gender

UK mulls impact of landmark gender ruling

BY HELEN ROWE

  • - The court ruled on Wednesday that the legal definition of a "woman" is based on a person's sex at birth.
  • From toilets and changing rooms to sports pitches and hospital wards, a ruling by Britain's Supreme Court on the legal definition of a "woman" is expected to have far-reaching consequences.
  • - The court ruled on Wednesday that the legal definition of a "woman" is based on a person's sex at birth.
From toilets and changing rooms to sports pitches and hospital wards, a ruling by Britain's Supreme Court on the legal definition of a "woman" is expected to have far-reaching consequences.

What did the Supreme Court say?

The court ruled on Wednesday that the legal definition of a "woman" is based on a person's sex at birth.
Five judges unanimously ruled that "the terms 'woman' and 'sex' in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman, and biological sex".
The court's pronouncement follows a legal battle between the Scottish government and campaign group For Women Scotland (FWS) involving clashing interpretations of the Equality Act.
While the Scottish government argued that the law gave trans women with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) the same protections as a biological female, the campaign group disagreed.

What impact on women-only spaces? 

Single-sex spaces and services including changing rooms "will function properly only if sex is interpreted as biological sex", the judgement said. 
Kishwer Falkner, chairwoman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which is responsible for enforcing the Equality Act, told BBC radio the law was now clear.
"If a service provider says 'we're offering a women's toilet', then trans people should not be using that single-sex facility," she said.
But she highlighted that there was no law forcing organisations to provide single-sex spaces and no law preventing them providing unisex toilets or changing rooms.
She said trans rights organisations should push for more neutral third spaces to accommodate trans people.

Will trans women still have access to female-only hospital wards?

Current guidance from the body that runs the state-funded National Health Service in England states that trans people should be "accommodated according to their presentation: the way they dress, and the name and pronouns they currently use".
The advice has meant that trans women have been allowed to opt for treatment in women-only hospital wards even if they do not have a gender recognition certificate or have not legally changed their name.
The certificate is a UK legal document that recognises an individual's gender identity, allowing them to legally change their sex.
"The NHS is currently reviewing guidance on same sex accommodation," an NHS England spokesperson told AFP.
Falkner said the watchdog would pursue the NHS if it did not change the existing guidance on the treatment of trans women patients.

What future for trans women in sport? 

The court decision is a victory for prominent voices in the debate such as swimmer Sharron Davies, who won an Olympic silver medal at the Moscow Games in 1980.
It was time for sports bodies to "protect every female athlete", she said after the ruling.
Campaigners said there were now "no excuses" for allowing transgender women to compete in women's sporting events.
Fiona McAnena, director of campaigns at the charity Sex Matters, said the law had in fact always been "clear that everyone male can be excluded to provide fair, safe sport for women and girls, but some people claimed it was unkind or complicated to do so".
Falkner said the ruling made it "simple" that people assigned male at birth cannot take part in women's sport.
Sebastian Coe, the president of World Athletics, told Sky News he welcomed the ruling "because it has produced clarity".
"It is really important that we continue to protect the integrity of women's competition," he added.  
Former Football Association (FA) chairman David Triesman told the Daily Telegraph that rulemakers who allowed trans women to compete alongside biological women should "stand down immediately".

Will gender recognition certificates be abolished?

The usefulness of the gender recognition certificate would be re-assessed in the light of the ruling, Falkner said.
Asked if she thought the documents were now "worthless", she said she believed they were "quite important" but that future litigation was likely to provide clarity on their "efficacy".
"It's going to be a space that we'll have to watch very carefully as we go on," she said.
"There will be other areas... the government is thinking of digital IDs, and if digital IDs come in, then what documentation will provide the identity of that person?"
bur-har/jkb/fg

Afrobeats

Afrobeats star Davido sees Nigeria's star rising

BY PIERRE BOTTE

  • Davido now sees artists' musical influence flowing across the Atlantic in the other direction.
  • The way Davido sees it, Nigerian culture is having a moment.
  • Davido now sees artists' musical influence flowing across the Atlantic in the other direction.
The way Davido sees it, Nigerian culture is having a moment.
"We're very popular, not only in music," the 32-year-old Afrobeats star told AFP during a recent interview in Paris, pointing to the film, food and fashion influence his country is increasingly exporting to the rest of the world.
Even amid criticism from some that American artists are starting to crib from Afrobeats' sound, his response is: "I like it."
And yet, the Nigerian-American artist -- a self-described citizen of the world -- sees the future of the continent tied to those who stay home, rather than its influential diaspora.
"Everybody always has the American dream," he told AFP. "Every kid that grows up in Africa wants to visit America. That's cool. It's okay to visit, but don't leave your people and go there."
Those might be tough words to swallow for his compatriots battling the worst economic crisis in a generation.
In recent years, "japa" -- the Yoruba word for "escape" -- has become country-wide slang for emigrating to greener, and richer pastures.
Davido, born David Adedeji Adeleke in Atlanta, in some ways straddles the tension between a growing, bustling Nigeria of more than 200 million people and a world that finally seems to be waking up to the so-called Giant of Africa.
Speaking to AFP ahead of the release of his new album, "5ive" -- out Friday -- he confidently says the record "is going to touch every part of the world."
"We have music for the French people. We have music for the Caribbean people. We have music for the Americans, Africans, everybody," he said.
"It's like a full, global package album."
- Eight million monthly listeners - 
With some more than eight million monthly listeners -- including Britain's King Charles -- Davido is riding, and shaping, the global Afrobeats craze.
But Davido himself is also a product of African music.
"I grew up in an African household where we were always throwing parties, music was always playing in the house, going in the car to school, my parents playing music," he enthusiastically recalled.
As a teenager, a cousin in the industry took him to a studio, where "for the first time, I saw somebody create music... African music."
"That's when I fell in love with it," said Davido, spotting a grey conical woollen cap and jewellery dangling over a black T-shirt.
A few years later, he was mixing and mastering his own tunes by the age of 16, drawing inspiration from artists such as P-Square, a Nigerian duo that drew some of their hits from American influences such as Michael Jackson.
Davido now sees artists' musical influence flowing across the Atlantic in the other direction.
"It's a privilege for another culture to try to imitate what you're doing," he told AFP in response to a question about critics who accuse American artists of trying to mime Afrobeats' style. 
"In Nigeria we do hip hop too. We have rappers that rap. We have people that do R&B."
"Music is a universal language. So I don't see any problem with that." 
Davido counts among some of his popular tracks "Unavailable" and "Aye".
- 'African music has changed narrative' - 
For all his worldly outlook, Davido said he hasn't lost focus on Nigeria.
"We've been going through hard times," he told AFP. "Nigeria is a very rich country with so much talent, so much grace, so much opportunity."
"I was asked a question saying, why don't we sing about (Nigeria's struggles) in our music?" he recalled. "I was like, man, that's not the type of music my people would really like to hear."
"I have sung about it in the past. But I'm very vocal about it more in Africa than in America."
As he prepares to embark on a world tour -- including stops in Paris, London, New York, Atlanta, and Los Angeles -- he knows where at least part of his success has come from.
"African music has changed the narrative of how Africans are looked at around the world."
pbo/may/rhl/nro/sn/cw 

