infrastructure

Lightning advance: swathes of Hanoi demolished for development

BY LAM NGUYEN AND TY MCCORMICK

  • "We are unlucky to be the sufferers in this giant restructuring of Hanoi."
  • Rows of townhouses torn down in hours, roads ripped up by bulldozers and city blocks reduced to rubble in the name of progress -- giant construction sites litter Hanoi as it races ahead with urban renewal.
  • "We are unlucky to be the sufferers in this giant restructuring of Hanoi."
Rows of townhouses torn down in hours, roads ripped up by bulldozers and city blocks reduced to rubble in the name of progress -- giant construction sites litter Hanoi as it races ahead with urban renewal.
A "100-year master plan" for the Vietnamese capital includes new bridges, subway lines and riverside developments.
Hundreds of thousands could be displaced to make way for construction, authorities say, as the city of eight million prepares to accommodate twice as many people by 2045.
Communist leaders hope Vietnam will be a developed country by then, buoyed by breakneck growth and spurred by their huge infrastructure investments.
But the speed of implementation has unnerved residents, made some homeless and left many more fearing the same fate.
"I have never seen authorities acting that quick," said Hung, a 51-year-old businessman whose house was torn down last month for a $750 million bridge spanning the Red River.
"My dad had lived there all his life, he got to know every corner, everyone, now he saw it all demolished in a blink," he added, asking to be identified only by his first name.
He said he received 10 billion dong ($380,000) as compensation along with a rural plot of land -- but that the home's market value was nearly triple that.
The city having another bridge is "good for all, but not for us", he added.
"We are unlucky to be the sufferers in this giant restructuring of Hanoi."
- No joke -  
A city of less than half a million for most of its thousand-year history, Hanoi grew dramatically in the 1980s and 1990s as Vietnam underwent market-oriented reforms.
Many migrants from the countryside built homes on land they did not formally own, creating sprawling, semi-planned neighbourhoods with narrow, winding streets.
The city has since formalised construction and embarked on multiple rounds of renovation.
But those plans "were often joked about because they stayed as posters on the wall and little was implemented", according to Danielle Labbe, an urban planning professor at the University of Montreal who focuses on Vietnam.
Now the 100-year master plan is charging ahead.
Top leader To Lam has declared a "new growth model" that includes a major building blitz. He preaches less red tape and faster decision-making, leading to a flurry of project approvals, analysts say.
With seven new bridges planned and more than 1,200 kilometres (746 miles) of metro and rail lines, the Hanoi redevelopment is expected to cost more than $2.5 trillion over two decades.
Roads are also being widened and drainage systems improved in anticipation of flooding risks stemming from climate change.
More than 11,000 hectares along the river is slated to become a network of residential developments and parks -- with roughly 250,000 residents relocated to make way.
State media reported that overall, as many 860,000 could be uprooted. Authorities denied the figure but did not specify an alternative.
Hanoi's architecture and planning department did not immediately respond to AFP requests for comment.
Many Hanoi residents support modernisation, with Labbe calling the population "very pro-development".
But the rapid pace of change and lack of public consultation has bred resentment.
The master plan ran to more than 1,000 pages, according to Labbe, but was only "opened for comment for something like 10 or 15 days".
"Plans didn't use to be approved and implemented so fast," she said.

'No greater pain'

Ho Chi Minh City also has a 100-year master plan, as Vietnam embarks on an infrastructure drive that parallels its giant Communist neighbour to the north, both in scale and execution.
"To me, the influence of Chinese planning is very clear," said Labbe. 
Retired house cleaner Phan received her final eviction notice in February and her four-storey home is slated for demolition this week.
The 10-person, three-generation household split up and moved in with other relatives.
Authorities offered a slight discount on a much smaller apartment costing $76,000.
But because like many they did not have title to the land under their home, they were only compensated $19,000 for building costs. 
"So now the family is in a very difficult situation and has to borrow money," said Phan, 69.
"Our family used to eat together, sit together, and live happily as three generations under one roof," she said, breaking into tears.
"Now the family is broken apart, everyone scattered in different places. There is no pain greater than this."
bur-tym/slb/hol/mjw

demonstration

Tens of thousands rally in Serbia demanding elections

BY OGNJEN ZORIC

  • The students leading the movement hope Saturday's demonstration will relaunch their campaign to push nationalist president Vucic to call early elections. 
  • Tens of thousands of demonstrators massed in central Belgrade Saturday to renew calls for early elections that grew out of the anti-corruption movement sparked by a deadly rail station disaster.
  • The students leading the movement hope Saturday's demonstration will relaunch their campaign to push nationalist president Vucic to call early elections. 
Tens of thousands of demonstrators massed in central Belgrade Saturday to renew calls for early elections that grew out of the anti-corruption movement sparked by a deadly rail station disaster.
Since the station canopy collapse in November 2024 in Novi Sad, which killed 16 people, calls for a transparent investigation into what happened have snowballed into a push for early polls.
Yelling the movement's signature slogan, "The students are winning," to the din of drums and whistles, crowds streamed through the city to Slavija Square in the centre. Large banners hanging from trees, T-shirts, badges and stickers also bore the slogan.
Later Saturday, as the rally broke up, clashes broke out between demonstrators and police. Masked men threw stones, bottles and firecrackers at police, who responded with tear gas. 
An AFP journalist saw several people arrested and gendarmes' vehicles kept the crowds away from the presidential and parliament buildings.
"All those who, this evening after the end of the public gathering at Slavija, attacked police officers who were securing the event will be identified and prosecuted in accordance with the law," said a statement from the prosecutors' office.
"The scenes we witnessed tonight... are scenes that are not good for Serbia, scenes that have saddened every citizen of our country," Serbian President Alexander Vucic said in a post on Instagram.
"They will not change anything with this," he added.

'Change must come'

Earlier Saturday, marchers gathered for the rally carrying Serbian flags or ones representing their university faculty. Other people, who had travelled from around the country held banners with the names of their towns.
"The goal of today's protest is for all of us to gather again and to make it clear to people that we are still here, that we are fighting and working, that we have not and will not stop," 24-year-old architecture student Andjela told AFP.
Students in high-vis tops served as stewards while war veterans and bikers were also present to protect the crowd.
Police chief Dragan Vasiljevic told journalists the force estimated the turnout at 34,000. No independent estimate was available.
"Today, a clear message is being sent," said another marcher, pensioner Zoran Savic.
"Change must come, Serbia must become a democratic state, the rule of law must be present for everyone, meaning the rule of law equally for everyone," he said.
"And Serbia must be part of the democratic, European community."

