patent

Brazil declares acai a national fruit to ward off 'biopiracy'

BY FRAN BLANDY

  • Cases like these drove the law declaring acai a national fruit, first introduced in 2011 and signed earlier this month.
  • Brazil has declared the acai berry a national fruit, a move to stamp its ownership on the popular "superfood" as concerns grow about foreign companies staking claims to the Amazon's biological riches.
  • Cases like these drove the law declaring acai a national fruit, first introduced in 2011 and signed earlier this month.
Brazil has declared the acai berry a national fruit, a move to stamp its ownership on the popular "superfood" as concerns grow about foreign companies staking claims to the Amazon's biological riches.
Acai has been a savory staple in the Amazon for centuries, eaten as a thick paste alongside fish and manioc flour.
The dark purple berry went global in the early 2000s after it was reinvented as a sweet sorbet, often topped with granola and fruit, and marketed for its antioxidant-rich properties.
Acai's active ingredients piqued the interest of food and cosmetic companies worldwide.
In one case cited in parliamentary debates, a Japanese company trademarked the use of the name acai in 2003. It took Brazil four years to cancel the registration.
Cases like these drove the law declaring acai a national fruit, first introduced in 2011 and signed earlier this month.
Brazil's agriculture ministry told AFP the measure helps showcase acai as a "genuinely Brazilian product" that generates income for thousands of Amazonian families.
However, experts say the law is largely symbolic and aimed at highlighting the challenge of growing international interest in a wide range of fruits native to the Amazon.
Brazil is one of several countries increasingly concerned about so-called "biopiracy," the use of genetic resources without permission or benefit-sharing.
The law "helps prioritize the issue on the public agenda," said Bruno Kato, founder of Horta da Terra, a company that develops and markets Amazonian ingredients.

'Enormous' risk

Sheila de Souza Correa de Melo, an intellectual property analyst at Brazil's Agricultural Research Corporation, Embrapa, who works in the Amazon, told AFP the law was "primarily symbolic and culturally affirming."
Brazil is one of the most biodiverse nations in the world, and a wide range of fruits with unique properties are at "enormous" risk of being used in new products developed and patented abroad, said de Melo.
Kato cited the "emblematic" case of the creamy fruit, cupuacu, which is related to cocoa and used in desserts and cosmetics.
Cupuacu was registered as a trademark by another Japanese company in the late 1990s, which demanded the payment of $10,000 in royalties for any product mentioning "cupuacu" on the label.
It took two decades to overturn the trademark.
Several patents have been filed abroad for specifically developed uses of acai's active ingredients in food and cosmetics, said de Melo.

'Clear rules'

Ana Costa, vice president of sustainability at Brazilian eco-conscious cosmetics giant Natura -- known for its use of Amazonian ingredients such as acai -- told AFP that the law showed the need for "clear rules that guarantee the fair sharing of benefits."
Brazil is a signatory to the 2014 Nagoya Protocol, an international treaty on sharing benefits from genetic resources.
The treaty has run into a major loophole as genetic data has become digitized, and researchers can now merely download a DNA sequence and use it to develop medicine or cosmetics, without physically collecting plants or seeds.
De Melo said the main challenge for Brazil was that raw materials such as acai pulp were often exported to countries which then carry out the research needed to create high-value products.
She said Brazil should focus on investing in research and technological development in the Amazon to generate wealth locally.
fb/sla/mjw

children

Will the EU ban social media for children in 2026?

BY RAZIYE AKKOC

  • The European Parliament has already called for a social media ban on under-16s -- with Malaysia, Norway and New Zealand also planning similar restrictions.
  • As France moves one step closer to banning social media for children, the European Union is seriously considering whether it's time for the bloc to follow suit.
  • The European Parliament has already called for a social media ban on under-16s -- with Malaysia, Norway and New Zealand also planning similar restrictions.
As France moves one step closer to banning social media for children, the European Union is seriously considering whether it's time for the bloc to follow suit.
Pressure has been rising since Australia's social media ban for under-16s entered into force, and Brussels is keeping a close eye on how successful it proves, with the ban already facing legal challenges.
France had been spearheading a months-long push for similar EU action alongside member states including Denmark, Greece and Spain -- before deciding to strike out on its own.
Its lower house of parliament this week passed a bill that would ban social media use by under-15s, which still needs Senate approval to become law.
At EU level, tough rules already regulate the digital space, with multiple probes ongoing into the impact on children of platforms including Instagram and TikTok.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has advocated going further with a minimum age limit, but first wants to hear from experts on what approach the 27-nation bloc should take.

'All doors open'

Promised by the end of 2025, a consultative panel on social media use promised by von der Leyen is now expected to be set up "early" this year.
Its objective? To advise the president on what the EU's next steps should be to further protect children online, commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said.
"We're leaving all doors open. We will get feedback, and then we will take potential future decisions in this regard," Regnier said on Tuesday.
The European Parliament has already called for a social media ban on under-16s -- with Malaysia, Norway and New Zealand also planning similar restrictions.
France isn't alone in opting not to wait for EU-level action.
Denmark last year said it would ban access to social media for minors under 15.
Both countries are among five EU states currently testing an age-verification app they hope will prevent children accessing harmful content online.
Commission spokesman Regnier said that tool, which is to be rolled out by the end of the year, would be a way for Brussels to enforce compliance with whatever rules are adopted at national level, in France or elsewhere.

EU vows to 'close cases'

While the EU has yet to ban children from social media, its content law known as the Digital Services Act (DSA) gives regulators the power to force companies to modify their platforms to better protect minors online.
For example, the DSA bans targeted advertising to children.
The EU can "use the DSA to impact the way that children interact with social media", Paul Oliver Richter, affiliate fellow at the Bruegel think tank said.
In February and May 2024 respectively, the EU launched probes into TikTok, and Meta's Facebook and Instagram, over fears the platforms may not be doing enough to address negative impacts on young people.
In both investigations, the EU expressed fears over the so-called "rabbit hole" effect -- which occurs when users are fed related content based on an algorithm, in some cases leading to more extreme content.
Nearly two years on, the EU has yet to wrap up the probes, although one official says regulators hope to deliver preliminary findings in the first half of the year.
EU spokesman Regnier has insisted "work is heavily ongoing".
Without referring to any specific probes, he said that "for certain investigations, we need more time", but added: "We will close these cases."
raz/ec/cc/ceg

politics

Celebrities call for action against US immigration raids

  • Below are some of the appeals for action by celebrities expressing their discontent with President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown: - Pedro Pascal - The Chilean-American actor shared a series of posts on his Instagram, calling for a national strike to protest the killings and demanding more transparency from the federal government on the actions of ICE agents. 
  • Celebrities from movie stars to pop singers are speaking up with calls to action against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids after two Americans were shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis.
  • Below are some of the appeals for action by celebrities expressing their discontent with President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown: - Pedro Pascal - The Chilean-American actor shared a series of posts on his Instagram, calling for a national strike to protest the killings and demanding more transparency from the federal government on the actions of ICE agents. 
Celebrities from movie stars to pop singers are speaking up with calls to action against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids after two Americans were shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis.
From red-carpet premieres to social media, the usually politics-averse celebrity crowd have been swept up in the fray after the shooting death of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, on Saturday. 
Below are some of the appeals for action by celebrities expressing their discontent with President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown:

Pedro Pascal

The Chilean-American actor shared a series of posts on his Instagram, calling for a national strike to protest the killings and demanding more transparency from the federal government on the actions of ICE agents. 
"Truth is a line of demarcation between a democratic government and authoritarian regime," Pascal wrote, as he paid tribute to Pretti and another US citizen killed in Minneapolis this month, 37-year-old Renee Good. 
"The American people deserve to know what happened," he added.

