US

Lebanon's Christians mark Easter in solidarity with war-hit south

BY MARGAUX BERGEY

  • Several Christian villages near the frontier -- including Ain Ebel, Rmeich and Debl -- are caught between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah. 
  • Lebanese Christians marked Easter Sunday by turning their prayers to the south, where villages remain trapped by fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
  • Several Christian villages near the frontier -- including Ain Ebel, Rmeich and Debl -- are caught between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah. 
Lebanese Christians marked Easter Sunday by turning their prayers to the south, where villages remain trapped by fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
This year's celebrations were dedicated to "people in the south," said Jenny Yazbek al‑Jamal, as she left mass at a church in Beirut's northern suburb of Jdeideh.
With family living in the region, the 55-year-old said she feels like "one of them". 
It is not only Christian villages suffering in this war added al-Jamal, who leads the parish choir. 
"Muslim villages too... we stand with all the people of the south who were forced to flee their homes."
The church was packed on Sunday, with some worshippers left standing outside. 
Around the altar, placards bearing the names of Christian villages in south Lebanon -- cut off from the rest of the country or under fire -- had been placed.
Hymn singers struggled to raise their voices above the roar of Israeli fighter jets flying low over Beirut and bombing the capital's southern suburbs. 
"Even during our religious holidays, even on Good Friday, jets fly over us and break the sound barrier just to scare us," al-Jamal said.
- 'For peace' -  
"This has to stop," said Marina Awad, another 55-year-old worshipper attending mass with her husband. 
"It's truly very sad to know people had to abandon homes built over a lifetime, unsure if they will ever return."
Border villages are going through a severe crisis, added 65-year-old Dori Ghrayeb. "No food, no water, no bread, no medicine, and no medical care."
The Maronite Patriarchate expressed "deep disappointment" on Sunday over the cancellation for "security reasons" of a humanitarian convoy jointly set up by the Vatican's envoy to Lebanon. 
The convoy had been due to visit the border village of Debl.
Several Christian villages near the frontier -- including Ain Ebel, Rmeich and Debl -- are caught between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah. 
Residents have refused Israeli calls to evacuate as troops advance in southern border areas. They insist this is not their war and say they feel abandoned after Lebanese troops withdrew from several border points. 
The convoy, organised with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and two Christian charities, was meant to deliver 40 tonnes of medicine and basic supplies to residents "cut off from the rest of the country", the Patriarchate said.
The two charities, Caritas‑Lebanon and L'Oeuvre d'Orient condemned the cancellation as a violation of international humanitarian law, particularly as it affected vulnerable civilians trapped in their villages.
"I am for peace; the war must stop so that we can sit at the same table," Ghrayeb said.
dco-mby/at/hme/rh

music

Major sponsors drop Kanye West London gigs as PM voices concern

  • A spokesperson for Pepsi, the festival's top sponsor, told AFP on Sunday that the brand "has decided to withdraw its sponsorship of Wireless Festival", without giving a reason.
  • Drinks giants Pepsi and Diageo on Sunday pulled out of sponsoring a music festival in London headlined by US rapper Kanye West, who has a history of antisemitic outbursts.
  • A spokesperson for Pepsi, the festival's top sponsor, told AFP on Sunday that the brand "has decided to withdraw its sponsorship of Wireless Festival", without giving a reason.
Drinks giants Pepsi and Diageo on Sunday pulled out of sponsoring a music festival in London headlined by US rapper Kanye West, who has a history of antisemitic outbursts.
The disgraced 48-year-old hip-hop star -- now known as Ye -- is due to play three nights at the Wireless Festival in London in July as part of a European comeback tour.
A spokesperson for Pepsi, the festival's top sponsor, told AFP on Sunday that the brand "has decided to withdraw its sponsorship of Wireless Festival", without giving a reason.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressed concern about West's appearances, while campaigners against antisemitism urged the government to stop the rapper entering the UK.
Starmer told The Sun newspaper it was "deeply concerning Kanye West has been booked to perform at Wireless despite his previous antisemitic remarks and celebration of Nazism".
He added that "antisemitism in any form is abhorrent and must be confronted firmly".
Diageo, whose labels Johnnie Walker and Captain Morgan were slated to be partner brands, also dropped out.
"We have informed the organisers of our concerns and as it stands, Diageo will not sponsor the 2026 Wireless Festival," a spokesman told AFP.
The festival's operating company, Live Nation, has not so far responded to a request for comment from AFP.
Festival organisers announced West's appearance on social media last month, prompting criticism from Jewish organisations and London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
Campaign Against Antisemitism, a British charity, on Sunday urged Starmer not to be a "bystander" and to ban West from entering the country.
"Surely this is a clear case," the charity said on X, suggesting West could be banned as a non-citizen whose presence is not "conducive to the public good".
West's European tour has already provoked controversy. In France, the mayor of Marseille said the rapper was "not welcome" for a concert there in June.
West has expressed regret over his antisemitic rants, which he blamed on his bipolar disorder.
In May 2025, he released a song called "Heil Hitler" to mark the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. 
The song was banned by major streaming platforms.
am-mhc/jhb/pdw/ksb

pope

'Choose peace': Pope marks first Easter under cloud of Mideast war

BY CLEMENT MELKI WITH AFP TEAMS IN JERUSALEM AND BEIRUT

  • Leo has repeatedly called for peace in the Middle East and this week directly urged US President Donald Trump to find an "off-ramp".
  • Pope Leo XIV on Sunday urged "those who have the power to unleash wars" to "choose peace" in his first Easter blessing as pontiff with the Middle East conflict raging.
  • Leo has repeatedly called for peace in the Middle East and this week directly urged US President Donald Trump to find an "off-ramp".
Pope Leo XIV on Sunday urged "those who have the power to unleash wars" to "choose peace" in his first Easter blessing as pontiff with the Middle East conflict raging.
Christians around the world marked the holiday under the shadow of a war that began with US-Israeli strikes against Iran on February 28 and has drawn in the whole region, convulsing the global economy.
"We are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent," the pope told a crowd in St Peter's Square.
"Indifferent to the deaths of thousands of people," he added. "Indifferent to the repercussions of hatred and division that conflicts sow."
The leader of the world's 1.4 billion Roman Catholics, who was elected in May 2025, also called for a prayer vigil at the Vatican on April 11.
He paid tribute to his predecessor pope Francis who last appeared in public on Easter Sunday last year -- a few hours before his death.
Breaking with a tradition established by his predecessors, he did not specifically directly refer to any country or region caught up in crisis.
Leo has repeatedly called for peace in the Middle East and this week directly urged US President Donald Trump to find an "off-ramp".
On Sunday he spoke of "a world ravaged by wars and marked by a hatred and indifference that make us feel powerless in the face of evil".

Jerusalem restrictions

In Jerusalem, there was silence in the alleyways of the Old City, left deserted by Israel's conflict in Gaza and now the Middle East war.
Israeli authorities have severely restricted access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where the faithful commemorate Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, because of security considerations.
On routes approaching the church, police checkpoints screened a small number of worshippers allowed near the site.
All shops in the area were closed, heightening the sense of emptiness.
"It's very hard for all of us because it's our holiday... It's really hard to want to pray but to come here and find nothing. Everything is closed," said Christina Toderas, 44, from Romania.
Otmar Wassermann, 65, had also attempted to enter the Holy Sepulchre but failed.
"I must say I was somewhat frustrated," he told AFP, recalling how the feast is generally celebrated every year.
"The doors are still closed," the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, said in his Easter Vigil homily at the Holy Sepulchre.
Pizzaballa was prevented by Israeli police from holding mass in the church last Sunday, an incident that sparked international indignation.
"The silence is almost absolute, broken perhaps by the distant sound of what war continues to sow in this holy and torn land," he said, according to a text of his sermon issued by his office.

