Bondi

Australian PM 'devastated' by violence at rally against Israel president's visit

BY OLIVER HOTHAM

  • Asked about the scenes, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told local radio he was "devastated" to see the violence.
  • Australia's Prime Minister said Tuesday he was "devastated" by scenes of clashes at a Sydney rally against a visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog but defended the police's actions against protesters.
  • Asked about the scenes, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told local radio he was "devastated" to see the violence.
Australia's Prime Minister said Tuesday he was "devastated" by scenes of clashes at a Sydney rally against a visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog but defended the police's actions against protesters.
Herzog's tightly secured, four-day trip aims to console Australia's Jewish community after the December shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach that killed 15 people at a Hanukkah festival.
But chaos erupted on Monday evening in the heart of Australia's largest city as police tried to prevent a rally from marching into an area designated off-limits.
Law enforcement hit protesters and members of the media, including AFP, with pepper spray in rarely seen violent scuffles in Sydney's central business district.
Asked about the scenes, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told local radio he was "devastated" to see the violence.
"These are really scenes that I think shouldn't be taking place," he said.
"People should be able to express their views peacefully, but the police were very clear about the routes that were required if people wanted to march," he added.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said the police had been placed in "incredibly difficult circumstances".
Not far from the protests, he noted, Herzog had been taking part in an event for the victims of the December 14 killings alongside thousands of mourners.
Minns said it would have been a "disaster" if protesters had been allowed to march near that event.
New South Wales police have said they arrested 27 people at the rallies, including 10 for assaulting law enforcement, and have confirmed they deployed pepper spray against the crowd.
But they have sparked outrage with a video circulating on social media showing Muslim men praying near Sydney's Town Hall being pushed and shoved by the police.
Local Greens lawmaker Abigail Boyd told local broadcaster ABC she had been hurt by police at the march and posted a selfie to social media wearing a neck brace.
"I didn't know that this was what police could do in our state. I feel just absolutely shocked," she said.
Protest groups have called for supporters to rally against "police brutality" at 5:30 pm (0630 GMT) in downtown Sydney. 

'Lift the spirits'

Herzog's visit is expected to last until Thursday.
On Tuesday morning he met students at a Jewish school in the Sydney suburbs.
He is later expected to meet with the families of victims of the Bondi attack -- the deadliest against Jews since Hamas's assault on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Many Jewish Australians have welcomed Herzog's trip.
"His visit will lift the spirits of a pained community," said Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the community's peak body.
But some in the community disagreed, with the progressive Jewish Council of Australia saying he was not welcome because of his alleged role in the "ongoing destruction of Gaza".
The UN's Independent International Commission of Inquiry found last year that Herzog was liable for prosecution for inciting genocide after he said all Palestinians -- "an entire nation" -- were responsible for the Hamas attack on Israel.
Israel has "categorically" rejected the inquiry's report, describing it as "distorted and false" and calling for the body's abolition.
oho/mjw

rights

New York seeks rights for beloved but illegal 'bodega cats'

BY RAPHAëLLE PELTIER

  • While Simba can nap in the corner of his shop with kibble within paw's reach, many of his fellow cats are locked in basements, deprived of food or proper care, and abandoned when they grow old or fall ill. 
  • Simba, a large cat with thick ginger and white fur, is one of thousands of felines that live in New York's corner shops known as "bodegas" -- even if their presence is illegal. 
  • While Simba can nap in the corner of his shop with kibble within paw's reach, many of his fellow cats are locked in basements, deprived of food or proper care, and abandoned when they grow old or fall ill. 
Simba, a large cat with thick ginger and white fur, is one of thousands of felines that live in New York's corner shops known as "bodegas" -- even if their presence is illegal. 
Praised for warding off pests, so-called bodega cats are also a cultural fixture for New Yorkers, some of whom are now pushing to enshrine legal rights for the little store helpers. 
"Simba is very important to us because he keeps the shop clean of the mice," Austin Moreno, a shopkeeper in Manhattan, told AFP from behind his till. 
The fluffy inhabitant also helps to entice customers. 
"People, very often, they come to visit to ask, what is his name? The other day, some girls saw him for the first time and now they come every day," said Moreno. 
Around a third of the city's roughly 10,000 bodegas are thought to have a resident cat despite being liable to fines of $200-$350 for keeping animals in a store selling food, according to Dan Rimada, founder of Bodega Cats of New York.  
Rimada photographs the felines for his social media followers and last year launched a petition to legalize bodega cats, which drew nearly 14,000 signatures.
"These cats are woven into the fabric of New York City, and that's an important story to tell," he said. 

Pressure point

Inspired by Rimada's petition, New York City council member Keith Powers has proposed a measure to shield the owners of bodega cats from penalties. 
His legislation would also provide free vaccinations and spay or neuter services to the felines. 
But animal shelters and rights groups say this wouldn't go far enough. 
While Simba can nap in the corner of his shop with kibble within paw's reach, many of his fellow cats are locked in basements, deprived of food or proper care, and abandoned when they grow old or fall ill. 
Becky Wisdom, who rescues cats in New York, warned that lifting the threat of fines could remove "leverage" to encourage bodega owners to better care for the animals. 
She also opposes public funds being given to business owners rather than low-income families who want their cats spayed or neutered. 
The latter is a big issue in New York, where the stray cat population is estimated at around half a million. 

Radical overhaul

Regardless of what the city decides, it is the state of New York that has authority over business rules, said Allie Taylor, president of Voters for Animal Rights.
Taylor said she backs another initiative proposed by state assembly member Linda Rosenthal, a prominent animal welfare advocate, who proposes allowing cats in bodegas under certain conditions. 
These would include vet visits, mandatory spaying or neutering, and ensuring the cats have sufficient food, water and a safe place to sleep.
Beyond the specific case of bodega cats, Taylor is pushing for a more radical overhaul of animal protection in New York.
"Instead of focusing on one subset of cats, we need the city to make serious investments, meaning tens of millions of dollars per year into free or low cost spay, neuter and veterinary care," she said. 
pel/bjt/msp

majority

Japan election results confirm super-majority for Takaichi's party

BY TOMOHIRO OSAKI

  • The election also saw the anti-immigration Sanseito party increase its tally to 15 seats from two, the results showed.
  • Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won 315 seats in weekend snap elections, giving it a two-thirds majority, official results confirmed Tuesday.
  • The election also saw the anti-immigration Sanseito party increase its tally to 15 seats from two, the results showed.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won 315 seats in weekend snap elections, giving it a two-thirds majority, official results confirmed Tuesday.
The outcome is the LDP's best in its history and allows Japan's first woman prime minister to stamp her mark on the country of 123 million people over the next four years.
The LDP's coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party (JIP), won 36 seats, giving the ruling bloc 351 lawmakers in the 465-member lower house, the internal affairs ministry data showed.
In the last parliament the LDP had only 198 seats while the JIP had 34.
The election also saw the anti-immigration Sanseito party increase its tally to 15 seats from two, the results showed.
The new Centrist Reform Alliance of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party and the LDP's previous partner Komeito suffered a disaster, with their tally collapsing to 49 from 167.
Having a two-thirds majority enables the government to override decisions by the upper house where the coalition is in a minority.
It also gives Takaichi the option of embarking on the complicated task of trying to change the constitution, something she has indicated she wants to do.
"This is the start of a heavy, heavy responsibility to make Japan stronger, more prosperous," Takaichi, 64, told a news conference on Monday.
"We believe that the public has shown understanding and sympathy regarding our appeals concerning the urgent need for a major policy shift," she said.
Capitalising on her honeymoon start after becoming Japan's fifth premier in as many years in October, Takaichi called the snap election last month.
Despite being her country's first woman premier, Takaichi has shown little appetite for framing her leadership around gender in male-dominated Japanese politics.
The number of women lawmakers dipped to 68 from 73, the official results showed.
But she has been a hit with voters, especially young ones, with fans lapping up everything from her handbag to her jamming to a K-pop song with South Korea's president.

