oil

Tourists empty out of Cuba as US fuel blockade bites

BY RIGOBERTO DIAZ

  • Several Canadian and Russian airlines are sending empty flights to Cuba to retrieve thousands of otherwise stranded passengers, and others are introducing refuelling stops in the route home.
  • With rolling power cuts, hotel closures, and flight routes suspended for lack of fuel, tourists are gradually emptying out of Cuba, deepening a severe crisis on the cash-strapped island.  
  • Several Canadian and Russian airlines are sending empty flights to Cuba to retrieve thousands of otherwise stranded passengers, and others are introducing refuelling stops in the route home.
With rolling power cuts, hotel closures, and flight routes suspended for lack of fuel, tourists are gradually emptying out of Cuba, deepening a severe crisis on the cash-strapped island.  
Several nations have advised against travel to Cuba since the US tightened a decades-old embargo by choking vital oil imports.  
"I found only one taxi," said French tourist Frederic Monnet, who cut short a trip to a picturesque valley in western Cuba to head back to Havana.  
"There might be no taxis afterward," he told AFP.  
A petroleum shortage has led to regular hours-long power cuts, long queues at petrol stations, and has forced many airlines to announce that they will cancel regular services.
About 30 hotels and resorts across the island are being temporarily closed due to low occupancy and fuel rationing, according to an internal Tourism Ministry document obtained by AFP.
Since January, a flotilla of US warships have stopped Venezuelan tankers from delivering oil to Cuban ports. 
Washington has also threatened Mexico and other exporter with punitive tariffs if they continue deliveries. 
Several Canadian and Russian airlines are sending empty flights to Cuba to retrieve thousands of otherwise stranded passengers, and others are introducing refuelling stops in the route home.
American tourist Liam Burnell contacted his airline to make sure he could get a flight back. 
"There was a danger that I might not be able to return, because the airport says it doesn't have enough fuel for the planes," he said. 

'Critical, critical'

An absence of tourists is more than an inconvenience for the Cuban government. 
Tourism is traditionally Cuba's second major source of foreign currency, behind revenue from doctors sent abroad. 
The revenue is vital to pay for food, fuel, and other imports. 
And the 300,000 Cubans who make a living off the tourist industry are already feeling the pinch. 
A hop-on, hop-off bus touring Havana's sites on Thursday was virtually empty. 
Horses idled in the shade of colonial buildings, waiting for carriages to fill with visitors. 
"The situation is critical, critical, critical," said 34-year-old Juan Arteaga, who drives one of the island's many classic 1950s cars so beloved by tourists. 
"There are few cars (on the street) because there is little fuel left. Whoever had a reserve is keeping it," he said.
"When my gasoline runs out, I go home. What else can I do?" he said. 
The island of 9.6 million inhabitants has faced hard times since the US trade embargo took hold in 1962, and in recent years the severe economic crisis has also been marked by shortages of food and medicine. 
On Thursday, two Mexican navy ships arrived in Cuba with more than 800 tons of much-needed humanitarian aid -- fresh and powdered milk, meat, cookies, beans, rice and personal hygiene items, according to the Mexican foreign ministry.
Musician Victor Estevez said because tourism has been "a lifeline for all Cubans...if that is affected, then we are really going to be in trouble." 
"The well-being of my family depends on me." 
The tourism sector had already been severely hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, experiencing a 70 percent decline in revenue between 2019 and 2025. 
Tourism expert Jose Luis Perello said the island now faces the prospect of "a disastrous year."
rd-jb/arb/sla

health

'Punk wellness': China's stressed youth mix traditional medicine and cocktails

BY EMILY WANG

  • "Niang Qing" was founded by students from Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine only last year, but has already expanded to five locations across the country. 
  • In a softly lit Shanghai bar, graduate student Helen Zhao stretched out both wrists to have her pulse taken -- the first step to ordering the house special, a bespoke "health" cocktail based on traditional Chinese medicine.
  • "Niang Qing" was founded by students from Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine only last year, but has already expanded to five locations across the country. 
In a softly lit Shanghai bar, graduate student Helen Zhao stretched out both wrists to have her pulse taken -- the first step to ordering the house special, a bespoke "health" cocktail based on traditional Chinese medicine.
"TCM bars" have popped up in several cities across China, epitomising what the country's stressed-out, time-poor youth refer to as "punk wellness", or "wrecking yourself while saving yourself". 
At Shanghai's "Niang Qing", a TCM doctor in a white coat diagnoses customers' physical conditions based on the pulse readings, before a mixologist crafts custom drinks incorporating the herbs and roots prescribed for their ailments. 
Instead of shelves of alcohol, apothecary drawers stocked with ingredients like goji berries and angelica root line the walls, permeating the room with their scent. 
"This bar is actually an opportunity for me," 26-year-old Zhao told AFP, describing her "typical young person" lifestyle of late nights and junk food. 
"I like having a drink after work anyway, and this way I can casually check if something is wrong with me, while also holding onto a bit of wishful thinking
The bar's resident TCM practitioner, Ding, said the concept was not as contrary as it might seem.
"The combination of Chinese medicine and alcohol has a long history in TCM -- it was traditionally called medicinal wine," he told AFP. 
He emphasised though that the bar targeted health awareness rather than treatment.

'Have fun, reduce damage'

Against the backdrop of a sluggish economy, China's job market is highly competitive, and "996" culture -- working from 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week -- is a feature of many sectors. 
A 2024 survey found that over 60 percent of young people consider themselves to be in a suboptimal health state.
In recent years, reports of young employees allegedly dying from overwork have spread online, triggering discussion around mental and physical health. 
In "Niang Qing", Cici Song, a 41-year-old white collar worker, told AFP she felt that late evenings were her "only real 'me time'".
"On the other hand, you want to take care of your body," she said, sipping an amber-coloured drink designed to improve her diagnosed "phlegm-damp constitution". 
"So this is a kind of balance -- having fun while trying to reduce the damage." 
The approach seems popular. 
"Niang Qing" was founded by students from Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine only last year, but has already expanded to five locations across the country. 
"We've noticed that many young people are actually very interested in TCM culture, but the ways to experience it might seem dull," said 22-year-old co-founder Wu Siyuan.
The idea of the bar was born "to let people experience TCM culture through entertainment". 

'Wellness for a new era'

Analysts have noted a growing interest among young Chinese people in products that repackage traditional Chinese culture for modern times. 
TCM in particular has seen a global spike in popularity. 
On TikTok, the "Becoming Chinese" trend has seen overseas users brewing herbal infusions, drinking hot water or practising traditional physical exercises, garnering hundreds of thousands of likes.
Co-founder Wu said his bar was seeing more foreign customers.
TCM bars "draw people from online to offline, and the social experience it creates delivers emotional value", Hua Hui, a professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, told AFP. 
"Young people are under great pressure and need new scenarios for relief," he said, describing this as "a worldwide issue". 
"Today's TCM bars provide precisely this -- a new form of socialising and wellness for a new era."
em/reb/ane/cms

conflict

Drones, sirens, army posters: How four years of war changed a Russian city

BY GUILLAUME DECAMME

  • Before heading off to the front, Shaman, his army call sign, was manning the stand of the "Berkut Military-Sports Cossack Club" in the shopping centre.
  • A drone whirred through a shopping centre in the Russian city of Voronezh as Shaman, an operator for the Russian army, showed shoppers one of the devices that have dominated the battlefield in Ukraine.
  • Before heading off to the front, Shaman, his army call sign, was manning the stand of the "Berkut Military-Sports Cossack Club" in the shopping centre.
A drone whirred through a shopping centre in the Russian city of Voronezh as Shaman, an operator for the Russian army, showed shoppers one of the devices that have dominated the battlefield in Ukraine.
Hiding his face behind a balaclava, the 19-year-old told AFP he would soon leave to fight in the war, vowing "to defend my country" -- which launched a large-scale offensive against its neighbour four years ago.
Around 500 kilometres south of Moscow, Voronezh -- a city of one million people -- is closer to the front line in eastern Ukraine than to the Russian capital.
From frequent Ukrainian retaliatory drone attacks to army recruitment adverts around the city, the conflict has gradually seeped into daily life. 
Before heading off to the front, Shaman, his army call sign, was manning the stand of the "Berkut Military-Sports Cossack Club" in the shopping centre.
His goal was "not necessarily" to convince his fellow teenagers to enlist, he told AFP.
"Everyone chooses their own path, according to their interests," he said, calling himself a "patriot".
Over the last four years, the word has become politically charged -- used to hail soldiers and, on the home front, those who loudly support President Vladimir Putin and his offensive.