Jamie Lee Curtis

Oscar-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis also joined the call for national protests against ICE raids. 
"THESE WERE AMERICANS! SHOT BY OUR GOVERNMENT!" she wrote in a post on Sunday accompanied by drawings of Pretti's and Good's faces. 
On Tuesday, she shared a photo of Minneapolis and captioned it: "I BELIEVE IN US!"
- Martha Stewart - 
The businesswoman behind a domestic goods empire took to her Instagram to speak out after she was encouraged by her 14-year-old granddaughter, she said. 
"I am disheartened and sad each and every day... that we are told immigrants, which most of us are or descended from are unwelcome," wrote the 84-year-old Stewart. 
She also expressed discontent that "we cannot show our frustration in peaceful demonstrations and that we can be attacked and even killed by Federal troops."

Katy Perry

The "Firework" singer posted on her Instagram story to urge her American followers to call their elected representatives in the US Senate, urging them to pressure ICE through budget oversight. 
"Turn anger into action," the 41-year-old singer wrote.

Kerry Washington

The "Scandal" actress posted a video to her 7.6 million Instagram followers explaining step-by-step how to call their elected representatives and demand funding be blocked for ICE. 
"You are not powerless over what's happening in Minnesota," she said. There is something you can do about it right now." 
Washington then demonstrated calling her representative's office in California on camera.

Billie Eilish

The 24-year-old singer-songwriter called out other celebrities to speak on Pretti's death. 
"Hey my fellow celebrities u gonna speak up?" the nine-time Grammy winner wrote in an Instagram story post.
Eilish has since shared posts denouncing tactics used by ICE during their immigration raids. 
pr/cr/jgc/mlm

conflict

Russian strikes in Ukraine kill 12, target passenger train

  • Deadly strikes on energy infrastructure that have left many Ukrainians without power in freezing temperatures have continued since Russian and Ukrainian negotiators met in the United Arab Emirates last week for US-brokered talks aimed at ending the conflict.
  • Russian forces in Ukraine killed 12 people and struck energy infrastructure and a passenger train overnight on Tuesday, authorities said, days after negotiators from both sides held direct talks aimed at ending nearly four years of war.
  • Deadly strikes on energy infrastructure that have left many Ukrainians without power in freezing temperatures have continued since Russian and Ukrainian negotiators met in the United Arab Emirates last week for US-brokered talks aimed at ending the conflict.
Russian forces in Ukraine killed 12 people and struck energy infrastructure and a passenger train overnight on Tuesday, authorities said, days after negotiators from both sides held direct talks aimed at ending nearly four years of war.
In northeastern Kharkiv region, a drone hit a carriage of a train transporting nearly 200 passengers, killing at least five people, Ukraine's Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko posted on X. 
"There is not and cannot be any military justification for killing civilians in a train carriage," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram.
Prosecutors posted images of the smouldering carriage on social media, which regional emergency services later said had been extinguished.
A barrage of more than 50 Russian drones killed three people and wounded more than 30 in the southern city of Odesa, regional officials said.
The Black Sea city key for Ukrainian exports has been routinely pummelled by Russian forces.
Regional governor Oleg Kiper said a woman, 39 weeks pregnant, and two girls were among the wounded.
An AFP journalist at the scene saw the collapsed facade of a residential building and rescue workers searching the rubble for victims.
Zelensky said the bombardment undermined peace efforts and urged allies to step up pressure on Moscow to end the war.
"Every such Russian strike erodes the diplomacy that is still ongoing and undermines the efforts of partners who are helping to end this war," he wrote on social media.
Deadly strikes on energy infrastructure that have left many Ukrainians without power in freezing temperatures have continued since Russian and Ukrainian negotiators met in the United Arab Emirates last week for US-brokered talks aimed at ending the conflict.
The next round is expected to take place on February 1, according to Zelensky.

Millions without power

Ukrainian private energy firm DTEK said Russian forces had inflicted "enormous" damage on one of its facilities in the Odesa region overnight.
Kiper said dozens of residential buildings, a church, kindergarten and schools had been damaged in the attacks.
A married couple aged 45 and 48 were killed in Sloviansk in the eastern Donetsk region, which the Kremlin claims to have annexed. Their 20-year-old son survived the attack, local prosecutors said.
In the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, a 58-year-old man was killed in a drone attack. A 72-year-old was killed in her home by Russian shelling in the southern Kherson region.
Russian drone and missile attacks have knocked out power, lighting and heat to millions of Ukrainians across the country.
The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 165 attack drones overnight, and officials said an infrastructure facility in the western Lviv region was hit.
State gas company Naftogaz said the attack had left one of its facilities on fire in western Ukraine, describing it as the fifth attack of its kind this month.
Russian forces are slowly advancing across the front. The Russian defence ministry announced on Tuesday it had captured two more villages in the Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions.
bur-jbr-fv-blb/tw/gv/ceg/mjw

research

How to assess microplastics in our bodies? Scientists have a plan

BY DANIEL LAWLER

  • No one disputes that these mostly invisible pieces of plastic are ubiquitous throughout the environment -- they have been found everywhere from the tops of mountains to the bottom of oceans.
  • How many tiny pieces of plastic are currently inside your body?
  • No one disputes that these mostly invisible pieces of plastic are ubiquitous throughout the environment -- they have been found everywhere from the tops of mountains to the bottom of oceans.
How many tiny pieces of plastic are currently inside your body?
A series of headline-grabbing studies in the last few years have claimed to have found microplastics throughout human bodies -- inside blood, organs and even brains.
However, some of this research has recently come under stinging criticism from scientists.
Some have warned that the studies could not rule out contamination from plastic inside laboratories, or that certain techniques could be confusing human tissue with plastic.
Seeking a solution to this escalating dispute, 30 scientists from 20 research institutions across the world proposed a new framework on Tuesday for evaluating microplastic research.
The proposal, inspired by how forensic science weighs evidence found at crime scenes, offers researchers a consistent way to communicate how confident they are that microplastic has actually been detected.
No one disputes that these mostly invisible pieces of plastic are ubiquitous throughout the environment -- they have been found everywhere from the tops of mountains to the bottom of oceans.
It is also "very likely" that we are regularly ingesting microplastics from air and food, Imperial College London researcher Leon Barron told AFP.
But there is simply not enough evidence yet to say whether they are bad for our health, added the senior author of the new proposal.

Inside our brains?

Microplastics -- and even smaller nanoplastics -- are very difficult to detect.
Yet some research in this new and rapidly expanding field has claimed to have found particles in "less-plausible" areas of the human body, Barron explained.
For example, a study published in Nature Medicine early last year announced it had detected relatively large particles inside the brains of recently deceased people.
Some scientists were sceptical because this would require the particles to cross the powerful defences of the blood-brain barrier.
Experts have also pointed out that the technique used in this study and several others, which is called pyrolysis-GC-MS, can confuse fat with polyethylene, which is commonly used in plastic packaging. 
In February 2025, CNN reported that the study's senior author, Matthew Campen of the University of New Mexico, had said the amount of plastic found in a brain sample was equivalent to a plastic spoon.
However Campen told AFP on Tuesday that "the concept of a 'plastic spoon' is a media invention".
"The biggest issue was extrapolation of a single sample of the brain to the entire brain, which we are now establishing was a meaningful overestimation," he added.
He also welcomed the "groundswell of interest" in the subject and said he looked forward to research that "will provide greater confidence and accuracy in micro- and nanoplastics measurements".
Other research has been disparaged for not using proper quality-control measures.
Without these measures, "it is impossible to know whether detected plastics originate from the tissue itself or from containers, chemicals, laboratory equipment or plastic particles present in the air," researcher Dusan Materic told AFP.
This would mean the results are "simply not scientific", said the expert at Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Germany.

