rights

Pakistani court jails rights activist and husband for 10 years

  • A court statement said Mazari and her husband, fellow lawyer Hadi Ali Chattha, "will have to remain in jail for 10 years".
  • A Pakistani court on Saturday jailed a prominent rights activist and her husband for 10 years over "anti-state" social media posts.
  • A court statement said Mazari and her husband, fellow lawyer Hadi Ali Chattha, "will have to remain in jail for 10 years".
A Pakistani court on Saturday jailed a prominent rights activist and her husband for 10 years over "anti-state" social media posts.
Imaan Mazari, a 32-year-old lawyer and vocal critic of Pakistan's military, "disseminated highly offensive" content on her X account, according to an Islamabad court. 
A court statement said Mazari and her husband, fellow lawyer Hadi Ali Chattha, "will have to remain in jail for 10 years".
They were handed prison terms on three charges -- including "cyber terrorism" and "intentional dissemination of false and fake information" -- to run concurrently, the document said. 
Their sentencing came a day after Pakistani police arrested the couple again as they headed to a court hearing in the capital to face the charges.
Videos circulating on social media showed police vans escorting a bar association vehicle carrying Mazari to court before it was stopped at an underpass, where masked security officials prevented journalists from filming the arrest.

'Severe repression'

Mazari is the daughter of Pakistan's former minister for human rights, Shireen Mazari, while her late father was the South Asian country's top paediatrician. 
She is a pro bono lawyer on some of the most sensitive cases, including the enforced disappearances of ethnic Balochs, as well as defending the community's top activist, Mahrang Baloch. 
She also represented those accused of blasphemy -- an incendiary charge in Pakistan -- as well as Afghans who face crackdowns by the authorities. 
Senate opposition leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas said the two lawyers were convicted "solely for social media posts criticizing what they saw as state abuses and advocating for marginalized communities". 
"This ruling sends a chilling message that peaceful advocacy and criticism of power will be met with severe repression," he wrote in a post on X.  
On Friday, Syed Wajid Ali Shah Gillani, president of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association, alleged in a video statement that police manhandled the couple before arresting them.
Imaan Mazari told AFP on Tuesday that she and her husband feared arrest over undisclosed police cases, a move she said would be a "grave injustice".
The couple had been confined to the Islamabad High Court's premises since Tuesday, spending nights at a lawyers' association building, after being granted bail in a cybercrime case.
Changes to the constitution and hasty legislation passed by parliament have pushed Pakistan towards tighter state control, with diminishing political and civil rights. 
str-zz-je/lb

fashion

Paris fashion doyenne Nichanian bows out at Hermes after 37 years

BY MARINE DO-VALE AND ADAM PLOWRIGHT

  • Many of them were barely in school when Nichanian took over menswear at Hermes in 1988 with instructions from then company boss Jean-Louis Dumas to run it "like your small company".
  • France's Veronique Nichanian received a standing ovation from a star-packed crowd at her final runway show for Hermes on Saturday after 37 years as chief menswear designer, the end of an era at the family-run firm.
  • Many of them were barely in school when Nichanian took over menswear at Hermes in 1988 with instructions from then company boss Jean-Louis Dumas to run it "like your small company".
France's Veronique Nichanian received a standing ovation from a star-packed crowd at her final runway show for Hermes on Saturday after 37 years as chief menswear designer, the end of an era at the family-run firm.
American singer Usher, rapper Travis Scott and "Gossip Girl" star Ed Westwick watched on as Nichanian sent out a nostalgia-tinged final collection at the historic stock market building in Paris.
"I'm feeling emotional, it’s my decision to stop and do something else," the 71-year-old told AFP afterwards. "It’s a decision I’ve thought through carefully because I feel it’s the right moment for me, and for the house."
The departure of the doyenne of Paris fashion adds to the upheaval at the top of the luxury clothing sector over the last 12 months, which has seen a new generation of designers promoted at brands including Chanel, Dior and Gucci.
Many of them were barely in school when Nichanian took over menswear at Hermes in 1988 with instructions from then company boss Jean-Louis Dumas to run it "like your small company".
The Paris-born designer helped transform a niche luxury brand known for its scarves and leather goods into a global fashion profit machine with sales of menswear estimated at several billion euros a year.
Her design philosophy mirrors her own discreet personality, with a focus on quality and comfort through quiet evolutions, rather than flashy re-invention.
Her final collection for Fall-Winter 2026, which included outfits inspired by her work in the 1990s and early 2000s, "underlines how Hermes clothes are timeless," she told AFP.
She will be replaced by 30-something London designer Grace Wales Bonner, founder of her own Wales Bonner label who will produce her first Hermes collection next year.
Wales Bonner, whose work draws on her father's Afro-Caribbean roots in Jamaica and British tailoring, represents a generational and stylistic shift for the classic French brand.
"Grace Wales Bonner is very modern, committed. Hermes has chosen someone who will bring not only quality, but also an image and a point of view," Marie Ottavi, a fashion journalist at France's Liberation newspaper, told AFP.

'Macho milieu' 

On the eve of her last show, Nichanian told the Business of Fashion website that no one at Hermes had said "you have to stop" but she had felt the need to step back due to the frenetic pace of the corporate business.
"There's so much change, it loses something magic, the something that makes people happy," she told the website about the fashion industry.
"When I talk to my friends at the different houses, they're not happy. It's not only insecurity, it's pressure."
She will remain in charge of men's accessories and silk at Hermes. 
The Armenian-origin designer started her career with Italian legend Nino Cerruti, who plucked her from her Paris fashion school, L'Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne (ESCP).
Speaking to AFP in 2014, she confided that she had had to "work harder" as a woman in "a pretty macho milieu and the men didn't expect a woman to tell them what to do." 
As well as her gradual modernising touch, she has also won fans for her attention to what she calls "selfish" details, hidden touches of luxury such as a lambskin-lined pocket.
"We women can sometimes make concessions to comfort. But men, never," she told Le Figaro newspaper in 2018. 

KidSuper

Elsewhere at Paris Men's Fashion Week on Saturday, celeb-favorite Kidsuper founder Colm Dillane produced one of his typically eccentric and creative runway shows.
It began with a short film directed by Dillane featuring veteran French actor Vincent Cassel as a paranoid Parisian losing his grasp on reality and ending with models sitting at cafe tables on the catwalk.
The clothes featured long faux fur coats and patterned trenches for men, or patchwork bombers, all with lavish textures in a palette of autumnal greens, browns and ochre.
Men's Fashion Week concludes Sunday with a show by Jacquemus before the start of Haute Couture Week on Monday. 
adp-mdv/gv

internet

Iranians struggle as internet shutdown hits livelihoods

BY MENNA ZAKI

  • Buses, subway systems, online payment and banking platforms, as well as ride-hailing, navigation and food delivery services, are all functioning on the intranet, along with local news websites.
  • Cut off from the global internet for more than two weeks, online content creator Amir spends his days scanning the few news websites available on Iran's domestic web for signs that connectivity to the world might return.
  • Buses, subway systems, online payment and banking platforms, as well as ride-hailing, navigation and food delivery services, are all functioning on the intranet, along with local news websites.
Cut off from the global internet for more than two weeks, online content creator Amir spends his days scanning the few news websites available on Iran's domestic web for signs that connectivity to the world might return.
Amir, 32, has been unable to produce his reviews of video games and movies since January 8, when authorities imposed an unprecedented communications blackout amid mass anti-government protests that authorities acknowledge left more than 3,000 dead.
The prolonged shutdown has impacted key sectors of the economy from travel to exports, according to Iranians in Tehran who spoke to AFP, while costing the country millions of dollars each day.
"My work entirely depends on the internet... I really cannot see myself surviving without it," said Amir, who works with social media platforms including Instagram and YouTube.
He said the restrictions had left him demotivated and increasingly concerned about his income and future.
Nationwide rallies against the rising cost of living erupted in Tehran on December 28, beginning as peaceful demonstrations before turning into what officials describe as "foreign-instigated riots" that included killings and vandalism.
An official death toll from the unrest stands at 3,117, but international NGOs have provided higher numbers.
The protests have since subsided but remaining in place are the internet restrictions, which Iran's foreign minister has justified as necessary to confront foreign "terrorist operations". Rights groups, however, say the shutdown was imposed to mask a government crackdown on protesters.
Millions of Iranians have been left reliant on the country's intranet, which supports a wide range of domestic apps while keeping users isolated from the outside world.
Buses, subway systems, online payment and banking platforms, as well as ride-hailing, navigation and food delivery services, are all functioning on the intranet, along with local news websites.
Last weekend local media reported that domestic messaging apps including Bale, Eitaa and Rubika would also become functional again.
But Amir told AFP that he had "never used these apps and I will not start now", citing privacy concerns.

