sex

China sex toy makers cautiously embrace AI wave

BY JING XUAN TENG

Sam Xie, the founder of Shanghai-based adult toy maker Magic Motion, said his products were compatible with AI agents but he had to be selective when choosing software developers to partner with.

Erotic chatbots, video-synced and voice-activated devices mesmerised visitors at a sex toy expo in Shanghai this weekend, as China's adult product firms join the global AI craze.
Sam Xie, the founder of Shanghai-based adult toy maker Magic Motion, said his products were compatible with AI agents but he had to be selective when choosing software developers to partner with.

Erotic chatbots, video-synced and voice-activated devices mesmerised visitors at a sex toy expo in Shanghai this weekend, as China's adult product firms join the global AI craze.

China is the world's largest producer of sex toys, and the country's entrepreneurs have fully embraced AI tools in other sectors.

Though some businesses at the trade show said they were wary of legal risks posed by machine-generated sexual content, others were keen to advertise their enhanced wares when AFP visited on Friday.

Banners scattered across the large exhibition hall advertised a Guangzhou-based company's "AI character dating" Luvmazer app, which turns conversations with virtual partners into vibrator pulses.

"One sentence can make you shiver," the banners promised.

A life-size, cyberpunk-inspired silicon doll with metal joints lay in a large vitrine at the Cydoll booth, which factory manager Zhou Yuanqing said was a prototype designed to display "natural" emotions and speech.

"People nowadays don't go out to drink or meet their friends, and they might prefer to play games on their phones or computers on their own... but they still need companionship," Zhou told AFP.

Multiple sex toy companies showed off apps that use machine learning to interpret adult videos and translate them into pressure, speed and pulse pattern changes -- features that were rare novelties just a few years ago.

"Everyone has the video syncing feature now," an employee at teledildonics firm Amorlink told AFP at the company's stand, which showcased vacuum cups equipped with powerful computing chips.

A two-in-one suction vibrator exhibited by domestic condom giant Jissbon meanwhile featured long-distance remote control capabilities, a roster of virtual "boyfriend" personas and the ability to match frequency and intensity to environmental noise levels.

Regulatory risks

Multiple businesses offered AI agents for marketing and operating offline adult stores, while others touted tech solutions for brands trying to make their own "smart" toys.

A poster for Hong Kong-based metaXsire, which did not have a booth at the expo, boasted an "adult image and video generator" and dirty talk in more than 80 languages.

The company's website says its app can swap the faces of celebrities or personal acquaintances onto pornographic videos which are then synced to its toys.

The terms and conditions of the app forbid customers to use it to shame or harass others, but did not detail how the company would ensure consent for the faceswap feature.

But multiple exhibitors present on Friday said they were cautious about mixing AI and adult video content, due to legal and privacy concerns.

Pornography is technically illegal in mainland China, and most adult video sites are blocked by the country's Great Firewall and cannot be accessed without specialised VPN software.

Sam Xie, the founder of Shanghai-based adult toy maker Magic Motion, said his products were compatible with AI agents but he had to be selective when choosing software developers to partner with.

"We have to be very careful, or there could be all sorts of problems, and we could get reported by consumers," Xie told AFP.

tjx/reb/ane

games

Game over: Players press EU to ban 'destroying' video titles

BY FREDERIC POUCHOT

At the heart of the issue: in the past decade, hundreds of video titles have been rendered unplayable at the whim of their publishers, for a variety of reasons ranging from profitability to changes in strategy.

It's a bitter pill for video gamers: a growing number of older but still-popular titles are being dropped by publishers -- with servers going dark overnight -- in a practice the EU is being urged to outlaw.
At the heart of the issue: in the past decade, hundreds of video titles have been rendered unplayable at the whim of their publishers, for a variety of reasons ranging from profitability to changes in strategy.

It's a bitter pill for video gamers: a growing number of older but still-popular titles are being dropped by publishers -- with servers going dark overnight -- in a practice the EU is being urged to outlaw.

More than a million people from across Europe have backed a citizens' petition called "Stop Destroying Videogames", and are now pressing for action in Brussels.

At the heart of the issue: in the past decade, hundreds of video titles have been rendered unplayable at the whim of their publishers, for a variety of reasons ranging from profitability to changes in strategy.

A significant part of popular culture is being wiped out in the process, with no compensation for gamers who in many cases have invested substantial sums, notably on microtransactions inside the playing environment.

The phenomenon has concerned older versions of hugely popular franchises such as the FIFA football simulation series.

But it was the shutdown of car-racing game The Crew that proved the final straw in 2024, prompting players to mobilise with a European petition.

"It's a bit like buying a book from a publisher and then suddenly opening it to find the pages have gone blank because they've decided you can't play your game anymore," Brendan Fourdan, organiser of the French chapter of the petition, told AFP.

Lawmakers 'listening'

Buoyed by the success of the citizens' initiative, gamers' rights campaigners have been lining up meetings to persuade the EU's different institutions to step in.

After meeting in February with the European Commission's digital chief Henna Virkkunen and consumer protection head Michael McGrath, they made their case to members of the European Parliament at a hearing on Thursday.

"MEPs were listening to our demands, and their interventions largely went in our direction, with lawmakers who understood the problem and seemed determined to put an end to what we are denouncing," Fourdan said.

Campaigners are calling for existing consumer protection rules to be enforced when it comes to gaming -- but also for EU legislation to be updated, a far bigger challenge.

"Our movement has no intention whatsoever of preventing publishers from stopping the sale of a game," Fourdan said.

"What we want is simply that when they shut down a game, they leave it in a state where it can still be played," for example on private servers run by volunteers.

Failing that, the idea is to require publishers to systematically refund players.

The issue is far from trivial: video games are Europe's largest cultural industry, generating billions of euros in revenue each year.

"It's an industry with a huge amount of revenue, with a lot of cultural and technological importance," said Moritz Katzner, head of the advocacy group Stop Killing Games.

"It most definitely should be on the radar of the European Commission and the European Parliament."

Green EU lawmaker Catarina Vieira says the issue is resonating among lawmakers.

"The desire is there for all political groups to come to a good solution for those who buy games and deserve to use them for a long term," she told AFP.

The European Commission, which has until the end of July to respond to the petition, has already warned solutions would not be easy to implement, due to intellectual property issues in particular.

Gaming companies, for their part, have rejected the solutions proposed by campaigners.

"Private servers are not always a viable alternative option for players," industry group Video Games Europe said in a statement.

It argues that without the protections publishers put in place to secure players' data, remove illegal content, and combat unsafe community content, such a system would "leave rights holders liable" for abuses.

fpo/ec/ub/rl/ane

guns

In Trump era, fearful left-leaning Americans turn to guns

BY PIERRE HARDY

That scares me a lot more than the fact that, yes, there is some person-to-person crime too," he told AFP. The gun debate in the United States is fraught -- and very political.

In a wooded area outside Virginia's state capital Richmond, the sounds of gunshots resonate.
That scares me a lot more than the fact that, yes, there is some person-to-person crime too," he told AFP. The gun debate in the United States is fraught -- and very political.

In a wooded area outside Virginia's state capital Richmond, the sounds of gunshots resonate. Collin is learning how to use a firearm.

The semi-automatic weapon in the 38-year-old's hand is the first he has ever owned.

He is one of many left-leaning Americans who are embracing guns because of their fears about President Donald Trump's administration -- upending conventional wisdom about who owns firearms in the United States.

"I feel a lot more threatened by my government than the citizens around me," said Collin, who asked to be only identified by his first name for privacy concerns.

He said the deaths in Minneapolis of Renee Good and Alex Pretti -- both fatally shot by federal agents amid a sweeping immigration crackdown in the northern city -- had tipped the scales for him.

"We have government-empowered, essentially a private army, running around, assaulting and shooting people. That scares me a lot more than the fact that, yes, there is some person-to-person crime too," he told AFP.

The gun debate in the United States is fraught -- and very political.

Gun rights advocates -- who generally lean to the right -- frame the issue as one about personal freedom, as the US Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms.

Liberals tend to emphasize more strict gun controls in a country plagued by mass shootings.

But several high-profile Democrats, including former lawmaker Gabby Giffords -- who nearly died when a gunman tried to assassinate her -- and former vice president Kamala Harris have proudly said they are gun owners.

After buying a weapon, Collin and his wife Danni signed up for a class given by certified handgun instructor Clara Elliott, who says her business "doubled" after Trump was elected to serve a second term in the White House in November 2024.

Since that time, her classes -- which are tailored to women, minorities and the LGBTQ community but open to everyone -- have largely been sold out.