conflict

Silent killing fields 50 years on from Khmer Rouge atrocities

BY SUY SE

  • To remember victims, a Cambodian opposition party asked for authorities' permission to hold a memorial at Choeung Ek -- the most notorious of the Khmer Rouge's "Killing Fields" -- in the capital Phnom Penh.
  • Cambodia marked on Thursday the 50th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge's march into Phnom Penh, though survivors of its genocidal rule were forbidden from praying before victims' skulls.
  • To remember victims, a Cambodian opposition party asked for authorities' permission to hold a memorial at Choeung Ek -- the most notorious of the Khmer Rouge's "Killing Fields" -- in the capital Phnom Penh.
Cambodia marked on Thursday the 50th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge's march into Phnom Penh, though survivors of its genocidal rule were forbidden from praying before victims' skulls.
On April 17, 1975, soldiers of the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge rolled into the capital astride tanks, toppling the US-backed republican army of Lon Nol and starting a four-year communist government.
To remember victims, a Cambodian opposition party asked for authorities' permission to hold a memorial at Choeung Ek -- the most notorious of the Khmer Rouge's "Killing Fields" -- in the capital Phnom Penh.
But the city refused to greenlight the event, citing issues of "public order" and safety, and warned that the group would be held legally responsible, according to a letter seen by AFP.
"Victims of the Khmer Rouge genocide should not be banned by any rule if they wish to memorialise this very difficult time in Cambodian history," said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam), which researches and records atrocities of that period.
City hall could not be immediately reached for comment. 
Survivors were absent at the Choeung Ek wartime museum Thursday, though dozens of tourists visited the site and took pictures of the skulls displayed in glass cases.
Outside Choeung Ek, survivor Sum Rithy, 72, recalled the Khmer Rouge were initially given a cautious welcome by Phnom Penh's war-weary residents when they entered the city, their distinctive red-chequered scarves fluttering behind them. 
But soon enough cadres began to evacuate the city of two million people at gunpoint, in one of the largest forced displacements in recent history. 
"It was a day of nationwide bloodshed... the Khmer Rouge chased people away from homes everywhere," Sum Rithy said. 
He said his father and three siblings were killed, while he was starved and jailed for two years on allegations that he was a member of the CIA.
There was "no happiness, no smiling, but there was only sadness and suffering", he told AFP. "I will never forget this."
- Tribunal - 
The Khmer Rouge drove Cambodia -- once known as the "Pearl of Asia" for its music, culture and French colonial architecture -- back to "Year Zero" through an agrarian peasant revolution. 
By the time the tyrannical rule of Pol Pot was ousted four years later, an estimated two million Cambodians had been killed by execution, starvation or overwork.
Only after the Khmer Rouge was forced out by Vietnamese soldiers in 1979 did the scale of its atrocities emerge, with the bones of thousands of victims -- including children -- uncovered at mass graves across the country.
Pol Pot died in 1998 without facing justice.
A special tribunal sponsored by the United Nations convicted three key Khmer Rouge figures before ceasing operations in 2022, but other former cadres continue to live freely.
Former prime minister Hun Sen -- an ex-cadre who ruled Cambodia for nearly four decades -- was against pursuing further cases at the tribunal, claiming it would plunge the country into instability.
Last month Cambodia enacted a law -- at the request of Hun Sen -- that forbids denying the Khmer Rouge's atrocities, but which rights advocates and academics warn could also be used to stifle legitimate dissent.
suy/sjc/dhc

missing

Cartel recruitment at heart of Mexico's missing persons crisis

BY SERGIO BLANCO WITH ARTURO ILIZALITURRI IN MEXICO CITY

  • Veronica Cruz -- of no relation to Rubi Cruz -- fears her son Robert Reyes is also a victim of forced recruitment by a drug cartel.
  • When Rubi Cruz recognized her husband's belongings among personal items found at a suspected Mexican drug cartel training camp, she feared the worst -- that he had become a victim of forced recruitment.
  • Veronica Cruz -- of no relation to Rubi Cruz -- fears her son Robert Reyes is also a victim of forced recruitment by a drug cartel.
When Rubi Cruz recognized her husband's belongings among personal items found at a suspected Mexican drug cartel training camp, she feared the worst -- that he had become a victim of forced recruitment.
The discovery of bones, shoes and clothing at a ranch in the western state of Jalisco has shone a spotlight on the ruthless tactics of violent criminal groups in a country where more than 120,000 people are missing.
Cruz's husband Fermin Hernandez, then 33, was kidnapped in 2021 from his home in the town of Tala near the Izaguirre ranch by gunmen who shot him in the leg.
She spotted what she believes are his personal items, including a wallet and T-shirt, in images released by a civil society group that went to look for the remains of missing persons at the site last month.
"I felt a lot of pain, a lot of sadness," the 31-year-old restaurant worker told AFP, her husband's image and the words "your wife is looking for you" printed on her long-sleeved T-shirt.
According to the government, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the drug trafficking groups designated terrorist organizations by US President Donald Trump, lured recruits with fake job adverts.
They were given firearms and other training at the Izaguirre ranch, Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch said last month, based on the testimony of an alleged cartel recruiter who was arrested.
"They even took the lives of people who resisted the training or tried to escape," he said.

'I'm a hitman'

Disappearances have soared in Mexico since the government declared war on drug trafficking groups in 2006.
Around 480,000 people have been murdered in a spiral of violence since then.
Veronica Cruz -- of no relation to Rubi Cruz -- fears her son Robert Reyes is also a victim of forced recruitment by a drug cartel.
The teenager disappeared a year ago after traveling to Jalisco, lured by an offer of work painting houses.
Robert's mother, 42, believes he was also at the Izaguirre ranch because he once sent a message from the area.
She had tried to keep him away from the neighborhood's gangs and drugs, but said she never imagined her son would be forced to join a cartel.
At the age of 16, the high school dropout traveled from his home in a suburb near Mexico City to Jalisco a year ago to earn money to buy a motorcycle, disobeying his mother.
Weeks later, he called his sister, crying. 
"I'm a hitman. My friend was just killed... If I don't get out of here, I'll watch over you from heaven," he said, according to his mother.
Later, a man who said he was Robert's friend wrote to his sister via social media to tell her that he had died in a shootout.
"I thought hitmen wanted to do that work. I never thought cartels were taking people away," his mother said.