Inspired by forensic science

The new framework proposal, published in the journal Environment & Health, calls for researchers to use several different techniques when looking for microplastics to rule out any potential false positives.
Barron compared the proposal to a framework once agreed among forensic scientists about how to evaluate fibres found in clothes during a criminal investigation.
The idea is to bring "all of the different labs doing this type of work into an aligned language" that expresses how confident they are that they detected microplastic, he said.
The idea is already "starting to gain momentum", he added.
The proposal requires scientists and journal articles to be transparent about their research, release all the raw data and include quality-control measures.
"To be clear, microplastics are a problem," Barron emphasised.
All the research conducted thus far has been carried out in good faith, he said, adding that these are relatively normal growing pains for a new scientific field.
But precision is important -- to determine whether microplastics are harmful for our health, researchers need to know just how much of them is in our bodies.
If the ongoing scientific debate "derails that effort to try and understand if they're bad for us, that's not helpful", he said.
Campen said that rather than a debate, "what we are seeing is the scientific method."
"The challenges of detecting and quantifying nanoplastics -- shards of plastic the size of viruses -- demand intense attention, innovation, as well as scrutiny," he added.
dl/cc

addiction

TikTok settles hours before landmark social media addiction trial

BY GLENN CHAPMAN

  • TikTok's settlement joins Snapchat, which last week confirmed that it made a deal to avoid the trial brought by K.G.M. The terms were not disclosed.
  • Video sharing app TikTok has made an eleventh-hour deal to avoid a landmark US trial accusing it, along with Meta and YouTube, of addicting young people to social media, lawyers said on Tuesday.
  • TikTok's settlement joins Snapchat, which last week confirmed that it made a deal to avoid the trial brought by K.G.M. The terms were not disclosed.
Video sharing app TikTok has made an eleventh-hour deal to avoid a landmark US trial accusing it, along with Meta and YouTube, of addicting young people to social media, lawyers said on Tuesday.
The deal was made as jury selection was to begin in a Los Angeles court that could establish a legal precedent on whether social media companies deliberately designed their platforms to addict children.
The case being heard in the California state court is being called a "bellwether" proceeding because its outcome could set the tone for a tidal wave of similar litigation across the United States.
The remaining defendants in the suit are Alphabet and Meta, the tech titans behind YouTube and Instagram.
Meta co-founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg is slated to be called as a witness during the trial.
"The parties are pleased to have reached an amicable resolution of this dispute," the Social Media Victims Law Center said, noting that the terms of the settlement with TikTok are confidential.
The case focuses on allegations that a 19-year-old woman identified by the initials K.G.M. suffered severe mental harm because she was addicted to social media.
After joining YouTube at age six, Instagram at 11, Snapchat at 13, and TikTok at 14, the Californian claims to have developed an addiction to the sites that contributed to her depression, anxiety, body image issues and that stoked suicidal thoughts.
Social media firms are accused in hundreds of lawsuits of addicting young users to content that has led to depression, eating disorders, psychiatric hospitalization and even suicide.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs are explicitly borrowing strategies used in the 1990s and 2000s against the tobacco industry, which faced a similar onslaught of lawsuits arguing that companies sold a harmful product.
The trial before Judge Carolyn Kuhl is expected to start next week after a jury is selected.

'Significant victory'

"This is the first time that a social media company has ever had to face a jury for harming kids," Social Media Victims Law Center founder Matthew Bergman, whose team is involved in more than 1,000 such cases, told AFP.
The center is a legal organization dedicated to holding social media companies accountable for harms allegedly caused to young people online.
"The fact that now K.G.M. and her family get to stand in a courtroom equal to the largest, most powerful and wealthy companies in the world is, in and of itself, a very significant victory," Bergman said.
Internet titans have argued that they are shielded by Section 230 of the US Communications Decency Act, which frees them of responsibility for what social media users post.
However, this case argues those firms are culpable for business models designed to hold people's attention and to promote content that winds up harming their mental health.
"The allegations in these complaints are simply not true," said Jose Castaneda, a YouTube spokesperson.
"Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work," he added.
Meta has also rejected the allegations.
TikTok's settlement joins Snapchat, which last week confirmed that it made a deal to avoid the trial brought by K.G.M. The terms were not disclosed.
The companies face two other similar trials in the same court scheduled for later this year.
Lawsuits, including some brought by school districts, accusing social media platforms of practices endangering young users are also making their way through federal court in Northern California and state courts across the country.
gc-arp/msp

military

US sued over deadly missile strikes on alleged drug boats

  • President Donald Trump alleged at the time that "six male narcoterrorists" were killed in a boat allegedly ferrying drugs from Venezuela to the United States.
  • Relatives of two Trinidadian men killed last year in a US military strike on a boat allegedly carrying drugs filed a wrongful death lawsuit on Tuesday against the US government.
  • President Donald Trump alleged at the time that "six male narcoterrorists" were killed in a boat allegedly ferrying drugs from Venezuela to the United States.
Relatives of two Trinidadian men killed last year in a US military strike on a boat allegedly carrying drugs filed a wrongful death lawsuit on Tuesday against the US government.
It is the first such case to be brought against the Trump administration over the three dozen missile strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, which have left at least 125 people dead since September.
The suit, filed in a federal court in Massachusetts, is being brought by the families of Chad Joseph, 26, and Rishi Samaroo, 41, who were among six people killed in an October 14 strike in the Caribbean.
President Donald Trump alleged at the time that "six male narcoterrorists" were killed in a boat allegedly ferrying drugs from Venezuela to the United States.
Washington has yet to release any evidence supporting its claims that the targeted boats have links to drug cartels designated by Trump as terrorist organizations.
"The United States' unlawful killings of persons at sea including Mr Joseph and Mr Samaroo constitute wrongful deaths and extrajudicial killings," the complaint says. "These premeditated and intentional killings lack any plausible legal justification.
"Thus, they were simply murders, ordered by individuals at the highest levels of government and obeyed by military officers in the chain of command."
The case is being brought under the Death on the High Seas Act, which allows for redress for wrongful deaths at sea, and the Alien Tort Statute, which allows foreigners to file suit in US courts for rights violations.
Plaintiffs in the case are Lenore Burnley, Joseph's mother, and Sallycar Korasingh, Samaroo's sister, and they are being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR).
The family members are seeking punitive damages, the amount of which would be determined at trial.
"These are lawless killings in cold blood; killings for sport and killings for theater," CCR legal director Baher Azmy said.
The suit is "a critical step in ensuring accountability, while the individuals responsible may ultimately be answerable criminally for murder and war crimes," Azmy added.

'Must be held accountable'

In a statement, Korasingh said her brother, who had spent 15 years in prison for participation in a homicide, "was a hardworking man who paid his debt to society and was just trying to get back on his feet again."
"If the US government believed Rishi had done anything wrong, it should have arrested, charged, and detained him, not murdered him," she said.
According to the complaint, neither man was affiliated with drug cartels and they were simply hitching a ride back to Trinidad from Venezuela, where they had been engaged in fishing and farm work.
In December, the family of a Colombian man killed in another strike lodged a complaint with the Washington-based Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
The family of Alejandro Carranza Medina, 42, who was killed on September 15, rejected assertions there were drugs on his vessel and said he was a fisherman doing his job on the open sea.
The complaint accuses the United States of violating Carranza's right to life and to due process.
The IACHR is a quasi-judicial body of the Organization of American States, created to promote and protect human rights in the region.
cl/des

music

Amy Winehouse's friends 'took advantage' of father, UK court told

  • The court heard earlier that the two women sold 150 objects that had belonged to Winehouse.
  • Two friends of late British singer Amy Winehouse who sold items belonging to the star worth around £730,000 ($970,000) "took advantage" of her father's forgetfulness, a lawyer said Tuesday at London's High Court.
  • The court heard earlier that the two women sold 150 objects that had belonged to Winehouse.
Two friends of late British singer Amy Winehouse who sold items belonging to the star worth around £730,000 ($970,000) "took advantage" of her father's forgetfulness, a lawyer said Tuesday at London's High Court.
The singer's former stylist Naomi Parry and her friend Catriona Gourlay sold dozens of items, including a black Armani bag and dresses Winehouse wore on her last tour in June 2011.
Both deny acting dishonestly and say the items had been given or lent to them by the singer, even if there was no proof.
Amy's father, Mitch Winehouse, has brought a UK lawsuit against the pair, alleging they did not have the right to sell the items, which were sold between November 2021 and May 2023.
Henry Legge, representing for Winehouse, said it was claimed in an email to the late singer's father and his ex-wife Janis that the sale involved just a "few things", a description the lawyer said was "grossly misleading".
The court heard earlier that the two women sold 150 objects that had belonged to Winehouse.
Parry realised that Mitch Winehouse was in her words "lazy" about keeping tabs on such matters, Legge said.
"It is clear that they took advantage of his (Mitch Winehouse's) forgetfulness," he added.
The lawyer also hit back at suggestions he said came from the defendants' side that Mitch Winehouse was in some way "venal" or dishonest, and that the lawsuit was "motivated by that".
He described it as one of a number of "cheap shots".