"It's been incredibly busy," said Elliott, who sports a large tattoo on the inner side of her arm of Snow White...carrying a sub-machine gun.

'Be prepared'

About a dozen people are taking Elliott's class, which first goes over the fundamentals of gun shooting and safety before progressing to the actual practice range.

Most of the students have never even touched a firearm before.

Many say they became interested in the class because of the current political climate in America -- including immigration raids, the dismantling of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) policies and the mounting polarization of society as a whole.

"There's a lot of things happening in the US that have been alarming," said 28-year-old Cassandra who, like everyone in the class, declined to share her last name. "So it seemed good to be aware and to be prepared."

Akemi, a 30-year-old Latina, said she feared "right-wing violence" and did not have faith that the police would protect her.

"As much as I can avoid interaction with the police, the better it is," said Akemi, who wore protective headphones as her classmates fired at targets drawn in the form of ice cubes -- a wink at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

'The whole spectrum'

Elliott is not alone in seeing more business since the deadly shootings in Minneapolis.

The Liberal Gun Club -- a national organization which says its mission is to "provide a voice for gun-owning liberals and moderates" -- says it registered 3,000 new requests for firearms training in the first two months of 2026, more than in all of 2025.

Executive director Ed Gardner says such spikes are not rare after major political events or shocking acts of violence such as mass shootings.

But unlike in the past, when public interest came mainly from women and minorities, today's new members "cross the whole spectrum" -- young and old, rural and urban.

For David Yamane, a professor of sociology at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, the shift comes in what is motivating people to buy guns.

"There is a specific concern about a kind of tyrannical, authoritarian government, possibly depriving people of their rights, or inspiring followers to deprive people of their rights," he said.

ph/sst/jgc

pope

Pope brings Africa tour to Angola as Trump feud drags on

BY CLEMENT MELKI AND FRANCOIS AUSSEIL

The first pope from the United States will then meet Angola's President Joao Lourenco and deliver a speech, the latest on a trip which has seen him sharpen his rhetoric after being targeted by Trump.

Pope Leo XIV arrives on Saturday in Angola, the third leg of a landmark African tour marked by a war of words with US President Donald Trump over the Middle East conflict.
The first pope from the United States will then meet Angola's President Joao Lourenco and deliver a speech, the latest on a trip which has seen him sharpen his rhetoric after being targeted by Trump.

Pope Leo XIV arrives on Saturday in Angola, the third leg of a landmark African tour marked by a war of words with US President Donald Trump over the Middle East conflict.

Leo is set to become the third pontiff to visit the fossil fuel-rich country, where around 44 percent of the population identifies as Catholic, after John Paul II in 1992 and Benedict XVI in 2009.

Before his expected arrival at 1400 GMT in the capital Luanda, where billboards bearing his beaming likeness have been put up to welcome him, Leo will wrap up his three-day trip to Cameroon with an open-air Mass at Yaounde airport.

The first pope from the United States will then meet Angola's President Joao Lourenco and deliver a speech, the latest on a trip which has seen him sharpen his rhetoric after being targeted by Trump.

As in Cameroon, tens of thousands of worshippers are expected to flock to catch a glimpse of the head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics before his departure on Tuesday morning.

"It's as if God were very close to us," 40-year-old human resources manager Helena Maria Miguel said of the pope's visit.

Leo's increasingly vigorous calls for world peace are likely to resonate in Angola, which emerged in 2002 from a 27-year civil war that erupted in the wake of independence from Portugal in 1975.

Throughout his 11-day four-nation Africa visit, the pope has delivered pointed warnings against corruption, the plunder of the continent's resources and the dangers of artificial intelligence, as his tussle with Trump drags on.

Without mentioning his fellow American by name, Leo has in recent days abandoned his previous restraint to adopt a more forceful tone.

'Needs of the youth'

After Trump's Catholic Vice President JD Vance urged the Vatican to "stick to matters of morality", Leo on Thursday said the world was "being ravaged by a handful of tyrants" and piled on more criticism of those who use religion to justify war.

During his stop in Cameroon, Leo demanded the country's leaders tackle corruption and condemned "those who, in the name of profit, continue to seize the African continent to exploit and plunder it".

Like his calls for peace, Leo's warnings against graft and exploitation are likely to strike a chord in Angola, where a third of the population live below the poverty line despite its vast fossil fuel reserves.

The country's economy is heavily dependent on oil, leaving it exposed to price fluctuations, while rampant corruption has even spread to the family of former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

His visit comes after torrential downpours have left nearly 50 dead in the coastal Benguela region since early April.

And it comes less than a year after a deadly crackdown on protests over the high cost of living killed 30 people and saw hundreds arrested.

"There is a lot of suffering, a lot of poverty in Angola. I hope the pope will see with his own eyes the needs of the youth here," said Antonio Masaidi, a 33-year-old engineer.

'Moment of grace'

On Sunday, Leo will celebrate a giant open-air Mass in Kilamba on Luanda's outskirts, where facilities including a large food court are being built to host tens of thousands of worshippers.

In the afternoon, the pope will travel by helicopter to the village of Muxima, about 130 kilometres southeast of Luanda, home to a 16th-century church overlooking the Kwanza River that has become one of southern Africa's most important pilgrimage sites.

A basilica is under construction in Muxima, where slaves were once baptised before being shipped out of Africa, as part of a multimillion-dollar government project to turn it into a major tourism destination.

"It is a historic moment of grace, a moment of profound emotion, with tears in our eyes and gratitude in our hearts," the rector of the shrine, Father Mpindi Lubanzadio Alberto, told the Catholic news site ACI Africa.

On April 20, the pope is due to travel more than 800 kilometres from the capital to visit a retirement home in Saurimo and celebrate another mass before departing the following morning.

Leo will then fly to Equatorial Guinea, the final stop of a whirlwind 18,000-kilometre journey that began in Algeria.

br-fal/mnk/sbk/jxb/ane

religion

US Catholics unsettled by Trump's feud with pope

BY BEN TURNER WITH ANNE LEBRETON IN WASHINGTON AND MOISES AVILA IN HOUSTON

- 'Don't mess with him' - Traditionally, US presidents have been wary of upsetting American Catholics by speaking out too much against a pope.

Donald Trump's war of words with Pope Leo has angered some American Catholics, a key voting bloc, who say the US president has gone too far in his criticism of the pontiff.
- 'Don't mess with him' - Traditionally, US presidents have been wary of upsetting American Catholics by speaking out too much against a pope.

Donald Trump's war of words with Pope Leo has angered some American Catholics, a key voting bloc, who say the US president has gone too far in his criticism of the pontiff.

Trump has clashed with Leo on everything from Iran to immigration and recently dismissed the pontiff as "weak" in an unprecedented personal attack on a pope by a US leader.

Leo, who was born in Chicago, has said he has a moral duty to speak out against war.

"For an ignoramus like Trump to try to question the theological outlook of an ordained priest is totally ridiculous," Jim Supp, 88, told AFP outside a church in New York City on Friday.

Supp was particularly angered by Trump's recent posting of an AI-generated image seemingly depicting himself as a figure like Jesus Christ, which was later deleted.

"There are certain things in life not to joke about," said the retired classics professor.

For 68-year-old John O'Brian, a former advertising executive, sharing the image was akin to "blasphemy for Christians."

The pope, for his part, has warned of the dangers of AI abuse following Trump's post -- without directly referencing it.

'Don't mess with him'

Traditionally, US presidents have been wary of upsetting American Catholics by speaking out too much against a pope.

But Trump has taken no such caution, despite winning the 2024 election with support from a majority of Catholic voters.

The war in the Middle East has proved a pinch point, with Leo condemning the president's threat to attack Iranian civilization as "unacceptable."

Trump retaliated by calling the pontiff "WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy."

The public sparring marks a potential vulnerability for Republicans ahead of November's midterms -- even among more conservative Catholics.

Anthony Clark, a policy fellow with an anti-abortion group, told AFP outside a Catholic basilica in Washington that he sees Trump as a "very good president" with good intentions.

"But I think that intentions aren't everything, and I think he can be imprudent at times in what he says or in the way that he approaches especially controversial topics," the 20-year-old added.

Popes, too, typically do not interfere in politics. However, the pontiff's defiance has earned him respect from some.

"I'm really glad that Pope Leo stood his ground when he said he's not afraid of the administration," Carolina Herrera, 22, said in Washington.

"You should not mess with the pope, no matter what, don't mess with him."