'Whatever it takes'

The government says it has taken down dozens of social media pages recruiting for criminal groups. 
But on video-sharing app TikTok, jobs are still offered in Jalisco with "meals and lodging," featuring nicknames for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
Jalisco state accounts for 12 percent of the roughly 127,000 missing people in Mexico, mainly young men.
Many disappearances are linked to forced recruitment because gangs need armies to control their territory and to generate illicit income, according to Jorge Ramirez, a researcher at the University of Guadalajara.
The victims are often poor young people without access to education, he said.
In 2024, around 30 young people were reported to have disappeared after attending what they believed would be job interviews in the Jalisco state capital Guadalajara.
Despite her fears, Rubi Cruz still hopes to find her husband alive.
Veronica Cruz's optimism has waned, but she still wants answers.
"Maybe I'm not looking for justice, but I want to know where my son is -- whatever it takes," she said.
str-ai/axm/dr/bjt

education

Trump says 'joke' Harvard should be stripped of funds

BY SEBASTIAN SMITH

  • Trump is furious at the storied institution for rejecting government supervision of its admissions, hiring practices and political slant and ordered the freezing of $2.2 billion in federal funding to Harvard this week.
  • US President Donald Trump called Harvard a "joke" Wednesday and said it should lose its government research contracts after the prestigious university refused demands that it accept outside political supervision.
  • Trump is furious at the storied institution for rejecting government supervision of its admissions, hiring practices and political slant and ordered the freezing of $2.2 billion in federal funding to Harvard this week.
US President Donald Trump called Harvard a "joke" Wednesday and said it should lose its government research contracts after the prestigious university refused demands that it accept outside political supervision.
Trump's administration also threatened to ban the famed seat of learning from admitting foreign students unless it bows to the requirements, as US media reported that officials were considering revoking the university's tax-exempt status.
"Harvard can no longer be considered even a decent place of learning, and should not be considered on any list of the World's Great Universities or Colleges," Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
"Harvard is a JOKE, teaches Hate and Stupidity, and should no longer receive Federal Funds."
Trump is furious at the storied institution for rejecting government supervision of its admissions, hiring practices and political slant and ordered the freezing of $2.2 billion in federal funding to Harvard this week.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also canceled $2.7 million worth of research grants to Harvard on Wednesday and threatened the university's ability to enroll international students unless it turns over records on visa-holders' "illegal and violent activities." 
"If Harvard cannot verify it is in full compliance with its reporting requirements, the university will lose the privilege of enrolling foreign students," a DHS statement said, with Secretary Kristi Noem accusing the university of "bending the knee to antisemitism."
International students made up 27.2 percent of Harvard's enrollment this academic year, according to its website.
Other institutions, including Columbia University, have bowed to less far-ranging demands from the Trump administration, which claims that the educational elite is too left-wing.
Harvard has flatly rejected the pressure, with its president, Alan Garber, saying that the university refuses to "negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights."

Tax exemption

Trump also said Tuesday that Harvard "should lose its Tax Exempt Status" as a nonprofit educational institution if it does not back down.
CNN and the Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was now making plans to do so following a request from Trump.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Harrison Fields told AFP by email that "any forthcoming actions by the IRS will be conducted independently of the President."
Demonstrating the broadening resonance of the row, Golden State Warriors basketball coach Steve Kerr spoke out in support of Harvard.
Kerr, sporting a Harvard T-shirt, called the demands on the university the "dumbest thing I've ever heard" and cited his backing of "academic freedom."

Government seeks control

The payments frozen to Harvard are for government contracts with its leading research programs, mostly in the medical fields where the school's laboratories are critical in the development of new medicines and treatments.
Trump and his White House team have publicly justified their campaign against universities as a reaction to what they say is uncontrolled anti-Semitism and a need to reverse diversity programs aimed at encouraging minorities.
The anti-Semitism allegations are based on controversy over protests against Israel's war in Gaza that swept across US college campuses last year.
Columbia University in New York -- an epicenter of the protests -- stood down last month and agreed to oversight of its Middle Eastern studies department after being threatened with a loss of $400 million in federal funds.
The claims about diversity tap into long-standing conservative complaints that US university campuses are too liberal, shutting out right-wing voices and giving preference to Black people and other minority groups over whites.
In the case of Harvard, the White House is seeking unprecedented levels of government control over the inner workings of the country's oldest and wealthiest university -- and one of the most respected educational and research institutions in the world.
In a letter sent to Harvard, the administration's demands included:
- ending admissions that take into account the student's race or national origins
- preventing admission of foreign students "hostile to the American values and institutions"
- ending staff hiring based on race, religion, sex or national origin
- reducing the power of students in campus governance
- auditing students and staff for "viewpoint diversity"
- reforming entire programs for "egregious records of anti-Semitism or other bias"
- cracking down on campus protests.
sms/lb/tjx/pbt

Easter

Spanish youth keep vibrant Holy Week processions alive

BY DIEGO URDANETA

  • Cristina Garcia, a 44-year-old teacher dressed in a white tunic and green capirote, says she joined the Holy Tuesday procession to continue a tradition inherited from her late father.
  • Clad in a traditional white tunic and purple sash, four-year-old Thiago could barely contain his excitement before taking part as a drummer in a Spanish Easter procession thronged by thousands.
  • Cristina Garcia, a 44-year-old teacher dressed in a white tunic and green capirote, says she joined the Holy Tuesday procession to continue a tradition inherited from her late father.
Clad in a traditional white tunic and purple sash, four-year-old Thiago could barely contain his excitement before taking part as a drummer in a Spanish Easter procession thronged by thousands.
He and other members of the younger generations belie the belief that the elderly are custodians of the centuries-old rite, defying a secular trend in the historically Catholic country.
Parading with family in the northwestern city of Zamora is what most excites Thiago during Holy Week, when Catholics commemorate the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in solemn processions organised by religious brotherhoods.
"As soon as we had the first grandchild in the family, the first thing we do here, rather than go to the court to register him, is sign him up to a brotherhood," Thiago's grandfather Jose Luis Temprano, 72, told AFP.
On Holy Tuesday, a delighted Thiago prepared to mark the rhythm of the parade with his small drum.
His other grandfather "hands out almonds, my father goes with the cross and I give out sweets" to other children, he recalled of another procession in which he participated.