'Trust in God'

In Lebanon, majority Christian areas in the south of the country are caught in the crossfire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.
In Debel, close to the Israeli border, inhabitants marked Easter Sunday against the sound of bombardment around their village, now almost totally cut off from the world and dependent on aid deliveries.
"The situation is tragic," town notable Joseph Attieh told AFP by phone.
"People are terrified, and the sound of shelling and gunfire has not stopped for a moment since last night. We haven't been able to sleep.
"We are putting our trust in God," Attieh said, since "this is the only glimmer of hope we will not give up on".
The war has also impacted the lives of Christian minorities in other parts of the Middle East.
In Dubai, masses have been cancelled until further notice as a security precaution. In Damascus, Catholic authorities said Easter celebrations would be restricted to mass following an attack on a Christian town in central Syria.
burs-jj/pdw

opera

At Met Opera, life after a school shooting takes center stage

BY JOHN BIERS

  • - Opening minds - The New York production of "Innocence" marks its second run at an American opera house after performances by the San Francisco Opera in June 2024.
  • School shootings are a tragically common occurrence in the United States, but rarely do they grace the stage of one of the world's premier opera houses.
  • - Opening minds - The New York production of "Innocence" marks its second run at an American opera house after performances by the San Francisco Opera in June 2024.
School shootings are a tragically common occurrence in the United States, but rarely do they grace the stage of one of the world's premier opera houses.
But on Monday, Kaija Saariaho's "Innocence" -- which explores how a devastating attack at an international school in Finland reverberates through the lives of its survivors and the community -- will debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
For celebrated US mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, taking on the piece at the current time was necessary.
"It was the subject matter and feeling the importance of telling the story and telling the story in America in 2026," DiDonato told AFP ahead of the premiere.
The 110-minute piece, first performed at the Aix-en-Provence music festival in 2021, has been performed around the world, but takes on particular resonance in a country where at least eight school shootings have occurred this year, according to CNN.
The action in "Innocence" shifts constantly between a well-heeled wedding ceremony in Helsinki, where the groom is revealed to be the brother of the man responsible for a shooting a decade earlier, and the fraught moments before and after the calamity.
DiDonato plays the waitress Tereza, the mother of a shooting victim who unexpectedly finds herself at the wedding, serving wine to family members she met after the tragedy but who don't recognize her. She eventually erupts in anger.
The opera's 13 characters are forever changed -- the shooter's relatives face stigma, while the survivors are told to move on despite the lingering effects of trauma.
The Kansas-born DiDonato said she is "horrified" by shootings but sees "Innocence" as also addressing a normalization of violence that extends into other areas such as deportations and war.
"It's important to participate in these things and shine a light on injustice, shine a light on inhumanity, shine a light on suffering," DiDonato said.
The opera "speaks to the obscene glut of violence that we're living through right now," she added.

Opening minds

The New York production of "Innocence" marks its second run at an American opera house after performances by the San Francisco Opera in June 2024.
Finnish American tenor Miles Mykkanen, who will play the groom Tuomas in New York as he did in San Francisco, said while audience members have hailed Saariaho's artistry, some see the piece -- performed without intermission -- as too grim to see more than once.
During a month of rehearsals before opening night, Mykkanen made exercising and walking through Central Park part of his ritual to escape from the opera's dark themes.
But he told AFP he still wakes up sometimes in the middle of the night "wide awake thinking about this piece."
"Opera singers, we often carry the heavy grief and drama and trauma in our own work," he said. "But I've never encountered a piece that has to carry so much violence."
DiDonato, one of the Met's biggest names following star turns in bel canto works, also won plaudits for her performance as Sister Helen Prejean in "Dead Man Walking," another modern opera with heavy subject matter -- the death penalty debate.
She spoke of one audience member, a relative of someone who was murdered, who became more open to a debate about the merits of capital punishment after seeing the opera.
That gave her hope that "Innocence" could prompt a rethink of gun violence in America and other issues.
"These kinds of stories can put cracks in the hearts of people in a good way," she said. "It can crack open people."
jmb/sst

weather

Rain, storms kill 121 in Afghanistan and Pakistan in two weeks

  • Across the border in Pakistan, 44 people were killed following heavy rains in the last weeks, officials said. 
  • Heavy rain and storms have killed at least 121 people over two weeks across Afghanistan and Pakistan, disaster officials in both countries said Saturday. 
  • Across the border in Pakistan, 44 people were killed following heavy rains in the last weeks, officials said. 
Heavy rain and storms have killed at least 121 people over two weeks across Afghanistan and Pakistan, disaster officials in both countries said Saturday. 
Stormy weather has brought rain sweeping across Afghanistan since late March, causing floods, landslides, and hitting homes and crops. 
"Since March 26 till today, 77 people have been killed and 137 wounded across the country because of the floods and rains," Afghanistan's disaster management authority (ANDMA) spokesman Mohammad Yousuf Hammad told AFP on Saturday.
The spokesman added that 26 people were killed and 48 were wounded across the country in the past 48 hours due to rains, floods, landslides and lightning.  
Across the border in Pakistan, 44 people were killed following heavy rains in the last weeks, officials said. 
At least 32 people died in the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since March 25 and 12 in southwestern Balochistan since March 20, the provincial disaster management authorities told AFP. 
Afghanistan's latest casualties include a child who drowned in a flash flood in southeastern Ghazni on Saturday morning while he was busy playing with other children, provincial police said.
Two more children also drowned in different districts of the same province. 
That came hours after three people died in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, when the roof of their house collapsed due to rains, the provincial disaster management authority said.  

Damage

ANDMA spokesman Hammad said rainfall since the start of spring "can strengthen the underground sources of water and give growth to the agriculture sector".
But he said it can also cause human suffering and financial loss.
In western Herat province, farmer Abdul Rahim Taimori said: "We don't remember such a flood happening before. It has caused us a lot of damage. 
"It has destroyed the crops of people, their homes. If it continues like this then we would have to leave our homes," the 45-year-old told AFP. 
But relocating is unaffordable for many. 
"Where shall we go? We are forced to stay," said Majal Niazi, a 45-year-old farmer who lives in a one-room house with his family. 
The rain has also led to several road closures, with Kabul police reporting the partial closure Friday of the road between the capital and the city of Jalalabad.
Afghanistan's disaster management authority renewed its warning to people to stay away from "rivers and flooded streams, and follow the weather forecast seriously".
The latest casualties follow more than 60 people being killed in snow and heavy rain that hit Afghanistan in January. 
Afghanistan frequently experiences deadly floods, landslides and storms, particularly in remote areas with fragile infrastructure. 
Among the poorest countries in the world after decades of war, Afghanistan is particularly exposed to the effects of climate change, which scientists say is spurring extreme weather.
"It was drought before and now we have these rains, both are a danger," said Abdul Sattar, a 40-year-old farmer in Herat. 
strs-la-sma-ash/rsc/iw/phz/ane

Vatican

Pope leads torch-lit Colosseum procession before Easter

BY CLéMENT MELKI

  • Leo, the first US-born pope, has repeatedly and ever more insistently called for peace in the Middle East and this week directly urged US President Donald Trump to find an "off-ramp".
  • Pope Leo XIV led a torch-lit procession at the Colosseum in Rome on Friday as he prepares for his first Easter as pontiff in the shadow of war in the Middle East.
  • Leo, the first US-born pope, has repeatedly and ever more insistently called for peace in the Middle East and this week directly urged US President Donald Trump to find an "off-ramp".
Pope Leo XIV led a torch-lit procession at the Colosseum in Rome on Friday as he prepares for his first Easter as pontiff in the shadow of war in the Middle East.
Among the 30,000 people attending the poignant ceremony, known as the Way of the Cross, was Sarah, a Palestinian Catholic.
"We need peace in the Holy Land," she told AFP.
"People like you and me listen, but the governments don't. They still do whatever they want. They don't listen. They promise and they don't deliver," the 61-year-old said.
Geryes Bejjani, a 33-year-old Lebanese man, said he had come with friends to "carry a message of peace and coexistence," despite the difficulty of travelling from his homeland which has been dragged into the war.
"The pope is the only purely selfless political leader... There's no hidden agenda, there's no ambiguity in his message. And that's his strength," he said.
Leo, the first US-born pope, has repeatedly and ever more insistently called for peace in the Middle East and this week directly urged US President Donald Trump to find an "off-ramp".
"Hopefully he's looking for a way to decrease the amount of violence, of bombing," he said.
The United States and Israel sparked the war on February 28 by bombing Iran, which retaliated with strikes against Gulf states and an effective chokehold on the vital Strait of Hormuz.
"If only Trump would listen to anyone!" said Ines Duplessis, 29, who came from Paris to the Colosseum ceremony, where attendees held candles in a silence broken only by liturgical chants and recited prayers.
"For me, it's very symbolic, but nothing more," she said of the pope's appeals.
"Sadly, everything is so driven by political and economic interests" that "it's a bit of a lost cause", she said.
On Sunday, Leo will preside over Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square before delivering a typically political blessing which is especially anticipated this year.
– 'A form of humility' –
It is the first time since 2022 that the pope has personally taken part in the Way of the Cross, which has been organised at the Colosseum since 1964.
In recent years, his predecessor Francis, who died on Easter Monday last year aged 88, had to give up attending for health reasons.
Wearing his red mozzetta and stole, Leo appeared deep in prayer during the ceremony, listening with eyes closed.
The 70-year-old pope himself carried a large wooden cross through all 14 stations retracing Jesus Christ's path to the tomb, marking a return to a tradition observed by John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
Augustin Ancel, from Paris, said the pope carrying the cross was "a powerful message".
"It's also a form of humility, because we naturally tend to see the pope as distant, as someone in a very important role," he said.
cmk/dt/sbk