'Very harsh'

Trump himself is not known to be personally religious. The thrice-married realtor and former television celebrity was raised Presbyterian and rarely attended religious services.

But since entering politics he has embraced the Christian right.

Christian conservatives have hailed Trump for helping them achieve their priority -- the end of the nationwide right to abortion, thanks to justices Trump appointed to the Supreme Court.

At a church in Houston, in the Republican heartland state of Texas, some attending midday mass faulted both the president and the pope.

"I don't think either of them are acting the way they should be acting," said Ann, a white woman in her 70s who did not want to share her last name.

"I think [the pope] has been very harsh on America," she added.

Meanwhile, Trump's staunchest supporters rallied behind the president as they waited to see him address an event held by right-wing Christian group Turning Point USA at a Protestant megachurch in Arizona.

"I think that the pope needs to stay in his lane and I disagree with his accusations," Brenda Gifford told AFP, adding, "I don't respect him anymore."

Armando Azpeitia, another Trump follower, had a more nuanced take on the papal tensions -- even if she still sided with the president.

"I do see how he can disagree with some of the things that Trump says, but overall I still think that [Trump] has the best interests of the American people in his heart," he said.

bjt/sla

immigration

Frenchwoman who married GI sweetheart returns home after ICE ordeal

However, she was still in the United States "seven months later", according to US authorities.

A Frenchwoman who moved to the United States to marry a Vietnam war veteran she met six decades ago returned to France on Friday after she was detained by US immigration authorities, the French foreign minister said.
However, she was still in the United States "seven months later", according to US authorities.

A Frenchwoman who moved to the United States to marry a Vietnam war veteran she met six decades ago returned to France on Friday after she was detained by US immigration authorities, the French foreign minister said.

The 85-year-old woman, who was not being named at the family's request, "returned to France this morning, and we are pleased about that", Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters on a visit to the southern city of Montpellier.

"We are particularly relieved today to see our mum, whom we were reunited with this morning, after she has been through what must have been an extremely difficult ordeal for her," the woman's eldest son, Herve, told a brief press conference in the village of Orvault in western France, where she lived.

The local mayor, Sebastien Arrouet, also expressed "joy" at her liberation.

"Together with her son, we had opted for complete discretion to allow diplomatic channels to find a swift resolution for her release," he wrote on Facebook, adding that he was "eagerly looking forward to welcoming her back to Orvault".

The woman had travelled to Anniston, Alabama in 2025 to marry the former Air Force colonel, and was seeking a Green Card, which allows people to live and work permanently in the United States.

The couple first met some 60 years earlier when she was working as a bilingual secretary and he was a soldier stationed at a NATO base, reportedly in Saint-Nazaire, western France, but both ended up marrying other people.

Decades later, after they were both widowed, they reconnected.

According to the New York Times, the woman gave up her life in the village near the French city of Nantes and moved to Alabama, where the couple married in April 2025.

But the American died suddenly in January at the age of 85, throwing her immigration status into uncertainty and leading to her detention by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) in Louisiana.

US media reports said his death also ignited an inheritance dispute between the woman and his son.

The US Department of Homeland Security told AFP on Tuesday that the woman had been detained on April 1.

- 'Handcuffed and shackled' -

She had entered the United States in June 2025 on a tourist visa that allowed her to stay for 90 days. However, she was still in the United States "seven months later", according to US authorities.

Citing accounts from US neighbours, her son told AFP that his mother was arrested, "handcuffed and shackled".

The ICE agency is regarded as the strong arm of US President Donald Trump's fierce anti-immigration campaign. It has faced nationwide criticism in America over its aggressive tactics against documented and undocumented immigrants, and for the shooting deaths of two US citizens this year.

As soon as news of the Frenchwoman's arrest broke, a diplomatic source had told AFP that the French Consulate General in Atlanta was "closely monitoring the situation" and providing her with "consular protection".

When asked about ICE's approach, Barrot criticised methods being used by US authorities without referring specifically to the Frenchwoman's case.

"There have been instances of violence that have raised our concern. But the main thing is that she is back in France, and that fully satisfies us," he said.

siu-smk-mb-spm/jxb

children

Genital mutilation: the silent suffering of Colombia's Indigenous girls

BY ALBA SANTANA

It does not, however, provide for midwives who flout the ban to be punished, with Indigenous leaders arguing that the women "lack information" about the dangers of FGM. It calls instead for a government-led awareness campaign to sensitize them to the suffering caused by the mutilation and to dispel myths about girls who are spared -- that they will grow up to be sexually promiscuous or even that their clitorises will grow into something resembling a penis.

Alejandrina Guasorna did not discover until adulthood that she had been subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM) the day she was born in a remote Indigenous community in Colombia's coffee-growing region.
It does not, however, provide for midwives who flout the ban to be punished, with Indigenous leaders arguing that the women "lack information" about the dangers of FGM. It calls instead for a government-led awareness campaign to sensitize them to the suffering caused by the mutilation and to dispel myths about girls who are spared -- that they will grow up to be sexually promiscuous or even that their clitorises will grow into something resembling a penis.

Alejandrina Guasorna did not discover until adulthood that she had been subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM) the day she was born in a remote Indigenous community in Colombia's coffee-growing region.

In the mountains of Risaralda, home to the Embera people, dozens of babies have their clitoris cut each year in a brutal practice based on traditional beliefs about the need to control girls' sexuality.

Some bleed to death or die of infections from unhealed wounds.

"We often saw dead baby girls. We thought it was normal," said Guasorna, a 74-year-old farm worker who has helped deliver babies in her own family but herself never performed genital cutting.

Colombia is the only Latin American country where female circumcision, believed to have been passed on to Indigenous groups by descendants of African slaves, is known to be still practiced.

Nearly two centuries after Colombia, which was a major hub in the South American slave trade, abolished slavery, a landmark ban on FGM is finally being debated by Congress.

A blade or nail

When girls are born in the Embera Chami reserve of Pueblo Rico, a region under Indigenous jurisdiction, midwives use a blade or red-hot nail to remove part of all of their external genitalia, local women told AFP.

The practice, which has declared a human rights violation by the UN and World Health Organization but remains widespread in parts of Africa, is a taboo subject in the Embera reserve.

Many people look away or remain silent, clearly uncomfortable, when the subject comes up.

Guasorna only learned that she had undergone the procedure after hearing rumors that were eventually confirmed by her sister.

Francia Giraldo, an Embera leader, said some babies bleed to death and are never taken to hospital. Parents receive neither birth nor death certificates.

Their mothers, she said, "bury them" straight away.

The bill before Congress, which was drafted by lawmakers together with Indigenous women leaders, aims to end the practice.

It does not, however, provide for midwives who flout the ban to be punished, with Indigenous leaders arguing that the women "lack information" about the dangers of FGM.

It calls instead for a government-led awareness campaign to sensitize them to the suffering caused by the mutilation and to dispel myths about girls who are spared -- that they will grow up to be sexually promiscuous or even that their clitorises will grow into something resembling a penis.

- Pain and secrecy -

Sexual relations are often painful for victims of FGM.

Etelbina Queragama's face is dotted with paint marks that denote her status within her community.

Speaking in Embera, translated into Spanish by one of her seven children, the 63-year-old housewife said she has "never" felt anything but pain during intercourse.

There are no official figures on the practice of genital mutilation, given the secrecy surrounding the custom.

But according to the National Health Institute, at least 204 cases were performed in Colombia between 2020 and 2025.

Sarita Patino, a doctor at a hospital that treats FGM victims in Pueblo Rico, believes the incidence of FGM is "greatly under-reported."

Since the start of the year, she has already seen six cases.

In February, a six-month-old baby was brought in with a fever. "The baby girl had her clitoris mutilated... (it looked) like a burn," Patino said.

- Byproduct of slave trade -

According to the United Nations, an estimated 230 million women and girls around the world are subjected to FGM every year.

In Colombia, the practice is believed to be the product of intermingling between Indigenous and Afro-Colombians who make up around 10 percent of the population but who very rarely still practice FGM.

Carolina Giraldo (no relation of Francia), a historian and Embera congresswoman who drafted the ban on FGM, said it pains her "when people call us (the Embera) murderers and ignorant" over genital cutting.

She hopes to see "women who advocate for women's rights" travel to remote areas to campaign for an end to the silent suffering of Indigenous girls.

als/das/cb/sms

US

Stranded seafarers endure costly path home from Gulf

BY LAETITIA COMMANAY WITH ARUNABH SAIKIA IN NEW DELHI

- Passport struggle - When the bombs started flying as the war broke out, Pereira contacted unions in India on March 3 for help to get home.