Challenges ahead

Still, Takaichi has a host of challenges, including helping households cope with rising prices and boosting the economy while not alarming investors about Japan's public finances.
Her government is also under pressure to deliver on promises made to US President Donald Trump of investing some $550 billion in the United States.
With an eye on the rise of the populist Sanseito party, Takaichi has also promised to tighten rules on immigration.
Relations with China are also prickly, especially after Takaichi suggested in November that Japan could intervene militarily if Beijing sought to take Taiwan by force.
China, which regards the democratic island as part of its territory and has not ruled out force to annex it, was furious.
On Monday, a spokesman for China's foreign ministry again urged Japan to retract the comments.
Takaichi also wants Japan, a close US ally, to boost defence spending.
Beijing warned Tokyo that "reckless" actions would be met with a "resolute response from the international community".
tmo-stu/mjw

drones

South Korea police raid spy agency over drone flights into North

BY CLAIRE LEE

  • But authorities said on Tuesday they were investigating three active-duty soldiers and one spy agency employee.
  • Investigators raided South Korea's spy agency on Tuesday as they probed possible government links to a drone shot down over North Korea earlier this year.
  • But authorities said on Tuesday they were investigating three active-duty soldiers and one spy agency employee.
Investigators raided South Korea's spy agency on Tuesday as they probed possible government links to a drone shot down over North Korea earlier this year.
Pyongyang accused Seoul of flying a drone into Kaesong in January, releasing images that purported to show debris from the downed aircraft.
Seoul initially denied the government was involved, with President Lee Jae Myung saying it would be akin to "firing a shot into the North".
But authorities said on Tuesday they were investigating three active-duty soldiers and one spy agency employee.
Investigators from a joint military-police task force raided 18 locations of interest, including the Defense Intelligence Command and the National Intelligence Service. 
"The task force said it will thoroughly establish the truth behind the drone incident through analysis of seized materials and a rigorous investigation of the suspects," a statement read.
Three civilians have already been charged for their alleged role in the drone scandal.
One of them has publicly claimed responsibility, saying he acted to detect radiation levels from North Korea's Pyongsan uranium processing facility.
Disgraced ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol is currently standing trial on charges he illegally sent drones into North Korea to help create the pretext for declaring martial law in late 2024.
His attempt to overturn civilian rule failed, and Yoon was impeached and ousted from office in April last year.

Provocation and propoganda

Prosecutors have accused Yoon of instructing Seoul's military to fly drones over Pyongyang and distribute anti-North leaflets in an attempt to provoke a response.
They said Yoon and others "conspired to create conditions that would allow the declaration of emergency martial law".
North Korea said last year it had proven that the South flew drones to drop propaganda leaflets over its capital.
Lee said in December that he felt an apology was due to North Korea over his predecessor's alleged order to send drones.
"I feel I should apologise, but I hesitate to say it out loud," he said at the time.
"I worry that if I do, it could be used as fodder for ideological battles or accusations of being pro-North," he added.
Lee has taken steps to ease tensions since taking office, including removing propaganda loudspeakers along the border.
Pyongyang unveiled new attack drones in August 2024, with experts saying the capability may be attributable to the country's budding alliance with Moscow.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un at the time ordered the "mass production" of attack drones, with analysts saying they may be designed to carry explosives and deliberately crash into enemy targets.
North Korea has previously sent trash-filled balloons over the South in what it called retaliation for activists in the South floating anti-regime propaganda missives northwards.
cdl/sft/mjw

climate

Warming climate threatens Greenland's ancestral way of life

BY NIOUCHA ZAKAVATI

  • Traditionally, hunters' boats would head straight out to sea, slowly pushing through the ice and creating holes that attract seals coming up for air.
  • Standing in his boat with binoculars in hand, hunter Malik Kleist scans the horizon for seals.
  • Traditionally, hunters' boats would head straight out to sea, slowly pushing through the ice and creating holes that attract seals coming up for air.
Standing in his boat with binoculars in hand, hunter Malik Kleist scans the horizon for seals. But this February, the sea ice in southwestern Greenland has yet to freeze, threatening traditional livelihoods like his.
"Normally the seals are on the ice or in the more calm waters. But today we had to sail all the way into the fjords to find them," the 37-year-old tells AFP.
The Arctic region is on the frontline of global warming, heating up four times faster than the rest of the planet since 1979, according to a 2022 study in scientific journal Nature, causing the sea ice to retreat.
Seals rely on pack ice to give birth, to rest and for protection.
Hunters increasingly have to sail farther along the jagged coast of Sisimiut, navigating into the fjords for several hours to find them.
Traditionally, hunters' boats would head straight out to sea, slowly pushing through the ice and creating holes that attract seals coming up for air.
But without any ice, "it's too windy and the waves are too big," Kleist says.
Last year was exceptionally warm in the vast autonomous territory, with several temperature records beaten, according to the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI). 
In December, the Summit Station, located at the height of Greenland's ice sheet, recorded an average temperature of -30.9 degrees C (-23.6 Fahrenheit), 8.1C higher than the December average during the period 1991-2020.
"It affects everything we do. Because normally around November, December the ice comes. And this year there's no ice, so it affects our living a lot," Kleist says.

Financial woes

For the same reason, the government has also had to postpone the annual winter musk ox hunt that was due to start on January 31.
There wasn't enough snow and ice to transport the massive animals that roam the Arctic tundra back from Kangerlussuaq where they are predominantly found, around 165 kilometres (103 miles) away. Greenland has no roads connecting its towns.
That has left some Sisimiut hunters with less income than usual.
"This time of year there is not much to hunt. So we rely on musk ox meat and skin," Kleist says.
"Many of my fellow hunters are struggling with money right now."
Every part of the animal, from the fur to the meat, is either used or sold.
The summer hunting season has therefore gained importance, enabling Greenlanders to fill their freezers to get them through the winter months, he tells AFP over a steaming bowl of fish stew.
The shorter winter season has also impacted another key activity in Greenland, one that has become increasingly important to the tourism sector: dogsled tours. 
In the Sisimiut neighbourhood where the dogs are kept, their thunderous barking mounts as Nukaaraq Olsen, a 21-year-old musher, attaches them to the sled.
Raring to get going, his 18 dogs are hard to hold back. Twenty minutes later, the group bounds off. 
But the road is bumpy, and several times Olsen has to get up to manually push the sled, stuck on the tundra's rocks in patches where there is no ice.
"This year we had a lot of hot, warm days, even though it's December or January," he says.
Other parts of the route are no longer safe to use, due to repeated melting and freezing of snowfall which causes uneven layers, he explains.

Dehydrated dogs

The dogs' health is also affected by the changing climate. 
They are used to quenching their thirst with snow, but with little or no snowfall, they can easily get dehydrated. Mushers have to take that into account when caring for their animals.
Many have even had to get rid of their dogs, the business of maintaining them no longer profitable with the dogsled season shrinking to just two months, says Emilie Andersen-Ranberg, a researcher at the University of Copenhagen who runs a dog clinic in Sisimiut. 
Others, such as 72-year-old Johanne Bech, are finding novel ways to adapt.
She plans to put wheels on her sled to continue running dogsled tours during the summer period.
That solution is growing in popularity, as "the window with snow is getting more and more narrow," the veterinarian says.
Over the past 20 years, the number of sleddogs has been halved from 25,000 to 13,000, according to a 2024 article from the University of Greenland in 2024.
Yet Johanne Bech remains optimistic about the future.
"I hope this is just for a short time, so we can go back to a little more stable snow or more ice in the future."
nzg/ef/po/ks/abs

music

Despite Trump, Bad Bunny reflects importance of Latinos in US politics

BY WITH DANNY KEMP IN WASHINGTON DC AND GERARD MARTINEZ IN SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO

  • "What a slap in the face.
  • President Donald Trump called Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime performance a "slap in the face" to the United States.
  • "What a slap in the face.
President Donald Trump called Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime performance a "slap in the face" to the United States.
For US Latino voters, however, the show was a reminder of their significant role in American society.
Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a former Florida congresswoman who was born in Ecuador, told AFP: "What Bad Bunny was able to do in the largest stage in American media was make a statement of what the Hispanic community, the Puerto Rican community, represents to this country."
The 31-year-old performer, born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, sang entirely in Spanish in a spectacle that showcased Latino neighborhoods and culture within the United States, including his native Puerto Rico.
"He was presenting the culture of Latino Americans who live in his country and embracing the language not as a form of protest, but in some ways as an educational piece that Latinos who speak Spanish don't pose a threat," said Mucarsel-Powell, now head of George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management.