Flight disruptions

Social media sites such as Instagram have served as a key marketplace for Iranian entrepreneurs, but the impact on the economy from the internet restrictions extends far wider.
On Sunday, local media quoted Iran's deputy telecommunications minister Ehsan Chitsaz as saying the shutdown is estimated to have cost between four and six trillion rials per day -- around $3 to $4 million.
Internet monitoring group NetBlocks has provided a much higher estimate, saying each day costs Iran more than $37 million.
A travel agent, who declined to be named for security concerns, told AFP that booking international flights has been "unstable". Some flights had been cancelled and passengers only informed upon arrival at airports, she said.
"Business has been affected, with the number of customers calling me daily to book flights dropping," she added, noting that "domestic flights remain easier to arrange".
Iraj, a 51-year-old truck driver in western Iran who transports goods across the country's borders, said administrative procedures for loading and unloading export cargo have slowed.
"Drivers have been required to wait hours to complete paperwork," he added.

'It will backfire'

Curbs on the internet have been imposed during previous bouts of unrest in Iran though have generally been shorter and more limited in scope. 
Disruptions took place as far back as 2009 during nationwide demonstrations against the re-election of then president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. 
Restrictions were also in place during protests sparked by rising fuel prices in 2019, rallies in 2022-2023 after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, and during the 12-day war with Israel in June last year.
Amin, another content creator who reviews tech devices in videos posted to YouTube and Instagram, said he had anticipated restrictions this time but did not expect the shutdown to be so long or so stringent.
"We used to complain that working under these conditions was difficult, but now it's affecting every aspect of our livelihoods," the 29-year-old told AFP.
It remains unclear how long the blackout will last. In recent days patchy access to some foreign websites and email services such as Google has been available, but has been highly unreliable.
"The only optimistic thing I can say... is that I don't see them keeping the internet shut completely for a long time," Amin said.
"Otherwise, it will backfire."
bur/axn/smw

film

'One in a Million': Syrian refugee tale wows Sundance

  • There was "something about Isra'a that sort of felt to us like it encapsulated everything about what was happening there," MacInnes told an audience at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Friday.
  • As a million Syrians fled their country's devastating civil war in 2015, directors Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes headed to Turkey where they would meet a young girl who encapsulated the contradictions of this enormous migration.
  • There was "something about Isra'a that sort of felt to us like it encapsulated everything about what was happening there," MacInnes told an audience at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Friday.
As a million Syrians fled their country's devastating civil war in 2015, directors Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes headed to Turkey where they would meet a young girl who encapsulated the contradictions of this enormous migration.
In Ismir, they met Isra'a, a then-11-year-old girl whose family had left Aleppo as bombs rained down on the city, and who would become the subject of their documentary "One In A Million," which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday.
For the next ten years, they followed her and her family's travels through Europe, towards Germany and a new life, where the opportunities and the challenges would almost tear her family apart.
There was "something about Isra'a that sort of felt to us like it encapsulated everything about what was happening there," MacInnes told an audience at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Friday.
"The obvious vulnerability of her situation, especially as being a child going through this, but that at the same time, she was an agent.
"She wasn't sitting back, waiting for other people to save her. She was trying to fight, make her own way there."
The documentary mixes fly-on-the-wall footage with sit-down interviews that reveal Isra'a's changing relationship with Germany, with her religion, and with her father.
It is this evolution between father and daughter that provides the emotional backbone to the film, and through which tensions play out over their new-found freedoms in Europe -- something her father struggles to adjust to.
Isra'a, who by the end of the film is a married mother living in Germany, said watching her life on film in the Park City theatre was "beautiful."
And having documentarists follow her every step of the way as she grew had its upsides.
"I felt like this was something very special," she told the audience after the screening. "My friends thought I was famous; it made making friends easier and faster."

Search

Family is also at the center of Michal Marczak's beautifully-shot "Closure," which landed at Sundance on Friday.
The intensely cinematic documentary tells the story of a father's search for his teenage son, who vanished from a bridge over the Vistula River, Poland's longest water course.
Over 12 months, Marczak follows Daniel as he searches the river, using boats, underwater drones and hand tools, torn between the dread that he might find Chris' body and the desperate hope that he might be alive.
The river, at times hauntingly beautiful and others murky and unknowable, offers a mirror to Daniel's torment, and to the increasingly fragile hope of his wife, Agnieszka, that Chris will one day come home.
Daniel’s quest expands from the river into the digital world, as he tries to understand how a generation that seems constantly connected can sometimes feel so cut off.
His unrelenting river search lends him a degree of fame in Poland, and he is contacted by another father whose child is missing, eventually helping him to find her body.
Marczak said he had begun the film almost by accident, when he and his wife were rafting down the river thinking about a fiction project when they ran into trouble.
"We were trying to dock on this island, it got quite dangerous," he said.
"Then out of nowhere, this man appeared and he guided us to safety and that was Daniel. 
"We spent the night together by the campfire, and he told us about why he's there. I saw the emotions and...I just couldn't stop thinking about it."
At that moment, he decided to abandon the feature project and make a documentary instead.
Sundance Film Festival runs until February 1.
hg/sla

Global Edition

Bangladesh readies for polls, worry among Hasina supporters

BY SHEIKH SABIHA ALAM

  • "Sheikh Hasina may have done wrong -- she and her friends and allies -- but what did the millions of Awami League supporters do?"
  • Bangladesh is preparing for the first election since the overthrow of Sheikh Hasina, but supporters of her banned Awami League (AL) are struggling to decide whether to shift their allegiance. 
  • "Sheikh Hasina may have done wrong -- she and her friends and allies -- but what did the millions of Awami League supporters do?"
Bangladesh is preparing for the first election since the overthrow of Sheikh Hasina, but supporters of her banned Awami League (AL) are struggling to decide whether to shift their allegiance. 
In Gopalganj, south of the capital Dhaka and a strong bastion of Hasina's iron-grip rule, residents are grappling with an election without the party that shaped their political lives for decades. 
"Sheikh Hasina may have done wrong -- she and her friends and allies -- but what did the millions of Awami League supporters do?" said tricycle delivery driver Mohammad Shahjahan Fakir, 68, adding that he would not vote.
"Why won't the 'boat' symbol be there on the ballot paper?" he said, referring to AL's former election icon.
The Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people will hold elections on February 12, its first since the uprising.
Hasina, who crushed opposition parties during her rule, won landslide victories in Gopalganj in every election since 1991.
After a failed attempt to cling to power and a brutal crackdown on protesters, she was ousted as prime minister in August 2024 and fled to India.
She was sentenced to death in absentia for crimes against humanity by a court in Dhaka in November, and her former ruling party, once the country's most popular, has been outlawed.
Human Rights Watch has condemned the AL ban as "draconian".
"There's so much confusion right now," said Mohammad Shafayet Biswas, 46, a banana and betel leaf seller in Gopalganj.
"A couple of candidates are running from this constituency -- I don't even know who they are."
As a crowd gathered in the district, one man shouted: "Who is going to the polling centres? We don't even have our candidates this time."