When seaman Rex Pereira saw missiles flying above his vessel in the Gulf, it sparked in him one desperate wish: to get back home to India.
- Passport struggle - When the bombs started flying as the war broke out, Pereira contacted unions in India on March 3 for help to get home.

When seaman Rex Pereira saw missiles flying above his vessel in the Gulf, it sparked in him one desperate wish: to get back home to India.

Stranded by the Middle East war, like thousands of other seafarers, he feared for his life as he saw bombardments in the distance in Iran.

When he demanded to be repatriated from his supply vessel docked in Iraq, he did not expect the process would take him weeks and cost him hundreds of dollars.

Besides the perils of the US-Israeli war with Iran, he and many of the 20,000 other seafarers stuck in the region struggled with the shipping industry's poorly regulated working conditions.

"Whatever I have earned (on the ship), I think I paid the entire amount in travelling, so I didn't get anything in return. All of my savings are gone," the 28-year-old told AFP by phone from his home in Mumbai.

"The experience was really bad, so I don't think I will be going back to the sea."

Passport struggle

When the bombs started flying as the war broke out, Pereira contacted unions in India on March 3 for help to get home.

The owner of his vessel had his passport and was refusing to give it back.

The unions contacted the Indian embassy in Iraq, which made visa requests and pressed Iraqi immigration officers to force the owner to return Pereira's documents.

In the meantime, his ship was running out of food and water.

He and his crewmates had to boil water to drink, and collected water dripping from air conditioning units to shower and wash their clothes.

– Long journey home –

When he finally got his necessary visas a month later, on April 2, a long and expensive journey home began.

"An immigration officer came to pick me up on April 5 and dropped me at the Kuwait border. After that, I was alone," he said.

He took a bus and three taxis, travelling for 17 hours to reach Riyadh airport in Saudi Arabia, where he took a flight to Mumbai early on April 7 -- two full days after he had left his vessel in Iraq.

He spent $1,350 in total to get home: $200 for part of the plane ticket -- the rest was paid for by his company -- $450 for the taxis and $700 for visas.

He said he hoped to get reimbursed by the Indian recruitment agency that got him the job, but had not heard back from it since he got home.

– 'Logistical nightmare' –

"This type of situation is unfortunately very, very recurrent," says Mohamed Arrachedi, Network Coordinator for the Arab World and Iran at the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF).

The off-duty captain of one vessel which was stuck off Qatar told AFP that replacing seafarers in the Gulf amid the war was a "logistical nightmare" and could cost up to twice as much as in non-war times.

Because of this, many ship owners were reluctant to let their crew sign off, said Manoj Yadav, the General Secretary of the Forward Seamen's Union of India.

Even when seafarers are authorised to leave, the process is "delayed because processing of visas taking longer than usual, and because very few flights are available", Yadav told AFP.

He said more than 200 Indian seafarers had asked his union for help with bringing them home.

Some of them had to travel "nearly 1,800 kilometres (1,100 miles) by road from Iran to Azerbaijan to catch a flight to India".

Fear on board

Shivendra Chaurasiya's journey home lasted three days. He reached his village in Uttar Pradesh, India on April 6.

After joining the crew of a bulk carrier in December, he was stuck while it was anchored at Bandar Abbas, Iran, from late February.

He described the fear he felt on board, seeing ships hit by strikes.

"My life was at risk. I used to think, which meal might be my last one? Maybe today's breakfast is my last."

Unlike Pereira's, his employer paid for his entire trip home.

Doing so is a legal requirement for companies whose ships are covered by the International Bargaining Forum (IBF)'s labour agreements -- around 15,000 vessels worldwide, according to the IBF.

– $300 salary –

Seafarers wishing to leave vessels with no such agreements in place either have to pay for their own way home or are left stranded.

One 21-year-old seafarer, who asked to be identified only as Manish, said he could not afford to get home.

"I have not received my salary of 300 dollars a month," he said.

He spoke on Monday to AFP from the cargo vessel he joined nine months ago, stuck in Iran since the start of the war.

His contract had ended but he said the vessel's owner was refusing to pay for his return home despite a clause in his contract -- seen by AFP –- that explicitly stated the owner had to.

"We have no provisions, no food, and too many problems", he told AFP. "Please, tell someone who can help with a ticket to go back to my homeland."

lmc-sai/rlp/rmb

HKG

Raucous partying and some rugby as Hong Kong Sevens turns 50

BY PETER STEBBINGS

A few of the Hong Kong players did not even have the proper footwear, and one of them was a policeman.

The first Hong Kong Sevens took place in front of a few thousand curious spectators, and some of the players wore gym shoes in the mud instead of rugby boots.
A few of the Hong Kong players did not even have the proper footwear, and one of them was a policeman.

The first Hong Kong Sevens took place in front of a few thousand curious spectators, and some of the players wore gym shoes in the mud instead of rugby boots.

Fast forward 50 years and the event has grown into a sold-out three-day festival of global repute, mixing sport with socialising, schmoozing and big business.

The runaway success of the Hong Kong Sevens played a key part in rugby returning to the Olympics at Rio 2016 after a 92-year absence.

France's thrilling men's sevens gold, inspired by home hero Antoine Dupont, was one of the standout moments of the Paris Games two years ago.

The Hong Kong extravaganza -- where legends such as Jonah Lomu and David Campese played in the past -- also had a central role in developing the rugby across Asia.

Speaking to AFP on Friday as Hong Kong's biggest party kicked off, World Rugby chair Brett Robinson said there was nothing quite like it.

"It's the pinnacle," he said.

"Firstly, it's sort of one of the pinnacle events in global sports, let alone rugby.

"It's the jewel in the crown of our Sevens series."

'Really special'

Packed crowds with many flying in from overseas for the weekend are a far cry from when a group of club enthusiasts launched the event in 1976.

Now there are men's and women's sides from all over the globe, but then it was mostly teams from Asia and the Pacific in a one-day men's tournament.

"It started as a bit of a jolly," former Hong Kong Rugby Football Union president Brian Stevenson, who was involved at the start, once reflected.

A few of the Hong Kong players did not even have the proper footwear, and one of them was a policeman.

A 3,000 crowd packed Hong Kong Football Club to see New Zealand's Cantabrians win the first Hong Kong Sevens.

"It was a kaleidoscope of colour, full of the pace and grace, thrills and spills and the glorious uncertainty that make seven-a-side rugby arguably the fastest and best ball game in sport," local newspaper the South China Morning Post purred in its report at the time.

The seed was sown, and the tournament grew as a commercial and sporting success in tandem with Hong Kong's development as a global financial centre.

The 40,000-capacity Hong Kong Stadium became the tournament's home, with the South Stand in particular providing a raucous backdrop of well-oiled party-goers decked out in outrageous fancy dress.

After the Covid pandemic put a temporary spoiler on things, the tournament last year moved to the new $3.85 billion Kai Tak stadium.

The 50,000-seat arena, which boasts a futuristic purplish facade and retractable roof, is purpose-built for rugby sevens with 24 separate changing rooms.

It is on the site of the old Kai Tak airport, famed for its hair-raising approach over the top of nearby housing estates.

Robinson said that when rugby was applying to become an Olympic sport again, delegations were shown Hong Kong to help stake its case for inclusion.

"It's just really special in terms of the scale of it, the attendance rates, the momentum and the history of the tournament," he said.

pst/fox

conflict

Russia trains teenage influencers to churn out pro-war content

BY ALISA BUTTERWICK

At one content creation camp in early April, more than 120 teenagers, clad in green sweaters and red berets, gathered in Moscow for lectures from soldiers and state media reporters on how to produce videos, use artificial intelligence and build audiences.

Russia is trying to produce more pro-war influencers through content creation camps, training teenagers to spread the Kremlin's hardline, anti-West narrative to the next generation.
At one content creation camp in early April, more than 120 teenagers, clad in green sweaters and red berets, gathered in Moscow for lectures from soldiers and state media reporters on how to produce videos, use artificial intelligence and build audiences.

Russia is trying to produce more pro-war influencers through content creation camps, training teenagers to spread the Kremlin's hardline, anti-West narrative to the next generation.

Since invading Ukraine in 2022, Moscow has ramped up control of the domestic information space, outlawing criticism of the offensive through strict military censorship laws, throttling foreign media outlets and pushing its agenda across society.

Schools and young people have been targeted -- curricula and textbooks changed to include Russia's justification for its invasion and soldiers despatched to whip up pro-war enthusiasm in the classroom.