'We are important'

The show drew backlash from the US right, especially for its use of Spanish, with Trump calling it "an affront to the Greatness of America" on his Truth Social platform.
But for Martina Grifaldo, 62, Bad Bunny's show was "a powerful message because it is saying that we are important and necessary in this country."
"It gives strength to those Latinos who can no longer cope with everything that is happening," added Grifaldo, who leads the International Latino Alliance in Houston, Texas.
Trump won 48 percent of the Latino vote in 2024, a 12-point increase from 2020, but his immigration policies since returning to office have begun to reverse that trend. 
More than 36 million Latinos were eligible to vote in the 2024 presidential election, about 15 percent of the country's electorate.
"The Hispanic/Latino vote has been a swing vote and what we saw in 2024 was a result of the pain of what the Hispanic community was feeling on the economy...and they saw Trump as a means to get out of that," said Mucarsel-Powell.

'Racism still exists'

"They have not seen any changes or any economic gains for their community...But now the issues of respect and security are important. They are starting to see immigration affect their friends and their community."
According to a January NYT/Siena poll, 58 percent of Hispanic voters disapprove of Trump's performance, while 39 percent approve. A Pew Research poll from November showed that 70 percent of Latinos disapproved of his performance.
Trump "has an erroneous view of Latinos. He believes that we bring crime and bad habits, but we have always been working," said Lenny Medina, a 26-year-old parking lot attendant in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which has been a US territory since 1898.
"Racism still exists in the 21st century," he added.
Michelle Venegas, a 50-year-old Puerto Rican resident of Austin, Texas, told AFP that because of Trump's immigration crackdown, "we're having to walk around with our passports and even that doesn't guarantee that we're not going to be detained." 
"What a slap in the face. That's a slap in the face," she added.
mav/jgc/mlm

politics

Hong Kong sentences pro-democracy mogul Jimmy Lai to 20 years in jail

BY TOMMY WANG

  • The 78-year-old's sentence is by far the harshest under Hong Kong's national security law, which Beijing imposed in 2020 after huge pro-democracy protests in the former British colony.
  • A Hong Kong court sentenced pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison on Monday for national security crimes, a punishment rights groups condemned as "effectively a death sentence" and a symbol of the city's shrivelling press freedoms.
  • The 78-year-old's sentence is by far the harshest under Hong Kong's national security law, which Beijing imposed in 2020 after huge pro-democracy protests in the former British colony.
A Hong Kong court sentenced pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison on Monday for national security crimes, a punishment rights groups condemned as "effectively a death sentence" and a symbol of the city's shrivelling press freedoms.
Lai, a British citizen and founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, was found guilty in December of collusion with foreign countries by urging them to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and for publishing "seditious" articles in his paper.
The 78-year-old's sentence is by far the harshest under Hong Kong's national security law, which Beijing imposed in 2020 after huge pro-democracy protests in the former British colony.
The three High Court judges said in a summary they had settled on 20 years' imprisonment "after considering the serious and grave criminal conduct of Lai".
Lai, who has been behind bars since 2020, sat impassively in the dock as his sentence was read out. He waved to family members and supporters in the public gallery as he was led away.
His wife Teresa was grim-faced and made no comment as she left the court, but two of his children based abroad condemned the sentence.
Lai's son Sebastien called on US President Donald Trump to raise the case with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
"The president interceding in my father's case will show Xi Jinping how much of a mistake it is, the persecution of my father," he told AFP in London, where he lives.
The mogul's daughter Claire called it "a heartbreakingly cruel sentence" which, because of his deteriorating health, effectively meant "he will die a martyr behind bars".
Lai has 28 days to lodge an appeal, but his lawyer declined to say if he would do so.
The United States criticised the decision as "unjust and tragic," and reiterated its call for Lai to be granted humanitarian parole.
The ruling "shows the world that Beijing will go to extraordinary lengths to silence those who advocate fundamental freedoms," said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a statement.

'Appalling ordeal'

Hong Kong's leader John Lee lauded the "severe" prison term, saying it "brings great relief to all" and demonstrated how the city upheld the rule of law.
Beijing also praised the outcome as "reasonable, legitimate and legal".
The commissioner of China's foreign ministry in Hong Kong wrote to foreign media outlets, including AFP, on Monday and urged them to "report on the case with objectivity and fairness, refraining from politicising legal matters".
Washington's reaction added to a chorus of international condemnation, including from the European Union, Australia, Japan, and advocacy groups.
"This verdict needs to be promptly quashed as incompatible with international law," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement that described the national security law as "vague and overly broad".
Human Rights Watch said the penalty was "effectively a death sentence" given Lai's age.
Jodie Ginsberg, the CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said "today's egregious decision is the final nail in the coffin for freedom of the press in Hong Kong".
Hong Kong most recently ranked 140th in the world for press freedom, down from 70th a decade ago, according to Reporters Without Borders.

Health issues

The three High Court judges described Lai, long a thorn in Beijing's side, as the "mastermind and the driving force" behind the conspiracies.
Two years of the 20-year penalty overlap with an existing sentence, meaning he will effectively serve another 18 years in jail. Lai would be 96 years old at the conclusion of the sentence.
Eight other defendants, including six Apple Daily executives, were handed sentences of up to 10 years in jail. All except Lai had pleaded guilty.
Lai has been kept in solitary confinement at his own request to avoid harassment, according to prosecutors.
His supporters, children, lawyers and rights groups have all raised concerns about his deteriorating health in prison, although authorities maintain he receives "adequate" care.
Eric Lai, a senior fellow with the Georgetown Center for Asian Law, said Hong Kong's legal system had become a tool for political control.
"After the regime's sustained effort to portray Lai as an 'enemy of the state', a reversal from the appellant court would contradict years of political theatre," said Lai, who is unrelated to the mogul.
Former Apple Daily reporter Tammy Cheung told AFP outside the court that she feared she "may never see Lai in person again".
"Even before this sentencing today, the industry was constantly self-censoring. Now after this sentencing, I think the impact it will have on this industry is quite clear for all to see," she said.
Retiree Lai So said there are "fewer reports on the negative side of society" since Lai's once-popular Apple Daily was shut down in 2021.
"The space for freedom of speech has shrunk a lot," So said.
twa-hol/pbt/ceg/aha/jgc

Epstein

Epstein taints European governments and royalty, US corporate elite

  • "I deeply regret my friendship with Jeffrey Epstein," Mette-Marit said in a statement last week.
  • Nearly seven years after his death by suicide in a New York prison, sex offender tycoon Jeffrey Epstein is still tarnishing the reputations and careers of those he was in contact with.
  • "I deeply regret my friendship with Jeffrey Epstein," Mette-Marit said in a statement last week.
Nearly seven years after his death by suicide in a New York prison, sex offender tycoon Jeffrey Epstein is still tarnishing the reputations and careers of those he was in contact with.
European royalty, diplomats and former government leaders have been tainted by Epstein's recipe of power, sex and money. Some face criminal investigation. Fellow tycoons, members of the US corporate elite and political titans have all faced tough questions.
Being mentioned in the release of 3.5 million Epstein documents, emails, photos and videos by the US Justice Department on January 30 does not imply wrongdoing. But it can still be compromising:

Government shocks

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is battling to save his job over his appointment of former minister Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to Washington. Mandelson's name is mentioned thousands of times in the files. Mandelson, who was sacked as ambassador in September and forced to leave the House of Commons last week, remained in contact with Epstein after he said he cut ties and may have received money transfers. He now faces a police investigation.
Elsewhere in Europe, Miroslav Lajcak resigned as Slovakia's national security advisor after he was revealed to have exchanged messages about women with Epstein when he was the country's foreign minister.  
- Royal disgrace - 
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who had already lost his titles as prince and Duke of York over his ties to Epstein, was entangled again in the latest revelations. It included a picture of the 65-year-old younger brother of Britain's King Charles III leaning over a woman lying on the floor. UK police say they are investigating possible misconduct over the leaking of confidential documents to Epstein when Andrew was a government trade envoy. His ex-wife Sarah Ferguson has also been shown to have close ties to Epstein, who died in prison while awaiting trial in 2019.
Norway has been one of the worst hit countries, with Crown Princess Mette-Marit in the direct spotlight. The partner of the Scandinavian country's heir to the throne shared hundreds of intimate emails with Epstein between 2011 and 2014, after the financier's 2008 first conviction for soliciting a minor. "I deeply regret my friendship with Jeffrey Epstein," Mette-Marit said in a statement last week. But a poll has indicated the Norwegian people may not want her as their future queen.
- Resignations and inquiries - 
Other Norwegian figures are under criminal or administrative investigation.
Norwegian police have opened an "aggravated corruption" investigation into former prime minister Thorbjorn Jagland and senior diplomat Mona Juul, along with her husband Terje Rod-Larsen for complicity.
Investigators are looking into Jagland's ties to Epstein when he was chair of the Nobel Committee -- which awards the prestigious Peace Prize -- and secretary general of the Council of Europe. Juul's ties to Epstein while she worked at the foreign ministry before becoming the country's UN ambassador face an equal spotlight.
The World Economic Forum is investigating its chief executive Borge Brende, a former Norwegian diplomat, over 100 text messages and emails, and three meetings with Epstein. Brende and others, such as former French culture minister Jack Lang, have insisted they knew nothing of Epstein's criminal activities.
But the 86-year-old Lang, a Socialist party grandee, had to quit as head of the Paris-based Arab World Institute, while his daughter stood down as head of a film producers' union, after their personal and business links to Epstein were revealed.
Joanna Rubinstein quit as Sweden head of fundraising for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, after she was shown to have visited Epstein's Caribbean island in 2012 with her family.

US fallout

Former US president Bill Clinton and his wife, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton gave in to demands to testify about Epstein before a Congress committee later this month, after being threatened with a contempt action. Bill Clinton has strongly denied any wrongdoing, beyond flying on Epstein's private jet, while Hillary Clinton said she had no meaningful contacts with the financier. US President Donald Trump is mentioned hundreds of times, but Trump has insisted he is the victim of a "conspiracy" over the files and has not been accused by any of Epstein's victims.
Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates, also widely mentioned, has said he regrets "every minute" spent with Epstein. His ex-wife Melinda French Gates has said however that he has questions to answer after Epstein alleged in the documents that he arranged meetings with women for Gates.
Elsewhere, former US treasury secretary Larry Summers resigned as president of Harvard University before the latest release. Brad Karp quit as chair of top law firm Paul Weiss. David Ross stood down as director of the Whitney Museum of Art. Tesla tycoon Elon Musk was also mentioned in the documents but he has said he rebuffed invitations to go to Epstein's island.
bur/tw/giv

Discord

Discord adopts facial recognition in child safety crackdown

  • Gaming platform Roblox in January began requiring facial age verification globally for all users to access chat features, after facing multiple lawsuits alleging the platform enabled predatory behavior and child exploitation.
  • Messaging platform Discord announced Monday it will implement enhanced safety features for teenage users globally, including facial recognition, joining a wave of social media companies rolling out age verification systems.
  • Gaming platform Roblox in January began requiring facial age verification globally for all users to access chat features, after facing multiple lawsuits alleging the platform enabled predatory behavior and child exploitation.
Messaging platform Discord announced Monday it will implement enhanced safety features for teenage users globally, including facial recognition, joining a wave of social media companies rolling out age verification systems.
The rollout, beginning in early March, will make teen-appropriate settings the default for all users, with adults needing to verify their age to loosen protections including content filters and bans on direct messaging, the company said.
The San Francisco-based platform, popular among gamers, will use facial age estimation technology and identity verification through vendor partners to determine users' ages.
Tracking software running in the background will also help determine the age of users without always requiring direct verification.
"Nowhere is our safety work more important than when it comes to teen users," said Savannah Badalich, Discord's head of product policy.
Discord insisted the measures came with privacy protections, saying video selfies for age estimation never leave users' devices and that submitted identity documents are deleted quickly.
The platform said it successfully tested the measures in Britain and Australia last year before expanding worldwide.
The move follows similar actions by rivals facing intense scrutiny over child safety and follows an Australian ban on under-16s using social media that is being duplicated in other countries.
Resorting to facial recognition and other technologies addresses the reality that self-reported age has proven unreliable, with minors routinely lying about their birthdates to circumvent platform safety measures.
Gaming platform Roblox in January began requiring facial age verification globally for all users to access chat features, after facing multiple lawsuits alleging the platform enabled predatory behavior and child exploitation.
Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, has deployed AI-powered methods to determine age and introduced "Teen Accounts" with automatic restrictions for users under 18.
Mark Zuckerberg's company removed over 550,000 underage accounts in Australia alone in December ahead of that country's under-16 social media ban.
TikTok has implemented 60-minute daily screen time limits for users under 18 and notification cutoffs based on age groups.
The industry-wide shift comes as half of US states have enacted or introduced legislation involving age-related social media regulation, though courts have blocked many of the restrictions on free speech grounds.
The changes come the same day as a trial in California on social media addiction for children begins in Los Angeles, with plaintiffs alleging Meta's and YouTube's platforms were designed to be addictive to minors.
arp/des

files

Epstein affair triggers crisis of trust in Norway

BY PIERRE-HENRY DESHAYES

  • Among them are hundreds of emails dated between 2011 and 2014 -- often with a strikingly intimate tone -- between Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit and the financier, who had already been convicted in 2008 for soliciting a minor.
  • From the crown princess to a former prime minister, the Epstein affair has implicated some of Norway's most prominent personalities, triggering a crisis of confidence in a society that prizes trust.
  • Among them are hundreds of emails dated between 2011 and 2014 -- often with a strikingly intimate tone -- between Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit and the financier, who had already been convicted in 2008 for soliciting a minor.
From the crown princess to a former prime minister, the Epstein affair has implicated some of Norway's most prominent personalities, triggering a crisis of confidence in a society that prizes trust.
"Something is rotten in the Kingdom of Norway," Norwegian author Aslak Nore wrote in an op-ed last week, paraphrasing Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Many Norwegians share this sentiment in light of revelations unearthed by the recent publication of a new cache of documents related to the investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The nearly three million documents released have illuminated ties between members of Norway's elite and Epstein -- who died in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking -- showing much closer relationships than previously known.
Among them are hundreds of emails dated between 2011 and 2014 -- often with a strikingly intimate tone -- between Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit and the financier, who had already been convicted in 2008 for soliciting a minor.
Norwegian police have also opened investigations into "aggravated corruption" against former prime minister Thorbjorn Jagland and high-profile diplomat Mona Juul, along with her husband Terje Rod-Larsen for complicity.
At the centre of the investigation into Jagland are his ties to Epstein when he was chair of the Nobel Committee -- which awards the prestigious Peace Prize -- and secretary general of the Council of Europe.
The probe into Juul is focusing on her ties to Epstein while she was working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo before becoming ambassador to the United Kingdom.
In Switzerland, the World Economic Forum said last week it would conduct an independent review of its CEO, former Norwegian foreign minister Borge Brende, who met Epstein several times in 2018 and 2019.
"Can the major Norwegian institutions that aren't mentioned in the Epstein files please raise their hands?" commentator Eirik Bergersen wrote sarcastically last week.
Several of the figures had previously downplayed the closeness of their relations to Epstein, but have now struck a more apologetic tone instead, most notably Mette-Marit, who issued an apology late last week.
"I deeply regret my friendship with Jeffrey Epstein," she said.
Exchanges unearthed by Norwegian media suggest that some of those implicated benefited from their relationships with Epstein.

Bad apples?