Election demand 

The protests have not stopped since the Novi Sad disaster, with one demonstration in March 2025 bringing as many as 300,000 together.
The students leading the movement hope Saturday's demonstration will relaunch their campaign to push nationalist president Vucic to call early elections. Vucic, who regularly raises the issue, suggested on Thursday that they could take place in autumn.
While the protests have passed off peacefully for the most part, some have been marred by clashes in recent months, with several protesters saying they were attacked by masked government supporters.
On Friday, the Council of Europe's human rights commissioner warned that Serbia's rights situation had worsened, citing attacks on activists and journalists, shrinking civic space and alleged police abuses of protests.
"After a year and a half of protests, people have not given up and have not lost their strength," said Ivan Milosavljevic, a demonstrator who came from eastern Serbia.
"The strength of the protests can be seen in the number of people here today. We will continue until this anti-people regime is removed."
mp-cbo/jj/rlp

immigration

EU automated border system suspended at Dover amid bank holiday chaos

  • Responding to the "challenging situation" at the port, French border control police (PAF) suspended the system, the Port of Dover said, adding that "conventional border checks will still be undertaken".
  • French authorities suspended the European Union's new digital border check system at Britain's Port of Dover on Saturday, as traffic piled up at the UK ferry terminal at the start of the long weekend.
  • Responding to the "challenging situation" at the port, French border control police (PAF) suspended the system, the Port of Dover said, adding that "conventional border checks will still be undertaken".
French authorities suspended the European Union's new digital border check system at Britain's Port of Dover on Saturday, as traffic piled up at the UK ferry terminal at the start of the long weekend.
Travellers were facing wait times of over two hours at the terminal in southern England to get the cross-Channel ferry to France, the Port of Dover said in traffic updates.
It said it was the "first peak period" since the introduction of the so-called Entry/Exit System (EES).
The EES is used by EU countries -- with the exception of Ireland and Cyprus -- and other nations that are part of the Schengen free movement area, including Switzerland, Norway and Iceland.
Non-EU passengers and some transport providers have raised concerns about the new system -- especially in Britain, which left the EU in 2020 under Brexit.
The system, which became fully operational in April, replaces passport stamps with a digital registration to make the EU's borders more secure, more efficient and stronger against irregular migration, according to the European Commission.
Responding to the "challenging situation" at the port, French border control police (PAF) suspended the system, the Port of Dover said, adding that "conventional border checks will still be undertaken".
"This will now enable PAF to signficantly reduce the border processing time," the port authority said in a statement posted on X.
Images showed snaking queues of cars at the congested terminal, which is the departure point for ferries to Calais in northern France, a popular route for British tourists, especially at the start of the half-term school holidays.
aks/rmb

France

F1 legend Alain Prost's Swiss home robbed: reports

  • A statement issued on Thursday from the Vaud cantonal police force said a family living in Nyon, northeast of Geneva, was the victim of a robbery at their home.
  • French four-time Formula One champion Alain Prost was injured during a violent robbery at his home in Switzerland, Swiss media reported Saturday.
  • A statement issued on Thursday from the Vaud cantonal police force said a family living in Nyon, northeast of Geneva, was the victim of a robbery at their home.
French four-time Formula One champion Alain Prost was injured during a violent robbery at his home in Switzerland, Swiss media reported Saturday.
Switzerland's biggest-selling newspaper Blick said Prost, 71, sustained a minor head injury during the attack, while one of his sons was forced to open the family safe and the assailants fled with the contents.
A statement issued on Thursday from the Vaud cantonal police force said a family living in Nyon, northeast of Geneva, was the victim of a robbery at their home.
The incident took place on Tuesday, at around 8:30am (0630 GMT).
Contacted by AFP on Saturday, the police declined to give the identities of the victims of the crime, and refused to comment on whether the incident concerned the Prost family.
Thursday's statement said the perpetrators "entered the house while the occupants were present, threatened them, and forced one of the family members to open a safe before fleeing with stolen goods".
Despite an extensive search operation, the perpetrators have not yet been apprehended, it said.

'Large-scale search'

"Several masked individuals entered the house. Once inside, they threatened the occupants and slightly injured one family member in the head, under circumstances that are still being investigated.
"The perpetrators then forced another family member to open a safe before fleeing with stolen goods, of which the precise inventory is currently being assessed.
"The Vaud cantonal police immediately deployed a large-scale search operation," the statement said.
The cantonal public prosecutor's office has opened a criminal investigation, which is ongoing to try and apprehend the perpetrators, it said.
Police said the response involved the Vaud cantonal police, the Nyon regional police, the dog unit, security officers, the forensic science unit, the customs and border security office, the French gendarmerie and a psychological support team for the family.
Contacted by AFP on Saturday, a Vaud police spokesman said the investigation was still ongoing but could not reveal whether any arrests had been made.
"Every effort is being made to identify and apprehend the perpetrators of the attack," the spokesman said.
Blick said there had been an alarming trend over the last year of burglaries in the Lake Geneva region of Switzerland targeting wealthy individuals, often perpetrated by cross-border gangs from neighbouring France targeting prestigious watch collections.
Prost competed in Formula One between 1980 and 1993 with the McLaren, Renault, Ferrari and Williams teams. He won the world drivers' championship in 1985, 1986, 1989 and 1993.
Only Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton (seven each) and Juan Manuel Fangio (five) have won the championship more times than Prost, while Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen have also won the title four times.
rjm/rmb

environment

Pope visits Italy's 'Land of Fires'

  • Italy's "Land of Fires", also known as the "Triangle of Death", has served as a dump and illegal incineration site since the late 1980s.
  • Pope Leo XIV will visit Italy's "Land of Fires" on Saturday, where for decades the mafia has illegally dumped and burned toxic rubbish, poisoning both people and their land.
  • Italy's "Land of Fires", also known as the "Triangle of Death", has served as a dump and illegal incineration site since the late 1980s.
Pope Leo XIV will visit Italy's "Land of Fires" on Saturday, where for decades the mafia has illegally dumped and burned toxic rubbish, poisoning both people and their land.
The head of the Roman Catholic Church will travel to Acerra, a city near Naples in the southern Italian region of Campania, where hazardous waste -- often from the wealthy north -- has long been set alight or buried.
For decades, the soil, groundwater and air have been contaminated by heavy metals, dioxins and asbestos.
Cancer rates among the area's three million or so residents are higher than the national average and Leo is expected to decry the injustice as well as urge care for the environment.
In 2025, Europe's top rights court ruled that Italy had failed to protect residents, and gave the government two years to fix the situation.
This visit coincides with the 11th anniversary of a landmark climate manifesto by Leo's predecessor, Pope Francis.
The "Laudato Si" encyclical, which denounced mankind's ruthless exploitation of the environment, was hailed by experts for its scientific grounding.
Leo is expected to arrive by helicopter shortly before 9:00 am (0700 GMT) Saturday in Acerra, a city of some 60,000 inhabitants.
The US-born pontiff will deliver his first address at the cathedral to the clergy and the families of the victims of environmental pollution.
He will then meet and address parishioners from various towns in the region, before departing for the Vatican at midday.
Italy's "Land of Fires", also known as the "Triangle of Death", has served as a dump and illegal incineration site since the late 1980s.
Instead of paying exorbitant sums to have toxic waste disposed of legally, companies paid the region's Camorra mafia a fraction of the cost to dump everything from broken sheets of asbestos to car tyres and containers of industrial-strength glue.
Since 2013, a host of parliamentary inquiries has found the authorities negligent and in some cases complicit.
They have also highlighted the health fallout, including an increase in cases of cancer and foetal and neonatal malformations.
In 2018, the Senate said mobster criminality and political inaction had caused an ecological disaster.
Leo's visit is part of a series of summer trips to areas of Italy, which include a stop on the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa in July.
cmk/ide/dt/phz

