would succeed in preventing the Council from endorsing a potentially escalatory military response, even if the text sidesteps the roles of the US and Israel in the conflict."
UN Security Council mandates authorizing member states to use force are rare.
During the 1990 Gulf War, a vote allowed a US-led coalition to intervene in Iraq after it invaded Kuwait.
In 2011, NATO obtained the green light to intervene in Libya when Russia abstained from a vote. Moscow later fumed that this had led to the fall of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
abd/ph/pnb/msp/ane

space

'Morale boost': NASA carries out Moon mission during tough year for science

BY MAGGY DONALDSON

  • "It's just surreal," said Bleacher, speaking from NASA's Science Mission Operations Room in Houston's famed Johnson Space Center.
  • As the four Artemis astronauts approached a high point of their lunar mission -- getting slung around the far side of the Moon -- NASA staffers crowded into Houston's famed mission control room Monday for a team photo.
  • "It's just surreal," said Bleacher, speaking from NASA's Science Mission Operations Room in Houston's famed Johnson Space Center.
As the four Artemis astronauts approached a high point of their lunar mission -- getting slung around the far side of the Moon -- NASA staffers crowded into Houston's famed mission control room Monday for a team photo.
They were all smiles as countdown clocks ticked and the Orion spacecraft flew ever closer to Earth's cratered neighbor, a mission years in the making come to fruition at last.
By most metrics it's been a rough year for science in the United States -- the Trump administration has slashed funding, halted projects and devastated workforces.
But then, NASA sent astronauts around the Moon for the first time in half-a-century, deeper into space than ever before.
The moonshot has served as a "massive positive moment," said exploration scientist Jacob Bleacher.
"People have been working on this for months, years -- over a decade in some cases," he told AFP.
The majority of Americans, including NASA scientists, weren't yet born when the Apollo era first sent astronauts to the Moon in the late 1960s.
The myth loomed large, but it was past tense -- until now.
"It's just surreal," said Bleacher, speaking from NASA's Science Mission Operations Room in Houston's famed Johnson Space Center.
"This is my generation's first chance to step up and really do this," he said. 
"I like to think about it as walking through a doorway into how humankind explores the solar system going forward."

'Reinvigorate'

US President Donald Trump has pressured NASA to get boots on the lunar surface before his second term ends in 2029.
But just last week the White House simultaneously proposed slashing the space agency's overall budget by 23 percent and significantly curtailing its science program funding.
And like many US government agencies, NASA has faced "significant cuts to their workforce," said Clayton Swope, a space policy expert at of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
With Artemis 2, "I think they have delivered," he told AFP. "It's been under very challenging circumstances."
For Amanda Nahm, a program scientist for NASA Headquarters, the successful Artemis II launch and unfolding mission offer "a good morale boost."
"We all work at NASA because of this -- and I think it's helping remind us" that "our base mission is this hard, exciting exploration -- seeing new things, trying out new things we've never done before," she told AFP.
"I think it will hopefully reinvigorate us all."
As they carry out their mission, the team of four astronauts have been routinely asked to reflect on the weight of the torch they carry.
They regularly bring the focus back to their role in a project they see as much bigger than themselves.
And frequently, they also cite the work of the team "we're lifted up by," as mission commander Reid Wiseman put it.
"We just feel like we're lifted up by the team that supports us, and you just sort of execute the plan," Wiseman said as the crew soared away from their home planet.
"A lot of people telling us how to work this and manage this vehicle, and a lot of great training, and you just kind of go step by step, which I think is pretty remarkable, what this team can do," he added.
"It really highlights their excellence."
mdo/mjf/ane