The compounding scandals have rattled public trust -- a cornerstone of the social contract of Scandinavian societies.
Norway is considered one of the least corrupt countries on the planet, ranking fifth worldwide in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index from anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International.
"Trust here isn't extremely important for any one thing in particular, but it plays a role in many things," such as voter turnout, welfare systems or acceptance of foreigners, Staffan Kumlin, a professor at the University of Oslo, told AFP.
"Perhaps this high level of trust leads to less oversight, less scepticism, and also lower demands for accountability from elites?" the Swedish expert in political behaviour and democracy posited, while noting that the issue had not been extensively studied.
Norway is considered a broadly egalitarian society where favouritism is despised.
According to an opinion poll for broadcaster TV2, 76.8 percent of people surveyed believed the latest revelations in the Epstein affair have somewhat or significantly weakened trust in the political system.
On Monday, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store backed establishing an independent parliamentary commission to examine the nature of the ties between these figures and Epstein.
"Today, people are indignant and angry because there has been a breach of trust. But is it because of a few bad apples or a system that leaves room for corruption?" wondered Halvard Leira, a political scientist at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI).
"It's to be expected that trust takes a hit at first, but everything will depend on how things are handled from here," he said.
"If we can show that there were failings but that we're going to fix them, then trust could even be strengthened."
phy/jll/cc

telecommunication

Brazil seeks to restore block of Rumble video app

  • It was one of the reasons Trump cited when he imposed high tariffs on Brazilian products in 2025, and imposed sanctions on top judicial authorities.
  • Brazilian authorities were on Monday working to cut off access to the Rumble video app after it bypassed a ban imposed as part of the country's battle against disinformation.
  • It was one of the reasons Trump cited when he imposed high tariffs on Brazilian products in 2025, and imposed sanctions on top judicial authorities.
Brazilian authorities were on Monday working to cut off access to the Rumble video app after it bypassed a ban imposed as part of the country's battle against disinformation.
US-based Rumble, popular with conservative and far-right voices, was banned by Brazil's supreme court last year after it refused to block a Brazilian user living in the US who was accused of spreading disinformation.
Brazil's telecoms regulator Anatel said in a statement sent to AFP that it was working to "reinstate the block" after Rumble managed to hide its internet addresses by routing its service through another company's network.
In 2024, Elon Musk's X social network used a similar method to briefly evade a 40-day ban imposed by the Supreme Court over its failure to comply with a series of court orders against online disinformation.
Anatel said Rumble should again be off the air in a few days.
Brazil's crackdown on online disinformation angered US President Donald Trump, who accused the country of attacking American social media companies.
It was one of the reasons Trump cited when he imposed high tariffs on Brazilian products in 2025, and imposed sanctions on top judicial authorities.
Many of these measures have since been repealed amid a warming of diplomatic ties after Trump met with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in October.
jss/app/fb/dw

Christchurch

New Zealand's Christchurch mosque killer appeals conviction

BY BEN STRANG

  • If his conviction is overturned the case will be sent to the High Court for a retrial.
  • A white supremacist who shot and killed 51 people at two New Zealand mosques in 2019 launched an appeal Monday seeking to overturn his conviction.
  • If his conviction is overturned the case will be sent to the High Court for a retrial.
A white supremacist who shot and killed 51 people at two New Zealand mosques in 2019 launched an appeal Monday seeking to overturn his conviction.
Brenton Tarrant, an Australian former gym instructor, admitted carrying out New Zealand's deadliest modern-day mass shooting before being sentenced to life in jail in August 2020.
But the convicted killer now argues "torturous and inhumane" detention conditions during his trial made him incapable of making rational decisions when he pleaded guilty, according to a court synopsis of the case.
Tarrant is being held in a specialist unit for prisoners of extreme risk at Auckland Prison, seldom interacting with inmates or other people.
He appeared in the Court of Appeal in Wellington via video link, his head shaved and wearing black glasses and a white button-up shirt.
"I did not have the mind frame or mental health required to be making informed decisions at that time," Tarrant told the court, according to the New Zealand Herald.
Tarrant said his state of mind was such that he had considered trying to implicate US President Donald Trump in the crime.

Life without parole

"What I said at the time is 'perhaps I could go out and say there was a second shooter on the roof, perhaps I could say it was Donald J Trump'," he said, according to national broadcaster RNZ.
If the Court of Appeal in Wellington upholds Tarrant's conviction, it will also need to consider an appeal against his sentence.
If his conviction is overturned the case will be sent to the High Court for a retrial.
His penalty of life imprisonment without parole was the stiffest in New Zealand history.
Armed with an arsenal of semi-automatic weapons, Tarrant attacked worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch on March 15, 2019.
He published an online manifesto before the attacks and then livestreamed the killings for 17 minutes.
His victims were all Muslim and included children, women and the elderly.

'Not prepared'

There are heavy restrictions on who can be in court during Monday's appeal hearing, with only counsel, media and court officials allowed.
Families and friends of those killed or wounded in the attacks have been invited to watch proceedings in Christchurch remotely by video with a one-hour delay.
Members of the public are also able to watch the hearing by video link with a one-hour delay at a separate courtroom in Wellington.
Entry to the court, which stands opposite New Zealand's main government building, the Beehive, is only permitted if people surrender their cellphones.
Aya Al-Umari, whose brother Hussein was killed by Tarrant inside Linwood mosque, told Christchurch's The Press newspaper she had thought "this is the end of it" when Tarrant was sentenced.
"Little did you know that you are allowed to do this six years later. I was not prepared to do this," she said.
The hearing is being held before three Court of Appeal judges.
In most Court of Appeal hearings the judges reserve their decision to be published at a later date, meaning a verdict is unlikely this week.
After Tarrant's livestream, Facebook said it removed 1.5 million videos that proliferated within the first 24 hours showing the harrowing viral footage.
Then-prime minister Jacinda Ardern quickly moved to tighten gun laws in the aftermath and put pressure on social media giants to curb online extremism.
In 2021, Tarrant's former lawyer, Tony Ellis, said his client had believed "the simplest way out was to plead guilty", arguing the plea was made under duress.
The names of Tarrant's current lawyers have been suppressed by the court.
bes/oho/mtp

labour

'Want to go home': Indonesian crew abandoned off Africa demand wages

BY TOM CAMPBELL AND DESSY SAGITA

  • "I want my husband to come home, but if he does without his salary, then a whole year's work would be for nothing."
  • Abandoned for months on their fishing boat off West Africa, Indonesian sailor Surono and his shipmates face a dilemma: return home without almost a year's wages or stay on the docked vessel.
  • "I want my husband to come home, but if he does without his salary, then a whole year's work would be for nothing."
Abandoned for months on their fishing boat off West Africa, Indonesian sailor Surono and his shipmates face a dilemma: return home without almost a year's wages or stay on the docked vessel.
He is among a growing number of migrant workers abandoned by shipowners, who flout their obligations and desert crews without paying the salaries owed.
"My family cries because I can't get any money. My children and wife need money to eat," Surono, 47, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told AFP from the abandoned ship in Cape Verde.
"We want to go home, but if we go home without money, then what? We've been working ourselves to the bone out at sea. How can we just be abandoned like that?"
The engine technician flew from Indonesia to Namibia in March 2025 to work onboard the Portuguese-flagged Novo Ruivo, a tuna longliner fishing boat.
But when they docked at Mindelo in Cape Verde in September to offload their catch, the owner left with the crew's passports and without paying their wages.
Surono said his salary was $1,200 a month and that with the five months stranded in Mindelo's Porto Grande, he is now owed $13,200.
The father-of-three admitted that his family in Tegal, Central Java, has struggled without this income, more than eight times the minimum wage there.
"This is really hard. To survive, I have to go into debt," his wife, Kiki Andriani, 38, told AFP through tears.
"I want my husband to come home, but if he does without his salary, then a whole year's work would be for nothing."