agriculture

Slow Food's 'visionary' founder Carlo Petrini dies aged 76

  • "He was among the first to promote the concept of food sovereignty and defend the right to quality food for everyone, enhancing the link between identity, territory and traditions," she said. 
  • Carlo Petrini, whose worldwide Slow Food movement has spent 40 years promoting quality traditional cooking and sustainable farming, has died at the age of 76, his organisation announced Friday.
  • "He was among the first to promote the concept of food sovereignty and defend the right to quality food for everyone, enhancing the link between identity, territory and traditions," she said. 
Carlo Petrini, whose worldwide Slow Food movement has spent 40 years promoting quality traditional cooking and sustainable farming, has died at the age of 76, his organisation announced Friday.
The Italian journalist and writer from Piedmont founded Slow Food in 1986, in protest against the opening of the first fast food restaurants in the country.
Since then, the movement has ballooned, spreading to 160 countries in its mission to promote good taste, defend biodiversity and promote a healthy food model that respects the environment and local cultures.
"The most important work Slow Food has done is to restore the concept of gastronomy to its holistic, multidisciplinary form. The idea of gastronomy as merely recipes and Michelin stars is a very limited one," Petrini told AFP in a 2016 interview.
According to the movement, Petrini died on Thursday evening at his home in the town of Bra in his native Piedmont. 
Hailing him as a "visionary", Slow Food said Petrini "brought to life a global movement rooted in the values of good, clean and fair food for all, connecting communities, farmers, food artisans, cooks, activists and young people across the world".
"'Those who sow utopia reap reality' -- a phrase Carlo Petrini loved to say -- encapsulates his life. He firmly believed that dreams and visions, when they are just, capable of inspiring collective participation, and pursued with conviction, are not impossible to achieve." 
In a statement, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Petrini was "ahead of his time".
"He was among the first to promote the concept of food sovereignty and defend the right to quality food for everyone, enhancing the link between identity, territory and traditions," she said. 
Besides his work with Slow Food, Petrini founded the international Terra Madre network for sustainable agriculture and the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo. 
For Slow Food, "he combined the ability to dream with a deep sense of joy and collective purpose, paving concrete paths toward social change".
tsz/ams/jxb

auction

Vietnam auctions convicted tycoon's Hermes handbags for over $500k

  • A confiscated Hermes bag with white gemstones sold Thursday at the Ho Chi Minh City Asset Auction Service Center for 11.6 billion Vietnamese dong ($440,000), state media reported.
  • A pair of luxury Hermes handbags that once belonged to a jailed Vietnamese property tycoon sold at auction for more than $500,000, state media reported, as the government seeks to recover funds linked to a $27 billion fraud.
  • A confiscated Hermes bag with white gemstones sold Thursday at the Ho Chi Minh City Asset Auction Service Center for 11.6 billion Vietnamese dong ($440,000), state media reported.
A pair of luxury Hermes handbags that once belonged to a jailed Vietnamese property tycoon sold at auction for more than $500,000, state media reported, as the government seeks to recover funds linked to a $27 billion fraud.
Property developer Truong My Lan was convicted in 2024 of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB), which prosecutors said she controlled.
She was initially sentenced to death in one of Vietnam's biggest corruption cases, but now faces life in prison after Hanoi abolished capital punishment for some crimes.
A confiscated Hermes bag with white gemstones sold Thursday at the Ho Chi Minh City Asset Auction Service Center for 11.6 billion Vietnamese dong ($440,000), state media reported. A second Hermes bag sold for 2.5 billion dong ($95,000).
The disgraced tycoon had asked a court to return the rare albino Birkin bags, saying she had purchased one in Italy and received the other as a gift.
They were "mementos" she wanted returned to her family, state media reported.
Tens of thousands of people who invested their savings in Saigon Commercial Bank lost money, shocking the communist nation and prompting rare protests from the victims.
Lan was ordered to compensate victims and has paid more than 12 trillion dong ($455 million) to bondholders so far, according to a statement on the government’s website.
Three cars once belonging to Lan -- a Maybach, a BMW and a Lexus -- are set to be auctioned Friday.
bur-tym/fox

diplomacy

Belgium worries as migrant crossings to Britain rise

BY CAMILLE CAMDESSUS

  • Boats are either "fully packed" with 15 to 20 people on board or sometimes go pick up more passengers in France before heading towards Britain, he added.
  • Unearthing small boats from under the sand at dawn before launching them towards Britain packed with people, migrant smugglers are increasingly operating from Belgium -- to the concern of local authorities.
  • Boats are either "fully packed" with 15 to 20 people on board or sometimes go pick up more passengers in France before heading towards Britain, he added.
Unearthing small boats from under the sand at dawn before launching them towards Britain packed with people, migrant smugglers are increasingly operating from Belgium -- to the concern of local authorities.
The country intercepted more than 400 people attempting to cross the Channel so far this year, up from none in the whole of 2025, according to government figures in what local officials say is a spillover from neighbouring France, following a crackdown there. 
"France has become stricter" toward migrants, said Jean-Marie Dedecker, mayor of the seaside town of Middelkerke. 
"And when France gets stricter, they come to Belgium."
For years, migrants hoping to reach Britain in search of a better life have gathered in camps along the coast around the French city of Calais, before attempting to cross over. 
Belgium has not witnessed the same influx, mainly because its coastline is significantly further away from British shores, which heightens the risk for those making the journey in flimsy, overcrowded boats. 
At its closest point, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) of water separates Belgium from England, compared to the about 30 kilometres that migrants have to cover when setting off from Calais.  
- 'Follow the coastline' - 
But things have started to change as France ramped up law enforcement, partially due to a new deal between Paris and London signed in April to stop undocumented migrants from crossing.
Dedecker said for several months now he has been watching smugglers implement a well-oiled operation from his town's beaches. 
"They hide their belongings -- jackets, the boat, the motor -- in the dunes," he told AFP. 
Before sunrise, the vessels are inflated before migrants jump aboard and set off, he added.
Boats "follow the coastline to France," said Christiaan De Ridder, the local deputy police chief.
Boats are either "fully packed" with 15 to 20 people on board or sometimes go pick up more passengers in France before heading towards Britain, he added.
The trend has frustrated the Belgian government of Flemish nationalist Prime Minister Bart De Wever, which does not want to appear lax on the issue.
"It must be clear that the Flemish coast is not an attractive alternative for making the crossing to the United Kingdom," said Anneleen Van Bossuyt, Belgium's asylum and migration minister.
- 'People in danger' - 
Her office said it is working tirelessly to put an end to it, notably by increasing detentions of migrants -- mostly young men from Sudan, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
Police have also stepped-up patrols but are calling for more resources to monitor the coast. 
The approach has outraged NGOs helping refugees, which say more should be done to support and protect people who arrive in the country already "extremely traumatised" by their journey to Europe.
"They are seen as a danger rather than as people in danger," Joost Depotter of the Flemish group Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen said of migrants. 
Heavy-handed measures were not reducing flows but only pushing smugglers to take extra precautions, like hiding migrants away from the police but also possible help -- sometimes in vacant holiday homes, he said. 
Yet, worried about possible impact on tourism, mayor Dedecker was unmoved, saying he hoped for a clampdown before summer. 
"We're monitoring the dunes because we're afraid of seeing 'jungles' like in Calais, with thousands of people," he said, referring to a now-closed infamous camp on the outskirts of the French city. 
Attempted crossings were down slightly in recent days due to poor weather but "when the weather is nice, they'll try again", he said. "Why wouldn't they?". 
cjc/ub/raz/phz