Week of tradition

Zamora is home to 16 brotherhoods which each have hundreds or thousands of members. Several have long waiting lists to join, some lasting years, said Israel Lopez, president of the city's Holy Week board.
"People sign up because they want that moment to be able to go out" in the processions with schoolmates and relatives, he added.
As the clock struck midnight on a chilly evening, a group of teenagers stood ready when the street lights were turned off and Zamora was plunged into silence.
The young members of the Santisimo Cristo de la Buena Muerte brotherhood then slowly descended a steep cobbled street, some wearing sandals and others barefoot, bearing torches aloft in a moving spectacle of devotion.
Laura Borrego, 34, had spent hours in the street with her friends waiting for the procession to start. All live outside Zamora but never miss Holy Week in the city of 60,000 souls.
"It is a week of tradition, family, friends, being in the street all week," said Borrego, a member of two brotherhoods who braved the elements in a thick winter coat.
Borrego and her friends had already witnessed another parade that evening in which parents walked with children or cradled babies in their arms, donning white tunics and the trademark "capirote", a long pointy hood.
Cristina Garcia, a 44-year-old teacher dressed in a white tunic and green capirote, says she joined the Holy Tuesday procession to continue a tradition inherited from her late father.
Her two children are also taking part, thanks to "what I have been inculcating into them", she added.

'A lot of emotion'

Borrego's atheist friend Manuel Rodriguez, a 34-year-old psychologist, also cannot resist being drawn to Holy Week.
It is like visiting "Roman churches... you do not have to be exclusively religious, because you can see the (historical) value," he told AFP.
According to a March survey by state polling body CIS, 39.2 percent of Spaniards described themselves as atheist, agnostic or non-believers, highlighting a secularising trend common to much of Europe. 
Of the 54.4 percent who identified as Catholic, only 18.6 percent said they were practising.
For Manuel Jesus Roldan, a historian who has written books about Holy Week, the brotherhoods reflect society as a whole and "have no political ideology".
"There are people from the left, the right, the centre. What's more, we could say there are even atheist people within the religious gatherings," he said.
In the southern city of Seville, Luis Alvarez-Ossorio said his atheist parents were stunned when he told them he wanted to enter a brotherhood to which several relatives already belong.
"They made it clear that they didn't share my belief... but that I would have their support at all times," he told AFP.
Holy Week embodies "a lot of emotion. I have loads of emotions at the same time, even personal reflection", he added.
du/imm/ds/rmb

conflict

Nigerian mixed-faith families sense danger as violence flares

BY MUHAMMAD TANKO WITH NICHOLAS ROLL IN ABUJA

  • The fact that her husband was Muslim provided Haruna no comfort that he would be safe against killers on a rampage across the mostly Christian villages.
  • When the news came through of yet another massacre in the countryside in Nigeria's volatile Plateau state, local Christian Jamaima Haruna was terrified for her Muslim husband.
  • The fact that her husband was Muslim provided Haruna no comfort that he would be safe against killers on a rampage across the mostly Christian villages.
When the news came through of yet another massacre in the countryside in Nigeria's volatile Plateau state, local Christian Jamaima Haruna was terrified for her Muslim husband.
The slayings in the Bokkos district left 52 dead -- one of two major bouts of suspected intercommunal violence this month, in a state where Muslim herders and mostly Christian farmers regularly clash.
Haruna, 39, was selling potatoes in the market in Jos, the state capital. But her husband was travelling in the area where the killings were reported, in search of fresh produce for their business.
The fact that her husband was Muslim provided Haruna no comfort that he would be safe against killers on a rampage across the mostly Christian villages.
"I was terrified. The situation was tense, and I became so worried thinking about him. I instantly called his phone number about three times -- the calls did not go," Haruna told AFP.
Theirs is one of many mixed-faith marriages in Plateau, a grey area among the sometimes divisive rhetoric that often comes from Nigerian media and politicians whenever intercommunal violence flares.
Haruna's husband was fine, but what exactly happened in Bokkos earlier this month remains unclear.
Survivors told AFP that unidentified gunmen stormed the villages. A local official said the attackers spoke the "Fulani dialect".
A local pastoralist association representing Muslim Fulani herders slammed the remarks as irresponsible.
But amid the long-standing tensions in the area, things have sharply escalated: this week, another attack by unidentified gunmen left another 52 dead, this time in the villages of Zike and Kimakpa.
Politicians including Plateau state governor Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang said the massacres were part of a "genocide" that was "sponsored by terrorists".
Critics say that rhetoric masks the true causes of the conflict -- disputes over land and a failure by authorities and police to govern the countryside.
"It all boils down to the failure of governance at the lower level of Nigeria," said Isa Sanusi, Nigeria country director at Amnesty International. "The space has been taken over by impunity."
Rhetoric about a "genocide", he said, meanwhile "creates a situation where the fact that people accept to live together is now put to the test".
- History of religious mixing - 
Mixed-faith families have long existed in Plateau, which lies midway between the country's mainly Christian south and mostly Muslim north.
The state's complicated history includes both communities living side by side, as well as explosions of violence. 
The capital Jos saw deadly sectarian riots in 2001 and 2008 that together killed more than a thousand people, according to rights groups. Peace efforts in the city since then have brought calm, though the countryside remains restive.
Land grabbing, political and economic tensions between local "indigenes" and those considered outsiders, as well as an influx of hardline Muslim and Christian preachers, have heightened divisions in recent decades.
Land used by farmers and herders, meanwhile, is coming under stress from climate change and human expansion, sparking deadly competition for increasingly limited space.
When violence flares, weak policing all but guarantees indiscriminate reprisal attacks.
Growing up, Solomon Dalung, a 60-year-old Christian, would go to the mosque when he was staying with his cousins, who lived in a town that did not have a church.
"Each time there is any crisis, religion and ethnicity is used as a fuel" to escalate it, said the former state sports minister.
At the same time, like other politicians, he insisted in an interview with AFP that the killings were "genocidal", accusing the attackers of "extermination of another group".

'In the spotlight'

Tensions in Plateau can be especially dangerous for mixed families, as it "puts them in the spotlight", said Sanusi.
Usman Ahmad, a 71-year-old Muslim who has been married to a Christian for four decades, was also in the Jos market when he heard news of the Bokkos killings.
While he felt a sense of relief that his immediate community "is more enlightened" about mixed families, he also felt the need "to rush home and see what we can do in terms of appealing for calm", he said.
"Many times we sit to think (about) why this crisis refused to end. Is it because of religion, is it about tribalism or is it about wealth?" Jamaima Haruna told AFP from her market stand.
"Can't we think of other ways to respect our differences?"
str-nro/sn/rlp/rjm

politics

Putin praises Musk, compares him to Soviet space hero

  • "You know, there's a man -- he lives in the States -- Musk, who, you could say, raves about Mars," Putin told students on a visit to Bauman University, a Moscow college that specialises in science and engineering.
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Elon Musk on Wednesday, telling university students he was a pioneer comparable to legendary Soviet rocket engineer Sergei Korolev.
  • "You know, there's a man -- he lives in the States -- Musk, who, you could say, raves about Mars," Putin told students on a visit to Bauman University, a Moscow college that specialises in science and engineering.
Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Elon Musk on Wednesday, telling university students he was a pioneer comparable to legendary Soviet rocket engineer Sergei Korolev.
The comments came as Russia and the United States forged closer ties under President Donald Trump's administration, of which billionaire SpaceX founder Musk is a key figure.
"You know, there's a man -- he lives in the States -- Musk, who, you could say, raves about Mars," Putin told students on a visit to Bauman University, a Moscow college that specialises in science and engineering.
"These are the kind of people who don't often appear in the human population, charged-up with a certain idea."
"If it seems incredible even today, such ideas often come to fruition after a while. Just like the ideas of Korolev, our pioneers, came about in due time," Putin added.
Korolev is considered the father of the Soviet space programme, developing the first satellite Sputnik as well as Vostok 1, which carried first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into orbit in 1961.
Musk, the world's richest man and Trump's most powerful advisor, is the head of SpaceX -- a US company that launches rockets for NASA and owns the Starlink satellite internet network.
Musk has been a frequent critic of Ukraine, which is currently battling a three-year Russian offensive.
The billionaire accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last month of wanting a "forever war", and in February said Kyiv had gone "too far" in the conflict.
bur/rmb