Thousands stranded

A ship is deemed abandoned by the International Labour Organization (ILO) under certain criteria, including when a shipowner does not cover the crew's repatriation costs or cuts ties with them and fails to pay wages for at least two months.
While fishing boats make up only a fraction of abandonment cases, overall figures for the shipping industry paint a worrying picture.
Reported cases reached record levels in 2025, with around 6,200 seafarers left stranded across 410 ships, according to figures released by the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) last month.
Surono contacted the ITF, who reported the Novo Ruivo abandoned to authorities and helped contact the Indonesian embassy in Dakar, Senegal.
"We offered them repatriation from day one, but they refused because they are afraid of not getting the money," said Gonzalo Galan, the ITF inspector handling the case.
The crew's last resort is getting a court order to seize and sell the boat to pay off the owner's debts, an option ITF is exploring with its legal team.

'Plenty of fish'

The designated shipowner, Spaniard Javier Martinez of the Somar Produtos do Mar company, told AFP he does not have the money but is trying to solve the problem.
"They have not been abandoned. They have everything on the boat -- electricity, fresh water and food," he said.
"You think I'm not in more of a hurry than them to solve this? Having the boat parked there is costing me a lot of money."
Martinez said he sends each of the crew a stipend of around 50 euros ($60) every few weeks, which Surono said pays for phone credit, some snacks and drinks.
Workers in the fishing industry are covered by the ILO's work in fishing convention 188.
But the treaty, which aims to ensure a minimum standard is applied across the sector, is very weak and poorly implemented, Galan said.
"It basically just says that a fisher must have an employment contract in writing and that salaries should be paid in intervals, but does not specify the time frame," he said.
The crew of six Indonesians and six Angolans have mainly been living off old supplies of rice and frozen food, according to Surono, who said he spends "almost all day, every day on the boat".
"I have a fiancee waiting for me at home in Cirebon (West Java). We planned to get married soon," said crewmate Wahyudin, 36, who has also not been paid.
"If we didn't get any fish, I would've understood, but we got plenty of fish."
The recruitment agency in Indonesia that hired Surono agreed last week to front half his salary, but he is unlikely to see another penny should he leave, Galan said.
"The kids don't want to go to school because they're embarrassed about being behind on tuition. Even the neighbourhood shop won't trust us anymore," said Surono.
"I want my rights. We've worked, and we're asking for our wages because we have families."
tc/dsa/mtp/fox

trees

Pakistan's capital picks concrete over trees, angering residents

BY SHROUQ TARIQ

  • Built in the 1960s, Islamabad was planned as a green city, with wide avenues, parks and tree-lined sectors.
  • Pakistan's capital Islamabad was once known for its lush greenery, but the felling of trees across the city for infrastructure and military monuments has prompted local anger and even lawsuits.
  • Built in the 1960s, Islamabad was planned as a green city, with wide avenues, parks and tree-lined sectors.
Pakistan's capital Islamabad was once known for its lush greenery, but the felling of trees across the city for infrastructure and military monuments has prompted local anger and even lawsuits.
Built in the 1960s, Islamabad was planned as a green city, with wide avenues, parks and tree-lined sectors.
Many residents fear that vision is steadily being eroded, with concrete replacing green spaces.
Muhammad Naveed took the authorities to court this year over "large-scale tree cutting" for infrastructure projects, accusing them of felling "many mature trees" and leaving land "barren".
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) blamed major infrastructure development, including road construction and monuments, for the mass razing of trees and natural vegetation in Islamabad.
Between 2001 and 2024, the capital lost 14 hectares of tree cover, equal to 20 football pitches, according to Global Forest Watch, though the figure does not account for tree cover gains during the same period.
For Kamran Abbasi, a local trader and resident since the 1980s, it feels like "they are cutting trees everywhere".
"It is not the same anymore," he told AFP.
"Trees are life. Thousands are cut to build one bridge."

Smog and pollen

Meanwhile, air quality in Islamabad continues to deteriorate.
Pollution is a longstanding problem, but plants can help by filtering dirty air, absorbing harmful gases and cooling cities.
"Forests act as powerful natural filters... cleaning the air and water, and reducing the overall impact of pollution," Muhammad Ibrahim, director of WWF-Pakistan's forest programme told AFP.
There were no good air quality days in Islamabad last month, with all but two classed as "unhealthy" or "very unhealthy" by monitoring organisation IQAir.
While some trees are felled for infrastructure, officials justify removing others to tackle seasonal pollen allergies that are especially acute in spring.
That problem is largely attributed to paper mulberry trees, which were planted extensively during the city's early development.
"The main reason is pollen allergy," said Abdul Razzaq, an official from the Capital Development Authority (CDA) in Islamabad.
"People suffer from chest infections, asthma and severe allergic reactions. I do too," he told AFP.
The government plans to remove 29,000 pollen-producing trees and plants, according to a recent WWF report.
However, critics argue that pollen allergies are an excuse to justify broader tree-cutting, particularly linked to military and infrastructure projects.
The solution lies not in indiscriminate tree removal, but careful urban planning, experts say, replanting with non-allergenic species -- and greater transparency around development projects in the capital.

Capital under axe

In recent months, large bulldozers have been spotted levelling former green belts and wooded areas, including near major highways.
According to WWF and unnamed government officials, some of the cleared land is tapped for monuments commemorating the brief but intense armed conflict between Pakistan and neighbouring India last May.
Other plots were razed to make way for military-linked infrastructure.
"We know that trees are being cut for military-related projects, but there is not much we can do," a government source told AFP, requesting anonymity for security reasons.
"The people in power, the military, can do whatever they want."
Pakistan's powerful military has ruled the country for decades through coups and is deeply involved in the country's politics and economy, analysts say.
At a proposed military monument site along the city's express highway, WWF recorded more than six hectares of land clearing last year, with work continuing in 2026.
It saw "no active plantation... indicating that the clearing is infrastructure driven".
The military did not respond to AFP's request for comment.
Naveed's court case seeking to halt the widespread felling, which is still being heard, argues there is "no excuse" for the tree loss.
If a monument is "deemed essential, why was it not placed in any existing park or public place?", he argues.
In reply to Naveed's petition, authorities said roads and infrastructure projects were approved under regulations dating back to 1992.
stm/rsc/je/sah/cms

media

Opinions of Zuckerberg hang over social media addiction trial jury selection

BY BENJAMIN LEGENDRE

  • - 'Start fairly' - Jury selection was dominated by recurring references to Zuckerberg, the head of Meta and co-founder of Facebook who reached global fame after the Hollywood film "The Social Network."
  • A jury has been confirmed in a landmark social media addiction trial in the US state of California, a process dominated by references to tech giant Meta's divisive founder Mark Zuckerberg.
  • - 'Start fairly' - Jury selection was dominated by recurring references to Zuckerberg, the head of Meta and co-founder of Facebook who reached global fame after the Hollywood film "The Social Network."
A jury has been confirmed in a landmark social media addiction trial in the US state of California, a process dominated by references to tech giant Meta's divisive founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Meta's lawyers fought for six days in court to remove jurors who they deemed overly hostile to Facebook and Instagram, two of the social media platforms involved in the case.
The plaintiff's lawyers sought to dismiss people, mostly men, who believed that young internet users' mental health issues are more attributable to parental failures rather than tech platform designers.
With the jury of 12 members and six alternates approved on Friday, arguments in the case are now scheduled to begin Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.
The case is being called a bellwether proceeding because its outcome could set the tone for a tidal wave of similar litigation across the United States.
Defendants at the trial are Alphabet and Meta, the tech titans behind YouTube and Instagram. TikTok and Snapchat were also accused, but have since settled for an undisclosed amount.
The trial focuses on allegations that a 20-year-old woman identified by the initials K.G.M. suffered severe mental harm because she became addicted to social media as a child.
She accuses Meta and YouTube of knowingly designing addictive apps, to the detriment of her mental health. 