'Dehumanise'

Hasina's father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding president of Bangladesh, hailed from Gopalganj and is buried in the town.
Statues of Rahman have been torn down nationwide, but in Gopalganj, murals and statues are well-maintained.
Since Hasina's downfall, clashes have broken out during campaigning by other parties, including one between police and AL supporters in July 2025, after which authorities filed more than 8,000 cases against residents.
Sazzad Siddiqui, a professor at Dhaka University, believes voter turnout in Gopalganj could be the lowest in the country.
"Many people here are still in denial that Sheikh Hasina did something very wrong," said Siddiqui, who sat on a government commission formed after the 2025 unrest.
"At the same time, the government has constantly tried to dehumanise them."
This time, frontrunners include candidates from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami, the country's largest Islamist party.
Both are from Hasina's arch-rivals, now eyeing power. "I am going door to door," BNP candidate S.M Zilany, 57, told AFP, saying many would-be voters had never had a candidate canvass for their backing.
"I promise them I will stand by them." 
Zilany said he had run twice against Hasina -- and was struck down by 34 legal cases he claimed had been politically motivated.
This time, he said that there was "a campaign to discourage voters from turning up".
Jamaat candidate M.M Rezaul Karim, 53, said that under Hasina, the party had been driven underground.
"People want a change in leadership," Karim told AFP, saying he was open to all voters, whatever their previous loyalties.
"We believe in coexistence; those involved in crimes should be punished; others must be spared," Karim said. Those once loyal to Hasina appear disillusioned.
Some say they had abandoned the AL, but remain unsure whom to support.
"I am not going to vote," said one woman, who asked not to be named.
"Who should I vote for except Hasina? She is like a sister."
sa/pjm/ane/abs

music

Spanish prosecutors dismiss sex abuse case against Julio Iglesias

BY DIEGO URDANETA

  • But the preliminary investigation was dismissed because of a "lack of jurisdiction of the Spanish courts", Spanish prosecutors wrote in their decision.
  • Spanish prosecutors on Friday shelved a sex abuse and human trafficking complaint against veteran singer Julio Iglesias, saying Spain's courts had no jurisdiction in the case.
  • But the preliminary investigation was dismissed because of a "lack of jurisdiction of the Spanish courts", Spanish prosecutors wrote in their decision.
Spanish prosecutors on Friday shelved a sex abuse and human trafficking complaint against veteran singer Julio Iglesias, saying Spain's courts had no jurisdiction in the case.
Two women -- a domestic worker and a physiotherapist -- alleged they had suffered sexual and other forms of abuse while working at Iglesias's properties in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas in 2021.
The allegations dominated headlines in Spain after being aired last week in a joint investigation by online Spanish newspaper elDiario.es and US television network Univision.
But the preliminary investigation was dismissed because of a "lack of jurisdiction of the Spanish courts", Spanish prosecutors wrote in their decision.
After reviewing the complaint, they said they could not open an investigation because the victims "are foreign" and "do not reside in Spain", and the accused is also outside the country.
Madrid-born Iglesias, 82, lives between Miami, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.
The alleged acts took place "in countries fully competent" to investigate them, the prosecutors added.
Advocacy groups Women's Link Worldwide and Amnesty International had said a complaint filed with Spanish prosecutors on January 5 outlined alleged acts that could be considered "a crime of human trafficking for the purpose of forced labour" and "crimes against sexual freedom".
The two organisations called the prosecutors' decision "regrettable" and said the two women "will continue fighting for justice and will pursue all available legal avenues", in a statement published in elDiario.es.
Spanish prosecutors said their ruling does not prevent the women from filing their complaint in other jurisdictions.

Jurisdiction issue

According to testimony collected by the two groups, Iglesias subjected the women to "sexual harassment, regularly checked their mobile phones, restricted their ability to leave the home where they worked, and required them to work up to 16 hours a day without days off".
Iglesias called the accusations "absolutely false", saying he had never "abused, coerced, or disrespected any woman".
"I have never felt such malice, but I still have the strength to let people know the whole truth and to defend my dignity against such a serious accusation," he added in an Instagram message last week.
Iglesias's lawyer, Jose Antonio Choclan, told Spain's top criminal court, the Audiencia Nacional, earlier this week that the alleged acts should be prosecuted where they occurred, requesting the case be closed.
The complaint was submitted in Spain and not the Caribbean countries where the crimes allegedly took place because of the nature of Spanish legislation on gender-based violence and trafficking, Women's Link Worldwide said.
Iglesias, father of fellow superstar singer Enrique Iglesias, is a Grammy winner with more than 300 million records sold in a career spanning decades.
bur-du/imm-ds/jhb

climate

Long-awaited first snowfall brings relief to water-scarce Kabul

BY AYSHA SAFI

  • "More than half of the winter had already passed without snowfall.
  • Children sliding around on plastic bags, boys engaging in lively snowball fights, and families taking selfies on white-covered streets: residents of Kabul rejoiced on Friday at the long-awaited first snowfall of the winter.
  • "More than half of the winter had already passed without snowfall.
Children sliding around on plastic bags, boys engaging in lively snowball fights, and families taking selfies on white-covered streets: residents of Kabul rejoiced on Friday at the long-awaited first snowfall of the winter.
Snow usually comes to the Afghan capital in December, but its six million inhabitants are increasingly feeling the effects of climate change, which has brought rising temperatures and water shortages that have disrupted daily life.
"In recent years, snow in Kabul has felt like nothing less than a blessing," 22-year-old Rukhsar Adel told AFP.
She and her family eagerly checked the weather forecast the night before and felt "happy and relieved" when white flakes started to fall on Thursday morning.
Kabul may run out of ground water by as early as 2030 due to climate change and rapid urbanisation, studies show.
A United Nations projection also indicates that nearly half of Kabul's boreholes -- the primary source of drinking water for residents -- are already dry.
"More than half of the winter had already passed without snowfall. People became worried and even prayed for snow," Adel said.

Hope for water

"We all need water, and there is a lack of water in Kabul," said 32-year-old Hekmatullah Ahady, adding that a 100-meter-deep (330-foot) well at his house dried up last year.
He said he hoped the snow would help to replenish water levels and make it easier for his family to get water.
Plus, he said, seeing the city blanketed in white was "so nice", even though his commute to work took longer.
Severe storms and heavy rains have killed at least 16 people, including children, across Afghanistan in the last three days, officials have said, though there have been no reported casualties in Kabul.
Heavy snow both in the provinces and the capital has caused traffic accidents, with rescue teams mobilised all night to give assistance, according to the National Disaster Management Authority.
In a change from Kabul's traffic-clogged streets, people enjoyed a rare dose of quiet as some drivers left their cars unused.
Boys took full advantage, hurling snowballs at each other along roadsides and in alleys, while small crowds gathered at street stalls to buy warm soup or coffee.
ash/iw/rsc/mjw

Trump

Did Trump make Davos great again?

BY LAURENT THOMET

  • If the World Economic Forum is going to be useful, going forward, it has to regain that trust," Fink said.
  • US President Donald Trump stole the show at the World Economic Forum in Davos, but he may have also made the annual gabfest of the global elite relevant again -- at least for a week.
  • If the World Economic Forum is going to be useful, going forward, it has to regain that trust," Fink said.
US President Donald Trump stole the show at the World Economic Forum in Davos, but he may have also made the annual gabfest of the global elite relevant again -- at least for a week.
The relevance of the gathering of CEOs and political leaders in the Swiss Alps is regularly questioned by critics who deride it as an out-of-touch echo chamber where little gets done.
But all eyes were on this year's Davos as Trump barrelled into town with a geopolitical storm hanging over the picturesque ski resort, where he pressed his case to acquire Greenland.
Hundreds of people stood in huge lines to hear Trump deliver a speech that drew gasps and nervous laughs as he mocked allies but also praised the "brilliant" A-listers in the room -- and ultimately ruled out using force to take Greenland.
"It's interesting that people were lining up to hear President Trump like they were not lining to hear any other speaker. None has got such kind of interest," Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics told AFP.
"I think that to some extent, Davos is back to what it was meant to be. To hear different perspectives, to argue, to discuss, to disagree sometimes, to agree, to somehow build bridges rather than to destroy them," he said.
Davos became the scene of intense diplomacy, culminating with Trump announcing a "framework of a future deal" on Greenland following talks with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
A day later, Trump met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as part of his effort to end Russia's war in Ukraine, while also launching his "Board of Peace".
There was even a rare standing ovation this year -- for Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who described a "rupture" in the global order in a speech that angered Trump.

'Failed policy'

It had been years since the WEF, founded in 1971, had been at the epicentre of such a momentous political episode.
The forum's previous landmark moments include hosting a thaw in Greek-Turkish tensions in 1988, and talks between Nelson Mandela and South Africa's apartheid-era president F. W. de Klerk in 1992.
Yet the renewed attention on Davos was not just about diplomacy and deal-making. It was also about confrontation.
The Trump administration descended on the Swiss resort in force to push its America First agenda -- the antithesis of the WEF's pro-globalisation creed.
"We are here to make a very clear point: globalisation has failed the West and the United States of America," US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said during a panel discussion.
"It's a failed policy. It is what the WEF has stood for," Lutnick said. 
This year's meeting also comes at a turning point for the WEF after its founder, Klaus Schwab, stepped down as head of the forum amid allegations of wrongdoing, for which he was later cleared after an internal investigation.
The head of US investment giant BlackRock, Larry Fink, took over as interim co-chair and acknowledged in his opening remarks to the forum the criticism that the WEF has faced.
"It's also obvious that the world now places far less trust in us to help shape what comes next. If the World Economic Forum is going to be useful, going forward, it has to regain that trust," Fink said.
The billionaire floated the idea of hosting WEF meetings in "places where the modern world is actually being built", such as Detroit or Dublin.