At one content creation camp in early April, more than 120 teenagers, clad in green sweaters and red berets, gathered in Moscow for lectures from soldiers and state media reporters on how to produce videos, use artificial intelligence and build audiences.

"We have created a huge team of kids, who understand how to broadcast government values and our organisation's values," Vladislav Golovin, a former soldier and chief of the general staff of Russia's Young Army cadets movement, said in a statement released by the group.

In a promotional video from the event, children were shown cheering a cadet racing against Golovin to see who could reload a sniper rifle the fastest.

Another organisation, the Movement of the First, runs competitions offering rewards for teenagers with the best blogs and biggest followings.

'Easy to radicalise'

The training camps are part of what Keir Giles, director of the UK-based Conflict Studies Research Centre, calls a "concentrated campaign to restore the prestige of the Russian military."

"These 14–16-year-olds have grown up in an environment where they have never known anything other than Putinism. This is their reality, and so we should not be surprised if these new efforts to spread information reflect that reality," he told AFP.

The drive to instil young Russians with Kremlin-approved values comes from the very top.

In 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin quoted Otto Van Bismarck to summarise his approach.

"Wars are not won by generals, but by schoolteachers and parish priests," Putin said in a televised press conference.

"Educating young people in the spirit of patriotism is crucial," he added.

The revival of Soviet-era youth organisations, like the Young Army, Yunarmiya in Russian, and Movement of the First -- which says it has 14 million online members and 1,100 regional initiatives -- has been integral to those efforts.

In their beige military uniforms with red berets, the rows of teenage cadets often resemble a bright poppy field at set-piece state events, like grand military parades dedicated to Soviet victory in World War II.

As Russia has clamped down on media and the internet since ordering troops into Ukraine, the campaign has moved online.

AI and disinformation expert at the Technological University of Berlin, Veronika Solopova, said social media algorithms are ripe for the Kremlin to spread its narrative, delivering individually tailored content to evoke an emotional response.

"Young people are famously easy to radicalise, easy to jump to conclusions on the nature of injustices, which, for Russia, is then all conveniently converted into army enrolments," she added.

'Behind the camera'

More than half of Russians aged 18-24 say social media is their main source of news, polling by the independent Levada Centre found in March.

Young people's "shorter attention spans, combined with the effortless shareability of clips and reels, make digital content an exceptionally powerful tool," said Giorgi Revishvili, a former Senior Advisor to the National Security Council of Georgia.

Social media content can be "direct and radical" or "very subtle, aimed not at generating support for Russia, but at decreasing solidarity with Ukraine," said Dietmar Pichler, a disinformation and propaganda analyst at INVED.

At the training camp in Moscow, the Young Army cadets were quick to grasp the power of their new skills.

"When you are the one behind the camera filming the entire process, making audiences happy, you realise ... you are the one who has aroused these emotions in people," a girl said in a promotional clip published by the organisers.

"The truth lies in a frame, and we are operating the camera."

str/jc/ach

Global Edition

Harry and Meghan meet survivors of Bondi Beach attack

Harry and Meghan toured Bondi on the last day of their whistle-stop trip down under, walking the sand barefoot flanked by first responders from the Bondi Beach Surf Lifesaving Club.

Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle visited Australia's Bondi Beach on Friday to meet survivors of last year's mass shooting at the famed surf spot.
Harry and Meghan toured Bondi on the last day of their whistle-stop trip down under, walking the sand barefoot flanked by first responders from the Bondi Beach Surf Lifesaving Club.

Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle visited Australia's Bondi Beach on Friday to meet survivors of last year's mass shooting at the famed surf spot.

A father-and-son duo are accused of murdering 15 people last December in an antisemitic shooting spree targeting a beachside Hanukkah festival.

Harry and Meghan toured Bondi on the last day of their whistle-stop trip down under, walking the sand barefoot flanked by first responders from the Bondi Beach Surf Lifesaving Club.

They later spoke with Jewish community leaders and survivors of Australia's worst mass shooting in three decades.

Photos showed the couple listening intently as they spoke to survivor Elon Zizerb, who was shot multiple times while shielding his children.

Harry and Meghan have largely received a warm welcome in Australia, although some critics have questioned the use of taxpayer money to provide protection for the pair.

The couple stepped back from royal duties in 2020 and later relocated to North America after a bitter royal family rift.

They are raising their two young children in California, as Harry now seeks to repair relations with his father -- who remains the head of state in Australia.

Naveed Akram and his father Sajid are accused of opening fire on a Hanukkah celebration at the Sydney beach in December.

Naveed has been charged with terrorism, 15 counts of murder, dozens of counts of causing wounds to a person with intent to kill, and planting explosives.

Sajid was shot and killed by police during the attack.

sft/oho

religion

'AI shamans' tell the fortunes of curious South Koreans

BY KANG JIN-KYU

The robot shaman told him to "avoid impulse spending" -- advice he took to heart.

The sound of tinkling bells drifts through an alley in central Seoul, an unmistakable sign that a shaman is near -- although in this case the mystic is a robot powered by artificial intelligence.
The robot shaman told him to "avoid impulse spending" -- advice he took to heart.

The sound of tinkling bells drifts through an alley in central Seoul, an unmistakable sign that a shaman is near -- although in this case the mystic is a robot powered by artificial intelligence.

Many South Koreans still place great value in shamanic traditions, which purport to divine a person's future based on the day and time they were born.

Practitioners, known as "mudang", wear long, colourful robes and perform dances and chants to commune with the gods -- sometimes even walking on sharp blades to demonstrate their spiritual connection.

However, at Vinaida, a cultural products store in the capital, they are computer-generated avatars on screens.

Visitor Kim Da-ae, 36, called it a "unique experience".

A visit with a real shaman can feel "scary and burdensome", she told AFP.

"But I was just walking by and read this AI sign... So I walked in with a light heart."

Portraits of virtual shamans resembling characters from the popular animation "KPop Demon Hunters" greet passersby at Vinaida, which means "I pray earnestly" in Korean.

Inside a booth, Kim typed her name, gender and date of birth into a computer, before a shaman -- a suspended mask with the image of a human face projected onto it -- asked her to explain her concern through a headset.

The technology combines voice recognition with a generative AI chatbot so that the shaman and the customer can interact.

It then refers to a centuries-old belief system called "saju", or the "four pillars of destiny", to interpret their fate according to the year, month and day of their birth.

Customers then receive a plastic "talisman" bearing a digital QR code that they can scan with their phones to read their fortunes in detail.

Across the room, a bespectacled robot uses a camera and a mechanised arm to sketch and "read" a visitor's face, foretelling their prospects.

"A bright, well-balanced fortune. Resilient in the face of change, with auspicious relationships," an impressed Kim read from a printout.

"I felt a sense of similarity with my fate because it matched my own personality, like valuing relationships while also being practical," she said.

Twist on tradition

Fortune-telling is deeply embedded in South Korean life, with newspapers publishing daily horoscopes based on "saju" principles.

Recent cultural hits such as "KPop Demon Hunters" -- Netflix's most-watched film of all time -- have riffed on shamanic traditions.

Vinaida has attracted around 100 visitors a day since opening in February, according to manager Kim Hae-seol. Each service costs up to 8,000 won ($5.50).

"Customers have something tangible or meaningful to take away, which is probably why there aren't many who feel dissatisfied," Kim Hae-seol said.

"We thought it had the potential to succeed, so we seized on this concept."

Customers can talk to the virtual shamans in four languages -- Korean, English, Chinese and Japanese.

Singaporean tourist Amos Chun was trying his luck when AFP visited the shop on Wednesday.

The robot shaman told him to "avoid impulse spending" -- advice he took to heart.

"It's quite a good reading, coming from AI," Chun said, laughing.

"Because that's something that I do."

kjk/mjw/pbt

women

France makes reusable period products free for young women

Women under 26 with a state health insurance card, as well as women of all ages who benefit from special healthcare support due to their limited income, will be able to get their money back after buying these products in a pharmacy.

France's social security is to reimburse the cost of reusable menstrual cups and underwear for women under the age of 26 or battling poverty, the government said Thursday.
Women under 26 with a state health insurance card, as well as women of all ages who benefit from special healthcare support due to their limited income, will be able to get their money back after buying these products in a pharmacy.

France's social security is to reimburse the cost of reusable menstrual cups and underwear for women under the age of 26 or battling poverty, the government said Thursday.

The move to tackle period poverty is expected to help 6.7 million people -- almost a tenth of France's population of 69 million -- from the start of the next academic year in the autumn, it says.

Women under 26 with a state health insurance card, as well as women of all ages who benefit from special healthcare support due to their limited income, will be able to get their money back after buying these products in a pharmacy.