'Start fairly'

Jury selection was dominated by recurring references to Zuckerberg, the head of Meta and co-founder of Facebook who reached global fame after the Hollywood film "The Social Network."
"I feel impartial toward the plaintiff, but based on things Mark Zuckerberg has done objectively -- I have strong feelings about -- and I think the defendant would start further behind," said one young woman.
Many potential jurors criticized Facebook's early days -- it was designed as a platform for college students to rate women's looks -- and cited the Cambridge Analytica privacy breach of 2018.
They also said it would be difficult for them to accept the billionaire's testimony -- expected in the next two weeks -- without prejudice.
Meta's lawyer, Phyllis Jones, raised frequent objections to such jurors.
She said it was "very important that both sides start fairly, with no disadvantage, that you look at the evidence fairly and decide."
Others were dismissed for the opposite reason.
"I like this guy," said one rare Zuckerberg fan. "I regret not owning Meta shares." 
He was dismissed by the plaintiff's lawyer, Mark Lanier.
Others to be removed included a man who expressed his anger against psychiatrists, and several people whose loved ones suffered from social media addiction or harassment.

Seeking distance

Alphabet's lawyers were keen to ensure that their platform YouTube was not lumped in with Meta.
"Does everybody understand that YouTube and Meta are very different companies? Does everyone understand that (Zuckerberg) doesn't run YouTube?" asked Luis Li, a lawyer for Google's video platform.
One man said he saw the potential for YouTube to seek to trigger "immediate dopamine" rushes among users through its "Shorts" feature.
He said his niece spends too much time on TikTok, which popularized a platform that provides endless scrolling of ultra-short-format videos.
The case will focus not on content, on which front platforms are largely protected by US law, but on the design of algorithms and personalization features.
The plaintiffs allege that the platforms are negligent and purposely designed to be harmful, echoing a strategy successfully used against the tobacco industry.
Meta and YouTube strongly deny the allegations, and also unsuccessfully argued on Friday for the judge to declare statements comparing their platforms to tobacco and other addictive products to be illegitimate.
The debate on the platform's level of responsibility for their effect on users was already underway, even at this early stage of the trial.
Alphabet's lawyer Li asked the panel if people spend too much time on phones, with the majority nodding in agreement.
"As a society, is it a problem?" he asked, with most hands again going up.
He then asked if this is "because of YouTube?" prompting hesitation from the jurors.
bl/aha/mlm

Trump

Trump refuses to apologize for racist clip of Obamas as monkeys

BY DANNY KEMP

  • The video shared on Trump's Truth Social account late Thursday night sparked censure across the US political spectrum, with the White House initially rejecting "fake outrage" only to then blame the post on an error by a staff member.
  • President Donald Trump refused to apologize Friday for a video posted on his social media account depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys, though he said he condemned the post as the White House shifted the blame to staff.
  • The video shared on Trump's Truth Social account late Thursday night sparked censure across the US political spectrum, with the White House initially rejecting "fake outrage" only to then blame the post on an error by a staff member.
President Donald Trump refused to apologize Friday for a video posted on his social media account depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys, though he said he condemned the post as the White House shifted the blame to staff.
The video shared on Trump's Truth Social account late Thursday night sparked censure across the US political spectrum, with the White House initially rejecting "fake outrage" only to then blame the post on an error by a staff member.
"I didn't make a mistake," Trump said on Air Force One late Friday when asked if he would apologize for the post.
Asked if he condemns the racist imagery in the video, Trump replied: "Of course I do."
Democrats slammed Trump as "vile" over the clip of the Obamas -- the first Black president and first lady in US history -- while a senior Republican senator said the video was blatantly racist.
Near the end of the one-minute-long video promoting conspiracies about Republican Trump's 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, the Obamas were shown with their faces on the bodies of monkeys for about one second.
The video, uploaded late Thursday amid a flurry of other posts, repeated false allegations that ballot-counting company Dominion Voting Systems helped steal the election from Trump.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt initially played down the row, saying the images were "from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King."
"Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public," Leavitt said in a statement to AFP.

About-face

But almost exactly 12 hours after the post appeared on Trump's account there was an unusual concession from an administration that normally refuses to admit the slightest mistake.
"A White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down," a White House official told AFP.
Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One on Friday, Trump stood by the thrust of the video's claims about election fraud, but said he had not seen the offensive clip.
"I just looked at the first part... and I didn't see the whole thing," Trump said, adding that he "gave it" to staffers to post and they also didn't watch the full video. 
There was no immediate comment from the Obamas.
Former vice president Kamala Harris, who has long condemned Trump's divisive racial rhetoric, called out the White House's backpedaling in a post on X on Friday.
"No one believes this cover up from the White House, especially since they originally defended this post," she wrote. 
"We are all clear-eyed about who Donald Trump is and what he believes." 

'Disgusting bigotry'

While Democrats pounced on the post, it was the outrage from some members of Trump's own Republican Party that appeared to trigger the about-face.
Tim Scott, the only Black Republican senator and once a contender for the 2024 presidential nomination, called the video "the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House."
Scott said he was "praying it was fake" and called for Trump to remove it.
Roger Wicker, another Republican senator, said the post was "totally unacceptable. The president should take it down and apologize."
The top Democrat in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, called Trump "vile, unhinged and malignant" and urged Republicans on X to "immediately denounce Donald Trump's disgusting bigotry."
Trump launched his own political career by pushing the racist and false "birther" conspiracy theory that Barack Obama was lying about being born in the United States.
Trump has long had a bitter rivalry with his Democratic predecessor, taking particular umbrage at his popularity and the fact that he won the Nobel Peace Prize.
In his second term in the White House, Trump has used hyper-realistic but fabricated AI visuals on Truth Social and other platforms, often glorifying himself and rallying his conservative base around social issues.
During negotiations to avoid a US government shutdown Trump posted a video of Jeffries, who is Black, wearing a fake mustache and a sombrero. Jeffries called the image racist.
One AI-generated video showed fighter jets dumping human waste on protesters -- which was created by the same X user who made the video showing the Obamas as monkeys.
Since returning to the White House, Trump has led a crusade against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.
US federal anti-discrimination programs were born of the 1960s civil rights movement, mainly led by Black Americans, for equality and justice after hundreds of years of slavery. 
Slavery was abolished in the United States in 1865, but other forms of institutional racism continued for decades.
burs-dk/aha/ksb/lga/jfx

conflict

A tale of two villages: Cambodians lament Thailand's border gains

BY SUY SE AND MONTIRA RUNGJIRAJITTRANON

  • Phnom Penh says Thai forces captured several areas in border provinces and has demanded their withdrawal, while Bangkok insists it has merely reclaimed land that was part of Thailand and had been occupied by Cambodians for years.
  • A sign hanging from a rusty ice-green shipping container installed by Thai forces on what they say is the border with Cambodia proclaims: "Cambodian citizens are strictly prohibited from entering this area."
  • Phnom Penh says Thai forces captured several areas in border provinces and has demanded their withdrawal, while Bangkok insists it has merely reclaimed land that was part of Thailand and had been occupied by Cambodians for years.
A sign hanging from a rusty ice-green shipping container installed by Thai forces on what they say is the border with Cambodia proclaims: "Cambodian citizens are strictly prohibited from entering this area."
On opposite sides of the makeshift barricade, fronted by coils of barbed wire, Cambodians lamented their lost homes and livelihoods as Thailand's military showed off its gains.
Thai forces took control of several patches of disputed land along the border during fighting last year, which could amount to several square kilometres (square miles) in total.
Cambodian Kim Ren said her house in Chouk Chey used to stand on what is now the Thai side of the barricade, and was bulldozed by Bangkok's forces after a ceasefire agreement in December.
"The Thais reset us to zero. We don't have any more hope," she told AFP this week.
Just to the north, where the village is known as Ban Nong Chan, Thai soldiers stood guard in front of an excavator filling a truck with debris during a military-organised media tour.
Kim Ren is among more than 1,200 families from her village and Prey Chan, another contested location, who have been staying at a temple shelter for weeks, according to local authorities.
Blue tents donated by China are packed into the grounds of the pagoda 20 kilometres (12 miles) to the south, where residents manage as best they can with the meagre goods they have managed to salvage.
"Now the Thai thieves have seized everything," said Kim Ren -- her land, $30,000 worth of grocery inventory and the $50,000 house she built after moving to the area and buying a plot of land for $40 in 1993.