Israel

For some around Trump, war on Iran is a Christian calling

BY LéON BRUNEAU

  • But you have raised up President Trump.
  • As he wages war on Iran, President Donald Trump was joined in the Oval Office by Christian pastors.
  • But you have raised up President Trump.
As he wages war on Iran, President Donald Trump was joined in the Oval Office by Christian pastors. Solemnly, some placed their hands on his shoulder or forearm. They offered their blessings.
In a war against a country led by Shia Muslim clerics, the United States -- which has a constitutional separation between church and state -- is also invoking religion, with some Trump officials casting it as almost a divine mission.
At the event for Holy Week, when Christians mark the last days of Jesus Christ before the resurrection on Easter, the Reverend Franklin Graham told Trump of the Bible's Book of Esther in which he said "the Iranians" -- a Persian king of contested historical accuracy -- ordered the killing of all Jews.
"Today the Iranians, the wicked regime of this government, wants to kill every Jew and destroy them with an atomic fire. But you have raised up President Trump. You've raised him up for such a time as this. And Father, we pray that you'll give him victory," said Graham, son of famed late evangelist Billy Graham.
Unmentioned, the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great, still revered by Iranians, was the first world leader to grant freedom to the Jews, liberating them from captivity in Babylon. 
The story of the Book of Esther has also been repeatedly cited by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who used the occasion of Passover to compare his war alongside Trump to the emancipation of the Jews from Egyptian captivity.
Iran's government since 1979 has been explicitly rooted in religion, with a top Shia cleric serving as supreme leader.
Iran's military has drawn parallels between their defenses and the Battle of Karbala, the 680 CE battle in which the Prophet Mohammed's grandson Hussein was killed, an event commemorated by Shia as an act of martyrdom and self-sacrifice in the face of tyranny.

Crusades are back

When George W. Bush went to war against Afghanistan's Taliban after the September 11, 2001 attacks, he called his campaign a "crusade" but quickly backtracked, aware of the historical baggage in the Islamic world of a term often used loosely as a metaphor in the West.
Trump's defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has shown no such compunctions. The former Fox News host in 2020 wrote a book called "American Crusade" in which he called for a "holy war" to rid America of the left.
Among his tattoos are a Jerusalem Cross, a Crusader-era emblem embraced by the far-right, along with the Latin inscription "Deus Vult," or "God wills it," a motto for the Crusaders.
If there was any doubt on his views on Muslims, he also has a tattoo that reads "kafir," or "infidel," in Arabic.
Hegseth, who has vowed to rain down "death and destruction" on Iran, at a news conference called on Americans to pray "every day, on bended knee, with your family, in your schools, in your churches, in the name of Jesus Christ."
Speaking to CBS News, Hegseth said, "We're fighting religious fanatics who seek nuclear capability for some religious Armageddon."
"My Christian faith," he said, "is important in our fighting ranks to give them perspective."

Shutting down diversity

The Pentagon in recent decades has welcomed a diversity of faiths, with chaplains tasked more with offering personal comfort and guidance than on blessing leaders' decisions.
"Someone with command authority asserting a faith perspective in a manner of favoritism, disregarding the diversity of faiths represented in the military and the nation, is at the least disrespectful and careless and at the most an abuse of power," said Kenneth Williams, a former military chaplain who now teaches at Georgetown University.
The religious embrace of war is also deeply offensive to many Christians. Pope Leo XIV, the first American to lead the Catholic Church, has hoped that Trump will seek "an off-ramp" and "a way to decrease the amount of violence."
In his Palm Sunday homily, the Pope said God "does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them."
Asked by an AFP journalist about the Pope's remarks, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said it is "very noble" to pray for troops in a time of war.
Much of the administration speaks openly in religious terms. Vice President JD Vance announced in the midst of the war that he is publishing a book on his embrace of Catholicism called "Communion." 
Trump himself is not known to be personally religious. The thrice-married realtor and former television celebrity was raised Presbyterian and rarely attended religious services. 
But since entering politics he has embraced the Christian right. Christian conservatives hailed Trump for helping them achieve their priority -- the end of the nationwide right to abortion, thanks to justices Trump appointed to the Supreme Court.
lb-aue-sct/bgs

children

New Paris mayor vows end to sexual violence in schools

BY JULIETTE COLLEN

  • - 'Code of silence' - Gregoire himself has spoken publicly about being a victim of sexual abuse in an after-school swimming programme for several months when he was in primary school.
  • The new mayor of the French capital pledged Friday to stop sexual violence in schools and pre-schools, saying Paris had suspended more than 30 school monitors suspected of sexual abuse since January.
  • - 'Code of silence' - Gregoire himself has spoken publicly about being a victim of sexual abuse in an after-school swimming programme for several months when he was in primary school.
The new mayor of the French capital pledged Friday to stop sexual violence in schools and pre-schools, saying Paris had suspended more than 30 school monitors suspected of sexual abuse since January.
School monitors recruited and trained by the city help look after children outside the classroom, including in the evening before their parents can pick them up.
City hall is under intense scrutiny after allegations that abusers slipped through the net and were even looking after nursery school pupils.
Claims of sexual abuse in schools were a central issue in the campaign leading up to last month's Paris mayoral election.
"Since the beginning of 2026, 78 staff members have been suspended, including 31 on suspicion of sexual violence," mayor Emmanuel Gregoire told reporters.
"These figures must lead us to a profound, thorough reappraisal," he added.
"Everything has to be reviewed from the ground up with one objective: zero tolerance."
He said he wanted to establish an independent commission to carry out a full examination of recruitment, reporting and monitoring procedures.
"We will give it access to everything and its freedom of speech will be absolute," he said.

'Code of silence'

Gregoire himself has spoken publicly about being a victim of sexual abuse in an after-school swimming programme for several months when he was in primary school.
The mayor on Friday promised to spend 20 million euros ($23 million) on his action plan.
Last year 30 monitors were suspended in the capital, including 16 on suspicion of sexual abuse, according to city hall.
Of those suspended this year for physical or sexual violence, nine were working at the same Paris nursery school.
Parents of pupils have accused school management of failing to inform them about their suspicions.
"If there was a collective mistake, it was treating these cases as isolated incidents when in fact they reflect a systemic risk, and perhaps even a systemic code of silence," Gregoire told newspaper Le Monde Friday.
Kindergarten pupils were especially vulnerable, and almost all alleged perpetrators were men, he said.
He said most cases of alleged sexual abuse were from 2024 and 2025.
juc-ah/fg

religion

Braving high fuel costs, Filipinos flock to crucifixion spectacle

BY PAM CASTRO

  • Many in the crowd had driven for hours to witness the play's climax, in which devotees allow three-inch nails to be driven into their palms before they are hoisted upright on crosses.
  • Thousands of Filipinos and tourists flocked to a sun-bleached field north of Manila on Good Friday to witness one of the country's most blood-soaked displays of religious fervour, undeterred by rising fuel prices driven by the Middle East war.
  • Many in the crowd had driven for hours to witness the play's climax, in which devotees allow three-inch nails to be driven into their palms before they are hoisted upright on crosses.
Thousands of Filipinos and tourists flocked to a sun-bleached field north of Manila on Good Friday to witness one of the country's most blood-soaked displays of religious fervour, undeterred by rising fuel prices driven by the Middle East war.
Scores of bare-chested flagellants with covered faces walked barefoot through the dusty streets of Pampanga province's San Fernando as they flogged their backs with bamboo whips in scorching heat.
AFP journalists saw devotees deliberately puncturing their skin with glass shards attached to a small wooden paddle to ensure their bleeding during the ritual, a way to atone for sins and seek miracles from God.
"I'm doing this to pray for the healing of my seven-month-old baby, who is suffering from pneumonia," John David, clutching a whip in one hand, told AFP at the beginning of the procession.
"My grandfather started this, then my father, and now it's my turn," the 49-year-old said. 
"I have been witnessing miracles of healing through the years because of this act of faith." 
The Catholic-majority country's annual spectacle re-enacting the last moments of Jesus Christ typically draws up to 12,000 local and foreign tourists.
This year, at least 15,000 people attended, city disaster official Raymond Del Rosario told reporters.
"We expected that the ongoing (energy) crisis right now would have an effect, but we saw that many people still came," Del Rosario said.
"This is tradition. We don't take our tradition and our faith for granted."
Many in the crowd had driven for hours to witness the play's climax, in which devotees allow three-inch nails to be driven into their palms before they are hoisted upright on crosses.
Ricky Margate, 57, told AFP he had driven a motorcycle to the site this year instead of his car because it consumes less fuel.
"I think that the high fuel prices that I have to pay to be here are just part of my sacrifices this Holy Week," Margate told AFP.
Fuel prices have hit historic highs in the country since the United States and Israel launched their attack on Iran over a month ago, prompting President Ferdinand Marcos last week to declare a "national energy emergency".