royals

French football's pioneering British champions

BY BARNABY CHESTERMAN

  • In contrast, of the 12 founding members of the English football league, only one –- Accrington, who folded in the 19th century -- is not currently a professional league team.
  • French giants Paris Saint-Germain secured a 14th league title last week to continue their recent Ligue 1 domination.
  • In contrast, of the 12 founding members of the English football league, only one –- Accrington, who folded in the 19th century -- is not currently a professional league team.
French giants Paris Saint-Germain secured a 14th league title last week to continue their recent Ligue 1 domination.
But tucked away in the nearby Meudon forest, just outside Paris, nestled between oaks and chestnuts, are the very first French football champions, Standard Athletic Club -- still thriving today as a private sports club.
Back in May 1894, Standard defeated the "formidable" White Rovers to become the first team recognised as French champions, by the Union of French Athletic Sports Societies (USFSA).
A club set up by mostly Englishmen ruled France, by beating a team of Scots.
The next year, Standard lifted the sparkling new Gordon Bennett trophy -- donated by the owner of the New York Herald newspaper -- by outclassing the White Rovers again.
It is a far cry from the football played at Standard today, where a motley crew of enthusiasts ranging from 17 years old to 60 turns out on Sunday mornings to play friendlies against familiar foes.
But the club is very proud of its illustrious past, which is not merely confined to its late 19th century results.
It also has links to the British royal family –- the club's badge is the Royal Standard -- and lent its name to Belgium's Standard Liege, and its red and black striped shirts to Italian giants AC Milan.
Standard also provided most of the France team that played in the only ever Olympic cricket match, back in 1900, losing to Great Britain in the final.
"What made the name of this club is being the first ever champions of France in football," club president Richard Parkin told AFP on a sunny Sunday morning.
"There's a quiet pride, but it's a little bit tongue in cheek," he added, pointing to the five stars emblazoned on the club jersey and worn by young, old, dashing and portly alike.

Queen's visits

The club's story began 136 years ago when "some English boys and young fellows" met at The Horse Shoe bar in Rue Copernic, near the Arc de Triomphe, and formed the club.
An account believed to be by one of the club's founding members, Alfred Hunter, tells of how the Brits "used to kick a football about on the open space opposite the (Grand) Lac" in the Bois de Boulogne, west of Paris, during the "rather severe" winter of 1889-90.
That gave them the idea to form a club, which instantly made its name.
And unlike almost all the other early pioneers of football in Paris, and France, it still exists.
Of the six teams that contested the first USFSA French football championship in 1894, Standard is the only one to have survived.
The White Rovers, along with the International Athletic Club and Cercle Athletique de Neuilly, did not make it to the end of the century, while Cercle Pedestre d'Asnieres disappeared during World War I.
Only Club Francais –- who won the title in 1896 -– managed to survive until the professional era, which began in 1932, only to fold three years later.
In contrast, of the 12 founding members of the English football league, only one –- Accrington, who folded in the 19th century -- is not currently a professional league team.
"I suspect that this place is still around because it's not just a football club. If we were just around to be a football club, then I suspect that we might have folded as well," said Parkin.
Not only did Standard survive, but it gained the royal seal of approval, and its honorary chairman is the British ambassador to France.
Queen Elizabeth II twice visited the club, first in 1957 to inaugurate Standard's rebuilt clubhouse, which had been blown up by the retreating Nazis -- who had used it as a radar jamming station -- at the end of World War II.
Elizabeth visited the club again with Prince Philip on a state visit in 1972.
"One of the things that keeps us going, even if we struggle sometimes to get a team out, is we're part of this institution, and we want to make sure that we keep playing," said Parkin.

Olympic medal

Standard has moved away from its British, and footballing, roots over the years and now boasts 65 different nationalities amongst its membership.
It is a multi-sports club with numerous sections, including tennis, squash, bridge and cricket -- in which they remain the reigning Olympic silver medallists.
Back in 1900, Standard's president Philip Tomalin was asked by Pierre de Coubertin -- the father of the modern Olympics -- to organise an international cricket tournament.
Tomalin selected a team made up mostly of British players from Standard and their main rivals and French champions Albion.
A straight final was played between hosts France and Britain –- represented by the Devonshire County Wanderers, a team made up of amateurs from Devon and Somerset.
Britain unsurprisingly thrashed France's team of Brits.
But the club is the proud owner of the Olympic runners-up medal awarded to their former member Arthur McEvoy. Rather incredibly, they purchased it on eBay in 2022 and the medal now resides in the clubhouse.
McEvoy had been the football team's goalkeeper and was also a handy bowler, taking three wickets in the Olympic final.
bc/bsp

therapy

'Filter of fantasy': Japan trials anime therapy to treat depression

BY ALICE PHILIPSON

  • "The use of manga and anime supported me so much... they were very important emotional support kind of tools," Panto told AFP. "Being raised in Italy, in Sicily, there were very strong stereotypes around gender or self-expression.
  • As a teenager struggling to fit into life in rural Sicily, psychiatrist Francesco Panto found refuge in anime, where he discovered characters that resembled the kind of man he wanted to be.
  • "The use of manga and anime supported me so much... they were very important emotional support kind of tools," Panto told AFP. "Being raised in Italy, in Sicily, there were very strong stereotypes around gender or self-expression.
As a teenager struggling to fit into life in rural Sicily, psychiatrist Francesco Panto found refuge in anime, where he discovered characters that resembled the kind of man he wanted to be.
Now living in Japan, Panto thinks anime can benefit others and is trialling whether it could be used as a method of therapy, particularly for people who would otherwise struggle to ask for help.
"The use of manga and anime supported me so much... they were very important emotional support kind of tools," Panto told AFP.
"Being raised in Italy, in Sicily, there were very strong stereotypes around gender or self-expression. But when I was 12 or 13 years old I started to play this game called 'Final Fantasy'... and the male protagonists resonated with me.
"They were so masculine and cool, but in their own way." 
Panto's six-month pilot study into "character-based counselling" at Yokohama City University ended in March.
As part of the trial, he and his team recruited 20 people aged 18-29 who had symptoms of depression and gave them online counselling delivered by a psychologist who appeared on the screen as an anime avatar with a digitally altered voice.
He believes that the "filter of fantasy" can help put people at ease and aid recognition of their problems -- and he's hoping that the trial results will confirm this theory.
From a steady and trustworthy "maternal energy" figure who brandishes an assault rifle, to an emotionally perceptive "prince-like" male who wears a cape, six different characters were created specifically for the study.
Each is based on a particular archetype in Japanese manga, with trial participants given freedom to choose among them.
"I tried to infuse each character with a specific mental struggle. One character is called Kuroto Nagi. She's affected by bipolar personality traits," Panto said.
Others struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder or anxiety disorders, or experience problems related to alcohol use.
But the idea is for the avatars to be "fun", Panto explained, and although the psychologist tells the story of their character at the start of the session, they were instructed not to make mental health issues too obvious.
One 24-year-old trial participant explained how they had been drawn to the study by a description of one of the characters, who was said to be "searching for true strength".
That "made me feel like it might help me get closer to the answer to my own problems," said the participant, an anime fan and game developer who could not be identified by name under the rules of the trial.