'The people who matter are here'

But the WEF is still a place where the rich and powerful come to network and do business first.
Marc Benioff, the CEO of tech firm Salesforce, was in his element as he shook hands with other corporate titans in the corridors of the congress centre.
"I think for CEOs, still, the fundamental operation of their business, the implementation of AI, the transformation into this new world, that's number one," Benioff told AFP after chatting with PepsiCo boss Ramon Laguarta.
"Obviously, there's a geopolitical situation going on, but I think for the vast majority of attendees, it's not impacting them," he said.
Benioff was among an A-list of CEOs that included Apple's Tim Cook and Nvidia's Jensen Huang, invited to meet Trump in Davos.
"The people who matter are here and the conversations that are important are happening here," Benioff said.
Davos, he said, "has never been more relevant".
lt/js/yad

women

Trump's MAGA movement ramps up attacks on 'progressive white women'

BY AURéLIA END

  • Gen Z women largely identify as progressive, while young men -- an important demographic in Trump's latest victory -- increasingly lean right.
  • Progressive white women have been persistent punching bags of President Donald Trump's MAGA movement, but attacks targeting the demographic group have become particularly vicious in recent weeks.
  • Gen Z women largely identify as progressive, while young men -- an important demographic in Trump's latest victory -- increasingly lean right.
Progressive white women have been persistent punching bags of President Donald Trump's MAGA movement, but attacks targeting the demographic group have become particularly vicious in recent weeks.
The death of Renee Good, a 37-year-old American woman killed by a federal agent while protesting Trump's immigration crackdown in Minnesota, has prompted harsh comments against her by numerous conservative commentators.
Radio host Erick Erickson coined an acronym to describe Good -- "AWFUL," or Affluent White Female Urban Liberal.
"White liberal women are a cancer on the nation. They have no real problems, so they're bored" and take on other people's fights, right-wing comedian Vincent Oshana wrote on X.
"They just want to feel important."
Columnist David Marcus meanwhile derisively referred to women activists, like Good, protesting against Trump's immigration actions as "organized gangs of wine moms."

Women's suffrage a 'tragedy'

The attacks come amid a dual offensive on the American right -- against modern feminism and placing renewed value on masculinity.
Some right-wing players, particularly Christian nationalists, have for years called for a rethink of the role of women in modern society, even demanding the end of the constitutional right to vote.
The 19th Amendment to the US Constitution "has been a moral and political tragedy for America," firebrand pastor Dale Partridge said in a video last month.
"Why? Women were not made to lead, but to follow and to feel."
Juliet Williams, a gender studies professor at University of California Los Angeles, said such comments are typical of a patriarchal worldview that requires men to "understand themselves as inherently superior."
Trump's administration has meanwhile sought to portray a masculine persona -- typified by Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, who frequently posts videos doing push-ups with soldiers.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently praised Trump's testosterone levels, saying that another official called them "the highest" he has seen for someone over 70.
In this ideology, Williams said, "hatred of white liberal women is really necessary" because they challenge the ideals of the Christian right.
Women in general favored the Democratic candidate in the 2016, 2020, and 2024 presidential elections -- but majorities of white women actually voted for Trump, according to Pew Research polling.
Several studies suggest a growing divergence among younger voters.
Gen Z women largely identify as progressive, while young men -- an important demographic in Trump's latest victory -- increasingly lean right.
Williams said attacks on women Democratic voters could be aimed at influencing young women who "are more aware than ever of how closely their social value is indexed on looking a certain way."

'Just hotter'

The women who gravitate around Trump's White House usually wear stylish clothes, high heels, have long wavy hair, and wear heavy makeup. Botox and filler are not rare.
Katie Miller -- a podcaster and wife of Stephen Miller, one of the US president's most influential advisers -- openly mocks what she considers to be the unattractive and unkempt appearance of left-wing women.
"Conservative women are just hotter than Liberal women," she wrote on X, claiming that was the reason conservative families have more children.
The Millers recently announced they are expecting their fourth child, as did Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt is also pregnant with her second child.
aue/vla/des/msp

Health

Pakistan battles legions of fake doctors

BY SAMEER MANDHRO

  • - Dangerously reusing equipment -  Abdul Ghafoor Shoro, secretary general of the Pakistan Medical Association, said there are "more than 600,000 fake doctors" operating across Pakistan. 
  • Rusted nails hold used infusion tubes on the wall of a clinic run by one among hundreds of thousands of unqualified doctors operating across Pakistan.
  • - Dangerously reusing equipment -  Abdul Ghafoor Shoro, secretary general of the Pakistan Medical Association, said there are "more than 600,000 fake doctors" operating across Pakistan. 
Rusted nails hold used infusion tubes on the wall of a clinic run by one among hundreds of thousands of unqualified doctors operating across Pakistan.
Dozens of patients visit the small roadside shop each day in the southern Sindh province, where a few chairs are arranged around wooden tables used to lay patients down. 
"These patients have faith in me. They believe I can treat them well," said Abdul Waheed, who opened the facility a few months ago outside Hyderabad city. 
During the day, the 48-year-old works at a private hospital in Hyderabad. In the evenings, he comes to the village of Tando Saeed Khan to see patients at his clinic, charging 300 rupees ($1) per consultation. 
"I have spent so much time in this field. I have worked with several doctors. Thanks to God, I have confidence to diagnose a patient and treat the disease," Waheed told AFP. 
There is no signboard, no registration number, and he has no legal authorisation to practise as a doctor.
Waheed, who has a diploma in homeopathy and has completed a four-year nursing course, speaks with confidence.
After examining two young children, he insisted that patients come to him willingly and trust his abilities.
"No one has questioned me yet. If someone comes, I will see what to do," he said, reflecting the ease with which unqualified individuals practise medicine in Pakistan.
Such unlicensed clinics are often the first, and sometimes the only, point of care for poor communities.
- Dangerously reusing equipment - 
Abdul Ghafoor Shoro, secretary general of the Pakistan Medical Association, said there are "more than 600,000 fake doctors" operating across Pakistan. 
This nationwide figure has been confirmed by the Sindh Healthcare Commission (SHCC), based on estimates from the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council.
Calling the practise a public health epidemic, Shoro said that such practitioners work with doctors, learn a few things there, and then open their own clinics. 
"Unqualified doctors don't know the side effects and exact dosage of medicines. If a disease is not properly diagnosed, it can become dangerous," Shoro said. 
"The instruments they use are not sterilised. They simply wash them with water and continue using them. They reuse syringes, which increases the spread of hepatitis and AIDS." 
As AFP journalists visited Tando Saeed Khan, another unqualified doctor immediately closed his clinic and disappeared.
Outside Waheed's shop, villager Ali Ahmed said there are multiple such clinics in the area.
"None of them have qualified doctors. People aren't educated and can't recognise qualified doctors," the 31-year-old told AFP. 