'I hope the war stops'

At least 15 people were nailed to crosses in five different locations in San Fernando, while six people were reported to have sought medical help after fainting in the heat.
AFP journalists saw one flagellant, his back dripping with blood, lose consciousness as he was struck with a slipper while praying in front of the three big black crosses that stood on a mound above the proceedings.
He was escorted by responders to the first aid area minutes later.
In Cutud village, 65-year-old Ruben Enaje was crucified for the 37th time on Friday.
"I hope for the war to stop... that was what I prayed when I was hanging at the cross," Enaje told reporters, lamenting the skyrocketing prices of fuel and liquefied petroleum gas.
"They won't benefit from (the war). They will just hurt each other."
Pilgrims filmed on their mobile phones as Enaje was whipped and escorted by actors dressed as Roman centurions.
"I realised the bloody things that Jesus went through. Coming here strengthened my faith," 63-year-old Angelito Punzalan told AFP, adding he had taken a bus to save on fuel expenses.
Slovakian spectator Simona Kacurek, who travelled to the Philippines just to see the crucifixions, said she was in awe of the production, which involved a mix of solemn music and sound effects like rumbling thunder.
"It was more aggressive than what I expected, but it was very impressive," she told AFP after the performance.
Vendors, meanwhile, were simply relieved that pilgrims showed up despite higher transportation costs.
"I guess fuel prices are no match for the strength of our faith and tradition," snack vendor Mhekyle Salazar, 22, told AFP.
pam/cwl/abs

offbeat

Streaming channel for pets launched in China

  • PetTV is available to paid subscribers of Tencent Video, which said its market research found that 66 per cent of dog owners leave the television on for their pets when they are out.
  • Cats and dogs can now fill the hours their owners are at work with a dedicated all-day streaming channel for pets launched by Chinese tech giant Tencent.
  • PetTV is available to paid subscribers of Tencent Video, which said its market research found that 66 per cent of dog owners leave the television on for their pets when they are out.
Cats and dogs can now fill the hours their owners are at work with a dedicated all-day streaming channel for pets launched by Chinese tech giant Tencent.
Clips of a duckling swimming in a bath or two happy pooches patrolling their neighbourhood are examples of the curated programming on "PetTV".
The new channel on Tencent Video -- China's most popular online streaming platform -- is meant to keep pets company while alone or can act as an activity for animals and humans to enjoy together.
"This is all dog content, when will the cat programme be on?" one person engrossed in the service wrote in the chatroom on PetTV's streaming page.
Tencent Video described PetTV as a "24-hour happiness hub specially designed for your furry kids" in a post on social media app WeChat introducing the service last weekend.
Dogs and cats' senses are different to humans', so the channel's colours, refresh rates and audio frequencies have been designed to suit their specific needs, it said.
PetTV is available to paid subscribers of Tencent Video, which said its market research found that 66 per cent of dog owners leave the television on for their pets when they are out.
But the streaming service isn't the only pet specific media on the market. 
Popular Headspace mindfulness app posted a YouTube video this week titled: "When your pets miss you, play this: 6 hour calming music for dogs and cats".
Tencent Video will also take advantage of third-party content including airing America's DogTV -- the world's first TV channel and streaming service for pets.
The value of China's growing urban pet market is estimated to reach 405 billion yuan ($59 billion) in 2028, according to a recent report by PetData.cn.
On average last year, Chinese households spent more than 3,000 yuan ($435) on each dog and more than 2,000 yuan on each cat for their care needs.
ll/kaf/ane

election

Hungary's opposition surfs grassroots wave ahead of key election

BY ANDRAS ROSTOVANYI

  • Menczel, the beautician, said that a close relative of the local Fidesz lawmaker stopped frequenting her salon after she posted a picture with TISZA's candidate on social media.
  • Like many of her fellow volunteers, Hungarian beautician Krisztina Menczel sat idle in the past elections that kept nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban in power.
  • Menczel, the beautician, said that a close relative of the local Fidesz lawmaker stopped frequenting her salon after she posted a picture with TISZA's candidate on social media.
Like many of her fellow volunteers, Hungarian beautician Krisztina Menczel sat idle in the past elections that kept nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban in power.
But opposition leader Peter Magyar's hopes of ending thelongstanding premier's 16-year reign in Hungary rest in no small part on first-time campaigners like Menczel.
"Canvassing has a big impact," the 41-year-old told AFP in Jaszfenyszaru, a central Hungarian town long considered a stronghold of Orban's Fidesz party. "Even those who wouldn't dare reveal their political preferences come over and chat with us."
Magyar, a former government insider turned critic, is offering voters a radical break from Orban's self-described "illiberal" system, vowing to crack down on corruption and improve public services.
Thanks to his party's on-the-ground network, Orban's grip on small towns like Jaszfenyszaru, population 6,000, appears to be weakening ahead of the April 12 vote.
Orban, who has criticised neighbouring Ukraine and acted as a spoiler at many European Union summits, has long counted on his media dominance to promote his platform.
Instead, Magyar's TISZA party has had to rely on grassroots word-of-mouth to promote its message. 
While the ruling party puts up billboards, TISZA has asked its supporters to hang party signs on homes and shopfronts.
Menczel said she decided to help the party after Magyar visited the town last August on his nearly non-stop nationwide tour.
She now spends up to three hours a day campaigning, on top of managing TISZA's local social media pages.

'Revolution of the entrepreneurs'

When he shot into prominence in 2024, Magyar had no party apparatus behind him.
But his rise came in the wake of a child abuse pardon scandal which shook Orban's tight grip on power.
With many Hungarians already dissatisfied with the economy, the scandal proved a "tipping point", when many voters "realised they had enough of Orban's system", according to Zoltan Lakner, the editor-in-chief of the Jelen weekly newspaper.
After tirelessly criss-crossing the country and a prominent social media campaign, Magyar led a previously dormant TISZA to second place behind Fidesz at the 2024 European elections.
A month after the vote, he called supporters to set up loosely connected associations to handle on-the-ground organising, dubbed "TISZA islands", a nod to the party sharing its name with the country's longest river.
According to the party, around 4,000 "islands" have since been established, including in rural areas which the old opposition parties had effectively abandoned.
These groups organised local community events, such as charity drives, cookouts and political discussions, before switching to full-time campaigning.
Key to these events' success was the involvement of small and medium-sized businesses, according to Lakner, who describes the movement as a "revolution of entrepreneurs".
"This also affects the islands' attitude towards politics: They approach it pragmatically instead of ideologically, simply wanting the country to function well," the analyst explained.

Breaking the 'spiral of silence'

Dozens of "islanders" ended up being chosen as party candidates during November's primaries. 
Many of them are locally respected professionals, such as doctors, who are completely new to politics.
"This lends them credibility, given the widespread disillusionment with professional politicians," Bulcsu Zsiga, a researcher at the Centre for Fair Political Analysis, told AFP.
But their political inexperience carries a "danger" which TISZA is "clearly trying to mitigate", the expert noted, pointing to the party's much criticised policy of restricting media access to candidates.
Even so, drawing in local figures has helped to break the "spiral of silence" some Fidesz-dominated rural communities, where opposition supporters previously felt isolated or reluctant to express their views, Zsiga added.
In the Hungarian countryside, activism often comes at a price, some dearer than others, as campaigners in Jaszfenyszaru can attest.
Menczel, the beautician, said that a close relative of the local Fidesz lawmaker stopped frequenting her salon after she posted a picture with TISZA's candidate on social media.
Others have suffered more serious consequences. 
Forty-eight-year-old retailer Eszter Somfai had her home address shared online, after an internal party database with some 200,000 supporters' personal details was leaked last November.
"But we will not let them deter us, we proudly campaign for Tisza," Menczel said.
"I feel people here are increasingly opening up… If everything is conducted fairly, then we will be victorious."
ros/sbk

environment

Blood clots, burning eyes: pollution chokes north Thailand

BY CHAYANIT ITTHIPONGMAETEE

  • But parts of northern Thailand are seeing haze that even hardened locals say is exceptional.
  • After hours spent in the thick pollution-choking parts of northern Thailand, Pon Doikam gets home and blows her burning nose to find blood clots spattered across the tissue.
  • But parts of northern Thailand are seeing haze that even hardened locals say is exceptional.
After hours spent in the thick pollution-choking parts of northern Thailand, Pon Doikam gets home and blows her burning nose to find blood clots spattered across the tissue.
"It's suffocating," the 36-year-old coconut seller told AFP in Chiang Mai, a tourist destination among the areas affected by dangerous pollution levels this week.
"It feels like you're trapped in the smoke constantly."
Seasonal agricultural burning, forest fires and weather patterns produce an annual pollution season across much of Southeast Asia.
But parts of northern Thailand are seeing haze that even hardened locals say is exceptional.
"I've lived in Chiang Mai since I was a kid, and this is the worst it has ever been," said Pon, who works outdoors all day.
"I don't have a choice," she added. "I have to come out, making a living day to day."
This week Thailand's second city, Chiang Mai, regularly topped the IQAir monitor website's most polluted big cities list.
The situation is even worse to the west in Pai, a backpacker destination known for its greenery and mountains.
Some monitors there recorded levels of PM2.5 -- particles small enough to enter the bloodstream and linked to diseases like cancer -- of over 900 micrograms per cubic metre.
That is 60 times higher than the World Health Organization's recommended 24-hour average exposure.
The area's mountainous geography makes it doubly vulnerable. Smoke is easily trapped, and the forested hillsides are hard to access when fires start. 