'Will to live'

The phase-one trial -- which tracked participants' heart rates and sleep -- is primarily to test whether anime therapy is feasible and if this kind of treatment can reduce symptoms of depression.
Panto is also considering whether the therapy could be delivered using artificial intelligence, without the medium of a real psychologist.
The research project is one of many trying to find solutions to mental health challenges in Japan including "ikizurasa", a term for people who find it "difficult to live, difficult to survive in society", said Mio Ishii, an assistant professor helping lead the project.
"There are many young people who cannot go to school or continue working. So, our scope is to give them... new choices to recover from their difficulties," she said, adding that there was still huge stigma in Japan attached to seeking help.
As of 2022, only six percent of people in Japan had used psychological counselling for mental health problems, according to data cited on the World Economic Forum website. The rate was much higher in Europe and the United States.
Jesus Maya, who specialises in family therapy at the University of Seville and is not involved in the trial, said the use of anime during sessions can be "really useful".
"It can facilitate the expression of emotions... (and) identification and communication between the patient and the therapist," he said.
Under the rules of the study, the 24-year-old trial participant -- whose current favourite anime series include "The End of Evangelion" and "Girls Band Cry" -- could not comment on the trial itself.
But they said anime had given them the "will to live, seeing characters who are full of life as they work hard toward their dreams".
Ishii hopes the therapy could help people of all ages across the world.
"Because usually people have stigmas and psychological barriers to ask for help about their mental health," she said. "But anime or technology can decrease them."
aph/sjc/mjw

AI

California governor orders a plan to cope with AI job upheaval

  • "California has never sat back and watched as the future happened to us –- and we won't start now," he said.
  • California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday ordered officials to start work on a plan to mitigate the job-destroying impact of artificial intelligence, the first US state to do so.
  • "California has never sat back and watched as the future happened to us –- and we won't start now," he said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom on Thursday ordered officials to start work on a plan to mitigate the job-destroying impact of artificial intelligence, the first US state to do so.
Newsom's demand comes as fears grow worldwide that AI could render everyone from truck drivers to lawyers unemployed as machines learn to perform tasks that have previously required a human.
The executive order will mobilize state agencies, experts, universities and industry leaders to develop policies around severance standards, employment insurance, worker training and better tracking of hiring and layoffs in an effort to avoid nasty surprises and sudden workforce cuts.
"Businesses are going to make a fortune, and that's why you cannot continue to have a payroll tax system that taxes jobs and then subsidizes automation," the governor said in a statement.
Newsom -- who is widely expected to be a leading Democratic Party candidate in the 2028 presidential election -- said lightning fast developments in AI meant the entire employment system needed to be reimagined.
"California has never sat back and watched as the future happened to us –- and we won't start now," he said.
The move comes as figures revealed the US technology sector -- which is headquartered in California's Silicon Valley -- slashed more than 52,000 jobs in the first three months of the year, according to the firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
On Wednesday, Facebook parent Meta began laying off 8,000 people -- around 10 percent of its workforce.
Advances in AI, which have allowed for the automation of increasingly complex tasks, are often cited by companies as the reason for reducing headcounts.
But some industry watchers say firms are using the technology as a pretext for other cost-cutting.
Changes in how we work are reverberating around the world, sparking debate from Asia to Europe to the United States.
Some tech leaders -- including those at the forefront of AI, like Elon Musk and OpenAI's Sam Altman -- have suggested that the technology will leave so many people without a job that humans will effectively become creatures of leisure who need to be given some kind of basic universal income to survive.
bl-hg/mlm

labour

Top UN court says right to strike protected in key labour treaty

BY RICHARD CARTER

  • The International Court of Justice had been asked to deliver a so-called advisory opinion on whether an ILO treaty from 1948, known as Convention 87, implicitly enshrined workers' right to strike.
  • The top United Nations court ruled Thursday that the right to strike was protected in a key treaty of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), a decision that could have profound implications for global labour relations.
  • The International Court of Justice had been asked to deliver a so-called advisory opinion on whether an ILO treaty from 1948, known as Convention 87, implicitly enshrined workers' right to strike.
The top United Nations court ruled Thursday that the right to strike was protected in a key treaty of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), a decision that could have profound implications for global labour relations.
The International Court of Justice had been asked to deliver a so-called advisory opinion on whether an ILO treaty from 1948, known as Convention 87, implicitly enshrined workers' right to strike.
ICJ president Yuji Iwasawa said the court was "of the opinion that the right to strike of workers and their organisations is protected" under that convention.
However, judges said their opinion, which is not binding, should not be understood as laying out any other ground rules for strike action.
The conclusion "does not entail any determination on the precise content, scope or conditions for the exercise of that right", said Iwasawa.
ILO Convention 87 is an agreement between unions and employers including the right "in full freedom, to organise their administration and activities".

Heated legal battle

Unions at the ILO had argued that this by extension enshrined the right to industrial action, but employers disagreed, so they took the fight to the ICJ.
Behind the dry legal interpretation of a decades-old treaty lay a heated battle between unions and employer groups at the ILO, which played out in hearings in October 2025.
"This case is about more than legal abstractions," Harold Koh, representing the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), told the judges. 
"It will affect the real rights of tens of millions of working people around the world," he added.
Koh warned that if the ICJ ruled the right to strike was not inherent in the Convention, companies and governments could start to unpick labour deals around the world.
"National employer groups would contest the right to strike country by country, focusing first on nations with compliant courts, weak civil societies and ineffective media," said Koh.

'Inflammatory and alarmist'

On the other side of the argument, Roberto Suarez Santos, from the International Organisation of Employers, said the 1948 convention "neither explicitly nor implicitly covers the right to strike."
Santos noted that the rules surrounding industrial action varied widely from country to country -- whether emergency services were excluded, for example.
These differences "cannot be resolved by simply reading an abstract right to strike into Convention No.87 and trying to impose it on employers, workers and governments", said Santos.
Rita Yip, also representing the employers' groups, dismissed the union arguments as "inflammatory and alarmist".
The right to strike is still protected in national laws, argued Yip, and does not need to be enshrined in "boilerplate norms, imposed at the highest level".
Urging the court to answer "no" to the question before it, Yip said the case "goes to the credibility of the entire international labour system".
Both sides at least agreed on the importance of the case for labour relations.
"At first blush, this case may not seem momentous," said Koh from the trade union confederation.
"But your decision here will affect every worker in the world," he told the judges.
ric/jj

tourism

Tourists in Thailand plan for coming cuts to visa-free stays

BY WATSAMON TRI-YASAKDA AND SEBASTIEN DUVAL

  • The 60-day visa-free stay was introduced two years ago to encourage more visitors and for them to stay longer.
  • The backpackers on Khao San Road, a Bangkok thoroughfare famous for its wild nightlife, are waking up this week with an extra headache: the Thai government is set to shorten the length of visa-free stays.
  • The 60-day visa-free stay was introduced two years ago to encourage more visitors and for them to stay longer.
The backpackers on Khao San Road, a Bangkok thoroughfare famous for its wild nightlife, are waking up this week with an extra headache: the Thai government is set to shorten the length of visa-free stays.
Near the capital's Tha Tian pier, where tourists catch ferries to the landmark Wat Arun, Irishman Alex Brady said the forthcoming one-month limit would have affected his plans a lot -- because he and his friends "initially came here with no plan at all".
Brady and his travel companions were visiting for about five weeks, and the flexibility of the current 60-day visa-free scheme allowed them to see more of Thailand at their leisure, the 24-year-old said.
The new limits -- announced Tuesday for tourists from more than 90 countries in a bid to curb crime -- would "really restrict you in what you can see", said Brady.
After Bangkok, he and his group planned to get a bus and ferry to the diving hotspot of Koh Tao for about a week before travelling north to the mountains of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai.
"If you're paying for an expensive flight ticket out here, you want to spend a good amount of time out here," said Brady, a digital engineer.
Tourism accounts for more than 10 percent of Thailand's GDP, but foreign arrivals are yet to return to their pre-pandemic highs.
The 60-day visa-free stay was introduced two years ago to encourage more visitors and for them to stay longer.
But a recent series of high-profile arrests of foreigners, including cases linked to drug offences, sex in public and foreigners operating businesses such as hotels and schools without proper permits, has sparked public backlash.
Now officials say they will limit how long visitors can stay on a country-by-country basis to try to prevent foreigners committing crimes.