'I have hope'

Even the look of Voronezh has changed dramatically since February 2022.
On snowy roads leading to the suburbs, anti-aircraft systems peek out from behind camouflage nets.
In the city centre, murals honour soldiers killed on the battlefield.
Countless propaganda posters call for people to enlist with the army, crowding out adverts for a production of "Swan Lake" at the local theatre.
A recruitment centre offers future soldiers a lump sum of 2.5 million roubles ($32,500) if they sign-up -- equivalent to three years of the average regional salary.
The riches on offer have allowed Russia to maintain a manpower advantage over Ukraine despite massive losses.
Last year, 422,000 people enlisted with the military, according to former president and Deputy Security Council Secretary Dmitry Medvedev -- a six percent decrease compared with 2024.
For Lyudmila, 64 and with dark circles under her eyes, only one of those matters: her son, missing in action for the last four months.
"It's very hard. I have hope, because without hope..." Lyudmila said, her eyes filling with tears and unable to finish the sentence.
Was he killed? Captured? She does not know.

'Frightening'

Russia does not say officially how many of its fighters have been killed.
Tracking of local obituaries and family announcements by the BBC and independent Mediazona outlet has identified at least 168,000 Russian soldiers killed since Moscow launched its offensive.
To keep herself occupied, Lyudmila volunteers for an organisation sewing camouflage gear for soldiers.
Even with the small fortune on offer, the prospect of enlisting is a hard "Nyet" for tractor driver Roman, who like everybody AFP spoke to refused to give his surname.
"No, no. Not for any sum," said the 48-year-old.
Nestled in a tent on the frozen river, he wants to "relax", "switch off" and "think about fishing" -- escaping the fear of Ukrainian drone attacks. 
"I wake up more often because of the explosions," he said.
"We have sirens and explosions every day. It's frightening of course."
Moscow has been firing daily barrages of missiles and drones at Ukraine for months. The latest wave crippled Kyiv's energy system, leaving hundreds of thousands without heating as temperatures plunged to -20C.
In retaliation, Ukraine's army has been firing drones at Russia, mostly targeting port and energy infrastructure.
Last month, one person in Voronezh was killed in an attack.

Peace Street

The Voronezh region, which surrounds the city and borders a part of Ukraine captured by Moscow, is one of the "most frequently" targeted in aerial attacks, Russian ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova said last month.
Amid the plethora of army posters across the city, there are some smaller signs that not everybody shares the patriotic pro-war fervour.
After Russia launched its offensive, artist Mikhail affixed little ceramic plaques to buildings and walls with calls for peace.
They resemble pro-peace plaques put up in Soviet times with messages like "Peace" or "Friendship" written on them -- part of the propaganda of the era.
"I wanted to remind people of the narrative of our grandmothers, grandfathers and great-grandparents, who throughout my childhood said that war is terrifying," the 28-year-old, who goes by the nickname Noi, told AFP.
"What we should always strive for is peace."
But with anti-war activism essentially outlawed in Russia, his plaques have been taken down.
Except one -- located on Voronezh's Peace Street.
gde/blb/mmp/jc/jxb

Carnival

Dreaming of glory at Rio's carnival, far from elite parades

BY FRAN BLANDY

  • "Rio de Janeiro, for the most part, is made up of people from poor communities....
  • In a faded rehearsal hall in the gritty concrete sprawl of northern Rio de Janeiro, samba dancers and drummers fine-tune their rhythms for a grassroots carnival parade few tourists have heard of.
  • "Rio de Janeiro, for the most part, is made up of people from poor communities....
In a faded rehearsal hall in the gritty concrete sprawl of northern Rio de Janeiro, samba dancers and drummers fine-tune their rhythms for a grassroots carnival parade few tourists have heard of.
Remnants of donated props and floats from parades past lie around the space under a viaduct that doubles as a driving school parking lot.
The scene stands in stark contrast to the glittering spectacle of the world-famous Sambodrome parade, which critics say has grown increasingly distant from the poor neighborhoods that sustain the roots of samba.
Drum master Americo Teofilo, 37, dreams of performing among the greats, but is proud to parade in a parallel event in Rio de Janeiro's densely-populated north zone, which he describes as "more for the people."
"The one in the Sambodrome, I am not criticizing, but it is becoming more elitist. But I love both!" he said.
It has been 20 years since his storied samba school Caprichosos de Pilares, founded in 1949, last paraded down the Sambodrome avenue, before tumbling into the bottom division of a competition structured much like a football league.
Rio's Carnival period starts Friday, with the top schools kicking off three days of glittering parades on Sunday. 
Teofilo recalls how as a child his whole family, despite being poor, could afford front-row seats at the Sambodrome -- tickets which now cost around $300 each. 
This is roughly the minimum monthly wage in Brazil. The cheapest tickets in the grandstands are around $35.
"Nowadays it's very expensive..., it's impossible."
VIP boxes have multiplied along the avenue, with tickets selling for hundreds of dollars and the presence of celebrities such as footballer Neymar or supermodel Gisele Bundchen.
Some promote their own big-name DJs and music stars, which have drawn complaints and fines for drowning out the sounds of samba.
"Sometimes the parade is going on and the electronic music is there, you know?" said Teofilo.
The parade along Intendente Magalhaes avenue, where dozens of schools compete to claw their way up the ranks, is free to watch, and pure homegrown samba.

'Forgotten' roots

Rio's samba and carnival roots are deeply tied to poor, Afro-Brazilian neighborhoods, where community organizations known as samba schools evolved and work year round to make the show happen.
Performing in the top ranks now costs millions of dollars, which schools put towards towering floats, dazzling crystal and feather-covered outfits, and the pomp that make the parade a global attraction.
Rio's tourism agency Riotur president Bernardo Fellows told AFP that 52 million reais ($10 million) had been allocated to samba schools through the ranks.
"The transfer (of funds from city hall) is a bit disproportionate," to the lower-ranked schools, said carnival director for Caprichosos, Henrique Bianchi.
"Of course carnival is for everyone... but here it gets a little more forgotten. But the roots come from here, they come from the North Zone."
Schools like Caprichosos repurpose old floats and props donated by the wealthier schools from their grand parades.

'Samba in our veins'

Paulinha Peixoto, 39, who leads the samba dancers, known for striking outfits and dizzying footwork, said putting on a show was "a team effort".
"We know that the costs are out of our own pockets ... One fixes the other's hair, one helps with the other's makeup. It's samba in our feet, samba in our veins, love in our hearts, and that's it."
She said making it to the Sambodrome was every dancer's dream.
"It's dazzling, it's enchanting. But there's a disconnect. Nowadays it's a luxury carnival, a carnival of feathers, sequins, VIP boxes."
Riotur's Fellows said the debate about Carnival becoming a product for the wealthy and tourists was "legitimate and important" and the growth should not come "at the expense of its popular soul."
For those seeking to spend less money, there are the thousands of street "blocos" or parties and several days of free public rehearsals at the Sambodrome.
But for many, this does not come close to the full-throttle extravaganza.
"There is no question that it's only for the rich," said Adriano Santos, 43, a social worker from the Rocinha favela watching the free rehearsals.
"Rio de Janeiro, for the most part, is made up of people from poor communities.... These people shouldn't just be there to parade to fill the samba school, they need to appreciate the spectacle as well." 
fb/sms

California

LA fires: California probes late warnings in Black neighborhoods

  • "We know that evacuation warnings for the historically Black neighborhood of West Altadena came many hours after these same warnings were sent to the rest of Altadena. 
  • More than a year after deadly wildfires swept through Los Angeles communities, California launched an investigation Thursday into claims of delays in issuing warnings to historically Black neighborhoods which could have increased the death toll.
  • "We know that evacuation warnings for the historically Black neighborhood of West Altadena came many hours after these same warnings were sent to the rest of Altadena. 
More than a year after deadly wildfires swept through Los Angeles communities, California launched an investigation Thursday into claims of delays in issuing warnings to historically Black neighborhoods which could have increased the death toll.
Flames that tore through the city of Altadena in January 2025 killed 19 people, the majority of them on the west side -- home to a large African-American community. Evacuation orders there were much slower than on the east side, where most residents are white.
"My office will be investigating whether there was race, age, or disability discrimination in the emergency response in West Altadena, which claimed the lives of at least 19 people," California's Attorney General Rob Bonta said.
"We know that evacuation warnings for the historically Black neighborhood of West Altadena came many hours after these same warnings were sent to the rest of Altadena. 
"We must let the facts uncovered by our investigation determine what went wrong here."
Fierce blazes that erupted almost simultaneously in and around Los Angeles claimed 31 lives, and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses.
Collectively one of the costliest natural disasters in US history, the fires devastated Altadena and laid waste to the upscale Los Angeles neighborhood of Pacific Palisades as well as part of the coastal city of Malibu. 
Thirteen months on, resentment towards city and county authorities continues to bubble, with persistent claims of mismanagement and ineptitude.
In the coastal Palisades, fire hydrants ran dry as LA's municipal water system buckled under the strain of an unimagined disaster, while an empty reservoir fueled accusations that local managers were not ready for the catastrophe.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has also been heavily criticized for approving budget cuts to the local fire department months before the fires. 
rfo-hg/mlm