'Very disappointed'

AFP saw multiple blazes burning on hillsides and along roads between Pai and Chiang Mai, lighting up patches of otherwise pitch-black countryside.
Volunteer firefighters like Maitree Nuanja do their best to bolster limited local capacity, relying heavily on donations such as drinking water and face masks.
"The fire control centre gave us 20 litres of fuel and lent us leaf blowers. Once the season ends, we have to return them," he told AFP, standing before a blackened, ash-strewn stretch of land.
"Everyone can see how serious it is now. It's so dark and hazy you can't see a thing, and it's gone on for far too long."
He worries about his home next to a forest, and his health.
"We now live with this smoke, breathing it in every day."
On Wednesday, a volunteer firefighter was found dead from suspected exhaustion linked to heat and underlying health conditions, officials told AFP. 
Pollution is particularly dangerous to those with existing health problems, the elderly and children.
In Chiang Mai, the government has installed hundreds of "dust-free rooms" -- equipped with air purifiers and positive pressure systems that keep out the polluted air -- including at the retirement facility that Watwilai Chaiwan now calls home.
The retired nurse, 82, said the pollution made her afraid to go out and aggravated her dizziness and migraines.
"It's a real problem for the elderly. You have to wear a mask the entire time you're breathing this air," she told AFP.
Thailand's government held talks this week on the haze, and some districts in Chiang Mai have issued disaster declarations to help speed up financial support.
But clean air activists say more is needed, and are pushing for the government to move quickly on clean air legislation that stalled last year with the dissolution of parliament.
"A normal government would have been concerned about clean air not only now but a long time ago," said Kanongnij Sribuaiam, legal team leader at Thailand Clean Air Network, which pushed for the legislation.
If no action is taken by May 13, the legislation will expire and the process will have to start from scratch, she added.
"The public is very disappointed."

'This is shocking'

In Chiang Mai, doctor Thanakrit Im-iam was wearing a heavy-duty respirator to protect himself.
He warned that the long-term health consequences of the pollution are "devastating".
"It affects everyone because these toxins and heavy metals enter the body directly," he told AFP, describing "burning eyes, phlegm, and nasal inflammation."
The mask is his only protection, he said.
"We can't control the rest. That's up to the government."
The pollution is also increasingly a deterrent for tourists, who form a key pillar of the region's economy.
"Usually, Chiang Mai is buzzing in March and April, but this year, it's just quiet," said tuk-tuk driver Chakkrawat Wichitchaisilp.
At a viewpoint overlooking Chiang Mai, the city skyline was almost entirely obscured, with only faint outlines of hills visible through a dense grey haze and a dim orange sun hanging in the sky.
"I've taken photos from this very spot, and it's just a beautiful blue sky -- and you can see as far as the horizon," said Martin Astill, 57, a Briton who previously lived in Thailand and was visiting with his family.
"This is shocking. Never seen it as bad as this."
ci/sah/lga/fox

prisoners

Cuba pardons 2,010 prisoners amid US pressure

BY LAURENT THOMET AND RIGOBERTO DIAZ

  • - 'Change their system' - The government previously announced on March 12 that it would free 51 prisoners as a sign of "good will" toward the Vatican, which has often acted as a mediator between Washington and Havana.
  • Cuba's government announced Thursday that it was pardoning 2,010 prisoners as a "humanitarian" gesture during Holy Week, after pledging in March to release dozens amid heightened US pressure on Havana.
  • - 'Change their system' - The government previously announced on March 12 that it would free 51 prisoners as a sign of "good will" toward the Vatican, which has often acted as a mediator between Washington and Havana.
Cuba's government announced Thursday that it was pardoning 2,010 prisoners as a "humanitarian" gesture during Holy Week, after pledging in March to release dozens amid heightened US pressure on Havana.
The major announcement comes days after US President Donald Trump eased a de facto oil blockade of Cuba by allowing a Russian tanker to deliver crude to the fuel-starved island.
The Trump administration has called for change in communist-run Cuba's system of government and the US president has mused about "taking" the island.
But the two sides have also held talks recently.
"It seems not far-fetched to think that this is a sign that some of the conversation between both governments is advancing. Perhaps slowly, but advancing. To where? Unclear," Michael Bustamante, chair of Cuban studies at the University of Miami, told AFP.
"I think we will also have to see who is included in these releases to have a sense of their potential political significance," he said.
Releasing political prisoners has long been a core US demand in Cuba.
The Cuban government did not identify those who were pardoned nor say what crimes they had committed or when they would be set free.
The presidency said in a statement that the "humanitarian and sovereign gesture" was based on the nature of the crimes, good behavior in prison, health reasons and time served.
It said the individuals being freed include young people, women and prisoners over 60 years old who are scheduled for early release within the next six months to a year.

'Change their system'

The government previously announced on March 12 that it would free 51 prisoners as a sign of "good will" toward the Vatican, which has often acted as a mediator between Washington and Havana.
A day later, President Miguel Diaz-Canel confirmed that talks had taken place between US and Cuban officials.
The Cuban presidency said Thursday that it was the fifth time since 2011 that it had pardoned prisoners, amounting to more than 11,000 people.
It said the decision was "taking place within the context of the religious observances of Holy Week -- a customary practice within our criminal justice system and a reflection of the humanitarian legacy of the Revolution."
Foreigners and Cuban citizens residing abroad are among those being pardoned, the presidency said.
The government said those released would not include people who committed murder, sex assault, drug-related crimes, theft, illegal slaughter of livestock and crimes against authority.
The pardons come as Russia announced Thursday it would send a second oil tanker to Cuba.
"One is tempted to draw the conclusion or wonder if the Trump administration's decision to let in a Russian ship... and maybe another one, may or may not be related here," Bustamante said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American and vociferous critic of Havana's government, told Fox News on Tuesday that Cuba needs economic and political reforms.
"You cannot fix their economy if you don't change their system of government," Rubio said. "But they're in a lot of trouble, there's no doubt about it, and we'll have more news on that fairly soon."
rd-lt/mlm