'Gifts'

British singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse, who enjoyed meteoric global success, died in July 2011 from alcohol poisoning, aged just 27.
She was a distinctive figure with her beehive hairdo, heavy black eye makeup, multiple tattoos and smoky voice.
She shot to international fame with her Grammy Award-winning 2006 album "Back to Black", which included the track "Rehab", charting her battle with addiction.
According to court documents, her father believed that any sums collected from the sales organised by Los Angeles-based Julien's Auctions would be due to him.
The auctioneers had also been told that a third of the proceeds would be donated to the Amy Winehouse Foundation -- a charity set up in the singer's name working with young people to foster hope and self-reliance.
However, Winehouse's team have accused the women of failing to donate the share of proceeds to the foundation.
Parry's lawyer Beth Grossman, rejecting the accusations, said she and Gourlay had different relationships with Amy.
Yet their accounts of the singer's "generosity" and how the items came to be in their possession were "very similar".
Ted Loveday, lawyer for Gourlay, argued at an earlier hearing that demanding proof of loaning or gifting was unrealistic in the circumstances.
"If a 19-year-old gives a scarf or a pair of earrings to their friends, no one signs a contract," he said.
A judgment in the case will be given at a later date.
har/aks/phz

children

French lawmakers pass bill banning social media for under-15s

BY LUCIE AUBOURG

  • On Monday, nine child protection associations urged lawmakers to "hold platforms accountable", not "ban" children from social media.
  • French lawmakers have passed a bill that would ban social media use by under-15s, a move championed by President Emmanuel Macron as a way to protect children from excessive screen time.
  • On Monday, nine child protection associations urged lawmakers to "hold platforms accountable", not "ban" children from social media.
French lawmakers have passed a bill that would ban social media use by under-15s, a move championed by President Emmanuel Macron as a way to protect children from excessive screen time.
The lower house, the National Assembly, adopted the text by a vote of 130 to 21 in a lengthy overnight session from Monday to Tuesday.
It will now go to the Senate, France's upper house, ahead of becoming law.
Macron, on X, hailed the vote as a "major step" to protect French children and teenagers.
The legislation, which also provides for a ban on mobile phones in high schools, would make France the second country to take such a step following Australia's ban for under-16s in December.
As social media has grown, so has concern that too much screen time and addictive algorithms are harming child development and contributing to mental health problems.
"The emotions of our children and teenagers are not for sale or to be manipulated, either by American platforms or Chinese algorithms," Macron said in a video broadcast on Saturday.
Authorities want the measures to be enforced from the start of the 2026 school year, in September, for new accounts.
Former prime minister Gabriel Attal, who leads Macron's Renaissance party in the lower house, said he hoped the Senate would pass the bill by mid-February so that the ban could come into force on September 1.
He added that "social media platforms will then have until December 31 to deactivate existing accounts" that do not comply with the age limit.
While backing France's right to impose such a ban, the European Commission on Tuesday said that any enforcement would lie with the EU, provided the bill conforms to the bloc's laws.
Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier told reporters it would ultimately be up to the EU to ensure that platforms implement adequate age-verification tools to help any ban become a reality.
- 'Destiny of our country' - 
In addition to combatting the impact of screens and social media on the mental health of young adolescents, Attal stressed that the measure would counter "a number of powers that, through social media platforms, want to colonise minds". 
"France can be a pioneer in Europe in a month: we can change the lives of our young people and our families, and perhaps also change the destiny of our country in terms of independence," he said.
France's public health watchdog ANSES said this month that social media such as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram had several detrimental effects on adolescents, particularly girls, though it was not the sole reason for their declining mental health.
The risks listed include cyberbullying and exposure to violent content.
The legislation stipulates that "access to an online social networking service provided by an online platform is prohibited for minors under the age of 15".
The draft bill excludes online encyclopedias and educational platforms.
An effective age verification system would have to come into force for the ban to become reality. Work on such a system is underway at the European level.
An MP in the hard-left France Unbowed party, Arnaud Saint-Martin, criticised the ban as "a form of digital paternalism" and an "overly simplistic" response to the negative impacts of technology.
On Monday, nine child protection associations urged lawmakers to "hold platforms accountable", not "ban" children from social media.
Macron, though, has publicly backed the ban, along with prohibiting pupils having mobile phones in high schools.
In 2018, France banned children from using mobile phones in colleges, the schools attended between the ages of 11 and 15.
Former prime minister Elisabeth Borne expressed reservations about the measure on Monday.
"It's more complicated than that," she told broadcaster France 2. "We first need to make sure that the ban is properly enforced in middle schools."
la-lum-as/ekf/giv/rmb

influencer

American influencer shares 'another' Africa on tour

  • Subscribers to his channel have soaked up his African tour, with some black Americans posting emotional videos of their own saying IShowSpeed had opened their eyes to a completely different vision of the continent, far from TV cliches of endless poverty and violence.
  • IShowSpeed, a 21-year-old African American influencer, has raced a cheetah, leapt with Maasai warriors and drawn huge crowds in a month-long tour of Africa that has also busted cliches about the continent.
  • Subscribers to his channel have soaked up his African tour, with some black Americans posting emotional videos of their own saying IShowSpeed had opened their eyes to a completely different vision of the continent, far from TV cliches of endless poverty and violence.
IShowSpeed, a 21-year-old African American influencer, has raced a cheetah, leapt with Maasai warriors and drawn huge crowds in a month-long tour of Africa that has also busted cliches about the continent.
The YouTube and Twitch star's tour, which started on December 29, has taken him to 20 countries, showing his tens of millions of followers a different side of Africa as he visited a diamond mine in Botswana, discovered Ethiopia's rich cuisine and attended the Africa Cup of Nations football final in Morocco.
IShowSpeed -- born in Cincinnati, Ohio as Darren Jason Watkins Jr. -- is one of the most-followed influencers on the planet.
He hit 50 million YouTube subscribers this month, Rolling Stone magazine named him the Most Influential Creator of 2025 and Forbes estimates his net worth at $20 million.
Subscribers to his channel have soaked up his African tour, with some black Americans posting emotional videos of their own saying IShowSpeed had opened their eyes to a completely different vision of the continent, far from TV cliches of endless poverty and violence.
"He shows another Africa, an Africa on the move, modernising, eager to achieve great things. He goes to places with modern infrastructure," Qemal Affagnon from Internet Sans Frontieres (Internet without Borders) told AFP.
"At a time when the US executive can sometimes portray Africa in rather pejorative terms, he offers a different narrative. It’s something that has clearly resonated with his American audience," the social media expert said.
In Lagos, Nigeria's megacity of around 20 million inhabitants, the influencer celebrated his birthday as well as hitting 50 million subscribers on YouTube. 
In Angola's capital Luanda, he marvelled at the warmth of the reaction to his visit.
"I love the love in Africa. The energy here is crazy," he enthused. On stops in Kenya and Addis Ababa, he was smitten by the architecture.
He has, however, been careful not to broach the subject of politics during his visits, especially in countries reputed to be autocratic.
Living up to his nickname "Speed", he has applied the same formula as on other trips around the world -- being filmed live by his teams as he dashes around at a frantic pace, alternating cultural discoveries, interactions with vendors or street artists with various antics.