Extended stays

Exactly how the new policy's reduced timing will prevent visa overstayers, public indecency and illegal businesses has not been disclosed, nor when the fresh rules will go into effect.
Tourists will still be able to renew 30-day visas once for an additional 30 days -- at the discretion of an immigration officer -- before needing to leave the country, officials said.
Visitors can make one "visa run" a year and stay for up to another 60 days, but would then need to leave again and could only return on a different visa status, such as a work, education or retirement visa.
Another traveller, Elin Ovrebo, director of a US university study abroad programme, said she has brought students to Thailand for 28-day trips almost every year for more than a decade -- and she likes to stay a week longer herself.
While the policy change may mean she would not do that in the future, "it won't stop me from coming", she said.

Visa runs

Sitting on a stool outside a Bangkok shopping mall, Anna Heindrich waited for a minibus for a lightning round trip to Laos to re-enter Thailand on a new stay.
At 80, the German does not fit the typical customer profile for services provided by the Bangkok Buddy agency, which charges 5,500 baht ($170) per client -- mostly younger backpackers. 
But Heindrich has been in Thailand for three months and wants to stay two weeks longer.
"I spoke with the agency and it sounded easy on paper. Not necessarily very comfortable, but easy," she told AFP before setting off on a nearly 16-hour round trip.
Bangkok Buddy manager Tanya Chansuwan said the new visa rules could help her business, but may also complicate travel plans for tourists.
"It will be tougher for the clients, and some might choose to go somewhere else," she said.
"Vietnam, because it's cheaper."
bur-sdu/sco/slb/fox

demonstration

'Ready for violence': Serbian hooligans target protesters

BY ANDREW LEESON

  • According to Voja, the men chased him into a supermarket before dragging him out, beating him and forcing him into the car -- while repeatedly claiming to be police officers.
  • When Voja was beaten and dragged from a Belgrade street into a waiting car, the young activist thought he would die.
  • According to Voja, the men chased him into a supermarket before dragging him out, beating him and forcing him into the car -- while repeatedly claiming to be police officers.
When Voja was beaten and dragged from a Belgrade street into a waiting car, the young activist thought he would die.
After an hours-long ordeal, his assailants freed him, bruised and bloodied.
"I feared for my life. I had no idea what they were planning to do with me," Voja, who asked to be identified only by his first name, told AFP.
Weeks later, he is still visibly shaken when recounting the April 29 incident, just one report in a mounting pattern of violence against people connected to Serbia's long-running protest movement.
But unlike many other attacks, Voja said his captors made no attempt to hide their faces -- and had allegedly emerged from a van emblazoned with the campaign slogan of the ruling party of President Aleksandar Vucic.

'Ready for violence'

For more than a year, student-led protests have swept across Serbia, with some rallies drawing crowds unseen since demonstrations toppled strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000.
Demands for a transparent investigation into a railway station canopy collapse in November 2024, which killed 16 people, have snowballed into a push for early elections, in a direct challenge to Vucic.
As the largely peaceful demonstrations grew, groups of young men -- largely dressed in black and wearing masks -- increasingly targeted anti-government gatherings.
During a series of demonstrations last year, protesters claimed the police shielded groups of masked men, some armed with batons and fireworks, and violently suppressed the anti-government side.
Council of Europe observers also witnessed the "threatening" presence of large groups of men, several masked, outside polling stations during local elections that were marred by violence earlier this year.
The ties between these groups, locally referred to as hooligans, and Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) run deep, according to Predrag Petrovic, research director at the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy.
"The essence of it is that you have an organised group of people ready for violence, for street violence, and you want them on your side," he said.

'A blind eye'

According to Petrovic, the existence of a pro-government camp -- reportedly containing known criminals -- near the country's parliament shows a clear connection to the government.
"Hooligan leaders wanted to be seen there in order to send a message to others about which side was the right one," the expert said, referring to the camp, which has remained ringed by fences and guarded by police for months.
There have been several reports of assaults on protesters and journalists near the camp, while Serbian media have identified known criminals staying inside.
"But the police turned a blind eye," Petrovic said.
Last summer, the president pardoned four men, linked to the SNS, accused of beating students and breaking a woman's jaw in Novi Sad.
Vucic has also visited what he dubbed the "defenders of Serbia" in the pro-government camp several times and bragged about being "partly a football hooligan" in a recent podcast -- claiming he was arrested "many times".
"Those remarks should be taken very seriously, and they are certainly utterly inappropriate," Petrovic said.

'Nightmares'

With Vucic flagging potential early election dates, political outreach has ramped up on both sides, and it was during campaigning that Voja and his two friends were attacked.
After handing out stickers on the street in the Belgrade suburb of Resnik, a van painted with the campaign slogan of Vucic's party blocked their path, he said. A group of about five or six people jumped out to confront them.
As the men began threatening and grabbing the trio, one of Voja's friends used pepper spray.
According to Voja, the men chased him into a supermarket before dragging him out, beating him and forcing him into the car -- while repeatedly claiming to be police officers.
He said they drove him to an empty field and interrogated him before his friends published the alleged attackers' names on social media, at which point the men dropped him on a nearby street.
Neither the Interior Ministry nor the SNS responded to AFP's request for comment.
The incident has been reported to police and prosecutors, but Voja said he doubted there would be any real action.
With a badly bruised and swollen face, he remains fearful every time he goes outside.
"I have sleeping problems, mostly nightmares."
oz/al/pdw

labour

Top UN court to rule on right to strike

BY RICHARD CARTER

  • "National employer groups would contest the right to strike country by country, focusing first on nations with compliant courts, weak civil societies and ineffective media," said Koh.
  • The top United Nations court will on Thursday issue a ruling on the right to strike that both unions and employers say could have profound implications for global labour relations.
  • "National employer groups would contest the right to strike country by country, focusing first on nations with compliant courts, weak civil societies and ineffective media," said Koh.
The top United Nations court will on Thursday issue a ruling on the right to strike that both unions and employers say could have profound implications for global labour relations.
The International Court of Justice has been asked to deliver a so-called advisory opinion on whether a treaty drawn up in 1948 by the International Labour Organisation implicitly enshrines the right to strike.
The treaty, known as Convention 87, is an agreement between unions and employers including the right "in full freedom, to organise their administration and activities".
Unions at the ILO say this by extension enshrines the right to industrial action, but employers disagree.
So the 15-judge panel at the ICJ in The Hague will hand down its ruling, which is not binding, but in practice will clarify the right to strike in international law.
The ICJ has been asked the question: "Is the right to strike of workers and their organisations protected under the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87)?"
Behind the dry legal interpretation of a decades-old treaty lies a heated battle between unions and employer groups at the ILO that played out in hearings in October 2025.
"This case is about more than legal abstractions," Harold Koh, representing the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), told the judges. 
"It will affect the real rights of tens of millions of working people around the world," he added.
Koh warned that if the ICJ ruled the right to strike was not inherent in the Convention, companies and governments could start to unpick labour deals around the world.
"National employer groups would contest the right to strike country by country, focusing first on nations with compliant courts, weak civil societies and ineffective media," said Koh.