Lifelong damage

Medical experts say this unchecked practise has a direct impact on Pakistan's already strained healthcare system, with tertiary care hospitals overwhelmed by patients whose conditions worsen after improper treatment. 
Khalid Bukhari, the head of Civil Hospital Karachi, said the facility regularly receives such cases from across the country. 
"They misdiagnose and mistreat patients. Our hospital is overloaded. Most of the cases we receive are those ruined by them," said Bukhari, whose public hospital is one of the largest in the country. 
"These people are playing with the lives of poor citizens. If people go to proper doctors and receive precise treatment, they will not need to come to us." 
Regulatory authorities acknowledge their failure to control the problem.  
"We have limited resources. This practise cannot be eliminated easily. If we shut down 25 outlets, 25 new ones open the very next day," said Ahson Qavi Siddiqi, the head of Sindh HealthCare Commission (SHCC).
The commission recently sealed a bungalow in Karachi that had been operating as a hospital -- complete with intensive care units for children and adults -- because it was unregistered. 
"The law against it is weak. We file cases, but the accused get bail the next day because it is a bailable offence," Siddiqi told AFP. 
The official also described serious security threats faced by inspection teams.
"These people are influential in their areas. In many cases, our teams are taken hostage. We are fired upon. I don't have the force to take strong action," the SHCC head said.
Shoro said the practise also financially destroys families who are left with big hospital bills when something goes wrong. 
"Many people die or become disabled, and their families suffer for the rest of their lives."
sma/rsc/ane/abs

technology

Musk's Grok created three million sexualized images, research says

BY ANUJ CHOPRA

  • "The data is clear: Elon Musk's Grok is a factory for the production of sexual abuse material," Imran Ahmed, the chief executive of CCDH. "By deploying AI without safeguards, Musk enabled the creation of an estimated 23,000 sexualized images of children in two weeks, and millions more images of adult women." 
  • Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok generated an estimated three million sexualized images of women and children in a matter of days, researchers said Thursday, revealing the scale of the explicit content that sparked a global outcry.
  • "The data is clear: Elon Musk's Grok is a factory for the production of sexual abuse material," Imran Ahmed, the chief executive of CCDH. "By deploying AI without safeguards, Musk enabled the creation of an estimated 23,000 sexualized images of children in two weeks, and millions more images of adult women." 
Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok generated an estimated three million sexualized images of women and children in a matter of days, researchers said Thursday, revealing the scale of the explicit content that sparked a global outcry.
The recent rollout of an editing feature on Grok, developed by Musk's startup xAI and integrated into X, allowed users to alter online images of real people with simple text prompts such as "put her in a bikini" or "remove her clothes."
A flood of lewd deepfakes exploded online, prompting several countries to ban Grok and drawing outrage from regulators and victims.
"The AI tool Grok is estimated to have generated approximately three million sexualized images, including 23,000 that appear to depict children, after the launch of a new image editing feature powered by the tool on X," said the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a nonprofit watchdog that researches the harmful effects of online disinformation.
CCDH's report estimated that Grok generated this volume of photorealistic images over an 11-day period -- an average rate of 190 per minute.
The report did not say how many images were created without the consent of the people pictured.
It said public figures identified in Grok's sexualized images included American actress Selena Gomez, singers Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj as well as politicians such as Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch and former US vice president Kamala Harris.
"The data is clear: Elon Musk's Grok is a factory for the production of sexual abuse material," Imran Ahmed, the chief executive of CCDH.
"By deploying AI without safeguards, Musk enabled the creation of an estimated 23,000 sexualized images of children in two weeks, and millions more images of adult women." 
There was no immediate comment about the findings from X. When reached by AFP by email, xAI replied with a terse automated response: "Legacy Media Lies."
Last week, following the global outrage, X announced that it would "geoblock the ability" of all Grok and X users to create images of people in "bikinis, underwear, and similar attire" in jurisdictions where such actions are illegal.
It was not immediately clear where the tool would be restricted.
The announcement came after California's attorney general launched an investigation into xAI over the sexually explicit material and several countries opened their own probes.
"Belated fixes cannot undo this harm. We must hold Big Tech accountable for giving abusers the power to victimize women and girls at the click of a button," Ahmed said.
Grok's digital undressing spree comes amid growing concerns among tech campaigners over proliferating AI nudification apps.
Last week, the Philippines became the third country to ban Grok, following Southeast Asian neighbors Malaysia and Indonesia, while Britain and France said they would maintain pressure on the company.
On Wednesday, the Philippines's Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center said it was ending the short-lived ban after xAI agreed to modify the tool for the local market and eliminate its ability to create "pornographic content."
ac/dw

film

Basking in Oscar nod, Russian videographer ready for Hollywood

  • "I've already dusted off the shelf for it," he joked from Prague, where he lives in exile.
  • Pavel Talankin, a self-exiled Russian videographer behind an anti-propaganda documentary nominated for an Oscar, said Thursday he was ready to go to Hollywood and had "already dusted off the shelf" for a prize.
  • "I've already dusted off the shelf for it," he joked from Prague, where he lives in exile.
Pavel Talankin, a self-exiled Russian videographer behind an anti-propaganda documentary nominated for an Oscar, said Thursday he was ready to go to Hollywood and had "already dusted off the shelf" for a prize.
David Borenstein's "Mr Nobody Against Putin", based on footage smuggled by Talankin out of Russia, was nominated in the Documentary Feature Film category.
The film exposes the intensity of pro-war propaganda at a secondary school in a small Russian town.
Talankin, 34, told AFP it was hard to put in words how he felt, but he definitely wanted now to win the Academy Award.
"I've already dusted off the shelf for it," he joked from Prague, where he lives in exile.
"I'd like to go to Hollywood," he said. "I have a visa."
Talankin used to work as an event organiser and videographer at a secondary school in the industrial town of Karabash in the Ural mountains.
After teaming up with Borenstein on a project to document the abrupt militarisation of his school in the wake of Russia's February 2022 invasion of its neighbour Ukraine, Talankin filmed patriotic lessons, songs and morning drills.
He then fled Russia with the hard discs of what would become the 90-minute award-winning documentary.
Russia outlawed all criticism of the Russian military after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.
The project cost Talankin dearly, making him a hate figure in Russia for supporters of the war. He has left behind his mother, brothers and sisters.
Talankin said things were hard for him after he fled his native country.
But he added: "Of course it was all worth it."
When the film was shortlisted for the Oscars in December, Borenstein told AFP he was "shocked" and called the feeling "surreal".
He said Talankin "sacrificed so much to make this film and he deserves to make as big of an impact as possible".
The nominations set the stage for the 98th Academy Awards ceremony on March 15.
as/giv/jhb

energy

Japan suspends restart of world's biggest nuclear plant

  • However, its operator the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said Thursday that "an alarm from the monitoring system... sounded during the reactor startup procedures", causing it to suspend operations.
  • The restart of the world's largest nuclear power plant was suspended in Japan on Thursday, with the operator saying it does not know when the problem would be solved.
  • However, its operator the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said Thursday that "an alarm from the monitoring system... sounded during the reactor startup procedures", causing it to suspend operations.
The restart of the world's largest nuclear power plant was suspended in Japan on Thursday, with the operator saying it does not know when the problem would be solved.
The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata province had been closed since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, but operations to relaunch it had begun on Wednesday after it received the final green light from the nuclear regulator.
However, its operator the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said Thursday that "an alarm from the monitoring system... sounded during the reactor startup procedures", causing it to suspend operations.
"We don't expect this to be solved within a day or two. There is no telling at the moment how long it will take," site superintendent Takeyuki Inagaki told a news conference.
"We will for now fully focus on trying to identify the cause of what happened," he said.
The alarm that went off prompted TEPCO to "investigate the malfunctioning electrical equipment," spokesman Takashi Kobayashi told AFP.
And "once it became clear that it would take time, we decided to reinsert the control rods in a planned manner", he said, adding that the reactor "is stable and there is no radioactive impact outside".
Control rods are a device used to control the nuclear chain reaction in the reactor core, which can be accelerated by slightly withdrawing them, or slowed down or stopped completely by inserting them deeper.
The restart, initially scheduled for Tuesday, had been pushed back after another technical issue related to the rods' removal was detected last weekend -- a problem that was resolved on Sunday, according to TEPCO.
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is the world's biggest nuclear power plant by potential capacity, although just one reactor of seven was restarted.
The facility was taken offline when Japan pulled the plug on nuclear power after a colossal earthquake and tsunami sent three reactors at the Fukushima atomic plant into meltdown in 2011.
However, resource-poor Japan now wants to revive atomic energy to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and meet growing energy needs from artificial intelligence.
Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is the first TEPCO-run unit to restart since 2011. The company also operates the stricken Fukushima Daiichi plant, now being decommissioned.
Public opinion in Niigata is deeply divided: Around 60 percent of residents oppose the restart, while 37 percent support it, according to a survey conducted in September.
"It's Tokyo's electricity that is produced in Kashiwazaki, so why should the people here be put at risk? That makes no sense," Yumiko Abe, a 73-year-old resident, told AFP this week during a protest in front of the plant.
Earlier this month, seven groups opposing the restart submitted a petition signed by nearly 40,000 people to TEPCO and Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority, saying that the plant sits on an active seismic fault zone and noted it was struck by a strong quake in 2007.
mac-tmo/kh/aph/mjw