Global Edition

Neighbor of Canada mass shooter grieves after 'heartbreaking' attack

BY BEN SIMON

  • "How much do you know a (teenager)," said Laroque, who lived in Saudi Arabia with her oil worker husband, and in Edmonton, before settling in Tumbler Ridge 12 years ago.
  • Linda Laroque, a soft-spoken grandmother in the tiny town of Tumbler Ridge, lives two doors down from the person who carried out one of the worst mass shootings in Canadian history.
  • "How much do you know a (teenager)," said Laroque, who lived in Saudi Arabia with her oil worker husband, and in Edmonton, before settling in Tumbler Ridge 12 years ago.
Linda Laroque, a soft-spoken grandmother in the tiny town of Tumbler Ridge, lives two doors down from the person who carried out one of the worst mass shootings in Canadian history.
Before heading into a support group at a local church on Thursday, Laroque told AFP she was full of compassion for everyone in the shattered community of 2,400 people, including the shooter's family.
"My heart goes out to them," she said. "It's heartbreaking for everyone here."
Laroque said she met Jesse Van Rootselaar -- the transgender woman who killed her mother, stepbrother and six people at the local school before shooting herself -- "a few times," but they were not close.
"How much do you know a (teenager)," said Laroque, who lived in Saudi Arabia with her oil worker husband, and in Edmonton, before settling in Tumbler Ridge 12 years ago.
Laroque's 13-year-old granddaughter was at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School during Tuesday's attack.
"She was locked in a closet with 16 other kids. She said it smelled like wet dog."
Laroque said her granddaughter listened to the gunshots in the packed closet "including the last one when the shooter killed (herself)."
"She doesn't want to go back to school," Laroque said of her granddaughter.
"She doesn't think she can walk into that room again."

'Softer, kinder'

The picturesque town in a Rocky Mountain valley has been shaken by Tuesday's violence, which saw a 39-year-old female teacher, three 12-year-old girls and two boys, aged 13 and 12, shot dead at the school.
Residents have shown frustration at the surge of media attention, and some have expressed regret the mining town with stunning views will forever be synonymous with tragedy.
For Pastor George Rowe of the Tumbler Ridge Fellowship Baptist Church, the community's response since Tuesday may ultimately serve to highlight its strength.
If people see a tiny community rallying together after an unimaginable nightmare, they'll think, "there must be something there," he said.
"This will not break us," Rowe told AFP in his sparsely furnished church office.
"I think we're going to be OK."
While he remains optimistic about the future, Rowe was rattled by the hours following the attack.
He said he went to the community center once the lockdown was lifted, and sought to comfort families waiting to learn whether their children had survived.
"The silence was such that it was almost explosive," he said.
Police said the shooter was known to have mental health challenges, and there has been significant focus in the days following the attack on difficulty accessing mental healthcare in remote northern communities like Tumbler Ridge.
This was also a concern for Laroque, who said she was worried about people suffering with no access to support.
Since Tuesday's shooting, she's noticed a change in people's attitudes.
"People's voices are softer, kinder and gentler."
She told AFP she's been asked in recent days if she has any plans to leave.
"Why would I want to leave?... This is an amazing place with amazing people in it."
bs/des

investigation

Swiss bar owners face wrath of bereaved families

BY CHARLENE PERSONNAZ

  • Gulcin Kaya, the mother of an 18-year-old who died in the fire, approached the Morettis in the scrum as they arrived, shouting at them: "Where is my son?
  • Bereaved relatives on Thursday angrily confronted the owners of a Swiss bar that caught fire during New Year celebrations, heckling them as they arrived to face questions over the fatal tragedy.
  • Gulcin Kaya, the mother of an 18-year-old who died in the fire, approached the Morettis in the scrum as they arrived, shouting at them: "Where is my son?
Bereaved relatives on Thursday angrily confronted the owners of a Swiss bar that caught fire during New Year celebrations, heckling them as they arrived to face questions over the fatal tragedy.
Ten or so relatives were outside the hearing venue in Sion, waiting for French couple Jacques and Jessica Moretti, who own Le Constellation in the ski resort of Crans-Montana.
The bar caught fire in the early hours of January 1, with 41 people, mostly teenagers, losing their lives, and another 115 injured in the blaze, most of whom remain in hospitals and rehabilitation clinics.
Prosecutors believe the fire started when champagne bottles with sparklers attached were raised too close to the ceiling in the bar's basement level, igniting the sound insulation foam.
Gulcin Kaya, the mother of an 18-year-old who died in the fire, approached the Morettis in the scrum as they arrived, shouting at them: "Where is my son? Where is he?"
Jacques Moretti replied: "We will take responsibility, we will face up to it, we promise you, we are here for justice," while his wife, in tears, struggled to make her way inside.

Families 'destroyed'

"You killed my big brother, you bitch, do you understand! Look me in the eyes: you killed my brother," shouted 14-year-old Tobyas, the brother of Trystan Pidoux, 17, who died in the fire.
He told reporters: "I'd like her to see how she destroyed families. Not only did she kill people, but she destroyed the families behind them."
He said of his brother: "I can't believe I'll never see him again."
The boys' father Christian Pidoux wore a t-shirt bearing a picture of his deceased son.
"We're doing this so that it never happens again. That's our goal: never again," he told reporters.
"It's only so that they see the eyes of the fathers, brothers, sisters," he said.
"Some children melted -- they no longer have a face, a nose, a mouth, an ear."
Samhare Saleh, a friend of the Pidoux family, said: "We demand justice, we demand the truth for all those children who have died and those who are still in the hospital, who are between life and death."
Switzerland's Federal Office for Civil Protection told AFP that as of Monday, 39 patients were being treated in burns centres abroad, while Swiss news agency ATS said 25 remained in Swiss hospitals, with further patients in rehabilitation clinics.

Call for calm

The Morettis are under criminal investigation, facing charges of manslaughter by negligence, bodily harm by negligence and arson by negligence.
Two others are also under criminal investigation -- Crans-Montana's current head of public safety and a former fire safety officer in the town.
Lawyer Romain Jordan, who represents several families, called for "dignity, serenity and respect" all round.
He said the deputy public prosecutor had "appealed for calm", adding: "I believe that call was heard."

'No forgiveness'

Trystan Pidoux's mother Vinciane Stucky went inside and witnessed Thursday's interview.
During the hearing, "Jacques Moretti tried to ask me for forgiveness, but I told him to look away and stare at the floor, because you don't ask for forgiveness for things like that," she said.
During a break on Wednesday, the Morettis met with Leila Micheloud, the mother of two daughters injured in the blaze. They spoke for around 20 minutes.
"There was no forgiveness... I do not forgive them, I listened to them and that's where it stops," Micheloud said Thursday on Facebook, adding that the meeting was "impromptu".
Alain Viscolo, a lawyer representing two victims, said it was time for the investigation to start considering the role of the authorities, "namely those who had the power to oversee fire safety".
He told AFP that a complaint had been filed against the president of Crans-Montana commune.
str-apo/rjm/rlp

film

'Naive optimist' opens Berlin Film Festival with Afghan romantic comedy

BY JASTINDER KHERA

  • "I do believe there are good men, but I also believe that we need more good men in the world, but also in Afghanistan," she told reporters at a press conference. jsk/rsc/rmb
  • Are there any good men in Afghanistan?
  • "I do believe there are good men, but I also believe that we need more good men in the world, but also in Afghanistan," she told reporters at a press conference. jsk/rsc/rmb
Are there any good men in Afghanistan? The opening film at this year's Berlin Film Festival poses the question against the backdrop of the Taliban authorities returning to power.  
Naru, the protagonist of "No Good Men" -- played by director Shahrbanoo Sadat -- rethinks her jaded views on the opposite sex as a result of a burgeoning friendship with a male co-worker.
For Sadat, being chosen to open this year's festival was an exciting chance to spotlight a story about Afghanistan told by Afghans themselves.
"For a very, very long time Afghan stories have been told by international filmmakers and therefore (there has) been always a kind of misrepresentation," she told AFP.
"We are trying to figure out... what does it mean to make an Afghan protagonist?" 
The film vividly depicts Naru navigating the chaos of the withdrawal of US-led forces in 2021 and the crush at Kabul airport swarmed by desperate Afghans trying to flee their country.
Those scenes drew directly on Sadat's own experience of having to flee when Taliban fighters reached the capital.
"I was at the airport with my family for 72 hours when things started," said Sadat, who now lives in Hamburg.
"When we wanted to do this airport scene, because I was there, it was one of the most difficult scenes," she recalled. 