'Inflammatory and alarmist'

On the other side of the argument, Roberto Suarez Santos, from the International Organisation of Employers, said the 1948 convention "neither explicitly nor implicitly covers the right to strike."
Santos noted that the rules surrounding industrial action varied widely from country to country -- whether emergency services were excluded, for example.
These differences "cannot be resolved by simply reading an abstract right to strike into Convention No.87 and trying to impose it on employers, workers and governments", said Santos.
Rita Yip, also representing the employers' groups, dismissed the union arguments as "inflammatory and alarmist".
The right to strike is still protected in national laws, argued Yip, and does not need to be enshrined in "boilerplate norms, imposed at the highest level".
Urging the court to answer "no" to the question before it, Yip said the case "goes to the credibility of the entire international labour system".
Both sides can at least agree on the importance of the case for labour relations.
"At first blush, this case may not seem momentous," said Koh from the trade union confederation.
"But your decision here will affect every worker in the world," he told the judges.
ric/jj/sbk

research

'Their story is our story': Pigeons and humans, 3,500 years together

BY FREDERIC BOURIGAULT

  • It was only when huge cities emerged after the industrial revolution that "there was a rising view that they were pests, dirty and spreading diseases," Carter said.
  • They have been our meat and our messengers, a source of fertiliser and a religious symbol: while pigeons are now mostly reviled as dirty city pests, they long played an important role in human society.
  • It was only when huge cities emerged after the industrial revolution that "there was a rising view that they were pests, dirty and spreading diseases," Carter said.
They have been our meat and our messengers, a source of fertiliser and a religious symbol: while pigeons are now mostly reviled as dirty city pests, they long played an important role in human society.
Now, research published on Thursday has revealed that the humble birds were first domesticated 3,500 years ago, meaning they have been enmeshed in our lives for nearly a millennium longer than previously thought.
"Humans forgetting about pigeons happened relatively recently in human history," Anderson Carter, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, told AFP.
Pigeons were still a useful part of society as recently as the 19th and 20th centuries, explained the lead author of a new study in the journal Antiquity.
"They were still being used to carry messages and even had an important role in wars in particular," she added.
"But then a lot of technological advancements happened, the telegraph was invented and then the telephone, and pigeons were out of a job".
However, because we had spent thousands of years conditioning them to live alongside us, the birds stayed nearby.
It was only when huge cities emerged after the industrial revolution that "there was a rising view that they were pests, dirty and spreading diseases," Carter said.
Now, "anti-pigeon architecture such as spikes on top of buildings" are a common sight, she added.

Free bird

The common pigeon -- or rock dove -- originally came from the Mediterranean region. Genomic analysis has shown that today's city-dwellers are closely related to wild doves from the Middle East.
For the new research, a Dutch-led team of scientists went to the Hala Sultan Tekke archaeological site on the shores of the Larnaca salt lake in southeast Cyprus.
They analysed 159 ancient pigeon bones to find out how they lived and died -- and look for signs of human intervention, such as cuts.
Biometric and isotopic analysis revealed that the pigeons lived in the 13th and 14th centuries BC, during the Bronze Age.
By extracting collagen from the bones, the scientists were able to find out their ratios of nitrogen and carbon, which is closely linked to an animal's diet. 
The results were then compared with animals and humans found in Cyprus dating to the same period. 
"The Hala Sultan Tekke pigeons overlapped pretty significantly with the results from humans from other Bronze Age Cypriot sites, showing that they likely ate a very similar diet to humans," Carter said.
"This very likely means that they were domesticated or on their way to being domesticated" at around 1,400 BC, senior study author Canan Cakirlar of the Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research said in a statement.
That is nearly a thousand years earlier than previous research has found, including giant stone structures used as pigeon nesting houses discovered in Greece dating from around 300 BC.
One goal of the research is "to change how we interact with and think about this bird," Carter said.
"And start realising that their story is also our story."
fbr/dl/pdw

diplomacy

UN members reinforce nations' climate change obligations

BY AMéLIE BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS

  • The vote was 141 votes in favor and only eight against -- uniting the United States, Russia and Iran which are all major gas and oil exporters and sought to strike down the initiative.
  • The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday adopted a resolution reinforcing states' obligations to combat climate change, a long-awaited move toned down under pressure from major greenhouse gas emitters.
  • The vote was 141 votes in favor and only eight against -- uniting the United States, Russia and Iran which are all major gas and oil exporters and sought to strike down the initiative.
The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday adopted a resolution reinforcing states' obligations to combat climate change, a long-awaited move toned down under pressure from major greenhouse gas emitters.
The General Assembly, driven by the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, previously asked the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion on states' responsibility to honor their climate commitments.
The opinion issued last summer exceeded the expectations of climate advocates, with the court ruling it was "unlawful" for countries to neglect their climate commitments, opening the door to "reparations" for affected countries. 
"The states and peoples bearing the heaviest burden are very often those who contributed least to the problem," said Vanuatu's ambassador to the UN, Odo Tevi, ahead of the vote.
"We are aware that some would prefer this assembly to say less or nothing at all...the harm is real, and it is already here."
The vote was 141 votes in favor and only eight against -- uniting the United States, Russia and Iran which are all major gas and oil exporters and sought to strike down the initiative.
To add momentum to the ICJ's non-binding opinion, on which courts around the world can nevertheless rely, Vanuatu presented a draft resolution in January aimed at putting it into practice.
But the text was altered significantly after negotiations among states, with climate change taking a back seat to national security or industrial interests in many countries.
The resolution welcomed the ICJ opinion "as an authoritative contribution to the clarification of existing international law" and calls on states to "comply with their respective obligations" to protect the climate.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres praised the move in a statement Wednesday, commending the leadership of island leaders and "the young people whose moral clarity helped bring the world to this moment."
"This is a powerful affirmation of international law, climate justice, science, and the responsibility of states to protect people from the escalating climate crisis," Guterres said.

No damage register

It also emphasizes the measures needed to keep global warming limited to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, particularly "transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems."
That would be in keeping with a goal adopted by nearly 200 countries during a global climate meeting in 2023.
However, the creation of an "International Register of Damage" to compile evidence of "damage, loss or injury attributable to climate change" vanished from the adopted text.
The biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions routinely oppose any mechanism that could force them to pay reparations to victims of climate disruption.
The resolution nonetheless states that according to the ICJ, a state in violation of its climate obligations may be required to pay "full reparation to injured states."
Washington's representative to the meeting, Tammy Bruce, said "the resolution includes inappropriate political demands relating to fossil fuels and on other climate topics."
Climate advocates now hope the idea of a damage registry will be reconsidered, bolstered by a report from the UN chief. 
"This must be a turning point in accountability for damaging the climate," said Vishal Prasad, Director at Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC), the NGO that started the push championed by Vanuatu.
"Communities on the frontlines, like in the Pacific, have been waiting far too long and continue to pay too high a price for the actions of others."
Oil-producing Saudi Arabia and Kuwait sought to make amendments that removed some references cementing the ICJ's opinion as a guiding framework for climate action -- which Vanuatu said weakened the effort.
They also used procedural tactics to delay the vote.
abd-gw/dw