Bondi

Australia mourns in candlelight for Bondi Beach shooting victims

  • Alleged gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the Bondi Beach attack.
  • Australians fell silent and lit candles on a national day of mourning on Thursday for the 15 people killed by gunmen who opened fire on a Jewish festival at Bondi Beach.
  • Alleged gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the Bondi Beach attack.
Australians fell silent and lit candles on a national day of mourning on Thursday for the 15 people killed by gunmen who opened fire on a Jewish festival at Bondi Beach.
Millions observed a minute's silence at 7:01 pm east coast time (0801 GMT) as flags flew at half-mast for victims of the December 14 mass shooting, Australia's deadliest in three decades.
People placed candles in windows and on doorsteps in homes around the country.
Families and representatives of the dead lit 15 candles, too, in a ceremony of prayers and tributes at the Sydney Opera House, with the theme "Light Will Win".
Under a cloak of security, snipers perched on top of the famous building's sails. 
"You came to celebrate a festival of light and freedom, and you were met with the violence of hatred," said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who wore a Jewish kippa as he addressed the Opera House gathering.
"I am deeply and profoundly sorry that we could not protect your loved ones from this evil."
Sajid Akram and his son Naveed allegedly shot into crowds at a Hanukkah celebration on the Sydney beach, inspired by Islamic State group ideology.

Antisemitism

Among the victims were an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, a couple who confronted one of the gunmen, and a 10-year-old girl, Matilda, who was described at her funeral as a "ray of sunshine".
First responders raced to treat the wounded despite the dangers of that day, strangers sheltered each other from gunfire, and shop owner Ahmed al Ahmed famously wrested a gun from one of the attackers.
"They're the heroes, aren't they? The people that stepped in and put themselves in danger," school teacher David Barrett said at Bondi Beach.
"It's a shame that people had to do that. But I suppose that just shows the Australian spirit that people are always willing to step in and help out."
Albanese has faced criticism for alleged foot-dragging in combating antisemitism ahead of the attack.
Since the shooting, he has agreed to establish a high-level royal commission inquiry, which is to include examinations of the security services' actions, and rising reports of antisemitism.
His left-leaning Labor government ushered through parliament new laws this week that seek to tighten gun control and crack down on crimes of hate speech and radicalisation.
The legislation stiffens sentences on hate speech and radicalisation, sets up a framework for listing prohibited hate groups and makes it easier to reject or cancel visas for suspects.

Security questions

On firearms, Australia will set up a national gun buyback scheme, tighten rules on imports of the weapons and expand background checks for gun permits to allow input from the intelligence services.
Alleged gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot and killed by police during the Bondi Beach attack. An Indian national, he entered Australia on a visa in 1998.
His 24-year-old son Naveed, an Australian-born citizen who remains in prison, has been charged with terrorism and 15 murders.
Police and intelligence agencies face difficult questions about whether they could have acted earlier to prevent the shooting.
Naveed Akram was flagged by Australia's intelligence agency in 2019, but he slipped off the radar after it was decided that he posed no imminent threat.
The Akram duo travelled to the southern Philippines in the weeks before the shooting, fuelling suspicions they may be linked to Islamist extremists.
But Australian police say the evidence so far suggests they acted alone.
djw/pbt

consumers

Higher heating costs add to US affordability crunch

BY JOHN BIERS

  • The heating bill is yet another cost pressure facing many Americans like Marchiano, who says prices are "outrageous" for groceries and other staples.
  • Madeline Marchiano realizes that this winter’s runaway heating prices mean she can’t afford to raise her thermostat enough to warm her entire South Philadelphia rowhouse.
  • The heating bill is yet another cost pressure facing many Americans like Marchiano, who says prices are "outrageous" for groceries and other staples.
Madeline Marchiano realizes that this winter’s runaway heating prices mean she can’t afford to raise her thermostat enough to warm her entire South Philadelphia rowhouse.
So Marchiano, who also lacks the budget to replace drafty old windows, avoids the colder rooms.
The heating bill is yet another cost pressure facing many Americans like Marchiano, who says prices are "outrageous" for groceries and other staples.
"I try to survive," said the 61-year-old, who lives on a fixed income. "Like everyone else, I worry about bills."
Even before winter started, consumer advocates sounded the alarm on higher heating costs in light of torrid electricity demand growth and costly revamps of pipes and other infrastructure that have led to utility rate hikes.
US households are expected to spend $995 on heating this winter, an increase of 9.2 percent from last year, according to a December forecast from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA).
Of course, the final tally will depend on the weather. So far, the 2025-26 season has been a bear in Philadelphia, with forecasts of an arctic blast and a potential blizzard expected to boost usage further.
Through mid-January, the average temperature in Philadelphia was 36.2, the sixth coldest since the year 2000 and about six degrees colder than the winter of 2023-24, said Chad Merrill, a meteorologist at Accuweather.

Assistance programs

Pennsylvania bars utilities from shutting off low-income consumers during the winter months. But consumers who fall behind can face a shutoff once the moratorium ends at the end of March.
"It catches up to you," Luz Laboy, who assists low-income consumers through a maze of assistance programs, said of consumers who don't pay winter bills. She works at Hunting Park Neighborhood Advisory Committee, an NGO in North Philadelphia.
Qualifying consumers are eligible for federal assistance through the US Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which pays an annual stipend, as well as crisis funding that provides grants of up to $1,000.
Other Pennsylvania programs allow consumers with large balances to establish a monthly payment plan or to apply to repair broken radiators.
Jose Rosario, 75, a retiree who lives on his monthly Social Security check of $1,038 and pays $375 to rent his basement apartment, came to the NGO for help completing his LIHEAP application and managing a $4,000 gas balance.
Also there was Linda Croskey, who has borrowed heaters from her sister after her nearly 70-year-old system broke down. Staffers at the NGO think a replacement is likely given the age of the equipment.
Croskey, 61, made too much income in prior years for LIHEAP. But she spent much of last year taking care of her husband, who suffered a stroke, meaning she made less in her job as an insurance broker.
"It is what it is, I am not mad about anything," she said. "I just hope to have heat."

Middle-class hit

Laboy said this winter's number of applicants for LIHEAP is about the same as last year, but the process has been more fraught. 
"It is a lot more stressful this year," said Laboy, noting the program was delayed by the US government shutdown.
US President Donald Trump's administration eliminated the Washington LIHEAP staff in the spring and had initially sought to zero out funding. But Congress ultimately maintained funding for the program.
Seth Blumsack, a professor of energy and environmental economics at Pennsylvania State University, tied this winter's increase in natural gas prices mainly to costs associated with replacing aging infrastructure. 
This is also a factor behind higher electricity rates, although a bigger driver is the growth of energy-guzzling data centers, he said.
"Electricity demand in the US is increasing...in ways we have not seen in decades," said Blumsack, who pointed to the retirements of older generation units as another factor.
The issue resonates with Pennsylvania lawmakers like Representative Heather Boyd. Boyd's most recent electric and gas bill was for $860, up from $660 the prior month, for a 1,400 square foot home in suburban Philadelphia, she said at a hearing Tuesday on energy affordability.
"When I can't pay that, my community can't pay that," she said.
The cost-of-living struggle means "it's not just the poorest families" strained by higher heating prices," said NEADA executive director Mark Wolfe. "It's affecting middle-class families, which is why it's becoming a political issue."
jmb/sla

luxury

Mourners pay last respects to Italian icon Valentino

BY ELLA IDE

  • The designer's coffin is on display for two days at the Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation in Rome's historic centre, ahead of his church funeral in the city on Friday.
  • Mourners paid their respects Wednesday to legendary Italian designer Valentino Garavani, as his coffin went on public display following his death this week aged 93.
  • The designer's coffin is on display for two days at the Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation in Rome's historic centre, ahead of his church funeral in the city on Friday.
Mourners paid their respects Wednesday to legendary Italian designer Valentino Garavani, as his coffin went on public display following his death this week aged 93.
White roses and lilies lined the path into the simple room at Valentino's foundation headquarters where his wooden coffin was laid out, with loved ones sitting on either side.
"It's a perfect, simple, sober homage" to not only a talented artist but a "courteous, splendidly refined" person, said Giulia Carraro, 75, a former personal assistant who moved in his circle.
The designer, who launched his fashion house in 1960, dressed some of the world's most famous women, from Julia Roberts and Sharon Stone to Elizabeth Taylor and Nancy Reagan.
Next to the closed coffin, which was topped by a single red rose, sat Valentino's partner Giancarlo Giammetti, whose business acumen helped elevate the label to global prominence.
The designer was "an extremely professional person, very meticulous in his work", but also "a dreamer", Giammetti told reporters.
"I met him when he was 26, so he was still young enough to dream, and we tried to let him do so until the very end."
Valentino's creative director, Alessandro Michele, who earlier paid tribute to the designer's "rare sensibility", was also in attendance.
Another mourner held one of Valentino's beloved pugs.
Though Valentino loved white, he was perhaps best known for his gowns in a vivid "Valentino red". 
"It is a red with the lightest touch of orange and magenta," created after the designer saw a woman in a red dress at an opera in Barcelona and "used her as his inspiration", Carraro told AFP.