Phallic cactus

The film doesn't only dwell on the violence and upheaval that Afghans have gone through in recent decades. 
The effervescent Sadat, who was born in Iran and spent her childhood in Tehran before moving to Afghanistan with her parents, describes herself as a "naive optimist" in many ways and her lightness of touch is visible throughout "No Good Men".
A suspiciously phallic cactus at the end of the closing credits is typical of the spiky humour that Sadat uses to skewer patriarchal attitudes, not to mention the sex toy Naru gets from a colleague to celebrate her separation from her philandering husband.
The film portrays the space that Afghan women were carving out for themselves before 2021, both personally and professionally.
It has an element of idealism in its portrayal of Afghan journalists and is dedicated to seven members of staff from the popular Tolo TV station killed in a 2016 attack orchestrated by Taliban fighters.
However, Sadat said she also felt the need to push back against a tendency to "romanticise the era of democracy". 
"I do not deny that the Taliban are the biggest problem of Afghanistan today, but on the other hand... nothing was flowers and roses in the era of democracy," she said, citing the widespread corruption that plagued the country in that era.

Expecting Afghans to watch

Given the difficulty of filming in Afghanistan, the film was shot in several locations in northern Germany, interspersed with archive footage from Kabul.
In her acknowledgements Sadat thanks Germany's Afghan community and says that in some senses it was her "good luck" to work in a country with "one of the biggest Afghan communities" in the diaspora.
Sadat was hands-on in the casting process, trawling through lists of the mosques, cafes and restaurants frequented by the more than 460,000 Afghans in Germany.
She got "thousands of requests" from Afghans across the country to participate in the film, with those who did take part eventually forming a "little film community", some of whom will be coming to Thursday's premiere.
The return of a Taliban government in 2021 brought with it tight restrictions on films, music and other entertainment under their strict interpretation of Islamic law.
So is there any hope for the film reaching an audience inside Afghanistan?
"Probably... they're going to watch the film before the film comes in cinemas" elsewhere, Sadat said, explaining that she expects internet pirates to get their hands on it.
"It always happened to my previous films that they... either end up on YouTube or it's going to be chopped and will be on TikTok." 
Sadat says that try as the Taliban authorities might, they can't keep out the modern age where "everyone has... a phone and everyone is connected to internet".
"Even if they (Afghans) don't experience the film in a cinematic way, on a big screen... they're going to watch the film."
And as for whether Sadat thinks there are any good men?
"I do believe there are good men, but I also believe that we need more good men in the world, but also in Afghanistan," she told reporters at a press conference.
jsk/rsc/rmb

internet

Russia is cracking down on WhatsApp and Telegram. Here's what we know

  • It has since progressively slowed down WhatsApp and in November announced it would ban the platform outright unless it complied with Russian legislation.
  • Russia announced Thursday it had blocked WhatsApp over its alleged failure to comply with Russian legislation, days after restricting access to rival messaging service Telegram for similar reasons.
  • It has since progressively slowed down WhatsApp and in November announced it would ban the platform outright unless it complied with Russian legislation.
Russia announced Thursday it had blocked WhatsApp over its alleged failure to comply with Russian legislation, days after restricting access to rival messaging service Telegram for similar reasons.
Moscow has for months been trying to shift users onto Max, a domestic messaging service that lacks end-to-end encryption and which activists have called a potential surveillance tool.
Critics say the restrictions are part of a broader campaign by Russian authorities to tighten control over internet use and more easily monitor Russian citizens online.
Here's what we know about both apps and Russia's attempts to push users onto Max.

WhatsApp

WhatsApp, which has over 100 million users in Russia, is owned by US tech giant Meta.
The app was the most popular messaging service among Russians aged 25 and over in 2023, while Telegram was more popular among younger users, according to a report by Russian news outlet RBK.
Russia announced it was blocking calls on both applications last August, accusing them of facilitating crime.
It has since progressively slowed down WhatsApp and in November announced it would ban the platform outright unless it complied with Russian legislation.
Russia has asked for both messengers to provide access to data when requested by law enforcement for fraud probes and for investigating activities Russia describes as "terrorist".
Rights advocates fear that would extend Russia's surveillance state and could be used to target critics of the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin or the war in Ukraine.
WhatsApp said Wednesday that Russia had finally "attempted to fully block" the service, which the Kremlin confirmed on Thursday.
It was unclear how widespread or effective Russia's attempts were. 
VPN users in Russia still seem able to circumvent the ban.

Telegram  

Telegram, founded by Russian-born entrepeneur Pavel Durov, is the most popular messaging service in Russia, boasting more than one billion monthly active users worldwide.
Russia's internet watchdog announced it was throttling access to the app on Tuesday, accusing it of failing to follow legislation.
It was not immediately clear if Russia planned to ban the application outright.
Russian officials -- including the Kremlin -- still use it to issue statements and it is the most popular outlet for pro-government military bloggers commenting on the Ukraine war.
Some have warned that blocking the app would hobble communications around the front line and in Russian-occupied territory.
Durov, who now lives outside Russia, has called the Kremlin's restrictions "an attempt to force its citizens to switch to a state-controlled app built for surveillance and political censorship".
He has clashed with the Russian authorities before.
He was forced out of the VK social media site he founded -- a Russian equivalent of Facebook -- under pressure from the authorities.
Russia spent two years trying to block Telegram, but having failed either to restrict access or to stop the growth of the service, it lifted the ban in 2020.

Max

Max, released by Russian social media giant VK last year, has been touted as a "super app" -- capable of doing everything from accessing government services to ordering a pizza, similar to China's WeChat or Alipay.
The government directed manufacturers to include it on all new phones and tablets starting last September, and it claimed 75 million users by December.
But it has been met with scepticism from some Russians, some of whom have told AFP they were forced to download it by their employers.
Unlike WhatsApp, Max appears to lack end-to-end encryption, meaning messages are not scrambled while travelling between the reader and sender and could possibly be retained by the state.
Sarkis Darbinyan, co-founder of digital rights NGO Roskomsvoboda, told AFP last year that shifting users onto Max could also allow authorities to limit information it does not want users to see.
Russia is moving people to a "kind of vacuum, where they do not have that undesirable information", he said.
bur/jj

construction

Greece's Cycladic islands swept up in concrete fever

BY YANNICK PASQUET

  • Like Santorini, Milos is a volcanic isle that is home to one of Greece's most unique beaches, Sarakiniko. 
  • On the sloping shoreline of the Greek Aegean island of Milos, a vast construction site has left a gaping wound into the island's trademark volcanic rock. 
  • Like Santorini, Milos is a volcanic isle that is home to one of Greece's most unique beaches, Sarakiniko. 
On the sloping shoreline of the Greek Aegean island of Milos, a vast construction site has left a gaping wound into the island's trademark volcanic rock. 
The foundations are for a hotel extension that attracted so much controversy last year that the country's top administrative court ended up temporarily blocking its building permit.
Construction machinery still dots the site for a planned 59-room extension to the luxury resort, some of whose suites have their own swimming pools.
Milos Mayor Manolis Mikelis calls the project an "environmental crime". 
"The geological uniqueness of Milos is known worldwide. We don't want its identity to change," he told AFP in his office, adorned with a copy of the island's most famous export, the Hellenistic-era statue of the love goddess Venus.
Fuelled by a tourism boom, real estate fever has broken out across the Cyclades archipelago, threatening to destroy iconic landscapes of whitewashed houses and blue church domes. 
In December, several mayors from the Cyclades as well as the Dodecanese -- which includes the highly touristic islands of Rhodes and Kos -- sounded the alarm. 
"The very existence of our islands is threatened," they warned in a resolution initiated by the mayor of Santorini, Nikos Zorzos. 
Tourism has become "a field for planting luxury residences to sell or rent," said Zorzos, whose island -- a top global destination -- welcomes roughly 3.5 million visitors for a population of 15,500. 
- Rejecting 'plunder' - 
The "Cycladic islands are not grounds for pharaonic projects", the mayors continued. 
V Tourism, the company operating the hotel, argues that the expansion was approved in 2024 with "favourable opinions from all competent authorities".
But Mikelis, the mayor, noted that there are legislation "loopholes" when it comes to construction.
Like Santorini, Milos is a volcanic isle that is home to one of Greece's most unique beaches, Sarakiniko. 
With its spectacular white formations rounded by erosion, the so-called 'moon beach' has bathers packed tighter than an astronaut's suit during summertime.
Yet Sarakiniko is not protected under Greek law.
Another hotel project there was blocked last year, and the environment ministry has given the owners a month's time to fill in its construction dig.