leisure

Airbnb expands into hotels, cars, groceries

  • The updated app adds grocery delivery through Instacart in more than 25 US cities, as well as airport and train station transfers and luggage storage services in more than 160 cities worldwide.
  • Airbnb, facing tighter local regulations on short-term home rentals, announced Wednesday it is adding boutique hotels, car rentals and grocery delivery to its app in a bid to transform itself into a one-stop travel shop.
  • The updated app adds grocery delivery through Instacart in more than 25 US cities, as well as airport and train station transfers and luggage storage services in more than 160 cities worldwide.
Airbnb, facing tighter local regulations on short-term home rentals, announced Wednesday it is adding boutique hotels, car rentals and grocery delivery to its app in a bid to transform itself into a one-stop travel shop.
The rollout marks the latest step in Airbnb's push to capture more of the travel spending that currently flows to competitors like Booking.com and Expedia.
This evolution -- 18 years after the company's scrappy beginnings in San Francisco -- is one of Airbnb's answers to increasingly tough restrictions on short-term rentals in key markets.
In December, Spain hit the company with a 65-million-euro ($75 million) fine over more than 65,000 non-compliant listings, and Barcelona decided not to renew thousands of rental licenses when they expire in 2028.
New York has banned nearly all short-term private rentals since 2023, and Paris stepped up its crackdown on illegal listings in 2026.
"Travel shouldn't just be convenient. It should be meaningful," CEO Brian Chesky said in a statement. "The best trips help you explore, learn, and come home a little different than when you left."
The updated app adds grocery delivery through Instacart in more than 25 US cities, as well as airport and train station transfers and luggage storage services in more than 160 cities worldwide.
The platform will also offer car rentals, though the company has not yet named its partners.
The app is also getting a range of artificial intelligence features, including a virtual support assistant available in 11 languages.
Airbnb posted revenue of $2.68 billion in the first quarter of 2026, up 18 percent from a year earlier.
bl/arp/bgs

conservation

Japan to sell eels bred in captivity in 'world first'

  • The fish has proved stubbornly unwilling to reproduce in captivity without intervention, but Japanese researchers succeeded in breeding Japanese eels from eggs in a laboratory setting in 2010 at great expense.
  • Eels bred in captivity will be sold in Japanese shops for the first time, in a move that could ease eventually pressure on the endangered fish, officials said Wednesday.
  • The fish has proved stubbornly unwilling to reproduce in captivity without intervention, but Japanese researchers succeeded in breeding Japanese eels from eggs in a laboratory setting in 2010 at great expense.
Eels bred in captivity will be sold in Japanese shops for the first time, in a move that could ease eventually pressure on the endangered fish, officials said Wednesday.
Eel populations are falling worldwide, scientists say, largely due to factors linked to human activity such as the pollution of waterways, destruction of wetlands, hydroelectric dams, and fishing.
Eel is an enormously popular food in Japan and other parts of Asia.
The fish has proved stubbornly unwilling to reproduce in captivity without intervention, but Japanese researchers succeeded in breeding Japanese eels from eggs in a laboratory setting in 2010 at great expense.
Since then, they have been trying to reduce the "huge cost... so that the price could be accepted in the market," Yasutaka Okamoto, a fisheries agency official in charge of aquaculture promotion, told AFP.
"With countless small technological breakthroughs, the cost is now some 1,800 yen ($11) per one baby eel, down from more than a million yen at the initial stages, and down from some 40,000 yen in 2016," he said.
The price is still three to four times higher than a wild baby eel, "but we think it's time to test market reactions," he explained.
The project brought together government researchers, universities and the private sector.
Eel is eaten worldwide but is particularly popular in Japan, where it is called "unagi" and traditionally served grilled and covered in a sticky-sweet sauce.
"If the (Japanese) people didn't love eels so much, we wouldn't go to such lengths to research how to farm them," Okamoto said.
Grilled "kabayaki" using fully farmed eel will be sold from May 29 at a department store in Tokyo and several other outlets including online shops in Japan.
Yamada Suisan, the eel farming company selling the fish, said it was a world-first, and a "very significant step toward the future commercialisation of fully farmed eel."
Two kabayaki eels will be sold at around 9,000 yen ($57), a price that is broadly comparable to high-end produce.
Last year, a key global forum that regulates trade in threatened wildlife rejected an EU-led proposal to protect more species of eel.
The protections were fiercely opposed by top consumers of the fish, led by Japan.
The Japanese eel, along with the American variety, is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. 
The European eel is considered critically endangered.
kh/aph/sah/hmn

AI

From graduation boos to voter unease: AI anxiety grows in the US

BY MARIA DANILOVA

  • - 'Have to be careful' - The Trump administration itself appears to be changing its stance.
  • Speakers promoting AI are getting booed at universities, voters are rebelling against data centers, and even AI-friendly Trump administration officials are starting to retreat as an artificial intelligence backlash gathers pace across the United States. 
  • - 'Have to be careful' - The Trump administration itself appears to be changing its stance.
Speakers promoting AI are getting booed at universities, voters are rebelling against data centers, and even AI-friendly Trump administration officials are starting to retreat as an artificial intelligence backlash gathers pace across the United States. 
The rapid spread of the emerging technology is seeing early enthusiasm give way to concerns about unemployment, rising costs, misinformation and security.
"People are thinking about what their future is going to look like. That existential fear is a very animating anxiety," said Christabel Randolph, acting executive director at the Center for AI and Digital Policy, a Washington-based think tank.
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt got a taste of that feeling Friday when he was delivering a graduation speech at the University of Arizona.
Wearing a black academic gown and a tassel-topped cap, Schmidt urged students not to fear the AI-fueled technological transformation that he said will "touch every profession, every classroom, every hospital, every laboratory, every person and every relationship you have."
Instead of clapping, his speech prompted loud boos.

Accept change 'or pay'

According to opinion polling cited by the Semafor news outlet, 70 percent of Americans think AI is moving too fast, over 50 percent have negative views of it, and just 18 percent of young people feel hopeful about it. 
With the US economy battered by stubborn inflation and the tech industry seeing AI-fueled layoffs, young Americans fear their costly university degrees, many paid for with large student loans, will be rendered useless by AI, leaving them without jobs and pay.
When Scott Borchetta, CEO of Big Machine Records, tried to tell Middle Tennessee State University graduates to embrace inevitable change, he too got a hostile reception.
"You can hear me now or you can pay me later," he quipped. "Do something about it, it's a tool, make it work for you."
Booing followed.

'Really, really angry'

AI expansion is driving a massive build-out of data centers -- and that infrastructure is now becoming a political flashpoint.
Data centers consume large amounts of electricity and can raise utility costs, which has seen local officials supporting AI projects suffering losses at the ballot box in recent months. Some of the discontent has spilled into violence.
Last month, a young man threw a Molotov cocktail at the California home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. In a separate incident a few days earlier, a city council member in the state of Indiana had his door struck by gunfire after he expressed support for a data center construction project.
A note the attackers left under his doormat read "No Data Centers." 
Randolph, the AI expert, cited a May Gallup poll showing that AI data centers are even less popular than nuclear power plants, with 71 percent of Americans opposing local AI data centers compared with 53 percent opposed to nearby nuclear plants.
"Americans are really, really angry and upset about AI data centers because of the noise, the pollution, the impact on their electricity bills, on water supplies," she told AFP, adding that AI expansion will be a key issue in the November midterms and possibly in the 2028 presidential vote.
"It's becoming a very relevant political issue," she added.

'Have to be careful'

The Trump administration itself appears to be changing its stance.
Since returning to the White House in 2025, President Donald Trump has positioned himself as an advocate for rapid AI development, rolling back Biden-era safety requirements and dismissing regulation as a constraint on US competitiveness with China.
But in recent months, the administration announced that it wants to vet AI models before they are released, urged Congress to adopt nationwide regulations on AI and discussed AI guardrails with China.
Asked about the risks of AI on Fox News' "Mornings with Maria" program last month, Trump answered:
"There are a lot of good things, but we have to be careful with it."
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