Parliament approved the measure as part of the country's social security budget for 2024.

But there was no decree to order implementation, causing anger among feminist groups and companies making the sustainable sanitary items.

A survey of 4,000 women in France in November showed one in ten used alternatives to mainstream period products such as ripped up clothes due to tight budgets, according to French charity Dons Solidaires.

France in 2016 reduced sales tax on period products from 20 percent to 5.5 percent.

In 2020, Scotland became the first country in the world to sign into law free universal access to period products in public buildings.

vac/ah/giv

cryptocurrency

France reports over 40 cryptocurrency kidnappings so far this year

Since late 2024 French authorities have been dealing with a string of kidnappings and extortion attempts targeting the families of wealthy individuals dealing in cryptocurrencies.

France has seen more than forty cases of kidnappings or hostage takings linked to cryptocurrencies since January, a worrying surge since last year as criminals seek to extort digital currency investors for ransom, authorities said Thursday.
Since late 2024 French authorities have been dealing with a string of kidnappings and extortion attempts targeting the families of wealthy individuals dealing in cryptocurrencies.

France has seen more than forty cases of kidnappings or hostage takings linked to cryptocurrencies since January, a worrying surge since last year as criminals seek to extort digital currency investors for ransom, authorities said Thursday.

Since late 2024 French authorities have been dealing with a string of kidnappings and extortion attempts targeting the families of wealthy individuals dealing in cryptocurrencies.

Some of the cases targeted institutional digital currency players or individuals with crypto holdings, while others involved other crimes not involving kidnappings, Philippe Chadrys, deputy national director of the judicial police, told journalists Thursday.

"The modus operandi, the masterminds -- often based abroad -- and the targeting methods" vary, Chadrys said, with the names of targets sometimes revealed to henchmen at the last moment.

The phenomenon of crypto-related abductions, still "marginal” in 2024, gained momentum in 2025 when around thirty cases were reported, said Annabelle Vandendriessche, head of the interior ministry's Service for Information, Intelligence, and Strategic Analysis on Organised Crime (Sirasco).

On Mondaym a woman and her 11-year-old son were kidnapped in the central Burgundy region ahead of a crypto ransom demand.

After an operation involving around 100 officers, they were freed by Tuesday and seven men were taken into custody.

Also this month, a kidnapping took place in the southern French town of Anglet on April 10, carried out by five individuals searching for a crypto investor. They allegedly stole luxury jewelry, computers and phones.

Police arrested the suspects at Paris's Montparnasse train station after they apparently "mistook their target," Chadrys said.

In a particulalry grisly case from January 2025, kidnappers seized French crypto boss David Balland, co-founder of a crypto firm called Ledger, valued at the time at more than $1 billion.

Balland's kidnappers cut off his finger and demanded a hefty ransom before he was freed the next day, with his girlfriend found tied up in the boot of a car outside Paris.

al/bfa/cw/js

pope

Pope slams 'tyrants' on Cameroon visit as Trump spat continues

BY CLEMENT MELKI AND GUILLAUME GERARD

Trump took a new swipe in comments to journalists Thursday, saying the pope can say what he likes about international issues, but needs to understand the realities of a "nasty world".

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday criticised the "tyrants" ransacking the world, on a high-security visit to a "bloodstained" region of Cameroon, as his war of words with US President Donald Trump continued.
Trump took a new swipe in comments to journalists Thursday, saying the pope can say what he likes about international issues, but needs to understand the realities of a "nasty world".

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday criticised the "tyrants" ransacking the world, on a high-security visit to a "bloodstained" region of Cameroon, as his war of words with US President Donald Trump continued.

Trump has squared off with the first American pontiff in recent days, taking issue with the pope's criticism of the war in the Middle East.

Trump took a new swipe in comments to journalists Thursday, saying the pope can say what he likes about international issues, but needs to understand the realities of a "nasty world".

That came after the pope gave a forceful speech in northwestern Cameroon, his latest stop on a landmark four-nation African tour that has seen him abandon his previous restraint in speaking out in favour of world peace.

"Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth," Leo said in the city of Bamenda, the epicentre of a nearly decade-long English-speaking separatist insurgency that has killed thousands.

"The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters," the pontiff said at Bamenda's Saint Joseph's Cathedral.

Speaking later, Trump struck a more conciliatory tone than in recent days, but still sought to school the pope on the war in Iran.

"The pope has to understand Iran has killed more than 42,000 people over the last few months," he said.

"They were totally unarmed protesters. The pope has to understand that. This is the real world, it's a nasty world."

He denied he was "fighting" with the pontiff, saying he had "nothing against" him.

'Plunder' of Africa

The barbs come after US Vice President JD Vance -- a Catholic -- urged the Vatican to "stick to matters of morality".

But the mood was joyous as the pope arrived in Bamenda under a military escort in a popemobile with bulletproof windows, blessing the worshippers who had gathered, many singing and blowing vuvuzela horns, to welcome him.

As he left the cathedral, Leo released white doves, a symbol of peace in a region of the central African country he called a "bloodstained yet fertile land that has been mistreated".

At Bamenda airport -- renovated for his visit after being shut since 2019 because of the insurgency -- Leo condemned the ongoing exploitation of Africa in a mass.

He criticised "those who, in the name of profit, continue to lay their hands on the African continent to exploit and plunder it".

Cameroon is rich in natural resources such as oil, timber, cocoa, coffee and minerals, which have attracted both foreign firms and local elites for decades.

On arrival in the country on Wednesday, the pope appealed to Cameroon's leaders to examine their "conscience" and tackle corruption and rights abuses, in an uncharacteristically pointed speech at the presidential palace attended by longtime President Paul Biya.

Leo's trip comes six months after the authorities violently put down protests against 93-year-old Biya's disputed re-election for an eighth term.

Bolstered security

Security measures had been stepped up on the main routes through Bamenda for the visit.

Cameroon's two anglophone regions have suffered almost a decade of armed violence following attempts to secede from the rest of the mostly French-speaking central African country.

Teacher Vivian Ndey, 60, from Bamenda, welcomed the pope carrying a "plant of peace" as a symbol of hope.

She spoke at the cathedral of the difficulty of teaching during the crisis, saying teachers were afraid to come to class and students had vanished.

Conflict erupted after Biya, who has ruled since 1982, violently repressed peaceful demonstrations in 2016 by English speakers who felt marginalised.

Civilians have been targeted with killings and kidnappings. At least 6,000 people have been killed since 2016, according to the United Nations.

On Monday, separatist groups announced a three-day truce to welcome the pope.

After the Bamenda trip, Leo is to hold a mass at a stadium in the economic capital Douala on Friday, before leaving Cameroon for Angola on Saturday. He then travels to Equatorial Guinea.

cmk-gge-lnf/sbk-jhb/rh

politics

UK PM tells social media bosses to step up child online safety

Starmer summoned the social media bosses to the Downing Street meeting, also attended by Technology Minister Liz Kendall, amid growing calls for a ban on under-16s using the platforms.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday hinted at possible measures limiting children's access to social media, as he met senior tech figures and warned: "Things can't go on like this."
Starmer summoned the social media bosses to the Downing Street meeting, also attended by Technology Minister Liz Kendall, amid growing calls for a ban on under-16s using the platforms.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday hinted at possible measures limiting children's access to social media, as he met senior tech figures and warned: "Things can't go on like this."

"They must change because right now social media is putting our children at risk," Starmer told the group who included Wifredo Fernandez of X, Alistair Law of TikTok, Markus Reinisch of Meta, and Ronan Harris of Snap.

"In a world in which children are protected, even if that means access is restricted, that is preferable to a world where harm is the price of participation," he added.

Starmer summoned the social media bosses to the Downing Street meeting, also attended by Technology Minister Liz Kendall, amid growing calls for a ban on under-16s using the platforms.

He told the industry leaders he looked forward to working with them on new safeguarding measures, but insisted there had to be change.

"I do think this can be done. I think the question is not whether it is done, the question is how it is done," he said.

The government is considering restrictions on popular social media apps with ministers under pressure to introduce an Australia-style ban.

'Real world changes'

Australia in December became the first nation to prohibit people under the age of 16 from using immensely popular and profitable social media platforms.

Greece has since said it will ban social media for under 15s and the European Union has said an expert group will start work this week on recommendations for action across the EU.

Starmer has not ruled out a ban, but previously said he was waiting for the outcome of a public consultation, due to close on May 26.

He said last month he was "very keen" to tackle addictive features following a landmark US ruling that found Meta and YouTube liable for harming a young woman.