'Voracious'

Ioannis Spilanis, emeritus professor at the University of the Aegean, says what is happening in the Cyclades "is voracious, predatory real estate".
Once marginal land intended for grazing "have become lucrative assets. (Locals) are offered very attractive prices that are still low for investors."
"Then you build or resell for ten times more," he said. 
In Ios, a small island with a vibrant nightlife, a single investor -- a Greek who made a fortune on Wall Street -- now owns 30 percent of the island, the mayors said in their December statement.
Tourism contributes between 28 and 33.7 percent of GDP, according to the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE), making it a key sector that has propped up the country's economy for decades.
Arrivals have been breaking record after record with more than 40 million visitors in 2024, a performance that was likely surpassed in 2025. 
In Milos, which has more than 5,000 inhabitants, 48 new hotel projects are currently underway, according to the mayor, and 157 new building permits were awarded from January to the end of October 2025, according to the state statistical body. 
On Paros, which has also experienced a real estate frenzy for several years, 459 building permits were granted over the same period, and on Santorini, 461. 
The most ambitious projects in Greece are classified as "strategic investments", a fast-track procedure created in 2019 to facilitate investments deemed priorities. 
But "there's often no oversight," said Spilanis, the academic. 

Golden goose

And many of the new constructions are far removed from traditional Cycladic architecture. 
But the tourism industry is a vital source of income on islands which are usually deserted in winter, and offering few other job prospects. 
"This island is a diamond, but unfortunately in recent years it’s become nothing but money, money, money," fumes a resident who spends half the year in Germany. 
"But if I say that in public, everyone will jump down my throat!" she said.
In a 2024 report, the state ombudsman of the Hellenic Republic stressed the deterioration in quality of life on islands where residents can no longer find housing, as many owners prioritise lucrative short-term rentals, while waste management and water resources are also under major strain.
But there are signs of a slowdown in the Cyclades.
Santorini last year saw a 12.8-percent drop in air arrivals between June and September, while Mykonos had to settle for a meagre 2.4-percent increase. 
yap/jph/gv/cc

media

Instagram CEO denies addiction claims in landmark US trial

BY BENJAMIN LEGENDRE

  • Meta -- the parent company of Instagram and Facebook -- and Google-owned YouTube are defendants in the blockbuster trial, which could set a legal precedent regarding whether social media giants deliberately designed their platforms to be addictive to children.
  • Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri on Wednesday rejected the notion that users could be clinically addicted to social media, as he testified in a landmark California trial over whether his company knowingly hooked children on its platform for profit.
  • Meta -- the parent company of Instagram and Facebook -- and Google-owned YouTube are defendants in the blockbuster trial, which could set a legal precedent regarding whether social media giants deliberately designed their platforms to be addictive to children.
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri on Wednesday rejected the notion that users could be clinically addicted to social media, as he testified in a landmark California trial over whether his company knowingly hooked children on its platform for profit.
Meta -- the parent company of Instagram and Facebook -- and Google-owned YouTube are defendants in the blockbuster trial, which could set a legal precedent regarding whether social media giants deliberately designed their platforms to be addictive to children.
"I think it's important to differentiate between clinical addiction and problematic use," Mosseri said as he was grilled by plaintiff attorney Mark Lanier.
"I'm sure I said that I've been addicted to a Netflix show when I binged it really late one night, but I don't think it's the same thing as clinical addiction," he added.
Lanier immediately challenged this point, emphasizing that the witness did not have a degree in medicine or psychology. 
"I've never claimed being able to diagnose addiction clinically," Mosseri responded during the exchange.
"I'm sure I was using the word too casually."
Facing him, mothers of teenagers who had taken their own lives held back their anger in the public gallery.
These representatives of families who have filed complaints against major platforms in the United States had camped out in the rain outside the courthouse to secure seats.

Dopamine dispensers?

Addiction is at the heart of the civil trial, which centers on allegations that a 20-year-old woman, identified as Kaley G.M., suffered severe mental harm after becoming addicted to social media as a young child.
She started using YouTube at six and joined Instagram at 11, before moving on to Snapchat and TikTok two or three years later.
"The Instagram that Kaley signed up for was very different and presented a much smaller set of risks back then," Mosseri said, noting that the service was "a much smaller, more focused app" before it had to adapt to the changing world.
Mosseri described safety features added to Instagram since it was bought by Facebook in 2012, some of which had "negative effects" on engagement and revenue.
Mosseri was the first major Silicon Valley figure to appear before the jury to defend himself against accusations that Instagram functions as little more than a dopamine "slot machine" for vulnerable young people.
Meta's attorney reasoned in opening remarks that the suffering encountered by the plaintiff was due to troubles in her home life and could not be attributed to use of Instagram or other social media.
An attorney for YouTube insisted that the video platform was neither intentionally addictive nor technically social media, but more a viewing venue like Netflix.
In front of the jury of six men and six women, Mosseri pushed back against the idea that Meta was motivated by a "move fast and break things" ethos that valued profit over safety.
"Protecting minors over the long run is even good for the business and for profit," he said.
Mosseri's testimony precedes the highly anticipated appearance of his boss, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, currently scheduled for February 18, with YouTube CEO Neil Mohan the following day.

Apps or traps?

In opening remarks this week, plaintiffs' attorney Lanier told the jury that YouTube and Meta both engineer addiction in young people's brains to gain users and profits.
Meta and Google "don't only build apps; they build traps," Lanier said.
Under questioning, Mosseri said that while teens tended to be trendsetters when it comes to technology, Instagram makes less money from them than from older users because they tend not to click on ads.
"They don't have a lot of expendable income to then buy things if they do click on ads," Mosseri added.
Social media firms face more than a thousand lawsuits accusing them of leading young users to become addicted to content and suffer from depression, eating disorders, psychiatric hospitalization, and even suicide.
Kaley G.M.'s case is being treated as a bellwether proceeding with an outcome that could set the tone for a wave of similar litigation across the United States.
arp-gc/sla

reform

Milei labor law reforms spark clashes in Buenos Aires

  • Protesters lobbed rocks and firebombs at police, who responded with teargas and water cannon as senators debated a bill central to President Javier Milei's free-market agenda.
  • Argentine protesters angry over a labor reform bill clashed with police Wednesday outside Congress, as lawmakers debated plans to facilitate work contract flexibility and make it easier and cheaper to fire staff.
  • Protesters lobbed rocks and firebombs at police, who responded with teargas and water cannon as senators debated a bill central to President Javier Milei's free-market agenda.
Argentine protesters angry over a labor reform bill clashed with police Wednesday outside Congress, as lawmakers debated plans to facilitate work contract flexibility and make it easier and cheaper to fire staff.
Protesters lobbed rocks and firebombs at police, who responded with teargas and water cannon as senators debated a bill central to President Javier Milei's free-market agenda.
Milei argues that Argentina's current labor laws are too restrictive and dissuade employers from on-the-books hiring. 
Almost 40 percent of Argentine workers lack formal employment contracts.
But unions say the reforms erode workers' rights.
"Labor reform doesn't mean creating jobs, but rather making jobs more precarious," said demonstrator Ernesto Pasarin, his eyes watering from tear gas.
"With this exploitative labor reform, they are only thinking about the wealthy. Those who benefit are the bosses," Federico Pereira, a 35-year-old sociologist, told AFP.
The draft law reduces severance pay, allows payments in kind and restricts vacation usage, among other proposals that the General Confederation of Labor considers "regressive."
The Senate is expected to vote later Wednesday on the legislation, after which it will be put to the lower Chamber of Deputies.
Milei, who has forged ahead with his reform agenda since triumphing in October mid-terms, wants lawmakers to adopt the bill by March.
"Today we are here to decide whether we remain trapped in a statist, corporate, and patronage-based system that has driven away investment, destroyed jobs, and impoverished millions of Argentinians," or transform the country into "a modern, free, and prosperous Argentina," argued Joaquin Benegas Lynch, a ruling party senator. 
Since taking office in December 2023 with a plan to revitalize Argentina's struggling economy, Milei has dramatically reduced government spending and spurred deregulation.
lm/cb/mlm