Global Edition

Geisha spectacle in Japan's Kyoto celebrates arrival of spring

BY CAROLINE GARDIN

  • "Just as cherry blossoms bloom when spring approaches, the Miyako Odori is a spring tradition in Kyoto," Kyoko Sugiura, head of the Yasaka Nyokoba Gakuen, a school for geishas in Kyoto's Gion district, told AFP. In Japanese, the word geisha means "person of the arts", and can refer to a woman or man trained in traditional Japanese performing arts.
  • Against a backdrop of blooming cherry blossoms, a group of geishas elegantly shuffle onto a stage in Japan's Kyoto city to begin a centuries-old performance celebrating the arrival of spring.
  • "Just as cherry blossoms bloom when spring approaches, the Miyako Odori is a spring tradition in Kyoto," Kyoko Sugiura, head of the Yasaka Nyokoba Gakuen, a school for geishas in Kyoto's Gion district, told AFP. In Japanese, the word geisha means "person of the arts", and can refer to a woman or man trained in traditional Japanese performing arts.
Against a backdrop of blooming cherry blossoms, a group of geishas elegantly shuffle onto a stage in Japan's Kyoto city to begin a centuries-old performance celebrating the arrival of spring.
Dressed in sky blue kimonos emblazoned with flowers, the dancers twist and twirl in unison in front of hundreds of spectators eager to see the annual "Miyako Odori" in the nation's spectacular ancient capital.
Geishas, known as geikos in Kyoto, and apprentices called maikos have been donning elaborate costumes and fluttering fans since the Miyako Odori -- or "capital city dance" -- first started in 1872.
"Just as cherry blossoms bloom when spring approaches, the Miyako Odori is a spring tradition in Kyoto," Kyoko Sugiura, head of the Yasaka Nyokoba Gakuen, a school for geishas in Kyoto's Gion district, told AFP.
In Japanese, the word geisha means "person of the arts", and can refer to a woman or man trained in traditional Japanese performing arts.
In the popular imagination geishas are often confused with courtesans but their work as trained masters of refined old artforms does not involve selling sex.
Their performances are usually small and private, and take place at high-class establishments which operate a no first-time customer policy. 
"That's why it is often thought of as a very exclusive world," Sugiura said.
"But the Miyako Odori is a one-hour show in which geisha and maiko have the opportunity to showcase the arts they practise daily," she said. 
"Anyone and everyone with a ticket can enjoy the show."
The Miyako Odori began soon after Kyoto hosted Japan's first national expo -- an effort to revitalise the western city following the relocation of the capital to Tokyo in 1869.
The format of the performance has not changed much, Sugiura explained, although the music and dance moves are sometimes switched up.
Maria Superata, a geisha expert who has worked with them as an interpreter, explained that the show "combines all of the traditional performing arts that you can see in Japan".
"For example, elements from kabuki (classical Japanese theatre), elements from traditional dance. So they have to act, they have to sing, they have to play the instruments, everything all in one," she said.
"That's why it's so special."
But the number of geishas, who once made a living through performing for Japan's wealthy elite, is in decline.
Superata said that fewer young Japanese want a life that demands huge discipline and comes with a strict practise schedule. 
"Nowadays, young Japanese people... are not very interested that much in traditional art and in kimono."
cg-nf/aph/ane/lga

Israel

Israeli director Nadav Lapid wants new satire to 'shake souls'

BY PAULA RAMON

  • But he thinks some of that feeling is misdirected.
  • Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid thinks sometimes movies can change history; other times they simply narrate it.
  • But he thinks some of that feeling is misdirected.
Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid thinks sometimes movies can change history; other times they simply narrate it.
With his latest production, which hits US theaters Friday, the filmmaker has set himself a different goal.
"I hope 'Yes' shakes people's souls," he said.
The chaotic satire -- which premiered in Europe last year -- follows musician Y (Ariel Bronz) and dancer Yasmin (Efrat Dor), a young couple in Tel Aviv who raise their newborn son during the day, while entertaining at wild fetish parties for the wealthy by night.
The couple's lives schizophrenically jump between booze-fueled submissive sexuality and the banality of paying the babysitter.
This routine begins to unravel into a quest for identity and existential meaning when Y is hired to compose a new patriotic anthem.
"Yes" is set in the aftermath of October 7, 2023, when Hamas fighters launched an unprecedented attack against Israel, whose retaliation has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run authorities.
Lapid began writing the screenplay before the assault on Israel, which left 1,221 people dead, according to AFP data. 
He made only slight changes following the massacre. 
"The modifications weren't so big because, in a way, already the first version of the script -- this described a society on the edge, on the edge of a moral abyss, on the edge of its collapse, on the edge of the catastrophe," he told AFP in Los Angeles.
"Everything was there, but a little bit contained, a little bit restrained," he said.
"And then such an extreme event takes place, and in a way, liberates everything -- all the emotions, all the ideas and the passions, all the terrible things."
— Nationalism - 
Lapid, who has frequently criticised the Israeli government, says he understands the wave of anti-Israel feeling washing around parts of the world.
But he thinks some of that feeling is misdirected.
"It's too easy to project everything...to turn Israel to a kind of... demon," he said.
"I think sometimes it enables people not to look in the mirror, not to observe themselves and their own societies."
In any case, he insists, "Yes" is not about Israel per se; rather, the country serves merely as a setting in which to observe that "strong feeling of chaos" he sees in the world today.
And that, the director believes, is why audiences can connect with the film.
Cinemagoers can see similarities between their own lives and those of the characters.
Society is depicted as "worshiping only power and money, despising art, sensitivity, tenderness, where people ...don't talk anymore."
What he calls a "mixture between vulgarity, nationalism and authoritarianism," that is creeping around the world.
- 'Dancing with the Devil' -  
The film explores fear — a sentiment Lapid believes is pervasive today. 
The protagonist's "reaction to this fear is to convince himself that the right thing to do is to say 'yes', instead of resisting."
That's a fundamentally human impulse, says Lapid. "We all look for belonging, want to love and be loved, to believe in the end everything is okay."
However, "slowly, slowly, you find yourself dancing with the devil," he said. "I think what characterizes this moment is that people are afraid."
"Yes" opens in select cinemas in the US on Friday.
pr/hg/pnb

pope

In ritual dear to Francis, Pope Leo washes feet of 12 priests in Rome

  • During his 12-year pontificate, his predecessor, the Argentine Francis, performed this highlight of Holy Week in prisons or refugee shelters, washing the feet of the sick, migrants or the incarcerated, even former mafia members, as a sign of respect to those often forgotten.  
  • Pope Leo XIV performed the ritual of washing of the feet for the first time on Holy Thursday, marking a return to tradition for the rite which his predecessor Francis used to perform for the homeless, prisoners and other marginalised people.  
  • During his 12-year pontificate, his predecessor, the Argentine Francis, performed this highlight of Holy Week in prisons or refugee shelters, washing the feet of the sick, migrants or the incarcerated, even former mafia members, as a sign of respect to those often forgotten.  
Pope Leo XIV performed the ritual of washing of the feet for the first time on Holy Thursday, marking a return to tradition for the rite which his predecessor Francis used to perform for the homeless, prisoners and other marginalised people.  
The 70-year-old American pope is presiding over Holy Week celebrations -- which commemorate Christ's final days before his resurrection at Easter -- for the first time since being elected pontiff in May 2025.
On Thursday, late in the afternoon the pope celebrated the Mass of the Last Supper, in memory of Christ’s final meal with his disciples, at the Basilica of St John Lateran in Rome. 
Pope Leo, dressed in a white linen apron, poured water over the feet of 12 Roman priests before drying them and kissing them, imitating Christ’s gesture toward the apostles according to Christian tradition.
During his 12-year pontificate, his predecessor, the Argentine Francis, performed this highlight of Holy Week in prisons or refugee shelters, washing the feet of the sick, migrants or the incarcerated, even former mafia members, as a sign of respect to those often forgotten.  
In April 2025, a weak and wheelchair-bound Francis made what turned out to be his final visit to a jail in Rome, although he was unable to perform the rite himself. 
He died four days later, the day after Easter, at the age of 88. 

From the heart

By returning to the Basilica of St John Lateran, Leo marked a return to a classical form of this tradition, one already observed by previous popes -- but he cited Francis in his homily. 
"As Pope Francis once remarked: this 'is a duty which comes from my heart: I love it. I love this and I love to do it because that is what the Lord has taught me to do'" Leo quoted his predecessor as saying in 2013. 
"As humanity is brought to its knees by so many acts of brutality, let us too kneel down as brothers and sisters alongside the oppressed," Leo continued in his homily.
On Friday, the pope will preside over the Passion service and participate in the traditional Way of the Cross at Rome's Colosseum, an evening ceremony that draws thousands of people each year to the illuminated amphitheatre.
He will personally carry the cross through all 14 stations retracing Jesus’ journey, from his condemnation to crucifixion to his burial, marking a return to a tradition observed by John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
cmk/ams/yad

US

Music and barbecues in Tehran despite Trump threats

BY SéBASTIEN RICCI ET MOSTAFA DADKHAH

  • Thursday marked the 13th and final day of the Persian new year festivities, known as Sizdah‑bedar or Nature Day.
  • In a leafy Tehran park on Thursday, Iranians gathered for picnics on the final day of the Persian new year holidays, shrugging off US President Donald Trump's threats to bomb Iran "back to the Stone Ages".
  • Thursday marked the 13th and final day of the Persian new year festivities, known as Sizdah‑bedar or Nature Day.
In a leafy Tehran park on Thursday, Iranians gathered for picnics on the final day of the Persian new year holidays, shrugging off US President Donald Trump's threats to bomb Iran "back to the Stone Ages".
The country has been at war for more than a month and Trump -- who launched the conflict alongside Israel on February 28 -- has vowed to strike Iran hard for another "two or three weeks".
Powerful blasts shook the Iranian capital on Thursday. 
Still, hundreds of families sat out under mild, cloudy skies, picnicking amid sweeping views of the snow-capped Alborz mountains -- a postcard scene at odds with a city under regular attack.
Thursday marked the 13th and final day of the Persian new year festivities, known as Sizdah‑bedar or Nature Day.
Tradition calls for spending the day outdoors to ward off bad luck.
"We must keep this ritual alive under all circumstances, even in the current situation and despite the distress we feel," Roya Abhari, 39, told AFP. 
"I saw President Trump's message, and wondered: will Iran really go back to the Stone Age in two or three weeks?" 
She had come to the park alone to "to be around people, recharge and feel better".