Starmer's official spokesperson said the premier had been "clear" with the bosses that he wanted "to know what they're going to be doing, and it has to be done swiftly".

"He's asked them to provide assurances on action that they're taking, and it's been clear that companies must be able to show real world changes that make their platforms safer for children."

The two chambers of Britain's parliament are currently in a stand-off over whether the government should follow Australia.

The unelected upper House of Lords voted in favour of prohibiting social media for under-16s for a second time last month, piling pressure on the government to follow suit.

But the House of Commons, where Starmer's Labour party enjoys a huge majority, has twice rejected the proposal.

har/am/pdw

Global Edition

Meghan Markle claims to be 'most trolled person' in world

"Every day for 10 years, I've been bullied and attacked," Meghan told the youngsters on the third day of the visit in the southern city of Melbourne, adding "but I'm still here".

Prince Harry's wife Meghan Markle claimed Thursday she has been "bullied and attacked" on social media every day for a decade and was "the most trolled person in the entire world".
"Every day for 10 years, I've been bullied and attacked," Meghan told the youngsters on the third day of the visit in the southern city of Melbourne, adding "but I'm still here".

Prince Harry's wife Meghan Markle claimed Thursday she has been "bullied and attacked" on social media every day for a decade and was "the most trolled person in the entire world".

The 44-year-old former American actress made the comments during the couple's four-day tour of Australia, as they both addressed a roundtable discussion with young people associated with an Australian mental health organisation.

"Every day for 10 years, I've been bullied and attacked," Meghan told the youngsters on the third day of the visit in the southern city of Melbourne, adding "but I'm still here".

She urged those in attendance to remember that social media was a "billion dollar industry that is completely anchored and predicated on cruelty to get clicks".

"That's not going to change. So you have to be stronger than that," Meghan said.

Meanwhile at a separate event, Harry, 41, revealed he had felt "lost, betrayed, or completely powerless" during his life, as he opened up about the impact of losing his mother, Princess Diana, as a boy.

In a discussion after delivering a speech at a leadership summit, King Charles III's youngest son said following Diana's death when he was 12 that he felt like he wanted to cast off his role as a senior royal.

"It killed my mum and I was very much against it, and I stuck my head in the sand for years and years," he said.

"Eventually I realised: well, hang on, if there was somebody else in this position, how would they be making the most of this platform and this ability and the resources that come with it to make a difference in the world?

"And also, what would my mum want me to do? And that really changed my own perspective."

Harry and his wife stepped back from royal duties in 2020 and later relocated to North America amid a bitter royal family rift.

They are raising their two young children in California, as Harry now seeks to repair relations with his father -- who remains the head of state in Australia.

'VIP experience'

During the couple's Australia tour, Meghan has also filmed a programme for MasterChef Australia due to air on Sunday.

She will also take part in a "girls' weekend like no other" at Sydney's InterContinental Coogee Beach hotel, according to organisers.

The event features yoga, sound healing and dinners as well as disco dancing at a ticket price of Aus$2,699 per person, about $1,900.

Those willing to pay even more get access to the "VIP experience" -- which includes a group table photo with Meghan and a goodie bag.

The pair is also due to visit the capital Canberra, national broadcaster ABC said.

They have been warmly greeted during their stops so far, but the visit has drawn criticism, with Victoria state opposition leader Jess Wilson condemning the use of taxpayers' money to provide protection for the pair.

jj/jkb/fox

rights

'Transnational repression' worsened last year: report

BY SELIM SAHEB ETTABA

"Collaboration among authoritarian governments fueled transnational repression in Southeast Asia and East Africa in 2025," the report states.

Authoritarian governments that reach across borders to persecute their own citizens did so at a greater rate last year, particularly in Southeast Asia and East Africa, a human rights group charged Thursday.
"Collaboration among authoritarian governments fueled transnational repression in Southeast Asia and East Africa in 2025," the report states.

Authoritarian governments that reach across borders to persecute their own citizens did so at a greater rate last year, particularly in Southeast Asia and East Africa, a human rights group charged Thursday.

The phenomenon of so-called transnational repression exploded into public awareness with the horrific murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at his country's consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

In an annual report on transnational repression, the rights group Freedom House said China was the world's "leading perpetrator" in 2025, followed by Vietnam and Russia.

And six countries joined a long list of violators for the first time: Afghanistan, Benin, Georgia, Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

The new additions raised to at least 54 the number of countries known to carry out this kind of rights violation since 2014, Yana Gorokhovskaia, a co-author of the report, said in an interview with AFP.

That's more than a quarter of the world's countries.

"Collaboration among authoritarian governments fueled transnational repression in Southeast Asia and East Africa in 2025," the report states. "Over half of the incidents recorded last year -- 69 of 126 -- occurred in these two regions."

"The trend that's emerging is that a lot of those governments, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, are cooperating to sort of trade dissidents back and forth to help arrest them," said Gorokhovskaia.

She explained that this kind of government behavior tends to happen when such regimes are under election-related stress.

In November 2024 Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye was abducted in Kenya and taken to Uganda, where he now faces charges of treason.

And in January 2025, renowned Tanzanian rights activist Maria Sarungi Tsehai was kidnapped on the streets of Nairobi but released following a swift intervention by rights groups that triggered a media uproar.

'Authoritarian neighborhoods'

In Southeast Asia, Thailand yielded to pressure from China and Vietnam to turn over representatives of ethnic minority groups, fearing reprisal and economic punishment from Beijing, the study said.

Because of immigration restrictions around the world, "dissidents tend to actually not be able to get very far from their own region," said Gorokhovskaia, citing as examples Cambodians who seek refuge in Thailand and Russians who go to Turkey.

"And so what that means is that there's a lot more transnational repression in these authoritarian neighborhoods, because that's where the dissidents can make it to," she said.

"With 49 incidents, detention was the most ubiquitous tactic of transnational repression documented last year. It was followed closely, with 48 incidents, by unlawful deportation," the report said.

Among its recommendations the rights group said countries with democracies should slap sanctions on foreign leaders who favor transnational repression through forced returns of dissidents back to their home countries.

These rule-of-law countries should impose sanctions and visa bans against foreign government officials who facilitate transnational repression via forced returns, Freedom House said.

It added that democratic governments should also seek accountability from government officials in host countries who facilitate and enable such rights abuses.

"Transnational repression is a low-cost way of maintaining a regime by cracking down on dissent," said Gorokhovskaia.

She argued that, although countries that engage in this kind of repression may be hit with sanctions, this punishment tends to be short-lived -- as in the case of the outcry against Saudi Arabia after the murder and dismemberment of Khashoggi, a US resident who had been critical of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

"There was an instant reaction, but that pressure wasn't maintained, and eventually the relationship sort of normalized," said Gorokhovskaia.

sst/dw/jgc

AI

Chatbots at the ballot box: AI skirts Brazil election rules

BY MARIA CLARA PESTRE

In a post on X earlier this month, Flavio Bolsonaro urged his followers to "ask Chat what the truth is."

"Chat, who is the best candidate?"
In a post on X earlier this month, Flavio Bolsonaro urged his followers to "ask Chat what the truth is."

"Chat, who is the best candidate?": Six months out from Brazil's presidential election, AI chatbots are still answering such questions in defiance of new electoral rules banning them from giving voting tips.

The head of Brazil's electoral court (TSE), justice Carmen Lucia, warned in January that artificial intelligence chatbots could lead to the "contamination" of the October vote in Latin America's biggest nation.

In March, the court imposed new regulations which restricted how chatbots are allowed to operate during the 2026 election cycle, as well as increased platform liability for false content.

The TSE has taken a leading role in the fight against disinformation, declaring far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro ineligible to run for office for spreading false information about the Brazilian electoral system during 2022 polls.

The 2026 election is the first major vote to be held since chatbots became widely available in the country.

The AI tools have been forbidden from providing recommendations, rankings, or opinions regarding candidates and political parties -- even when prompted by a user.

However, in tests conducted by AFP weeks after the new rules were set, at least three leading AI chatbots continued to rank political candidates.

When asked who the "best candidates for the 2026 elections" would be, ChatGPT, Grok, and Gemini all weighed in.

"Honest conclusion. The 'technically' best options today: Tarcisio/Zema," ChatGPT responded.

The bot was referring to Sao Paulo's powerful governor Tarcisio de Freitas, who has ruled out a presidential bid, and former Minas Gerais state governor Romeu Zema, a possible candidate for the right-wing Novo party.