Scotland

UK top court rules definition of 'woman' based on sex at birth

BY BY CLARA LALANNE AND AKSHATA KAPOOR

  • - Single-sex spaces - Scottish Greens activist and trans woman Ellie Gomersall, 25, told Sky News the ruling was "yet another attack on the rights of trans people to live our lives in peace".
  • Britain's Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the legal definition of a "woman" is based on a person's sex at birth, a landmark decision with far-reaching implications for the bitter debate over trans rights.
  • - Single-sex spaces - Scottish Greens activist and trans woman Ellie Gomersall, 25, told Sky News the ruling was "yet another attack on the rights of trans people to live our lives in peace".
Britain's Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the legal definition of a "woman" is based on a person's sex at birth, a landmark decision with far-reaching implications for the bitter debate over trans rights.
In a win for Scottish gender-critical campaigners who brought the case to the UK's highest court, five London judges unanimously ruled that "the terms 'woman' and 'sex' in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman, and biological sex".
However, the act also "gives transgender people protection" against discrimination in their acquired gender, Justice Patrick Hodge said in handing down the verdict.
The UK government welcomed the ruling for bringing "clarity" to the debate.
It is the culmination of a years-long battle between the Scottish government and the campaign group For Women Scotland (FWS) -- which launched an appeal to the Supreme Court after losing pleas in Scottish courts over an obscure legislation aimed at hiring more women in public-sector bodies.
Dozens of FWS and other gender-critical campaigners, who argue that biological sex cannot be changed, cheered the ruling, hugging and crying outside the court.
"This has been a really, really long ride," said Susan Smith, co-director of For Women Scotland.
"Today, the judges have said what we always believed to be the case: that women are protected by their biological sex," she said. "Women can now feel safe that services and spaces designated for women are for women".
The Scottish government said it accepts the verdict and would focus on "protecting the rights of all".
Trans rights activists had raised concerns that a ruling in favour of FWS could risk discrimination against trans people in their chosen gender.
"The court is well aware of the strength of feeling on all sides which lies behind this appeal," Hodge said.

Single-sex spaces

Scottish Greens activist and trans woman Ellie Gomersall, 25, told Sky News the ruling was "yet another attack on the rights of trans people to live our lives in peace".
But "Harry Potter" author JK Rowling, one of the most prominent supporters of gender-critical campaigns, praised the "three tenacious Scottish women with an army behind them" who refused to drop the case.
"In winning, they've protected the rights of women and girls across the UK," Rowling, who has been accused of transphobia and become a target of hate, posted on X.
At the heart of the legal battle were clashing interpretations of the Equality Act.
While the Scottish government argued that the Equality Act gave trans women with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) the same protections as a biological female, FWS disagreed.
In its judgement, the Supreme Court ruled that the devolved Scottish government's "interpretation is not correct" and that the Equality Act was inconsistent with the 2004 Gender Recognition Act that introduced GRC certificates.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which is responsible for enforcing the Equality Act, said it was "pleased" the ruling addressed complicated issues of maintaining single-sex spaces.
Single-sex spaces and services including changing rooms, hostels and medical services "will function properly only if sex is interpreted as biological sex", the judgement said. 
The Labour government said the ruling brought "clarity and confidence for women and service providers such as hospitals, refuges, and sports clubs".
"We have always supported the protection of single-sex spaces based on biological sex," a government spokesperson said.
Opposition Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch hailed the "victory" for FWS.
"Saying 'trans women are women' was never true in fact, and now isn't true in law either," Badenoch said.

Under threat

LGBTQ charity Stonewall said however that the ruling was "incredibly worrying for the trans community".
"Stonewall shares the deep concern at the widespread implications for today's ruling," its chief executive Simon Blake said.
The ruling also comes at a time when transgender rights are under threat in the United States under President Donald Trump.
Since retaking office, Trump has declared the federal government will recognise only two sexes, male and female; sought to bar trans athletes from women's sports; and curbed treatments for trans children.
The latest UK ruling could pile pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has remained largely silent on trans issues since coming into power last July, to further clarify legislation.
cla-aks/jkb/jm

lifestyle

'Put it on': Dutch drive for bike helmets

BY STéPHANIE HAMEL

  • If nothing is done, the number of seriously injured cyclists is expected to double by 2040, the infrastructure ministry estimates.
  • It's a world-famous scene: a steady and slightly chaotic stream of cyclists pedalling out of Amsterdam's Centraal Station, heading for the canals and cafes of the Dutch capital.
  • If nothing is done, the number of seriously injured cyclists is expected to double by 2040, the infrastructure ministry estimates.
It's a world-famous scene: a steady and slightly chaotic stream of cyclists pedalling out of Amsterdam's Centraal Station, heading for the canals and cafes of the Dutch capital. Almost no one is wearing a helmet.
Now the government is trying to persuade the reluctant Dutch to strap on headgear when riding their beloved bikes, with an awareness campaign kicking off on Wednesday.
The campaign "Zet 'em op" literally means "Put it on", but the phrase is also slang for "Good Luck", which authorities will need to change attitudes in a country where only one cyclist in 25 wears a helmet.
Infrastructure Minister Barry Madlener hopes to push up the rate from four percent to 25 percent within 10 years, he said in a letter to parliament.
Research shows that 25 percent is a "social tipping point" when peer pressure kicks in and the rate of helmet wearing increases significantly, Madlener said.
The stakes are high: government statistics estimate around 50 road deaths a year could be prevented if half the Dutch biking population wore a helmet.
Last year, 74,300 cyclists were rushed to emergency hospital departments, nearly 50,000 of them with serious injuries, according to the Veiligheid safety organisation.
If nothing is done, the number of seriously injured cyclists is expected to double by 2040, the infrastructure ministry estimates.
On the streets of Amsterdam, the message did not appear to be getting through to everyone.
"I'd rather stop biking and go walking than wear a helmet," Roos Stamet, a 48-year-old writer, told AFP.
"It will ruin my hair. I will look like a 70-something," she added. "It's nonsense. Do you go into the supermarket wearing a helmet? It's just not an option."