Espriella

Colombia election favorite vows US-backed strikes on narco camps

BY LINA VANEGAS

  • "We'll start immediately with the bombing of narco-terrorist camps and with fumigation," the 47-year-old told AFP in Bogota.
  • Colombia's right-wing presidential front-runner told AFP Wednesday that he wants US backing for a bombing campaign against cocaine-producing armed groups during his first 90 days in office.
  • "We'll start immediately with the bombing of narco-terrorist camps and with fumigation," the 47-year-old told AFP in Bogota.
Colombia's right-wing presidential front-runner told AFP Wednesday that he wants US backing for a bombing campaign against cocaine-producing armed groups during his first 90 days in office.
Abelardo de la Espriella vowed a "shock plan" to resume airstrikes on jungle camps and to poison coca crops with US aircraft -- a dramatic shift from the policies of outgoing leftist President Gustavo Petro.
"We'll start immediately with the bombing of narco-terrorist camps and with fumigation," the 47-year-old told AFP in Bogota.
"Any criminal who does not surrender will be taken down as the law allows," he said, framing his campaign for the May vote as a rescue mission for a country he says is sliding into chaos.
After spells as a singer, clothier, wine merchant and defense lawyer for the rich and famous, De la Espriella said he entered politics to serve his homeland.
"I have the character, the temperament, the drive, the passion and -- pardon the Spanish -- the balls to do what Colombia needs," he said.
Branding himself "The Tiger," he is betting Colombia will become the latest Latin American country to swing to the right.
Once clean shaven, he now sports a closely cropped beard like that of a political hero, El Salvador's popular hard-line President Nayib Bukele.
There are early signs de la Espriella's pitch may be working. Polls show him running slightly ahead of leftist rival Ivan Cepeda in a tight race.

Strategic shift

A de la Espriella victory would put the military back at the center of the fight with armed groups and risks reigniting a decades-old conflict.
For the last four years, Colombia has been governed by its first-ever leftist government.
Petro, a former guerrilla who can serve only one four-year term, has tried to avoid war with armed groups who control swaths of the country, instead seeking peace deals.
The policy has brought mixed results. Sporadic ceasefires have helped quell violence, but the power and territory of many armed groups has grown. 
Colombia now has record levels of cocaine production, according to UN data -- much more than the heyday of Pablo Escobar's Medellin Cartel or the Cali Cartel of the 1990s.

Easy, tiger

De la Espriella said his 90‑day plan needs US support to bolster troops with new weapons, artificial intelligence and drones.
"This cannot be done without a strategic alliance with the United States and the State of Israel, with US aircraft," he said, nodding to previous involvement by Colombia's Mideast ally in security matters.
Despite his hard-line rhetoric, and past links with right-wing armed paramilitary figures, de la Espriella said it was "absurd" to call him far right.
"Someone who is far right does not believe in democracy or in the separation of powers," he said. 
"I'm going to respect the constitution," he added. "I'm a democrat."
"There will be no reelection. I am coming to serve my four-year term and then return to growing grapes and olives."
And despite his claim to be a political outsider, he admits to a close relationship with conservative kingmaker and former president Alvaro Uribe.
The former leader has been a friend of his father for half a century -- a relationship he says he "inherited."
"We talk almost every day," he told AFP. "I value him greatly, I admire him, I respect him, and wherever I am I will always honor his legacy and his person."
arb/acb

Epstein

Norway's ex-diplomat seen as key cog in Epstein affair

BY PIERRE-HENRY DESHAYES

  • The nearly three million documents released by US authorities have illuminated deeper ties than previously known between members of Norway's elite and Epstein, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
  • Norway's former high-profile diplomat Terje Rod-Larsen helped Jeffrey Epstein weave his web of dignitaries, acting as a go-between for the convicted sex offender in exchange for rewards, media has reported.
  • The nearly three million documents released by US authorities have illuminated deeper ties than previously known between members of Norway's elite and Epstein, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
Norway's former high-profile diplomat Terje Rod-Larsen helped Jeffrey Epstein weave his web of dignitaries, acting as a go-between for the convicted sex offender in exchange for rewards, media has reported.
Along with his wife Mona Juul, another diplomat now caught up in the turmoil following the latest release of millions of documents from the investigation relating to Epstein, Rod-Larsen rose to fame as one of the architects of the secret Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that led to the Oslo Accords in the 1990s.
A sociologist by training, he held various roles at the United Nations: assistant secretary-general, special coordinator in the Occupied Territories, then special envoy for the Middle East.
The now 78-year-old Norwegian ended his career at the International Peace Institute (IPI).
It was in the 2010s, while heading the New York-based think tank, that he developed what appears to have been a close relationship with Epstein, who had already been convicted in 2008 for soliciting a minor.

'Super-diplomat'

A mere mention in the files does not imply wrongdoing. The nearly three million documents released by US authorities have illuminated deeper ties than previously known between members of Norway's elite and Epstein, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
Harald Stanghelle, a political commentator for newspaper Aftenposten, believes that in Rod-Larsen's case, "the super-diplomat was not merely a pawn in Epstein's game but a spider at the centre of the web".
"If you look at all the most important Norwegian political figures named in the Epstein documents, he is the key figure: no one came into contact with Epstein without going through Rod-Larsen," he told AFP.
"He comes across as someone funnelling people to Epstein," Stanghelle said.
Norwegian police have opened investigations into "aggravated corruption" against former prime minister Thorbjorn Jagland over his dealings with Epstein -- who had dubbed him "the Nobel big shot" -- while he was chair of the Nobel Committee and secretary general of the Council of Europe.
Also named in the files are World Economic Forum CEO and former foreign minister Borge Brende, and another former premier Kjell Magne Bondevik.

'Impossible to ignore'

To explain the relatively large number of Norwegians tainted by the Epstein affair, "it is completely impossible to ignore Rod-Larsen, a person who established lasting contacts with Epstein from at least 2010", Halvard Leira, a political scientist at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), said.
According to Stanghelle, Rod-Larsen, while at the helm of the IPI between 2005 and 2020, also opened doors to international heavyweights for Epstein.
"In return, Rod-Larsen also benefited from Epstein's address book in a world where contacts are valuable for wielding influence, and from his financial generosity," the commentator said.
Rod-Larsen revitalised the IPI, notably thanks to donations from Epstein, but resigned from the organisation in 2020 after the donations were revealed.
Emails and documents unearthed by newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv, show that Epstein ordered that $250,000 be paid to Rod-Larsen in 2015, for reasons that remain unknown.
Shipowner Morits Skaugen also told newspaper VG that Epstein personally intervened in 2018 to push him to sell Rod-Larsen and his wife a large apartment in an affluent district of Oslo,  calling it a "threat". 
The price was 14 million kroner ($1.5 million), just "half" of its market value, Skaugen said.
Epstein also left $10 million in his will to the couple's two children, according to Norwegian media.

Investigation

"Rod-Larsen has previously expressed regret for his association with Epstein and has clearly distanced himself from Epstein's actions," Rod-Larsen's lawyer, John Christian Elden, stressed last week.
"His health condition makes it impossible for Rod-Larsen to give interviews or respond directly to media inquiries," he added, noting that his client was seriously ill after suffering several recent strokes.
Norwegian police announced on Monday that they had opened an investigation into Juul and Rod-Larsen, for suspected "aggravated corruption" and "complicity in aggravated corruption" respectively.
Already suspended pending a foreign ministry probe, Juul has also resigned from her post as ambassador to Jordan and Iraq.
phy/jll/cc

rights

'Outrage' as LGBTQ Pride flag removed from Stonewall monument

BY GREGORY WALTON

  • New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was "outraged" by the removal of the rainbow pride flag from the monument.
  • The removal of an LGBTQ rainbow pride flag from the United States' most prominent gay monument after new rules issued by the Trump administration sparked an outcry and a noisy protest on Tuesday.
  • New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was "outraged" by the removal of the rainbow pride flag from the monument.
The removal of an LGBTQ rainbow pride flag from the United States' most prominent gay monument after new rules issued by the Trump administration sparked an outcry and a noisy protest on Tuesday.
The removal of a large rainbow flag from the Stonewall National Monument in New York followed a January 21 memo from the federally run National Park Service responsible for the heritage site.
It banned the flying of flags other than the US national banner and the Department of the Interior's colors, with limited exceptions.  
About 100 noisy demonstrators, many draped in LGBTQ flags, gathered in a park opposite Stonewall in downtown Manhattan with attendees decrying the move as a "slap in the face" for the community.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was "outraged" by the removal of the rainbow pride flag from the monument.
"New York is the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, and no act of erasure will ever change, or silence, that history," he wrote on X.
The Stonewall national monument memorializes the eponymous Stonewall Uprising of 1969, when LGBTQ New Yorkers rose up against discriminatory policies and oppression.
A police raid of the small Greenwich Village gay bar ignited six days of rioting that birthed the modern US gay rights movement, later extended to transgender and non-binary people, who do not identify as male or female.