True image

The tour has netted him nearly four million new YouTube subscribers in a month. His broadcast from the final of the Africa Cup of Nations has already racked up 15 million views.
His popularity is not contained to YouTube -- he also has 45 million subscribers on Instagram and 47 million on TikTok.
For his fans, he is not setting out to present himself as the saviour of Africa but to show its true image.
"To be the first streamer from America to tour the entire Africa, it's something historical," Nigerian YouTuber Stephen Oluwafisayomi, 24, known as Stevosky, said.
"It's a very big edge he just unlocked in the streaming industry," he added.
The publicity may appeal to some governments keen to attract new visitors.
"There are countries that are currently reaching out to certain communities of people of African descent and it can serve as a link between these two worlds," Affagnon said.

Live from the pyramids

In Nairobi, he met Tourism Minister Rebecca Miano and received a warm welcome via a video message from President William Ruto, while in Egypt he received permission to film live inside the Great Pyramid of Giza.
IShowSpeed started out like many streamers by filming himself playing video games.
But the avid football, and in particular Cristiano Ronaldo fan was not content to just remain in his gaming chair and has previously travelled in Asia, Europe and South America.
He has won several top streaming awards in recent years. 
In 2023, he became eligible to return to Twitch following a two-year ban from the platform for "sexual coercion or intimidation".
In Africa, where he's donned the national football team's shirt in each country he has visited, he has at times also been targeted, either by over-enthusiastic fans or by hostile members of the public.
He had to break off a live broadcast in Algeria because football supporters were throwing bottles at him in a stadium during a match.
As his Africa tour draws to a close this week, the streamer plans to take a DNA test which he hopes will reveal his origins on the continent.
While in Liberia he met somebody with the same surname as him whose ancestors had left Ohio, IShowSpeed's home region. "He's really my ancestor," the YouTube star quipped.
bur-pid/bam/jhb-kjm/cw

migration

Spain to regularise 500,000 undocumented migrants

  • The plan will be passed through a decree that will not need approval in parliament, where the Socialist-led coalition lacks a majority.
  • Spain's left-wing government approved Tuesday a plan to regularise around 500,000 undocumented migrants by decree, the country's latest break with harsher policies elsewhere in Europe.
  • The plan will be passed through a decree that will not need approval in parliament, where the Socialist-led coalition lacks a majority.
Spain's left-wing government approved Tuesday a plan to regularise around 500,000 undocumented migrants by decree, the country's latest break with harsher policies elsewhere in Europe.
Migration Minister Elma Saiz the beneficiaries would be able to work "in any sector, in any part of the country", and extolled "the positive impact" of migration.
"We are talking about estimations, probably more or less the figures may be around half a million people," she told public broadcaster RTVE.
Saiz said at a news conference after Tuesday's cabinet meeting that "we are strengthening a migration model based on human rights, integration, coexistence, and compatible with economic growth and social cohesion".
The measure will affect those living in Spain for at least five months and who applied for international protection before December 31, 2025.
Applicants must have a clean criminal record. The regularisation will also apply to their children who already live in Spain.
The application period is expected to open in April and continue until the end of June.
The plan will be passed through a decree that will not need approval in parliament, where the Socialist-led coalition lacks a majority.
The conservative and far-right opposition lashed out at the government, saying the regularisation would encourage more illegal immigration. 
Alberto Nunez Feijoo, head of the Popular Party, the main right-wing opposition group, wrote on X that the "ludicrous" plan would "overwhelm our public services".
"In Socialist Spain, illegality is rewarded," he said, vowing to change migration policy "from top to bottom" if he took power.

 'Social justice'

The Spanish Catholic Church was among the organisations praising the move, commending "an act of social justice and recognition".
Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says Spain needs migration to fill workforce gaps and counteract an ageing population that could imperil pensions and the welfare state.
Sanchez has said migration accounted for 80 percent of Spain's dynamic economic growth in the last six years.
Official data released Tuesday showed that 52,500 of the 76,200 people who pushed up employment numbers in the final quarter of last year were foreigners, contributing to the lowest jobless figure since 2008.
Spain's more open stance contrasts with a trend that has seen governments toughen migration policies under pressure from far-right parties that have gained ground across the European Union.
Around 840,000 undocumented migrants lived in Spain at the beginning of January 2025, most of them Latin American, according to the Funcas think-tank. 
Spain is one of Europe's main gateways for irregular migrants fleeing poverty, conflict and persecution, with tens of thousands of mostly sub-Saharan African arrivals landing in the Canary Islands archipelago off northwestern Africa.
According to the latest figures published by the National Statistics Institute, more than seven million foreigners live in Spain out of a total population of 49.4 million people.
bur-imm/js

politics

Minneapolis mayor says 'some' US immigration agents to leave city

BY ROBERTO SCHMIDT WITH SEBASTIAN SMITH IN WASHINGTON

  • Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in a post on social media platform X that "some federal agents" will begin leaving the city, but did not provide specifics of how many.
  • Some federal immigration agents will leave Minneapolis Tuesday, the city's mayor said, as US President Donald Trump struck a conciliatory note after nationwide outrage over the killings of two American citizens.
  • Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in a post on social media platform X that "some federal agents" will begin leaving the city, but did not provide specifics of how many.
Some federal immigration agents will leave Minneapolis Tuesday, the city's mayor said, as US President Donald Trump struck a conciliatory note after nationwide outrage over the killings of two American citizens.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in a post on social media platform X that "some federal agents" will begin leaving the city, but did not provide specifics of how many.
"I will continue pushing for the rest involved in this operation to go," Frey added.
Frey said he spoke with Trump on Monday, adding: "The president agreed the present situation can't continue."
The White House was scrambling as video of the latest shooting went viral, prompting street protests, criticism from former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and, increasingly, from within Trump's Republican Party.
In a marked change of tone, Trump said he had sent his top border enforcer Tom Homan -- whom the president described as "tough but fair" -- to Minneapolis on Monday.
Homan "will report directly to me," Trump wrote on his TruthSocial platform.
Homan's appointment came as US media reported that controversial Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino will be leaving Minneapolis, though the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has vehemently denied he has been "relieved of his duties," DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin posted on X.
McLaughlin added that Bovino "is a key part of the President's team and a great American."
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said "nobody in the White House, including President Trump, wants to see people getting hurt or killed."
She also expressed sorrow over the death of Alex Pretti, an intensive care unit nurse who was gunned down on Saturday at point blank range by immigration officers, while protesting in Minneapolis.
Earlier, the White House and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem portrayed Pretti's killing as an act of self-defense, initially claiming -- against all evidence -- that he approached agents brandishing a handgun, intent on a "massacre."
The New York Times reported that Trump held an almost two-hour meeting Monday evening with Noem, who has favored aggressive immigration raids.

'Huge relief'

At a demonstration in Minneapolis on Monday, locals expressed relief that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were leaving.
"It's a vindication to some degree. We have a lot of fear around what kind of violence and reprisals might come as they leave," protester Kyle Wagner told AFP.
"Our neighborhoods and communities have been brutalized by them, so any decrease in the numbers and the severity is just a huge relief to the community that's been suffering for months now."
Jasmine Nelson, who was also at the demonstration, said she was inspired by locals coming together to protest the killings.
"It's really beautiful to see everyone get together like this and fight against these injustices," she said.
Trump said he had sent his top border enforcer Tom Homan to Minneapolis on Monday, saying that he "will report directly to me."