Errors and biases

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, 80, placed between second and fifth, receiving praise from the chatbots for his "vast experience," but facing criticism for his "advanced age."

The veteran leftist is seeking a fourth term in office.

His main rival in the polls, Flavio Bolsonaro -- son of the former president -- came last or did not appear on the lists.

Such responses have raised concerns that technology could influence voting in the highly-polarized and hyper-connected country, based on incorrect or biased information.

This is because chatbot replies are generated by probabilities based on training data, which may contain errors or biases, said Theo Araujo, director of the Amsterdam School of Communication Research.

A study he carried out during 2025 elections in the Netherlands showed that one in ten people were likely to use AI chatbots to seek out information about candidates.

Voters assume AI neutrality

In March, AFP's fact-checking team verified as fake an image that allegedly showed Flavio Bolsonaro with Daniel Vorcaro -- a businessman under investigation for a major banking fraud scandal that has rattled the country's elite.

However, Grok -- X's AI chatbot -- said the picture was real and even provided a date for the alleged meeting.

Araujo said that voters were likely to assume that chatbots were "neutral or objective sources, and consequently process their responses less critically."

Some candidates have reinforced this idea.

In a post on X earlier this month, Flavio Bolsonaro urged his followers to "ask Chat what the truth is."

Many have done so.

A quick search on the social network revealed various users asking Grok for voting recommendations.

"Based on the six criteria outlined in my post, which pre-candidate should I vote for?" asked one internet user, while another asked whether they could trust the results of an opinion survey.

No clear punishment

Despite the concerns, it is unclear how the TSE's new rule will be enforced, as it does not provide for specific sanctions.

The court could order a daily fine, Diogo Rais, a lawyer specializing in electoral law, told AFP.

However, the amounts fined are not set in advance and could be challenged in court.

When contacted, OpenAI stated that ChatGPT is "trained not to favor candidates" and that it continues to refine its models.

Google said that Gemini generates responses based on user prompts, which do not necessarily reflect the company's views.

Attempts to contact X were unsuccessful.

mcp/fb/jgc/abs

religion

Pope urges Cameroon's leaders to examine 'conscience'

BY CLéMENT MELKI AND GUILLAUME GERARD

In his address in an unusually direct tone to officials, including Biya, 93, who has led the central African country with a tight grip since 1982, Leo urged Cameroon's authorities to "serve as bridges, never as sources of division, even when insecurity seems prevalent".

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday urged Cameroon's leaders to examine their "conscience" and tackle corruption and rights abuses, in a pointed speech on the first day of his visit to the central African country.
In his address in an unusually direct tone to officials, including Biya, 93, who has led the central African country with a tight grip since 1982, Leo urged Cameroon's authorities to "serve as bridges, never as sources of division, even when insecurity seems prevalent".

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday urged Cameroon's leaders to examine their "conscience" and tackle corruption and rights abuses, in a pointed speech on the first day of his visit to the central African country.

After two days in Algeria marred by two suicide attacks and a spat with US President Donald Trump, the pontiff received a warm welcome from the thousands of people, some of them singing and dancing, who lined the road en route to a meeting with President Paul Biya.

In his address in an unusually direct tone to officials, including Biya, 93, who has led the central African country with a tight grip since 1982, Leo urged Cameroon's authorities to "serve as bridges, never as sources of division, even when insecurity seems prevalent".

"Security is a priority, but it must always be exercised with respect for human rights," the pope said in the presence of Biya, whose authorities repressed protests sparked by his disputed re-election for an eighth term in October.

"It is time to examine our conscience and take a bold leap forward," the pope told diplomats and officials in the capital Yaounde.

"In order for peace and justice to prevail, the chains of corruption... must be broken," he told the Cameroonian authorities.

The country ranked 142 out of 180 on the Transparency International watchdog's 2025 Corruption Perceptions index.

In response, Biya said that "the world needs the message of peace" brought by Leo.

The pope's four-nation African tour began amid remarks by US President Donald Trump that he was "not a big fan" of Leo after the US-born pontiff called for peace in the Middle East.

Warm welcome

Thousands of people, some of them playing music, singing and dancing, had gathered in the scorching sunshine outside the airport to welcome the pope.

"It's such a relief that the pope is coming to see us, because there are so many problems in this country," Helene Ebogo, 19, told AFP outside the airport.

The welcome was similarly warm at the Ngul Zamba Catholic orphanage, where the 70-year-old pontiff promised that the children were "called to a future greater than your wounds".

In the central African country where more than a third of the around 30 million people are Catholic, the Church plays a key mediation role and runs a large network of hospitals, schools and charities.

Clergy members had voiced fears that Leo's meeting with Biya would help the president to burnish his image.

On Tuesday, several civil society groups condemned "an unprecedented period of repression" since the presidential polls.

They also called for the release of political prisoners.

Separatist conflict

On Thursday, Leo will make a high-security visit to a conflict zone where English-speaking separatists are fighting the army in the northwest.

"We hope that as soon as he sets foot on Cameroonian soil, the war will stop," Benedicte Belinka, dressed in a tunic bearing the pope's image, told AFP on Wednesday.

The violence has seen civilians become the target of killings and kidnappings.

Earlier this week, separatist groups announced a three-day truce starting on Wednesday to allow the highly symbolic visit in the western anglophone region, where nearly a fifth of the population lives.

The pope will give a speech and celebrate mass in the main city of Bamenda, at the centre of the conflict that erupted after demonstrations in 2016 were put down by the authorities.

The crackdown led to a full-blown rift between the army and English-speaking separatists that has yet to be resolved.

The violence had caused more than 6,000 deaths by 2024, according to rights groups.

'Blessed are the peacemakers'

On Friday, Leo holds mass for hundreds of thousands in a stadium in the economic capital Douala.

He leaves Cameroon for Angola on Saturday and next week heads to Equatorial Guinea.

Besides Trump's broadsides, US Vice President JD Vance -- himself a Catholic -- has also waded in to the spat, urging the Vatican to "stick to matters of morality... and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy".

Leo brushed the jibes aside.

"I have no fear, neither of the Trump administration, nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel," he told reporters on the papal plane as he headed to Algiers on Monday.

burs-sbk/kjm

sex

BY JING XUAN TENGvar date = new Date("2026-04-18T07:20:10Z") var userTimezoneOffset = Math.abs(date.getTimezoneOffset() * 60000); var dd = new Date(date.getTime() - userTimezoneOffset) + " "; document.write(dd.split('(', 1)[0]);

Regulatory risks

games

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Lawmakers 'listening'

guns

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'Be prepared'

'The whole spectrum'

pope

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'Needs of the youth'

'Moment of grace'

religion

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'Don't mess with him'

'Very harsh'

immigration

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children

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A blade or nail

US

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Passport struggle

Fear on board

HKG

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'Really special'

conflict

BY ALISA BUTTERWICKvar date = new Date("2026-04-17T06:47:01Z") var userTimezoneOffset = Math.abs(date.getTimezoneOffset() * 60000); var dd = new Date(date.getTime() - userTimezoneOffset) + " "; document.write(dd.split('(', 1)[0]);

'Easy to radicalise'

'Behind the camera'

Global Edition

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religion

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Twist on tradition

women

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cryptocurrency

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pope

BY CLEMENT MELKI AND GUILLAUME GERARDvar date = new Date("2026-04-16T20:46:11Z") var userTimezoneOffset = Math.abs(date.getTimezoneOffset() * 60000); var dd = new Date(date.getTime() - userTimezoneOffset) + " "; document.write(dd.split('(', 1)[0]);

'Plunder' of Africa

Bolstered security

politics

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'Real world changes'

Global Edition

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'VIP experience'

rights

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'Authoritarian neighborhoods'

AI

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Errors and biases

Voters assume AI neutrality

No clear punishment

religion

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Warm welcome

Separatist conflict

'Blessed are the peacemakers'

BY JING XUAN TENG

BY FREDERIC POUCHOT

BY PIERRE HARDY

BY CLEMENT MELKI AND FRANCOIS AUSSEIL

BY BEN TURNER WITH ANNE LEBRETON IN WASHINGTON AND MOISES AVILA IN HOUSTON

BY ALBA SANTANA

BY LAETITIA COMMANAY WITH ARUNABH SAIKIA IN NEW DELHI

BY PETER STEBBINGS

BY ALISA BUTTERWICK

BY KANG JIN-KYU

BY CLEMENT MELKI AND GUILLAUME GERARD

BY SELIM SAHEB ETTABA

BY MARIA CLARA PESTRE

BY CLéMENT MELKI AND GUILLAUME GERARD