'Unconscionable behavior'

Trump regularly criticized transgender people and what he termed "gender ideology extremism" while on the campaign trail, and days after returning to office he signed an executive order declaring only two official genders in the United States, male and female. 
A month later, the National Park Service scrubbed references to transgender and queer people from the website of the monument, with other government departments implementing similar purges.
"To have somebody take down something that is so meaningful to us and to our community outside a historic site like that is basically a slap in the face," said trans community organizer Jade Runk, 37, who used cable ties to fasten LGBTQ flags to railings in Christopher Park opposite Stonewall.
"It's a message saying 'we don't want you to exist'."
The area around the Stonewall monument, including the adjacent, privately run Stonewall Inn, is still adorned with many bright LGBTQ flags, as well as banners representing the trans community.
New York state Governor Kathy Hochul said that she would "not let this administration roll back the rights we fought so hard for."
The National Park Service did not respond to an AFP request for comment.
LGBTQ campaign group GLAAD said "attempts to censor and diminish visibility are tactics that LGBTQ Americans overcame decades ago, and we will continue to defeat."
Gay history archivist Alek Douglas, 29, told AFP that "we've seen this movie before." 
"It's just unconscionable behavior from an autocratic government to erase a minority," said Douglas, holding up a rainbow flag from a 1994 pride march signed by the banner's original designer, Gilbert Baker.
Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal told local media he would reraise the flag at the site on Thursday.
One protester angrily shouted "Let's do it now. What are we waiting for?"
gw-ph/md/acb

nature

Noisy humans harm birds and affect breeding success: study

  • In some cases, noise pollution interrupted mating displays, caused males to change their courtship songs, or masked messages between chicks and parents. 
  • Noise pollution is affecting bird behaviour across the globe, disrupting everything from courtship songs to the ability to find food and avoid predators, a large-scale new analysis showed on Wednesday.
  • In some cases, noise pollution interrupted mating displays, caused males to change their courtship songs, or masked messages between chicks and parents. 
Noise pollution is affecting bird behaviour across the globe, disrupting everything from courtship songs to the ability to find food and avoid predators, a large-scale new analysis showed on Wednesday.
Researchers reviewed nearly four decades of scientific work and found that noises made by humans were interfering with the lives of birds on six continents and having "strong negative effects" on reproduction success.
Previous research on individual species has shown that single sources of anthropogenic noise -- such as planes, traffic and construction -- can affect birds as it does other wildlife. 
But for this study, the team performed a wider analysis by pooling data published since 1990 across 160 bird species to see if any broader trends could be established.
The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, found clear evidence of a "pervasive" impact of noise pollution on birds worldwide.
"We found that noise significantly impacts communication risk behaviours, foraging, aggression and physiology and had a strong effect on habitat use and a negative impact on reproduction," it said.
This is because birds rely on acoustic information to survive, making them particularly vulnerable to the modern din produced by cars, machinery and urban life.
"They use song to find mates, calls to warn of predators, and chicks make begging calls to let their parents know they're hungry," Natalie Madden, who led the research while at the University of Michigan, said in a statement.
"So if there's loud noise in the environment, can they still hear signals from their own species?"
In some cases, noise pollution interrupted mating displays, caused males to change their courtship songs, or masked messages between chicks and parents. 
The study included many common species such as European robins and starlings, house sparrows, and great tits.

Solutions exist

The response varied between species, with birds that nest close to the ground suffering greater reproductive harm, while those using open nests experienced stronger effects on growth.
Birds living in urban areas, meanwhile, tended to have higher levels of stress hormones than those outside of cities.
Some 61 percent of the world's bird species have declining populations, mostly due to habitat loss driven by expanding agriculture and logging, the International Union for Conservation of Nature said in October.
The study authors said that noise pollution was an "underappreciated consequence" of humanity's impact on nature, especially compared to biodiversity loss and climate change.
But some relatively simple fixes could make a big difference for birds, they said.
Madden told AFP that shifting from noisier cars and landscaping tools such as mowers and leaf blowers to electric-powered alternatives was one idea.
Another could be "running machinery outside peak breeding seasons, avoiding activity when birds are migrating through an area, or shifting construction away from habitats that support vulnerable species", she added.
Buildings could also be adapted to muffle sound in the same way they are constructed to improve visibility and minimise bird collisions, said the study's senior author Neil Carter, from the University of Michigan.
"So many of the things we're facing with biodiversity loss just feel inexorable and massive in scale, but we know how to use different materials and how to put things up in different ways to block sound," he said. 
jmi-np/jxb

anime

'Artists of steel': Japanese swords forge new fanbase

BY TOMOHIRO OSAKI

  • From repeatedly whacking steel with a heavy hammer to sitting sweat-drenched by a hearth for hours, the daily grind of blademaking is also not for the faint-hearted.
  • Sparks illuminate the soot-covered studio of Japanese swordsmith Akihira Kawasaki as his apprentice hammers red-hot steel, showcasing a millennium-old craft now enjoying a resurgence in popularity.
  • From repeatedly whacking steel with a heavy hammer to sitting sweat-drenched by a hearth for hours, the daily grind of blademaking is also not for the faint-hearted.
Sparks illuminate the soot-covered studio of Japanese swordsmith Akihira Kawasaki as his apprentice hammers red-hot steel, showcasing a millennium-old craft now enjoying a resurgence in popularity.
Despite the rapidly greying, shrinking population of blademakers in Japan, their fine steel swords known as katana are amassing a new generation of fans, particularly younger women, on the back of pop culture.
Driving the sword boom of the last decade has been video game "Touken Ranbu," where swords take on the form of handsome men, with more recent hits like US series "Shogun" and anime "Demon Slayer" also feeding the trend.
"It's really encouraging to see more young people who genuinely love swords and engage with them so deeply," 57-year-old Kawasaki told AFP.
Katana buffs "used to be exclusively male", he said, with "these old men dismissive or quite scornful of younger people showing interest, condescendingly telling them: 'You don't know nearly as much about swords as we do'." 
"It was no fun community". 
The 2015 release of "Touken Ranbu" has since turned some of its fans into serious admirers of the katana, the name given to the lightweight but extremely sharp Japanese sword with a curved blade.
Among them is Minori Takumi, 25, who began poring over blades showcased at museums after getting into the game as a teen.
"I was interested in finding out what similarities an actual sword has to its matching character" in the game, she said.
"I found myself growing absorbed in the craft itself, especially the hamon" -- distinctive, milky-white patterns along the hardened edge of a katana. 
Her devotion ultimately changed her life when she joined the Bizen Osafune Sword Museum in western Japan's Setouchi city as a full-time curator.
The museum periodically displays the legendary sword "Sanchomo," a national treasure purchased by the city in 2020 for more than $3 million through crowd-funding.
Sanchomo is featured heavily in "Touken Ranbu" and whenever the museum exhibits it, "our visitor numbers skyrocket", Tumi Grendel Markan, a cultural guide at the museum, told AFP, calling their demographic "about 80 percent female".
"That's, I think, the biggest impact we've seen within Japan," Markan said, while international shows like "Shogun" have helped "introduce a new generation of people to samurai culture and Japanese swords".
The runaway success of "Demon Slayer" too, has seen DIY buffs and craftsmen worldwide post YouTube videos recreating some of its characters' outlandish katana, and racking up millions of views.