'People still live here'

The neighbouring countries' century-old border conflict stems from a dispute over the French colonial-era demarcation of their 800-kilometre (500-mile) frontier.
The dispute erupted into several rounds of clashes last year, killing dozens of people, including soldiers and civilians, and displacing more than a million in July and December.
Phnom Penh says Thai forces captured several areas in border provinces and has demanded their withdrawal, while Bangkok insists it has merely reclaimed land that was part of Thailand and had been occupied by Cambodians for years.
Thai flags flapped in the breeze and barbed wire lay scattered in Klong Paeng, another border village on the Thai military trip.
Army spokesman Winthai Suvaree said Thai forces had "reclaimed" around 64 hectares in the village in December.
The operation "required careful action because people still live here", he added.
Farmer Pongsri Rapan, 60, said she lost all her belongings except a wardrobe when her house was destroyed by shelling, but told reporters: "I'm not scared because the army is around me."
She had "many good Cambodian friends", she added, and was "sorry our armies are fighting".
Thai farmers were expected to benefit from the land newly brought under the military's control once its allocation was finalised, a senior officer told AFP.

'Robbed us'

Thailand welcomed Cambodian war refugees to the border area after the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime fell in 1979.
Some Cambodian families remained long after.
At the temple shelter, 67-year-old farmer Sok Chork said he settled in Prey Chan in 1980, when the area was landmine-infested and undeveloped.
"When it was forest, it was not theirs. But after Cambodians built concrete homes, they said it was their land," he told AFP.
The Thais "just robbed us of everything", he said, adding his home had been bulldozed.
Prey Chan saw a stand-off in September between several hundred Cambodians who tried to pull down barbed wire as Thai forces fired rubber bullets and tear gas.
The Thai flag flies on the other side of the barricades, where the village is called Ban Ya Nong Kaew.
Thai Anupong Kannongha said his house was nearly levelled by shelling, with only its charred roof and cement structure remaining.
Cambodia "did this to us", he said. 
"It really hurts my feelings."
suy-tak-sco/slb/ami/abs

conservation

Trump reinstates commercial fishing in protected Atlantic waters

  • Explaining the latest reversal, Trump's proclamation said the plants and animals in question were already protected under existing laws, making a ban on commercial fishing unnecessary.
  • US President Donald Trump on Friday issued a proclamation reopening commercial fishing in protected waters off the Atlantic coast, in a region renowned for its rich biodiversity.
  • Explaining the latest reversal, Trump's proclamation said the plants and animals in question were already protected under existing laws, making a ban on commercial fishing unnecessary.
US President Donald Trump on Friday issued a proclamation reopening commercial fishing in protected waters off the Atlantic coast, in a region renowned for its rich biodiversity.
The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument spans nearly 5,000 square miles -- larger than Yellowstone National Park.
Long a focus of scientific interest, the monument lies about 130 miles southeast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and was established in 2016 by former Democratic president Barack Obama, who warned it was threatened by overfishing and climate change.
In a familiar political yo-yo, Republican Trump reopened the monument to commercial fishing during his first term, only for the decision to be reversed by Democratic successor Joe Biden. Biden's administration cited the monument as part of its pledge to conserve 30 percent of US land and waters by 2030.
Explaining the latest reversal, Trump's proclamation said the plants and animals in question were already protected under existing laws, making a ban on commercial fishing unnecessary.
The move, expected since last year, was welcomed by the New England Fishermen's Stewardship Association (NEFSA).
"For decades, overregulation has stopped fishermen from making a living and putting wild, heart-healthy, American-caught products on store shelves. NEFSA is pleased that the Trump administration is committed to making America's natural resources available to all Americans," said NEFSA CEO Jerry Leeman in a statement last May.
Conservation groups, however, pushed back.
During an aerial survey last August, the New England Aquarium documented more than 1,000 marine animals in the area, including an endangered fin whale and calf, an endangered sperm whale, pilot whales, and a wide array of other whales, dolphins and rays.
"This Monument supports amazing species from the seafloor to the sea surface, and we see evidence of that during every aerial survey," said Jessica Redfern, of the aquarium's Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life.
"Removing protections for Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument puts these species at risk."
ia/nro

diplomacy

In show of support, Canada, France open consulates in Greenland

BY WITH CAMILLE BAS-WOHLERT IN COPENHAGEN

  • Canada and France formally opened the new consulates in Nuuk, the island's capital.
  • Canada and France, which both oppose US President Donald Trump's claim to Greenland, opened consulates in the Danish autonomous territory's capital on Friday, in a show of support for the local government.
  • Canada and France formally opened the new consulates in Nuuk, the island's capital.
Canada and France, which both oppose US President Donald Trump's claim to Greenland, opened consulates in the Danish autonomous territory's capital on Friday, in a show of support for the local government.
Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has insisted that Washington needs to control the strategic, mineral-rich Arctic island for security reasons.
He last month backed off threats to seize Greenland after striking a "framework" deal with NATO chief Mark Rutte to ensure greater US influence.
A US-Denmark-Greenland working group has been established to discuss Washington's security concerns in the Arctic, but details have not been made public.
While Denmark and Greenland have said they share Trump's security concerns, they have insisted that sovereignty and territorial integrity are a "red line" in the discussions.
Canada and France formally opened the new consulates in Nuuk, the island's capital.
"This is a very important day for us as a country, because we're opening our consulate here in Nuuk, Greenland," said Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand at the inauguration ceremony, before hoisting her country's flag over the consulate building to applause from a 76-person Inuit delegation.

'Victory for Greenlanders'

"It's a victory for Greenlanders to see two allies opening diplomatic representations in Nuuk," said Jeppe Strandsbjerg, a political scientist at the University of Greenland.
"There is great appreciation for the support against what Trump has said."
French President Emmanuel Macron announced plans to open a consulate during a visit to Nuuk in June, where he expressed Europe's "solidarity" with Greenland and criticised Trump's ambitions.
The newly appointed French consul, Jean-Noel Poirier, had previously served as ambassador to Vietnam.
"The first item on the agenda will be to listen to Greenlanders, to hear them, to let them explain in detail their position, and from our side to confirm to them our support, as much as they and the Danish side want," Poirier told AFP before leaving Copenhagen for Nuuk.
Poirier arrived in the Greenlandic capital on Friday, but does not yet have an office.
Canada announced in late 2024 that it would open a consulate in Greenland to boost cooperation.
That decision "came as Canada was choosing to strengthen its Arctic strategy when Trump's return was expected", French researcher and Arctic expert Mikaa Blugeon-Mered told AFP.
The opening of the consulates is "a way of telling Donald Trump that his aggression against Greenland and Denmark is not a question for Greenland and Denmark alone, it's also a question for European allies and also for Canada", Ulrik Pram Gad, Arctic expert at the Danish Institute of International Studies, told AFP.
"The consequences are obviously not just Danish. It's European and global," said Christine Nissen, security and defence analyst at the Europa think tank.
At the beginning of the week, Canadian icebreaker Jean Goodwill docked at the port of Nuuk, where it has since conducted a joint exercise with a Danish inspection vessel.

Recognition

According to Strandsbjerg, the two consulates -- which will report to the French and Canadian embassies in Copenhagen -- will give Greenland an opportunity to "practice" independence, as the island has long dreamt of cutting its ties to Denmark.
The decision to open diplomatic missions is also a recognition of Greenland's growing autonomy, Nissen said.
"In terms of their own quest for sovereignty, the Greenlandic people will think to have more direct contact with other European countries," she said.
That would make it possible to reduce Denmark's role "by diversifying Greenland's dependence on the outside world, so that it is not solely dependent on Denmark and can have more ties for its economy, trade, investments, politics and so on", echoed Pram Gad.
Greenland has had diplomatic ties with the European Union since 1992, with Washington since 2014 and with Iceland since 2017.
Iceland opened a consulate in Nuuk in 2013, while the United States, which had a consulate in the Greenlandic capital from 1940 to 1953, reopened its mission in 2020.
The European Commission opened an office in 2024.
nzg/jj/cc/jhb