DHS denies Bovino ouster

Despite his recent moves, there was no sign Trump was retreating from the broader, hardline policy of sending heavily armed, masked and unidentified ICE agents into Democratic-run cities.
There remain "hundreds of thousands" of "the worst illegal aliens" left to deport, Leavitt said.
Campaigning against illegal immigration helped Trump get elected in 2024, but daily videos of violent masked agents, and multiple reports of people being targeted despite flimsy evidence, have sent Trump's approval ratings plummeting.
Minneapolis has become ground zero in the turmoil -- with huge rallies to protest an ICE agent's killing of protester Renee Good January 7 still going ahead on Friday despite freezing conditions.
Like Pretti, Good, a 37-year-old mother of three and US citizen, was shot at close range.

Race against shutdown

Opening a new front in the crisis, a federal judge in Minneapolis heard arguments on Monday about  whether the deployment of federal officers violates the state of Minnesota's sovereignty.
In a separate hearing, a judge was considering a request to force federal officials to preserve evidence in the killing of Pretti, saying she would rule quickly.
Pressure is also mounting in Congress, where Democrats are threatening to hold up funding for the US government unless immigration enforcement agencies are reformed.
Monday's shift in White House messaging came as Republicans -- who rarely criticize their 79-year-old party leader in public -- began to express alarm, including House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer and Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
Republican Chris Madel sent shockwaves when he dropped out of the running for Minnesota's upcoming governor race to replace Walz, saying he could not remain a member of a party inflicting "retribution on the citizens of our state."
bur-sms/cms/mtp

panda

Japan's beloved last pandas leave for China as ties fray

  • "If you talk about (Chinese) politics, the timing of sending pandas is what counts," and pandas could return to Japan if bilateral ties warm, Ienaga said.
  • Hundreds gathered to say farewell to two popular pandas departing Tokyo for China on Tuesday, leaving Japan without any of the beloved bears for the first time in 50 years as ties between the Asian neighbours fray.
  • "If you talk about (Chinese) politics, the timing of sending pandas is what counts," and pandas could return to Japan if bilateral ties warm, Ienaga said.
Hundreds gathered to say farewell to two popular pandas departing Tokyo for China on Tuesday, leaving Japan without any of the beloved bears for the first time in 50 years as ties between the Asian neighbours fray.
Panda twins Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao were transported by truck out of Ueno Zoological Gardens, their birthplace, disappointing many Japanese fans who have grown attached to the furry four-year-olds.
"I've been coming to watch them since they were born," Nene Hashino, a woman in her 40s wearing a panda-themed jacket and clutching a bear stuffed toy, told AFP.
"It feels like my own children are going somewhere far away. It's sad."
The pandas' abrupt return was announced last month during a diplomatic spat that began when Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hinted that Tokyo could intervene militarily in the event of an attack on Taiwan.
Her comment provoked the ire of Beijing, which regards the island as its own territory.
The distinctive black-and-white animals, loaned out as part of China's "panda diplomacy" programme, have symbolised friendship between Beijing and Tokyo since they normalised ties in 1972.
Their repatriation comes a month before their loan period expires in February, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which operates Ueno Zoo.
"According to the relevant agreement between China and Japan, the giant pandas who were living in Japan, Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, today began their return trip to China," said Guo Jiakun, China's foreign ministry spokesman.
"As always, we welcome the Japanese public to come see giant pandas in China."
Japan has reportedly been seeking the loan of a new pair of pandas.
However, a weekend poll by the liberal Asahi Shimbun newspaper showed that 70 percent of those surveyed do not think the government should negotiate with China on the lease of new pandas, while 26 percent would like them to.
On Sunday, Ueno Zoo invited some 4,400 lucky winners of an online lottery to see the pandas for the last time.

'Part of my heart'

Well-wishers wearing panda-themed clothes, hats and badges waited for hours on the streets lining the zoo two days later to say their final goodbyes.
They called out to the animals as the windowless truck left the gates.
"It's so sad," said Daisaku Hirota, a 37-year-old shop worker who said he tried to visit the pandas as often as he could on his days off.
"I lost one part of my heart," he said.
Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao were delivered in 2021 by their mother Shin Shin, who arrived in 2011 and was returned to China in 2024 because of declining health.
Since late last year, China has discouraged its nationals from travelling to Japan, citing deteriorating public security and criminal acts against Chinese nationals in the country.
Beijing is reportedly also choking off exports to Japan of rare-earth products crucial for making everything from electric cars to missiles.
However, China routinely removes pandas from foreign countries and the latest move may not be politically motivated, said Masaki Ienaga, a professor at Tokyo Woman's Christian University and an expert in East Asian international relations.
"If you talk about (Chinese) politics, the timing of sending pandas is what counts," and pandas could return to Japan if bilateral ties warm, Ienaga said.
Other countries use animals as tools of diplomacy, including Thailand with its elephants and Australia with its koalas, he added.
"But pandas are special," Ienaga said.
"They have strong customer-drawing power, and... they can earn money."
kh-amk/aph/ane/ami

panda

Japan's beloved last pandas leave for China as ties fray

  • "If you talk about (Chinese) politics, the timing of sending pandas is what counts," and pandas could return to Japan if bilateral ties warm, he said.
  • Two popular pandas are set to leave Tokyo for China Tuesday, leaving Japan without any of the beloved bears for the first time in 50 years as ties between the Asian neighbours fray.
  • "If you talk about (Chinese) politics, the timing of sending pandas is what counts," and pandas could return to Japan if bilateral ties warm, he said.
Two popular pandas are set to leave Tokyo for China Tuesday, leaving Japan without any of the beloved bears for the first time in 50 years as ties between the Asian neighbours fray.
Panda twins Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao are due to be transported by truck out of Ueno Zoological Gardens, their birthplace, disappointing many Japanese fans who have grown attached to the furry four-year-olds.
"Although I can't see them, I came to share the same air with them and to say, 'Hope you'll be OK,'" one woman visiting the zoo told public broadcaster NHK.
The pandas' abrupt return was announced last month during a diplomatic spat that began when Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hinted that Tokyo could intervene militarily in the event of an attack on Taiwan.
Her comment provoked the ire of Beijing, which regards the island as its own territory.
The distinctive black-and-white animals, loaned out as part of China's "panda diplomacy", have symbolised friendship between Beijing and Tokyo since they normalised diplomatic ties in 1972.
Their repatriation comes a month before their loan period expires in February, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, which operates Ueno Zoo.
Japan has reportedly been seeking the loan of a new pair of pandas.
However, a weekend poll by the liberal Asahi Shimbun newspaper showed that 70 percent of those surveyed do not think the government should negotiate with China on the lease of new pandas, while 26 percent would like them to.
On Sunday, Ueno Zoo invited some 4,400 lucky winners of an online lottery to see the pandas for the last time.
Passionate fans without tickets still turned out at the park, sporting panda-themed shirts, bags and dolls to demonstrate their love of the animals.
China has discouraged its nationals from travelling to Japan, citing deteriorating public security and criminal acts against Chinese nationals in the country.
Beijing is reportedly also choking off exports to Japan of rare-earth products crucial for making everything from electric cars to missiles.
However, China routinely removes pandas from foreign countries and the latest move may not be politically motivated, said Masaki Ienaga, a professor at Tokyo Woman's Christian University and an expert in East Asian international relations.
"If you talk about (Chinese) politics, the timing of sending pandas is what counts," and pandas could return to Japan if bilateral ties warm, he said.
Other countries use animals as tools of diplomacy, including Thailand with its elephants and Australia with its koalas, he added.
"But pandas are special," he said. "They have strong customer-drawing power, and... they can earn money."
kh/aph/mjw