The daily grind

Despite the boom, swordsmiths themselves are far from thriving.
Their numbers nationwide have halved to around 160 from nearly 40 years ago, with many in their 70s or 80s, according to the All Japan Swordsmith Association.
Young recruits are scared away in part by the unpaid, mandatory apprenticeship that lasts at least five years, explained Tetsuya Tsubouchi, who heads the association's business unit.
From repeatedly whacking steel with a heavy hammer to sitting sweat-drenched by a hearth for hours, the daily grind of blademaking is also not for the faint-hearted.
But more fundamentally, "you can barely make ends meet" as a swordsmith today, with prices kept low by disdain for newly crafted swords among the industry old guard and collectors, 66-year-old Tsubouchi said.
"The view still exists within our industry that ancient swords are undeniably the best," he said.
Kawasaki's work is an exception, with his pieces selling for tens of thousands of dollars.
As well as "Touken Ranbu" fans seeking replicas of their favourite katana, practitioners of martial arts such as Iaijutsu value their practicality as weapons, he said.
But what he really wants is the katana recognised not as an antiquity but as a "masterpiece" of contemporary art.
Not all of his fellow swordsmiths see their work this way.
Some are content to produce quality products "but never exercise creativity", he said.
As long as this mindset prevails, the contemporary katana will continue to be undervalued, Kawasaki warned.
"Unless we declare ourselves artists of steel, I doubt swordsmiths will ever be properly recognised."
tmo/aph/fox/abs

employment

More American women holding multiple jobs as high costs sting

BY MYRIAM LEMETAYER

  • "I go to my shift at Tory Burch from 9 am to 1 pm, I come home, I pick up my son from school," Dionicio adds. 
  • Cindy Dionicio is a waitress, a saleswoman and a cleaner -- sometimes all in the same day.
  • "I go to my shift at Tory Burch from 9 am to 1 pm, I come home, I pick up my son from school," Dionicio adds. 
Cindy Dionicio is a waitress, a saleswoman and a cleaner -- sometimes all in the same day. Like her, nearly nine million US workers hold multiple jobs, squeezed by high costs of living.
On short video platform TikTok, the 26-year-old Delaware resident's depictions of her busy days receive tens of thousands of views or more.
Twice a week, "I wake up at 3:30 am, I head to work by four at Dunkin' Donuts," she recounts.
After a three-hour shift, she drops her son off at school before occasionally picking up a sales shift at a store of luxury brand Tory Burch.
"I go to my shift at Tory Burch from 9 am to 1 pm, I come home, I pick up my son from school," Dionicio adds. 
Depending on the day, she sometimes also cleans a dental office from 5 pm to 7 pm.
On top of that, she sells cleaning services for homes and vacation rentals, and is starting to receive income as a social media influencer.
She told AFP that she does not regret giving up her full-time job to juggle multiple gigs.
She makes sure that she has weekends off, goes to church on Sundays and ensures that she has family time.
"Me and my husband, we both work and we are saving money to get a house," she said, adding that they still live with her parents.

'Very hard'

US government data shows the unemployment rate still relatively low at 4.4 percent as of December. 
But the number of people working multiple jobs has risen. The number of women juggling two part-time jobs rose 20 percent year-on-year. 
Updated figures for January will be released on Wednesday. 
It is more common for women to hold several jobs, with 6.1 percent of the working population doing so. In contrast, the figure for men is 4.9 percent.
The employment market is becoming more fragile, Federal Reserve official Michelle Bowman warned in January.
"The share of those working part time for economic reasons, meaning not by choice, has increased considerably," she said.
"This has coincided with a rise in the share of multiple job holders, suggesting that an increasing number of workers struggle to make ends meet," Bowman added.
This is the case for Valeria, 59, who declined to share her last name.
She told AFP that she is unable to financially support her daughter, who is studying in Prague.
"It's very hard -- very, very hard -- because the prices of utilities, the prices of food, the health insurance, everything goes up," said Valeria, who is divorced.
At the end of the month, she added, she has barely a few hundred dollars left and "no room" for savings at all.
The art conservator's income also fluctuates depending on the assignments she receives from institutions and individuals.
She has also worked for a high-end supermarket, but said they paid poorly.
Valeria added that she cannot afford to fall ill, fearing that she could "go into foreclosure" if saddled with hospital bills that would otherwise have gone to paying her mortgage.
She does not think she will be able to retire for another 15 years.

A choice, sometimes

Some research shows that younger workers may prefer holding multiple part-time jobs rather than a full-time role, said Laura Ullrich, director of North America economic research at employment platform Indeed.
"With the amount of inflation we've had in recent years and the cost of housing increasing and other things, it's reasonable to think that affordability is a consideration for some families," she said.
This can push people towards taking on multiple jobs.
To Valeria, President Donald Trump's administration does not care enough about people who struggle to get by.
But she believes it was no better under Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden.
"You always feel like, where is the American dream? You know, because we are very far from the American Dream these days," she said.
myl/ni/bys/ksb

funeral

Till death do us bark: Brazilian state lets pets be buried with owners

  • Conservative governor Tarcisio de Freitas on Tuesday signed the so-called Bob Coveiro law that will allow pets to be buried in family graves or mausoleums across Sao Paulo state.
  • In pet-mad Brazil, the state of Sao Paulo will allow animals to be buried in family graves starting Tuesday, with a law recognizing "the emotional bond" that exists between humans and their household critters.
  • Conservative governor Tarcisio de Freitas on Tuesday signed the so-called Bob Coveiro law that will allow pets to be buried in family graves or mausoleums across Sao Paulo state.
In pet-mad Brazil, the state of Sao Paulo will allow animals to be buried in family graves starting Tuesday, with a law recognizing "the emotional bond" that exists between humans and their household critters.
Brazil has the world's third largest pet population, with 160 million animal companions, according to data from the Pet Brasil Institute.
The law was inspired by local dog Bob Coveiro, who lived for 10 years in a municipal cemetery after his owner was buried there.
When the dog died in 2021, he was allowed to be buried alongside his human.
Conservative governor Tarcisio de Freitas on Tuesday signed the so-called Bob Coveiro law that will allow pets to be buried in family graves or mausoleums across Sao Paulo state.
The measure comes as the country of 213 million people has been gripped by outrage over the death of a beloved community street dog named "Orelha" (Ear) in the southern coastal city Florianopolis -- who was brutally killed by a group of teenagers, allegedly from wealthy families.
The case -- which even drew the attention of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva -- sparked protests in several main cities, and local media are following every twist and turn in the investigation.
With a declining birth rate and burgeoning middle class, Brazil's strong pet culture is reflected in a growing range of services for pets, from luxury spas to hotels.
In January, Sao Paulo passed another law recognizing the "cultural significance" of the ubiquitous caramel-colored Brazilian street dog known as a "Caramelo" -- which featured in a 2025 Netflix film.
The goal of the law was to "combat prejudice against animals without a defined breed."
ffb/app/fb/md

climate

US to scrap cornerstone of climate regulation this week

  • "The Endangerment Finding is the legal prerequisite used by the Obama and Biden Administrations to justify trillions of dollars of greenhouse gas regulations covering new vehicles and engines," it added.
  • President Donald Trump's administration is expected to finalize this week its repeal of a foundational scientific determination that underpins the US government's authority to regulate greenhouse gas pollution.
  • "The Endangerment Finding is the legal prerequisite used by the Obama and Biden Administrations to justify trillions of dollars of greenhouse gas regulations covering new vehicles and engines," it added.
President Donald Trump's administration is expected to finalize this week its repeal of a foundational scientific determination that underpins the US government's authority to regulate greenhouse gas pollution.
The Environmental Protection Agency last summer proposed reversing the so-called Endangerment Finding of 2009, in what was seen as a major blow to climate action in the world's biggest historic contributor of planet-warming emissions. 
"This amounts to the largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States," EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin told The Wall Street Journal.
The finding under then-president Barack Obama concluded that six greenhouse gases -- including carbon dioxide and methane -- endanger public health and welfare by driving climate change.
That determination flowed from a 2007 Supreme Court decision, Massachusetts v. EPA, which ruled that greenhouse gases qualify as pollutants under the Clean Air Act and directed the EPA to determine whether they pose a danger to public health and welfare.
While the finding initially applied only to a section of the Clean Air Act governing vehicle emissions, it was later incorporated into other regulations.
As a result, repealing the finding would immediately revoke the requirement for federal greenhouse gas emissions standards for automobiles.
And it would place a broader suite of climate regulations in legal jeopardy, including limits on carbon dioxide from power plants and methane from oil and gas operations.
"The Obama Administration made one of the most damaging decisions in modern history," the EPA said in a statement to AFP Tuesday.
"The Endangerment Finding is the legal prerequisite used by the Obama and Biden Administrations to justify trillions of dollars of greenhouse gas regulations covering new vehicles and engines," it added.
The administration's draft proposal rests on both legal and scientific arguments. Procedurally, it asserts that greenhouse gases should not be treated as pollutants in the traditional sense because their effects on human health are indirect and global rather than local. 
Regulating them within US borders, it contends, cannot meaningfully resolve a worldwide problem.
On the scientific front, the administration has sought to downplay the scale and impacts of human-caused climate change. 
It commissioned a Energy Department working group filled with skeptics of human-caused climate change to produce a report challenging the scientific consensus.
That report was widely criticized for misattribution and misstating the conclusions of the studies it cited. Environmental groups sued the Energy Department, alleging the panel was convened behind closed doors in violation of federal rules. Energy Secretary Chris Wright later disbanded the group.
Environmental organizations are expected to move quickly to challenge in court the elimination of the 2009 determination. 
"If the EPA follows through and tries to repeal the Endangerment Finding, we will see them in court," Manish Bapna, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said recently.
ia/dw