Sanctuaries

On an embroidered picnic laid out on the grass, a group of friends chatted over tea as food simmered gently on a gas stove.
Nearby, a man fanned skewers sizzling on a barbecue grill while a couple played badminton and retirees sang cheerfully on a park bench. 
"It (war) doesn't disrupt anything at all for us. We are living a normal life... We are not afraid of war," said metalworker, Hakim Rahimi, 43.
But the joyful scenes were far from the reality of the war, with blasts rocking neighbourhoods and families mourning the dead elsewhere in the city. 
That morning, strikes heavily damaged a century-old medical centre in the capital.
Tehran's many parks, usually green lungs in a metropolis often choked by pollution, have become refuges since the fighting began. 
Joggers, cyclists and casual strollers still flock to them daily, despite the risk of bombardment.
But Iran's threat on Thursday of "crushing" retaliation if US strikes intensify renewed fears of escalation in a conflict rippling across the region and global markets. 
"I hope God gives our soldiers strength every day," said housewife Parastou Safiani.
sbr/rh/dcp

diplomacy

'Muted' international response as Senegal enacts same-sex relations law

BY BECCA MILFELD

  • Same-sex relations are seen as deviant by many in Senegal, a Muslim-majority country where defence of LGBTQ rights is viewed as a Western import, incompatible with local values.
  • While recent restrictions by a number of African nations on LGBTQ rights have elicited fierce criticism, international reaction has been more tepid as Senegal doubled its penalty for same-sex relations this week.
  • Same-sex relations are seen as deviant by many in Senegal, a Muslim-majority country where defence of LGBTQ rights is viewed as a Western import, incompatible with local values.
While recent restrictions by a number of African nations on LGBTQ rights have elicited fierce criticism, international reaction has been more tepid as Senegal doubled its penalty for same-sex relations this week.
Senegal's president signed the law, which appeared in the country's official gazette out Tuesday, amid a crackdown on the gay community that has seen dozens of arrests and an increase in heated anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.
After the bill passed parliament in mid-March, a regional Belgian minister made headlines by questioning the French-speaking Wallonia region's funding for climate cooperation in the west African nation, infuriating Senegal's leadership.
But further calls to action by international actors have been few and far between.
While the UN human rights chief and UNAIDS urged the president not to sign the bill, "government-level reaction has been notably muted", Arlana Shikongo, communications officer with Pan Africa ILGA, the regional chapter of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, told AFP.
Experts consulted by AFP said that a variety of factors could be at play, from the US exit as a major humanitarian actor to reluctance from the West, including former colonial power France, to lecture what is seen as a relatively stable democracy and critical partner.

'Vacuum'

Senegal's law was signed by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye after passing by an overwhelming majority in the National Assembly on March 11, where debate centred on whether the bill went far enough.
The new law punishes "acts against nature", a term used to signify same-sex relations, by five to 10 years' imprisonment, compared with one to five years previously.
It also provides for three to seven years in prison for those found guilty of promoting or financing same-sex relationships.
Same-sex relations are seen as deviant by many in Senegal, a Muslim-majority country where defence of LGBTQ rights is viewed as a Western import, incompatible with local values.
Videos of deputies ricocheted across the internet following the parliamentary debate, with lawmakers such as Diaraye Ba declaring that "homosexuals will no longer breathe in this country".
Ari Shaw, senior fellow at US-based LGBTQ research centre the Williams Institute, said that "anytime there are laws or policies passed that undermine the rights of LGBTQ people, that's something that demands global attention."
"The United States has historically been a primary driver of diplomatic pressure on LGBTQ rights globally," he told AFP. 
But now under the administration of President Donald Trump "what we're seeing is a real vacuum in terms of global leadership on these issues."
Asked about the law, a US State Department spokesperson referred AFP "to the government of Senegal regarding legislation in its country".

'Important partner'

That said, "Senegal is a really important partner in the Western context", Paul Melly, a consulting fellow with Chatham House, told AFP.
This holds true particularly for "France and Spain, for whom relations with Senegal are a higher priority", he said.
President Faye was in Spain last week for an official visit, his first to the country as head of state.
"There are some sensitivities around, particularly for the French as the one-time colonial power, on commenting" on internal affairs in Senegal, he added.
Cecile Neven, the Walloon minister, prompted an angry rebuke from Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, who campaigned on the issue and presented the legislation to parliament.
"We do not need their funding. They can go back to their own country and let us get on with our work," Sonko responded according to local media, adding that "sovereignty comes at a price".

'Increasing homophobia'

The tepid response to Senegal's law could additionally be because it simply doubles "the theoretical prison term for something that was already punishable", Melly said.
When Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act became law in May 2023, it was seen as one of the harshest in the world, with penalties of up to life imprisonment for consensual same-sex relations, while "aggravated homosexuality" is punishable by death. 
The World Bank subsequently suspended funding to the country, though it resumed in mid-2025.
Although rights group Amnesty International has been vocal on anti-LGBTQ legislation across Africa, it declined to comment when asked by AFP about Senegal's new law.
At least 32 out of Africa's 54 countries have laws prohibiting and punishing same-sex relations.
Passage of Senegal's law comes in an environment of "increasing homophobia and attacks on the continent and around the world", Shikongo of Pan Africa ILGA said.
Approximately 10 countries or territories in Africa impose sentences ranging from 10 years to life in prison, including Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania and Sierra Leone.
The death penalty is imposed in Uganda, Mauritania and Somalia.
bfm/giv/jfx

US

What's real anymore? AI warps truth of Middle East war

BY ANUJ CHOPRA WITH AFP FACT CHECK

  • "Is Netanyahu no more?"
  • "Is Netanyahu real or AI?"
  • "Is Netanyahu no more?"
"Is Netanyahu real or AI?" an internet headline blared, pointing to a video that supposedly showed the Israeli prime minister with six fingers.
But the clip was real.
Speculation spiraled online that Netanyahu might be dead or wounded in an Iranian strike and that Israel was covering it up with a double generated by artificial intelligence.
"Last time I checked, humans usually don't have 6 fingers... AI does," said one post on X, garnering nearly five million views. "Is Netanyahu no more?"
Digital forensics researchers were quick to explain the "extra" finger: a trick of light that made part of his palm resemble an additional digit.
But that message was largely drowned out in the online uproar. It also mattered little that advanced AI visual generators -- now capable of churning out uncannily real-looking deepfakes within seconds -- have largely erased the once-telltale glitch of extra fingers.
So how do you prove what's real is real when the line between reality and fabrication has blurred so much in the fog of the Middle East war?
A few days later, Netanyahu posted another video -- a proof-of-life clip from a coffee shop.
He held both hands up as if to challenge skeptics to count his fingers.
But instead of quelling the speculation, the video fueled a new wave of unfounded theories.
"More AI," said one viral Threads post, questioning why his cup remained full after a large sip.
Suspicion reigned even after Netanyahu posted a third video, this one with the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee.
Some online sleuths zoomed in on Netanyahu's ears, claiming their shape and size did not match older images.

 'Same footing as hearsay'

AFP's global network has produced more than 500 debunks of false information in multiple languages since the conflict began -- a rate never before seen in such a crisis. Between a quarter and a fifth of them used AI.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Israel-Gaza war and the conflict between India and Pakistan all triggered waves of AI-generated content.
What sets the Middle East war apart is the sheer volume -- and realism -- of AI images produced by advanced tools that are cheap and capable of eliminating many of the old signs of manipulation, researchers say.
Tech platforms are now saturated with what is widely dubbed "AI slop".
The result is a deepening crisis of trust as hyper-realistic AI fabrications compete for attention with -- and often drown out -- authentic images and videos.
"I think at this time we all need to start treating photos, video and audio on the same footing as hearsay," Thomas Nowotny, who leads an AI research group at the University of Sussex in the UK, told AFP.
The issue for Constance de Saint Laurent, a professor at Ireland's Maynooth University, "is not so much that people believe" disinformation, it is "that they see real news and they don't trust it anymore."