government

Canada's Marineland gets 'conditional approval' to sell whales to US

  • Marineland presented Ottawa with a new plan last week to sell the 30 whales to a series of parks in the United States.
  • Canada's federal government on Monday gave Marineland conditional approval to sell its 30 imperilled beluga whales to parks in the United States, after rejecting an export request to China.
  • Marineland presented Ottawa with a new plan last week to sell the 30 whales to a series of parks in the United States.
Canada's federal government on Monday gave Marineland conditional approval to sell its 30 imperilled beluga whales to parks in the United States, after rejecting an export request to China.
Marineland, a once lucrative tourist attraction near Niagara Falls, has said it is in deep financial trouble, cannot afford to care for the whales, and will be forced to euthanize them if it can't find them a new home.
The park has been mired in controversy for years. Twenty animals, including 19 belugas, have died there since 2019, according to a tally by The Canadian Press.
Marineland, which is closed to visitors, thought it had a solution last year when it forged a plan to sell the whales to the Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, a lavish theme park in China.
Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson rejected that plan, saying it would perpetuate the whales' exploitation.
Marineland presented Ottawa with a new plan last week to sell the 30 whales to a series of parks in the United States.
"Today, I met with Marineland regarding their proposal to export the remaining whales to US facilities," Thompson said in a statement.
"I provided conditional approval," Thompson said, adding that final permits would be granted once Marineland provides additional information.
Marineland has said all the beluga deaths at the park resulted from natural causes, but animal welfare officials from the province of Ontario have been investigating the park for several years.
bs/ksb

racism

Kanye West blames bipolar disorder amid outrage over antisemitic rants

  • West, who changed his name to Ye and struggled with bipolar disorder for years, said in an open letter published Monday in The Wall Street Journal that when bipolar people are in a manic phase they do not feel sick.
  • Rapper Kanye West on Monday denied being a Nazi and expressed regret over his antisemitic rants, blaming such behavior -- which included recording a song that celebrates Hitler -- on his bipolar disorder.
  • West, who changed his name to Ye and struggled with bipolar disorder for years, said in an open letter published Monday in The Wall Street Journal that when bipolar people are in a manic phase they do not feel sick.
Rapper Kanye West on Monday denied being a Nazi and expressed regret over his antisemitic rants, blaming such behavior -- which included recording a song that celebrates Hitler -- on his bipolar disorder.
The disgraced 48-year-old music star, who has lost fans and business deals in recent years because of his racist or antisemitic outbursts, released his song "Heil Hitler" last May to mark the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.
The song has been banned on major music streaming platforms but is easy to find on the internet. Among other punishment it cost West his visa to travel to Australia.
West, who changed his name to Ye and struggled with bipolar disorder for years, said in an open letter published Monday in The Wall Street Journal that when bipolar people are in a manic phase they do not feel sick.
"You think everyone else is overreacting. You feel like you're seeing the world more clearly than ever, when in reality you're losing your grip entirely," said West, whose achievements include winning 24 Grammy awards.
In his letter entitled "To Those I've Hurt," he said he sometimes has "disconnected moments" that lead to poor judgment and reckless behavior, describing such instances as feeling like an out-of-body experience.
"I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change," West said.
"It does not excuse what I did, though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people."
In late 2023 West apologized to Jews for having said "I love Nazis."
In 2022 he caused outrage by wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "White Lives Matter," seen as a racist insult to the Black Lives Matter movement, and by attending a dinner with Donald Trump that included the white supremacist and antisemite Nick Fuentes.
rh/pno/dw/mlm

Climate and Environment

Costa Rica: Central America's democratic eco paradise

  • Drug trafficking has infiltrated even into spheres of the state, tarnishing Costa Rica's image with high-profile corruption cases.
  • A favorite tourist destination for its stunning beaches and rich natural beauty, Costa Rica has recently seen its tranquility shattered by the impacts of drug trafficking.
  • Drug trafficking has infiltrated even into spheres of the state, tarnishing Costa Rica's image with high-profile corruption cases.
A favorite tourist destination for its stunning beaches and rich natural beauty, Costa Rica has recently seen its tranquility shattered by the impacts of drug trafficking.
Here are five things to know about the small Central American country of 5.2 million inhabitants, which goes to the polls Sunday to elect a new president and lawmakers.
- No military - 
Despite is location at the heart of a violent and conflict-ridden region, Costa Rica has long clung on to a stable democracy since its only civil war, which lasted 44 days in 1948.
That year, it abolished its military -- a rarity in Latin America. 
In the 1980s, when several other Central American countries were mired in civil wars, neutral Costa Rica acted as peace broker, earning then-president Oscar Arias Sanchez the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987.
In recent years, the country has seen an increase in organized crime. Drug trafficking has infiltrated even into spheres of the state, tarnishing Costa Rica's image with high-profile corruption cases.
Long considered one of the safest countries in Latin America, Costa Rica ended 2025 with a rate of 17 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants -- nearly triple the global average.
The country has a long tradition of welcoming asylum seekers and hosts hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans who have fled repression across the border.

Green paradise

With its striking Pacific and Caribbean beaches, lush rainforests and imposing volcanoes, Costa Rica is considered a global leader for its environmental policies.
Nature reserves cover a quarter of Costa Rica's 51,000 square kilometers (19,700 square miles) -- territory that hosts six percent of the world's biodiversity, according to official figures. 
Ninety-nine percent of its electricity generation comes from renewable sources, primarily water, geothermal, and wind.

Happy people

Costa Rica ranks in sixth place on the World Happiness Report, and its people are rated the happiest in Latin America.
The local expression "Pura vida!" (Pure life) has become a national motto -- an expression of optimism that is also used to greet people or give thanks.
The country's northern Nicoya Peninsula hosts one of the world's so-called "Blue Zones" -- places where people live exceptionally long, healthy lives.

Rich but unequal

Ecotourism is a key economic engine, with some 2.9 million people visiting Costa Rica in 2025, mainly from the United States, according to the tourism institute.
It is a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) group of high-income countries, with GDP growth of 3.6 percent forecast for 2026.
While poverty fell from 18 percent of the population in 2024 to 15.2 percent in 2025, Costa Rica is among the six most unequal Latin American countries on the Gini Index, and is the second most expensive after Uruguay.

Human rights backsliding

Roman Catholicism is Costa Rica's state religion, but the country has shown itself to be progressive on social and civil rights.
It was the first country in Central America to legalize same-sex marriage, in 2020.
Activists point to backsliding over the past four years of conservative government, during which Costa Rica restricted abortion to cases in which a woman's life is at risk. Previously it could also be performed if a pregnancy put a woman's health in peril.
The government has also eliminated sex education programs in schools.
Last year, Costa Rica agreed to receive 200 migrants deported by the United States under conditions decried by human rights groups.
bur/mis/axm/mlr/dw

film

Rushdie warns of political violence as he recounts his attack

BY HUW GRIFFITH

  • "Violence is that thing, violence unleashed by the unscrupulous using the ignorant to attack... culture.
  • The horrific knife attack that almost killed Salman Rushdie was an example of violence unleashed by unscrupulous political leaders, the author said Sunday, warning that "everybody's in danger now" in the increasingly febrile United States. 
  • "Violence is that thing, violence unleashed by the unscrupulous using the ignorant to attack... culture.
The horrific knife attack that almost killed Salman Rushdie was an example of violence unleashed by unscrupulous political leaders, the author said Sunday, warning that "everybody's in danger now" in the increasingly febrile United States. 
Speaking at the premiere of the documentary "Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie," the writer pointed to events unfolding across the country, where a second protester was shot dead by federal agents 24 hours earlier.
"The idea of danger and violence is close to everyone now in this country," he told AFP at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
"I think everybody's in danger now." 
The film, directed by documentarian Alex Gibney, is the companion piece to Rushdie's "Knife," a memoir recounting the harrowing 2022 attack and its aftermath.
The British-American author was at an event in Chautauqua, New York when 24-year-old Hadi Matar leapt onto the stage and stabbed him 15 times.
The brutal assault left Rushdie with life-changing injuries, including the loss of his right eye.
The comments on political violence come as President Donald Trump has surged militarized immigration raids into American cities, notably Minneapolis where federal agents have shot dead two US citizens this month. 
A man was arrested at Sundance on Saturday after allegedly punching Congressman Maxwell Frost in the face and screaming that Trump was going to deport him, the Florida lawmaker said on X.