'Fatbikes'

Alongside subsidised helmets and an ad campaign, Dutch transport apps have sought to raise awareness, and that persuaded Marijn Visser to don one for the first time.
In the countryside where she lives, she never wears a helmet, because "it's nice to feel the wind through your hair. And it's not necessary, I think," she said.
"But it's very crowded in Amsterdam," said the 45-year-old librarian, which persuaded her to wear the helmet.
One of the main topics of conversation -- and annoyance -- in the Netherlands is the rise of the "fatbike", high-speed electric bikes whose drivers often terrorise traditional bikers on the paths.
It certainly takes nerves of steel to navigate bike travel in Amsterdam, with mopeds, scooters, fatbikes and pedestrians all jostling for space.
"Bike traffic has become gradually more dangerous in the past five to 10 years... with the electric bikes, with the fatbikes," said Kenji Stamet, a part-time barista and Roos's husband.
An additional hazard, especially in Amsterdam, is tourists wandering around oblivious to high-speed bike traffic, Stamet said.
All things considered, the 50-year-old said he might consider buying a helmet one day.
"I thought about it once or twice last year for the first time in my life," he told AFP.
"Maybe when I'm older, maybe in five years or ten years, and if I'm still in Amsterdam, then maybe it won't be such a bad idea."
sh-ric/js

treaty

WHO countries strike landmark agreement on tackling future pandemics

BY AGNèS PEDRERO

  • During the Covid-19 pandemic, poorer states accused rich nations of hoarding vaccines and tests.
  • Years of negotiations culminated early Wednesday with countries agreeing the text of a landmark accord on how to tackle future pandemics, aimed at avoiding the mistakes made during the Covid-19 crisis.
  • During the Covid-19 pandemic, poorer states accused rich nations of hoarding vaccines and tests.
Years of negotiations culminated early Wednesday with countries agreeing the text of a landmark accord on how to tackle future pandemics, aimed at avoiding the mistakes made during the Covid-19 crisis.
After more than three years of talks and one last marathon session, weary delegates at the World Health Organization's headquarters finally sealed the deal at around 2:00 am (0000 GMT) Wednesday.
"Tonight marks a significant milestone in our shared journey towards a safer world," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Five years after the emergence of Covid-19, which killed millions of people, devastated economies and upturned health systems, a sense of urgency hung over the talks, with new threats lurking -- including H5N1 bird flu, measles, mpox and Ebola.
The final stretch of the talks also took place under the shadow of cuts to US foreign aid spending and threatened tariffs on pharmaceuticals.

'It's adopted'

Right until the last minute, disagreement lingered over a few thorny issues.
Negotiators stumbled over the agreement's Article 11, which deals with transferring technology for pandemic health products towards developing nations.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, poorer states accused rich nations of hoarding vaccines and tests.
Countries with large pharmaceutical industries have strenuously opposed the idea of mandatory tech transfers, insisting they must be voluntary.
But it appeared the obstacle could be overcome by adding that any transfer needed to be "mutually agreed".
The core of the agreement is a proposed Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing System (PABS), aimed at allowing the swift sharing of pathogen data with pharmaceutical companies, enabling them to quickly start working on pandemic-fighting products.
In the end, the 32-page agreement was entirely highlighted in green, indicating all of it had been fully approved by WHO member states.
"It's adopted," negotiations co-chair Anne-Claire Amprou announced, to thunderous applause.
"In drafting this historic agreement, the countries of the world have demonstrated their shared commitment to preventing and protecting everyone, everywhere, from future pandemic threats."
The finalised text will now be presented for sign-off at the WHO's annual assembly next month.

'Excellent news'

Congratulations quickly poured in.
"Excellent news from Geneva," European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said on X.
"We have learnt the lessons of COVID. To beat a pandemic, you need tests, treatments and vaccines. And you equally need solidarity and global cooperation."
The EU had led the charge arguing for flexibility and voluntary measures in the text.
The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), which participated in the talks, had also taken that stance.
Looking ahead towards implementation, the leading pharma lobby said intellectual property and legal certainty would be essential for encouraging investment in high-risk research and development in the next crisis.
"The pandemic agreement is a starting point," insisted IFPMA chief David Reddy.
Developing countries and NGOs also hailed the agreement, while acknowledging that not all of their ambitions were met.
"While the process may not have yielded all the outcomes we aspired for, it has opened an important avenue for future collaboration," Tanzania's representative told the gathering, speaking on behalf of dozens of African countries.

'More equity'

As intense talks in corridors and closed rooms drew towards an end late Tuesday, Tedros told reporters he thought a deal would bring "more equity".
While taking measures against pandemics could be costly, "the cost of inaction is much bigger", he insisted.
"Virus is the worst enemy. (It) could be worse than a war."
The United States, which has thrown the global health system into crisis by slashing foreign aid spending, was absent.
US President Donald Trump ordered a withdrawal from the United Nations' health agency and from the pandemic agreement talks after taking office in January.
The US absence, and Trump's threat to slap steep tariffs on pharmaceutical products, still hung over the talks, making manufacturers and governments more jittery.
But in the end, countries reached consensus.

'Real work begins now'

Many saw the approval of the text as a victory for global cooperation.
"At a time when multilateralism is under threat, WHO member states have joined together to say that we will defeat the next pandemic threat in the only way possible: by working together," said New Zealand's former prime minister Helen Clark, co-chair of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response.
As the congratulatory speeches continued on towards daybreak, Eswatini's representative cautioned that "whilst we celebrate this moment, we need not rest on our laurels".
"The real work begins now."
apo-nl/rlp

social

'La bolita,' Cuban lottery offering hope in tough times

BY RIGOBERTO DIAZ

  • Betting has been illegal on the communist island for the past 66 years, but "la bolita" has persisted, and even grown, as Cubans see few other ways out of economic misery.
  • Every day, as he has done for 20 years, Carlos makes the rounds collecting bets in central Havana for "la bolita" -- a clandestine national lottery that provides a sliver of hope for Cubans struggling to make ends meet.
  • Betting has been illegal on the communist island for the past 66 years, but "la bolita" has persisted, and even grown, as Cubans see few other ways out of economic misery.
Every day, as he has done for 20 years, Carlos makes the rounds collecting bets in central Havana for "la bolita" -- a clandestine national lottery that provides a sliver of hope for Cubans struggling to make ends meet.
Betting has been illegal on the communist island for the past 66 years, but "la bolita" has persisted, and even grown, as Cubans see few other ways out of economic misery.
"People are betting more than ever," said Carlos, who like others interviewed by AFP withheld his real name for fear of getting into trouble.  
Carlos, in his 40s, is a "pointer" -- the human interface for Cubans who place bets that start at just a few pesos they hope to multiply with the intervention of Lady Luck.
There are also "collectors" and "bankers" who handle daily bets amounting to millions of Cuban pesos (tens of thousands of dollars) nationally and disburse the winnings neighborhood by neighborhood in a system with no oversight and based entirely on trust.
Carlos points to bets rising in lockstep with a growing hopelessness as Cuba battles its worst economic crisis in 30 years, with shortages of food and medicines, skyrocketing inflation, and daily power outages. 
"When you know that your salary isn't enough to make it to the end of the month, the only option left is to bet on luck," he told AFP.
The average salary in Cuba hovers around $42 per month.
As there is no official draw, "la bolita" is decided by twice-daily lottery results from Florida, Georgia or New York. 
To find out if they won, Cubans follow the lotteries on the internet, via mobile apps, on Facebook, WhatsApp or on X groups. 