'Harmful content'

The volume of fakes has largely outpaced the verification capacity of professional fact-checkers.
The work often feels like a game of whack-a-mole. Debunked claims routinely resurface across platforms awash with fakes, a pattern some researchers call "zombie" misinformation.
Algorithms amplify content based on engagement -- and engagement is often driven by sensationalism, outrage and misinformation.
Social media platforms "act as editors through what they decide to show to their users, primarily through their feed. And very often, that includes harmful content and misinformation," said Saint Laurent.
Financial incentives further accelerate the problem. Some platforms, including X, allow creators to earn revenue based on engagement, encouraging influencers to push misleading or entirely fabricated content for clicks.
According to the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), a network of X accounts posting AI content about the Middle East war has amassed more than one billion views since the conflict began.
In another viral example, an X account posted an AI video appearing to show Dubai's Burj Khalifa skyscraper collapsing in a cloud of dust.
"10 million views and no Community Note. We cooked ya'll," information warfare analyst Tal Hagin wrote on X 20 hours after it was posted.
By the time a Community Note -- a crowd-sourced verification system, whose effectiveness has been repeatedly questioned by researchers -- was appended to the post a few hours later, the video had more than 12 million views.
Synthetic content has continued to proliferate on X even after the Elon Musk-owned platform announced that it would penalize creators -- suspending them from its revenue-sharing program for 90 days -- if they post AI war videos without a label.

 'Legofication'

Meme-driven AI content that trivializes conflict as it spreads misinformation is increasingly crowding out reality on digital platforms, in what ISD researchers call the "Legofication" of war propaganda.
A spoof Iranian AI "Lego Movie" went viral in the first week of the war, accusing US President Donald Trump of attacking Tehran to distract from his role in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
Lifelike meme videos have also been used to depict fictional Iranian military victories and even the strategic Strait of Hormuz reimagined as a cartoonish toll booth.
Trump has himself warned that AI has become a "disinformation weapon that Iran uses quite well."
"Buildings and Ships that are shown to be on fire are not — It's FAKE NEWS, generated by AI," he wrote on Truth Social.
Yet the US president has hugely embraced the technology, sharing AI-generated images and videos to portray himself as a king and Superman, while casting opponents as criminals or laughingstocks.
He has also used AI memes to fuel conspiracy theories and false narratives.
Meanwhile, coordinated information operations linked to Russia are exploiting the online chaos, impersonating trusted media outlets such as the BBC to spread falsehoods, according to the ISD.

 Inciting violence

"We believe tech platforms are not currently doing enough to help users identify whether content is AI-generated or authentic," Meta's Oversight Board, the body created by Facebook to review content moderation decisions, said last month.
"Fake content can be harmful by inciting more violence and fueling further conflict," it added.
AFP works in 26 languages with Facebook's fact-checking program, including in Asia, Latin America and the European Union.
Meta ended its third-party fact-checking program in the US last year, with chief executive Mark Zuckerberg saying it had led to "too much censorship" -- a claim strongly rejected by proponents of the program.
Instead, Zuckerberg said Meta's platforms, Facebook and Instagram, would use the "Community Notes" model -- a move critics argue could further weaken safeguards against misinformation.
Meta's Oversight Board warned that expanding the model outside the United States could pose "significant human rights risks and contribute to tangible harms" to people living under repression or conflict.

 'Liar's dividend'

AI detection tools were meant to cut through the fog of the information war. Instead, they are sometimes making it denser.
In the Netanyahu case, conspiracy theorists pointed to an AI detection tool that falsely labeled his coffee shop video as "96.9 percent AI-generated." Other tools reached the opposite conclusion.
The problem extends beyond videos. Social media is rife with fabricated satellite imagery, heatmaps and other pseudo forensic visuals used to cast doubt on genuine evidence from the war, researchers say.
"The rise of AI deepfakes and the dismissal of real footage are two sides of the same coin," said Sofia Rubinson, of misinformation watchdog NewsGuard.
"When everything could be fake, it becomes easy to believe that anything is."
Social media users have falsely accused leading media organizations such as the New York Times of publishing AI-generated conflict images, including one that showed a large crowd in Tehran celebrating the new Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.
Those who benefit from misinformation can easily exploit this -- a phenomenon researchers call the "liar's dividend," where genuine but unflattering information is waved away as AI-generated.
"Don't let AI technology undermine your willingness to trust anything you see and hear," said Hannah Covington, senior director of education content at the nonprofit News Literacy Project.
"That's what bad actors want: for people to think that everything can be faked, so they can't trust anything," Covington told AFP.
Signs of that shift are already visible, as fake images of real incidents further pollute the information landscape.
After a deadly strike on an elementary school in the city of Minab on February 28, an official Iranian account on X posted a photograph showing a child's backpack smeared with blood and dust.
AFP found the image was very likely AI-generated. But few online seemed troubled that a fabricated image had been used to depict the deaths of real schoolchildren.
"Likely AI edited, but the meaning is real," one Reddit user wrote.
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immigration

Supreme Court skeptical of Trump bid to end birthright citizenship

BY CHRIS LEFKOW

  • If the Supreme Court rejects ending birthright citizenship, it would be the second major loss for Trump this term -- the justices struck down most of his global tariffs in February.
  • The US Supreme Court appeared poised on Wednesday to reject Donald Trump's historic bid to end birthright citizenship following a hearing featuring the extraordinary attendance of the Republican president.
  • If the Supreme Court rejects ending birthright citizenship, it would be the second major loss for Trump this term -- the justices struck down most of his global tariffs in February.
The US Supreme Court appeared poised on Wednesday to reject Donald Trump's historic bid to end birthright citizenship following a hearing featuring the extraordinary attendance of the Republican president.
The landmark case is a pillar in Trump's attempts to restrict immigration and his decision to attend oral arguments was unprecedented for a sitting president.
Trump left the hearing following the presentation by his solicitor general, John Sauer, and did not remain for the arguments of American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorney Cecillia Wang, who was defending birthright citizenship.
"We are the only Country in the World STUPID enough to allow 'Birthright' Citizenship!" Trump said in a social media post after returning to the White House.
Trump signed an executive order on the first day of his second term decreeing that children born to parents in the United States illegally or on temporary visas would not automatically become US citizens.
Lower courts blocked the move, ruling that under the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment nearly everyone born on US soil is an American citizen.
Sauer told the justices that "unrestricted birthright citizenship contradicts the practice of the overwhelming majority of modern nations" and "demeans the priceless and profound gift of American citizenship."
"It operates as a powerful pull factor for illegal immigration and rewards illegal aliens who not only violate the immigration laws but also jump in front of those who follow the rules," he said.
It also encourages what Sauer called "birth tourism," in which foreigners come to the United States solely to give birth.
The three liberal justices and several conservatives appeared skeptical of the administration's arguments. Conservatives have a 6-3 supermajority on the court and three justices were appointed by Trump.

'It's the same constitution'

Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative, asked Sauer how common "birth tourism" is before pointing out that regardless of the numbers it would have "no impact on the legal analysis" of the case.
"We're in a new world now," the solicitor general said, "where eight billion people are one plane ride away from having a child who's a US citizen."
"Well, it's a new world. It's the same constitution," Roberts replied.
The 14th Amendment states that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."
It does not apply to those not subject to US jurisdiction -- the children of foreign diplomats, for example -- and Roberts said the government appeared to be seeking to expand the exceptions "to a whole class of illegal aliens," a move he described as "quirky."
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, another conservative, asked Sauer why he was citing the birthright policies of other nations.
"We try to interpret American law with American precedent based on American history," Kavanaugh said. "Why should we be thinking about...other countries? I'm not seeing the relevance as a legal, constitutional interpretive matter."
Justice Neil Gorsuch, another conservative, said that when the 14th Amendment was passed, in 1868, there was no such thing as "illegal" immigration.
"If somebody showed up here in 1868 and established domicile, that was perfectly fine," Gorsuch said. "And so why wouldn't we...come to the conclusion that the fact that someone might be illegal is immaterial?"

Decision by July

Wang, the ACLU attorney, told the justices a rejection of birthright citizenship would call into question "the citizenship of millions of Americans past, present and future."  
"Ask any American what our citizenship rule is, and they'll tell you, everyone born here is a citizen alike," Wang said. "That rule was enshrined in the 14th Amendment to put it out of the reach of any government official to destroy."
The Trump administration is arguing that the 14th Amendment, passed in the wake of the 1861-1865 Civil War, addresses citizenship rights of former slaves and not the children of undocumented migrants or visitors.
Trump's executive order is premised on the notion that anyone in the United States illegally, or on a visa, is not "subject to the jurisdiction" of the country and therefore excluded from automatic citizenship.
The Supreme Court rejected such a narrow definition in a landmark 1898 case involving a man who was born in San Francisco to parents from China.
If the Supreme Court rejects ending birthright citizenship, it would be the second major loss for Trump this term -- the justices struck down most of his global tariffs in February.
A decision in the case is expected by late June or early July.
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