Fatwa

Gibney's film uses graphic video of the assault on Rushdie, shot by event organizers and attendees, as well as intimate footage filmed by his wife, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, over six weeks as the author lay in hospital grievously wounded.
It also mixes in archival news reports and interviews with Rushdie detailing the furor in the Islamic world that greeted the publication of his 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses."
The following year, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, telling Muslims worldwide it was their religious duty to kill Rushdie.
For over a decade the author lived in hiding, protected by the British government, until a deal was reached in which the fatwa was officially rescinded in exchange for Britain's granting diplomatic recognition to Tehran.
As the immediate risk appeared to recede, Rushdie re-emerged, becoming something of a celebrity and continuing to create successful literary fiction.
But the threat against him never vanished, and the animosity some bore him remained. 

'Authoritarian'

Hadi, who was sentenced last year to 25 years for attempted murder and assault, told a reporter before his trial that he believed Rushdie had "attacked Islam." 
He admitted he had only read two pages of "The Satanic Verses."
Rushdie said the brutal attack on him was an example of a "larger thing."
"Violence is that thing, violence unleashed by the unscrupulous using the ignorant to attack... culture.
"For the authoritarian, culture is the enemy. Whether that's journalism or universities or music or writing... the uncultured and ignorant, and the radical don't like it, and they take steps against it, which we see every day."
Rushdie's comments come in the wake of a crackdown Trump has launched on higher education, in an effort to stamp out what he claims is a "liberal bias" in university teaching.
Trump also routinely derides journalism and journalists, blasting any report he disagrees with as "fake news," while conservative US states increasingly ban books from school libraries.
The Booker-Prize winning author said the film as conceived was not intended as a commentary on the here and now.
"When you're making the film, you're making the film, and then the world does what it does, and sometimes the two things run into each other," he said.
"I'm now beginning to think that maybe the film is here at a kind of apposite moment, that maybe all of us now are feeling the risk of violence."
The Sundance Film Festival runs until February 1.
hg/ksb

AI

EU opens probe into Musk's Grok over sexual AI deepfakes

BY MAX DELANY

  • According to research published Thursday by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit watchdog, Grok generated an estimated three million sexualised images of women and children in a matter of days.
  • The EU on Monday hit Elon Musk's X with an investigation over AI chatbot Grok's generation of sexualised deepfake images of women and minors, in the latest step of an international backlash against the tool.
  • According to research published Thursday by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit watchdog, Grok generated an estimated three million sexualised images of women and children in a matter of days.
The EU on Monday hit Elon Musk's X with an investigation over AI chatbot Grok's generation of sexualised deepfake images of women and minors, in the latest step of an international backlash against the tool.
Grok faces an outcry after it emerged that users could sexualise images of women and children using simple text prompts such as "put her in a bikini" or "remove her clothes".
"In Europe, we will not tolerate unthinkable behaviour, such as digital undressing of women and children," said European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.
"It is simple -- we will not hand over consent and child protection to tech companies to violate and monetise. The harm caused by illegal images is very real," she said in a statement to AFP.
EU tech commissioner Henna Virkkunen said the probe would "determine whether X has met its legal obligations" under the bloc's Digital Services Act (DSA), which is designed to police internet giants.
She said the rights of women and children in the EU should not be "collateral damage" of X's services.
Brussels said it was investigating whether X had properly mitigated "risks related to the dissemination of illegal content in the EU, such as manipulated sexually explicit images, including content that may amount to child sexual abuse material".
The EU move comes despite repeated US threats of retaliation against enforcement of tech rules President Donald Trump's administration attacks as curbing free speech and unfairly targeting US firms.

Three million images

Under fire, Grok said earlier this month it was restricting image generation and editing to paying subscribers. 
But that move did not stave off the EU's probe -- which follows investigations in multiple countries including France and the United Kingdom. 
"Let's be very clear, child sexual abuse material is not a premium privilege," said EU commission spokesman Thomas Regnier. 
According to research published Thursday by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit watchdog, Grok generated an estimated three million sexualised images of women and children in a matter of days.
As part of the new probe, the EU said it was widening an existing investigation into X aimed at tackling the spread of illegal content and information manipulation. 
That move was due to the fact that X announced last week Grok will now power its recommendation system for users and EU concerns that the company had not adequately assessed the risks.  
Contacted by AFP, X did not immediately react to the EU announcement.
Musk's social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, has been the target of an investigation under the EU's digital content rules since December 2023.
Brussels in December slapped a 120-million-euro ($140-million) fine on X -- the first-ever imposed under the DSA -- for violating transparency rules, triggering angry reactions from Trump's administration.
X's breaches included the deceptive design of its "blue checkmark" for supposedly verified accounts, and failure to provide access to public data for researchers.
Violators can in theory face much higher fines -- up to six percent of a provider's global turnover -- for breaching the DSA, and the EU has the power to ban offending platforms from Europe for repeated non-compliance.
The EU has insisted it will enforce its tech rules despite pressure from Washington -- which has pressed the bloc to roll them back.
The dispute over regulation comes as the EU has grappled with the Trump administration on multiple other fronts -- from the Ukraine war to trade to Greenland.
In outlining the new X probe, commission spokesman Regnier said the EU enforces its legislation "firmly, fairly, objectively" and did not "target any company based on its origin."
In a separate move, the European Commission on Monday added WhatsApp to its list of digital firms big enough to face stricter content rules under the DSA.
The Meta-owned service joins Facebook, TikTok, X and others in a list of 26 "very large online platforms," after its "channels" feature passed 45 million monthly active users in the European Union.
The tougher obligations will apply only to its "channels", considered a broadcasting feature, rather than its core messaging service.
bur-del-ec/jh

conflict

Russian attack damages UNESCO-listed Kyiv monastery

  • Russia's invasion almost four years ago has damaged hundreds of historical buildings, including religious sites, museums and libraries, according to UNESCO. The UN cultural body added the Lavra to its list of endangered landmarks in 2023, citing the "threat of destruction" from Russia's ongoing offensive. bur-cad/mmp/jxb
  • A Russian drone and missile attack has damaged parts of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, Ukraine's most famous religious landmark and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Ukraine's culture ministry said Monday.
  • Russia's invasion almost four years ago has damaged hundreds of historical buildings, including religious sites, museums and libraries, according to UNESCO. The UN cultural body added the Lavra to its list of endangered landmarks in 2023, citing the "threat of destruction" from Russia's ongoing offensive. bur-cad/mmp/jxb
A Russian drone and missile attack has damaged parts of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, Ukraine's most famous religious landmark and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Ukraine's culture ministry said Monday.
The attack took place during the night between Friday and Saturday, the ministry said.
"A preliminary visual inspection revealed damage to doors and window frames," the ministry said in a statement, sharing photos of a cracked window and an open notebook covered with specks of plaster.
AFP was not able to immediately verify the extent of the damage.
The UNESCO-listed complex, founded in the 11th century, is home to more than 100 buildings as well as a subterranean labyrinth of caves where monks stay and worship.
Orthodox Christians consider it Ukraine's spiritual centre.
Russia's invasion almost four years ago has damaged hundreds of historical buildings, including religious sites, museums and libraries, according to UNESCO.
The UN cultural body added the Lavra to its list of endangered landmarks in 2023, citing the "threat of destruction" from Russia's ongoing offensive.
bur-cad/mmp/jxb