'Luck can change your life'

The arrival of mobile internet in Cuba in 2018 injected new life into the lottery that has been played here since the 19th century -- an adaptation of gambling games introduced by Chinese and Italian immigrants.
It is played with numbers from 1 to 100, each with an association such as a horse for 1 or a butterfly for 2.
Players often rely on dreams or experiences to choose their numbers and in the time of Fidel Castro, anyone lucky enough to set eyes on the revolutionary leader -- nicknamed "The Horse" -- would elect the number 1 as part of their grid.
Islander Rogelio, 47, told AFP he won the equivalent of $2,250 in two weeks recently -- a sum equivalent to 61 times his monthly salary as a civil servant. 
"Good luck can change your life," he said. 
But Ruben, 32, said he had not won anything in a while.
"People no longer say good morning. They ask you which numbers came out," he said. 
Carlos concedes there is a problem of people becoming deeply indebted because of "la bolita."
He himself makes a living from a 10 percent cut on each day's takings, but is forced to ply his trade in obscurity.
Castro banned gambling as soon as he took power in 1959, and the country's penal code prescribes a penalty of three years in prison and a fine of 300,000 pesos (about $2,500) for anyone who "performs activities as a banker, collector ... or promoter of illicit games." 
It was not always like this.
In the 1940s and 1950s, gambling had its golden age in Cuba, when Havana, with its casinos, betting houses, and game rooms linked to the American mafia, became the most important gaming center in the Caribbean.
Castro's revolution ended the dream of gangsters Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano, who had enjoyed close ties with dictator Fulgencio Batista, of building a chain of hotel-casinos on Havana's Malecon waterfront, American journalist TAJ English wrote in his 2007 bestseller "Havana Nocturne."
Las Vegas took over instead, and became one of the largest gaming centers in the world. 
rd/lp/mlr/sla/dw

culture

Vespa love affair: Indonesians turn vintage scooters electric

BY DESSY SAGITA

  • Riding an antique Vespa from the 1960s without the pollution and the noise in Jakarta's heavy traffic has also earned him curious looks.
  • When Indonesian executive Heret Frasthio takes his antique 1957 VL Vespa for a ride, its white paint peeling off, the usual fumes and hum of the free-spirited scooters cannot be seen or heard.
  • Riding an antique Vespa from the 1960s without the pollution and the noise in Jakarta's heavy traffic has also earned him curious looks.
When Indonesian executive Heret Frasthio takes his antique 1957 VL Vespa for a ride, its white paint peeling off, the usual fumes and hum of the free-spirited scooters cannot be seen or heard.
The two-wheeler is just one of the vintage models converted by his company as it tries to turn a love for the Italian icon into an environmentally friendly pursuit.
Indonesia has long suffered from air pollution partly driven by its addiction to inefficient, old cars and scooters, including nearly one million Vespas as of 2022, according to the country's Vespa Club.
"Vespa has a unique design. It has a historical and nostalgic value. It's not just a vehicle, it's also fashion," said Frasthio, chief executive of Elders, which converts the older bikes into electric vehicles.
The country's leaders are pushing for more EVs on its roads, with a target of 13 million electric motorcycles by 2030 -- ambitiously far from the current number of 160,000, according to transport ministry data.
But Elders is playing its part in what the government hopes will be the early stages of an electric vehicle revolution.
Frasthio says the firm has converted and sold around 1,000 Vespas across the country since its founding in 2021 and one day aims to develop its own electric scooter.
Once converted, a Vespa's fully charged electric battery can last 60-120 kilometres (37-74 miles), and up to 200 kilometres for an upgraded battery.
"This electric Vespa can be a solution for countries that require low emissions from motorcycles," Frasthio said.

Clean contribution

Yet pricing remains a major stumbling block in Southeast Asia's biggest economy.
Frasthio's proud but humble Vespa cost $34,000 to buy before conversion.
A brand-new Vespa Elettrica imported from Italy can cost 198 million rupiah ($11,750) and the European company already sells a range of electric scooters in the continent.
But for those who want to stay retro, there are kits to convert to vintage scooters to electric that cost between $1,500 and $3,900, Frasthio said.
The chance to switch is attracting customers who want a fashionable ride without contributing to noise and air pollution.
One of them is Hendra Iswahyudi, who bought a converted Vespa from Frasthio's firm, remembering the effort of riding an old model as a student.
"You would turn on the ignition and take a shower while waiting for the engine to be ready," the 56-year-old said.
Riding an antique Vespa from the 1960s without the pollution and the noise in Jakarta's heavy traffic has also earned him curious looks.
"People who like Vespa came to have a closer look and told me that my scooter was very cool," he said.
The civil servant supports the niche industry for converting scooters, despite government plans to put a new fleet of electric vehicles on the road.
"I feel comfortable riding the Vespa. I feel like I've contributed to the clean air," he said.

Nostalgia

But a yearning for the nostalgia of an original Vespa is keeping some from taking the cleaner option, instead choosing to keep the roar of an older engine.
"I prefer the authentic Vespa with its original noise because it's what makes it unique. You can hear it coming from afar," said Muhammad Husni Budiman, an antique Vespa lover.
"It's classic and nostalgic."
The 39-year-old entrepreneur fell in love with antique Vespas when he was young and started to collect some from the 1960s and 70s.
In 2021, he established a Jakarta-based club for Vespas produced in the 1960s that now boasts hundreds of members. 
Despite trying an electric Vespa, Budiman's club is mainly for those who love original models.
Frasthio is conscious that some Vespa lovers like Budiman will be hesitant about the EV uptake.
But he was quick to dispel the theory that his company was putting the conventional scooters they adore in a bad light.
"We are not trying to lecture anyone about pollution issues," he said.
"We are just offering, for those not used to manual motorcycles, that electric motorbikes can be a solution."
dsa/jfx/dan