Seamstresses say goodbye

Seamstresses from the Valentino atelier, next to the Foundation, joined the hundreds of mourners paying their respects. 
Lucia Laporta told AFP she and the other seamstresses were "always afraid" when presenting their work because Valentino was "very strict", but that he was also "a great master, always kind to us".
The windows in the Valentino shop were shrouded by blackout blinds, with the designer's motto written across them in white: "I love beauty. It's not my fault."
Mexican mourner Maotzin Contreras-Bejarano in Marchesi, dressed all in black but with her lips painted the famous red, told AFP: "I really wanted to be here, I had to be here."
"I have admired Valentino for so long, because he didn't just create things, he was beauty, he was love, he was passion", she said.
The designer came from "an epoch where things were made with heart and soul".
He embodied "the things the fashion world has lost: it's all business now", she said.
The designer's coffin is on display for two days at the Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation in Rome's historic centre, ahead of his church funeral in the city on Friday.
Valentino's death comes just months after the passing of another Italian great, Giorgio Armani, and along with flowers left outside the Foundation was a note suggesting the pair would now be designing clothes for angels.
Silvia Bocchino, 55, said she had taken a day off work and travelled to Rome as she felt a "duty" to pay her respects.
"Valentino has always been a legend to me, a role model. I was born in the 70s and witnessed his rise," she said.
She owned "a few little things" by the designer, bought "more than anything to have the feeling of touching beauty". 
Valentino "left an imprint on what it means to be Italian, on how we are known in the world", she told AFP.
ide/ams/phz

US

Dogsled diplomacy in Greenland proves elusive for US

BY PIERRE-HENRY DESHAYES

  • That has piqued the interest of team Trump as the American president pushes to take over Greenland.
  • Greenland's biggest dogsled race is a cultural mainstay on the Arctic island but US envoys keep finding themselves disinvited, frustrating attempts by President Donald Trump's team to wield soft power in the Danish autonomous territory.
  • That has piqued the interest of team Trump as the American president pushes to take over Greenland.
Greenland's biggest dogsled race is a cultural mainstay on the Arctic island
but US envoys keep finding themselves disinvited, frustrating attempts by President Donald Trump's team to wield soft power in the Danish autonomous territory.
The annual Avannaata Qimussersua race is dear to Greenlanders as the most prestigious event of its kind, pitting around 30 teams against each other to decide the territory's top dog sledders.
That has piqued the interest of team Trump as the American president pushes to take over Greenland.
In the space of a few days, Trump's special envoy for Greenland, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, was first invited and then uninvited to this year's race, to be held on March 28 in Qasigiannguit, a small community on the west coast.
Last year, after Trump revived his ambition to acquire Greenland, Usha Vance, wife of US Vice President JD Vance, had also planned to attend the race, before her appearance was cancelled.
"We're looking at manoeuvres that, if not outright interference, are at least a form of soft diplomacy that involves meeting local populations with the intent of influencing them," Mikaa Blugeon-Mered, a researcher on Arctic geopolitics, told AFP.
The would-be visits are part of a broader push by Washington to get a feel for the Greenlandic population -- which at this point is overwhelmingly opposed to joining the United States -- and encourage pro-American sentiment in order to win hearts and minds, according to the researcher.
In August, Danish public broadcaster DR reported that at least three Americans linked to Trump were conducting influence operations in Greenland.
Their mission was to identify those favouring closer ties to the United States, as well as those in fierce opposition, according to DR.
In May, the Wall Street Journal reported that US intelligence agencies had been ordered to gather information on Greenland's independence movement and views on potential US exploitation of the island's natural resources.

Identity marker

For many of Greenland's 57,000 inhabitants, of whom nearly 90 percent are Inuit, the Avannaata Qimussersua is strongly tied to identity.
The race, generally held at the end of the winter season, is part of the island's "living culture", said Manumina Lund Jensen, an associate professor in the Department of Cultural and Social History at the University of Greenland.
"It's very important for the Greenlanders, and it is a very emotional journey if you go there," she told AFP.
Amid renewed tension between Washington and Europe, the Greenland Dog Sledding Association (KNQK) recently announced that the invitation to Landry -- which had been extended without its knowledge by a private tour operator -- had been cancelled.
"KNQK has been informed that the tourism company that invited Governor Jeff Landry from the United States has unilaterally withdrawn its invitation," the organisation said in a statement.
"This is reassuring," it added.

'Political pressure'

Greenlandic broadcaster KNR reported last week that Landry had been invited by tour operator Kristian Jeremiassen.
Speaking to KNR, Jeremiassen said he had invited "many different people" to the race, without specifying whom, "to promote tourism in northern Greenland".
However, the Greenland Dog Sledding Association said it found it "unacceptable that political pressure is being exerted from outside" and called the invitation "wholly inappropriate".
According to Blugeon-Mered, alongside his work as a tour operator, Jeremiassen is a politician "on the wane... whose primary goal is to make himself a kind of go-between (with the United States) to boost his business".
A year ago, Usha Vance had planned to attend the race without an official invitation.
"The US consulate had offered to fund most of the race," Blugeon-Mered said.
"They thought that by being the race's main sponsor, they could buy the organisers and do whatever they wanted. It didn't work."
JD Vance's planned visit had sparked strong objections in Denmark, which saw it as "unacceptable pressure" and said it risked provoking demonstrations during the event.
The US delegation ultimately changed its programme, and JD and Usha Vance instead visited an American air base at Pituffik, in the territory's northwest.
phy/cbw/jll/jhb

aid

Malawi suffers as US aid cuts cripple healthcare

BY JACK MCBRAMS

  • "When people stop taking PrEP, we increase the chances of new HIV infections... we are undoing a decade of progress in months," she said.
  • A catastrophic collapse of healthcare services in Malawi a year after US funding cuts is undoing a decade of progress against HIV/AIDS, providers warn, leaving some of the most vulnerable feeling like "living dead".
  • "When people stop taking PrEP, we increase the chances of new HIV infections... we are undoing a decade of progress in months," she said.
A catastrophic collapse of healthcare services in Malawi a year after US funding cuts is undoing a decade of progress against HIV/AIDS, providers warn, leaving some of the most vulnerable feeling like "living dead".
In the impoverished southern Africa country, the US government's decision to slash foreign aid in January 2025 has led to significant cuts in HIV treatments, a spike in pregnancies and a return to discrimination.
Chisomo Nkwanga, an HIV-positive man who lives in the northern town of Mzuzu, told AFP that the end of US-funded specialised care was like a death sentence.
After his normal provider of life-saving antiretroviral therapy (ART) vanished due to budget cuts, he turned to a public hospital.
"The healthcare worker shouted at me in front of others," Nkwanga recalled. "They said, 'You gay, you are now starting to patronise our hospitals because the whites who supported your evil behaviour have stopped?'"
"I gave up," he said, trembling. "I am a living dead."
More than one million of aid-dependent Malawi's roughly 22 million people live with HIV and the United States previously provided 60 percent of its HIV treatment budget.
Globally, researchers estimate that hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths have been caused by the Trump administration's dismantling of US foreign aid, which has upended humanitarian efforts to fight HIV, malaria and tuberculosis in some of the world's poorest regions.

Lay offs, panic

In Malawi, the drying up of support from USAID and the flagship US anti-HIV programme, PEPFAR, has left a "system in panic", said Gift Trapence, executive director of the Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP).
"The funding cut came on such short notice that we couldn't prepare or engage existing service providers," Trapence told AFP.
"We had to lay off staff... we closed two drop-in centres and maintained two on skeleton staff," he said. 
"We did this because we knew that if we closed completely, we would be closing everything for the LGBTI community."
The Family Planning Association of Malawi (FPAM) non-government organisation, a cornerstone of rural healthcare, has been forced to ground the mobile clinics that served as the only medical link for remote villages.
"We had two big grants that were supporting our work, particularly in areas where there were no other service providers," said executive director Donald Makwakwa.
"We are likely to lose out on all the successes that we have registered over the years," he said.
A resident of a village once served by FPAM told AFP there had been an explosion in unplanned pregnancies when the family planning provider stopped work.
"I know of nearly 25 girls in my village who got pregnant when FPAM suspended its services here last year," said Maureen Maseko at a clinic on the brink of collapse.

Progress undone

For over a decade, Malawi's fight against AIDS relied on "peer navigators" and drop-in centres that supported people with HIV and ensured they followed treatment.
With the funding for these services gone, the default rate for people taking the HIV preventative drug PrEP hit 80 percent in districts like Blantyre, according to a report by the CEDEP.
"This is a crisis waiting to happen," the report quoted former district healthcare coordinator Fyness Jere as saying. 
"When people stop taking PrEP, we increase the chances of new HIV infections... we are undoing a decade of progress in months," she said.
Trapence noted that without specialised support, thousands of patients had simply disappeared from the medical grid.
"We lost everything, including the structures that were supporting access... treatment and care," he said.
str/br/kjm

conflict

AI reshaping the battle over the narrative of Maduro's US capture

BY PAULA RAMON

  • Maduro is not the only leader to use AI propaganda -- Trump has frequently posted AI-generated pictures and videos of himself with "antagonistic, aggressive, and divisive language."
  • Since the US captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in early January, pictures and videos chronicling the events have been crowded out by those generated with artificial intelligence, blurring the lines between fiction and reality.
  • Maduro is not the only leader to use AI propaganda -- Trump has frequently posted AI-generated pictures and videos of himself with "antagonistic, aggressive, and divisive language."
Since the US captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in early January, pictures and videos chronicling the events have been crowded out by those generated with artificial intelligence, blurring the lines between fiction and reality.
The endless stream of content ranges from comedic memes to dramatic retellings.
In one, a courtroom illustration of Maduro in a New York courthouse springs to life and announces: "I consider myself a prisoner of war."
In another, an AI-generated Maduro attempts to escape a US prison through an air duct, only to find himself in a courtroom with US President Donald Trump, where they dance with a judge and an FBI agent to a song by American rapper Ice Spice.
Maduro was captured alongside his wife Cilia Flores during US strikes in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas on January 3.
They have since been taken to a prison in New York where they are being held on drug trafficking charges.
While some have celebrated Maduro's ouster, the "Chavismo" movement he leads -- named after his predecessor Hugo Chavez -- has worked to reframe what his fall means for Venezuela's future.

' Confuse, combat, and silence'

Leon Hernandez, a researcher at Andres Bello Catholic University, told AFP that with AI's rapid creation of content, we see development of "disinformation labs" that flood social media platforms.
"There were things that circulated that were not real during the capture (of Maduro), and things that circulated which were real that generated doubt," Hernandez said.
"That was the idea: to create confusion and generate skepticism at the base level by distorting certain elements of real things."
The goal, he added, is for the content to overwhelm audiences so they cannot follow it.
Even legacy media such as the Venezuelan VTV television channel are in on it, with the broadcaster playing an AI-animated video narrated by a child recounting Maduro's capture.
"AI has become the new instrument of power for autocrats to confuse, combat, and silence dissent," said Elena Block, a professor of political communication and strategy at the University of Queensland in Australia.

'Greatest threat to democracy'

Block pointed out the use of cartoons, specifically, had been a medium of propaganda used in both authoritarian and democratic states.
Long before his arrest, Maduro was depicted as the illustrated superhero "Super Bigote" or "Super Mustache," donning a Superman-like suit and fighting monsters like "extremists" and the "North American empire."
The cartoon's popularity spawned toys that have been carried by Maduro's supporters during rallies advocating for his return.
And much like his predecessor, Maduro continued a practice of "media domination" to stave off traditional media outlets from airing criticism of Chavismo.
"With censorship and the disappearance or weakening of news media, social media has emerged as one of the only spaces for information," Block said.
Maduro is not the only leader to use AI propaganda -- Trump has frequently posted AI-generated pictures and videos of himself with "antagonistic, aggressive, and divisive language."
"These digital and AI tools end up trivializing politics: you don't explain it, you diminish it," Block said. "AI today is the greatest threat to democracy."
pr-jt/afc/jgc/sla

trend

South Koreans go cuckoo for 'Dubai-style' cookies

BY HIEUN SHIN

  • - Give blood for cookies - The Korean Red Cross, which has long struggled with a shortage of blood donors, even began offering the cookies instead of its usual sugary snacks.
  • Chewy, crunchy and not-too-sweet, round, chocolatey "Dubai-style" cookies have become the must-have dessert in South Korea -- with the rush for the snacks even prompting the Red Cross to offer them as a draw for blood donors.
  • - Give blood for cookies - The Korean Red Cross, which has long struggled with a shortage of blood donors, even began offering the cookies instead of its usual sugary snacks.
Chewy, crunchy and not-too-sweet, round, chocolatey "Dubai-style" cookies have become the must-have dessert in South Korea -- with the rush for the snacks even prompting the Red Cross to offer them as a draw for blood donors.
Springboarding off a global craze for "Dubai chocolate" -- a pistachio-filled chocolate bar layered with fine shredded pastry known as kadaif -- and fuelled by K-pop endorsements, "Dujjonku" have become a phenomenon in South Korea.
Online searches for the dessert surged more than twenty-fold in the last three months, according to data from Naver, the country's largest search engine.
Searches on food delivery apps for the snacks jumped by 1,500 times last month.
And one developer even created an online map to track which shops still have stock remaining -- convenience store versions have also repeatedly sold out.
Customers have lined up outside shops in the early hours of the morning, even as temperatures have plunged in South Korea's bitter winter.
"Even without much initial interest, once you hear that everyone else is eating it, you start wondering just how good it must be," Nam Su-yeon, a 28-year-old office worker, told AFP.
"That curiosity leads you to buy it and try it once, then to think another place might be even better," she said.

Give blood for cookies

The Korean Red Cross, which has long struggled with a shortage of blood donors, even began offering the cookies instead of its usual sugary snacks.
It resulted in an early morning rush, with some donation centres reporting turnout at double usual levels.
To make them, cafes melt marshmallows to create a chewy outer layer mixed with chocolate, then fill individual portions with pistachio cream and kadaif before dusting the top with cocoa powder.
They don't come cheap -- weighing at just 50 grams, the average price for the dessert currently stands at 6,500 won ($4.40).
Purchases are often limited to two per person, probably for the best given a single cookie can pack up to 500 calories.
That's sparked health warnings from experts, with Korea University Guro Hospital saying the dessert can "immediately disrupt the body's metabolic balance" and "threaten the overall health... beyond simple weight gain".
The craze is partly driven by celebrity endorsements from K-pop stars.
Jang Won-young of girl-group IVE posted a photo on Instagram with her lips dusted in chocolate powder -- sparking another trend for the "Dujjonku lip".
"It definitely seems like a viral phenomenon," Hwang Jae-kyoung, a 34-year-old office worker, told AFP.
"In particular, celebrities seem to play a role."
The price "makes sense from a market perspective, but from a consumer's point of view, it is honestly expensive," added Hwang. 
The trend appears to be spreading to neighbouring China as well, with the hashtag "dubaichocholate" drawing more than 329 million views on Instagram-like Xiaohongshu.
The craze has also sent prices of raw materials soaring.
A kilo of unshelled pistachios has surged fourfold month-on-month since mid-January.
And the price of 500 grams of kadaif has doubled, according to price-tracking app Fallcent.
The frenzy has spilled into unexpected areas. 
Sushi and traditional Korean restaurants have begun making the desserts in a lucrative side hustle.
Office worker Nam said they were also addictive.
"Before long you find yourself going somewhere else to try it again," she said.
hs/oho/fox