history

Lessons in horror with Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal

BY ALEXIS HONTANG, SUY SE

  • About 10 kilometres (six miles) away lies the Trapeang Thma reservoir where Mean Loeuy laboured, one of the Khmer Rouge's most notorious projects, accounting for thousands of worker fatalities.
  • Sheltering in the shade of a bus repurposed into a mobile museum, Mean Loeuy tells a group of children about the hell he went through in a Khmer Rouge labour camp.
  • About 10 kilometres (six miles) away lies the Trapeang Thma reservoir where Mean Loeuy laboured, one of the Khmer Rouge's most notorious projects, accounting for thousands of worker fatalities.
Sheltering in the shade of a bus repurposed into a mobile museum, Mean Loeuy tells a group of children about the hell he went through in a Khmer Rouge labour camp.
"At the beginning we shared a bowl of rice between 10 people," recounts the 71-year-old man who lost more than a dozen family members during Cambodia's bloodiest era.
"By the end, it was one grain of rice with a splash of water in the palm of our hands," he says, describing the camp as "like a prison without walls".
The children look on with expressions ranging from nonplussed to horror.
Mean Loeuy is one of a handful of survivors supporting the latest project of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), the UN-sponsored tribunal that delivered its last verdict on Pol Pot's brutal regime in September 2022 before wrapping up its trials.
Since January last year, a team led by a lawyer has travelled around Cambodia teaching schoolchildren about the government it ruled as genocidal, sharing 20 years' worth of evidence and testimony from victims such as Mean Loeuy.
The capital Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge 50 years ago on Thursday, but now two-thirds of Cambodia's population are under 30.
Most grew up without living through the horrors of Pol Pot's rule between 1975 and 1979, nor the 20 years of conflict that followed.
Many young people have no more than an inkling of the grimmest period of their country's history -- one still haunted by the deaths of around two million people through starvation, disease, forced labour or murder.

Human skulls

In a high school courtyard in Phnom Srok in the nation's northwest, dozens of children squeeze into the air-conditioned vehicle -- a bus specially adapted to hold interactive history classes, with comics, iPads and other resources.
About 10 kilometres (six miles) away lies the Trapeang Thma reservoir where Mean Loeuy laboured, one of the Khmer Rouge's most notorious projects, accounting for thousands of worker fatalities.
At a Buddhist temple in the town, the skulls of victims of the Khmer Rouge line the shelves.
But Mouy Chheng, 14, admits she had difficulty believing the "brutality" of the ultra-Maoist government that her parents had told her little about.
"I was not born under the Khmer Rouge. I came to learn here... and understand the difficulties under the previous regime. Now I understand a lot more," she tells AFP.
The educational initiative reached more than 60,000 children and teenagers at 92 institutions in 2024, according to the ECCC, and aims to visit 100 schools this year.
In a classroom, lawyer Ven Pov passes a microphone around between 150 or so high school students.
"Why wasn't Pol Pot tried?", "why weren't (convicted Khmer Rouge cadres) given the death penalty?", "how is it possible that famine killed so many?", they ask one after another.
The 56-year-old Ven Pov tries his best to answer their questions but admits he still wonders why the Khmer Rouge committed such atrocities.
"We do not have answers," he says. "We need to do more research."

'Symbolic legacy'

Back in the capital, the ECCC preserves hundreds of thousands of Khmer Rouge documents that are open to researchers and anyone interested.
Of the scores of ageing former leaders of the ultra-Maoist movement living freely in Cambodia, the ECCC convicted only three.
Former prime minister Hun Sen has pushed for peace and social cohesion, but critics say he sought to exploit the hybrid Cambodian-international tribunal to avoid prosecuting more Khmer Rouge cadres -- of which he was once one.
"Justice and reconciliation go hand in hand," says Ven Pov, who attributes the lack of trials to a widespread desire for unity.
"Victims want justice, but they also want peace, national unity and reconciliation."
Nonetheless, Timothy Williams, a professor at Bundeswehr University in Munich, says "transitional justice isn't just about those who committed the crimes, it's also a symbolic legacy for society".
The educational bus could have started its tours 15 years ago, he said, but added: "It's important at a time marked by the strengthening of authoritarian power. 
"The lessons of the past are crucial here." 
suy-ah-sjc/slb/sco

technology

'Toxic beauty': Rise of 'looksmaxxing' influencers

BY ANUJ CHOPRA WITH RACHEL BLUNDY IN LONDON

  • Underneath the video are dozens of comments warning that "bone smashing," also known as the hammer technique, was "dangerous" while others hailed it as a legitimate way to achieve an angular jawline.
  • Hankering for a chiseled jawline, a male TikTok influencer strikes his cheekbones with a hammer -- highlighting the rise of "looksmaxxing," an online trend pushing unproven and sometimes dangerous techniques to boost sexual appeal.
  • Underneath the video are dozens of comments warning that "bone smashing," also known as the hammer technique, was "dangerous" while others hailed it as a legitimate way to achieve an angular jawline.
Hankering for a chiseled jawline, a male TikTok influencer strikes his cheekbones with a hammer -- highlighting the rise of "looksmaxxing," an online trend pushing unproven and sometimes dangerous techniques to boost sexual appeal.
Looksmaxxing influencers -- part of an online ecosystem dubbed the "manosphere" -- have surged in popularity across social media, capitalizing on the insecurities of young men eager to boost their physical attractiveness to women.
In posts across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, they promote pseudoscientific methods to achieve everything from pouty lips to chin extensions and almond-shaped "hunter eyes," often while monetizing their popularity by endorsing a range of consumer products.
In more extreme cases, these influencers advocate taking steroids, undergoing plastic surgery and even "leg-lengthening" procedures to become more attractive.
While women may pay regular visits to aestheticians or buy new beauty products, spurring a global beauty retail market worth hundreds of billions of dollars, the manosphere at times promotes a DIY approach that draws on the nearest toolbox. 
"Babe, what's taking you so long in the bathroom?" reads the caption flashing across a viral TikTok video of a man seen hitting his cheeks with the sharp edge of a hammer, in what he calls his "skincare routine."
Underneath the video are dozens of comments warning that "bone smashing," also known as the hammer technique, was "dangerous" while others hailed it as a legitimate way to achieve an angular jawline.
In other videos, British influencer Oscar Patel promoted "mewing," an unproven technique that involves pressing the tongue into the roof of the mouth for improving jaw and facial structure.
Without offering evidence, he told his nearly 188,000 TikTok followers that such tricks would turn them into a "PSL god," an internet slang for exceptionally attractive men, short for Perfectly Symmetrical Looks.

'Toxic combination'

In another video, US-based TikToker Dillon Latham misleadingly told his 1.7 million followers to whiten their teeth by applying hydrogen peroxide to their teeth with a Q tip.
Some dentists warn that regularly using store-bought peroxide could damage tooth enamel and gums.
The looksmaxxing trend is fueling "an industry of influencers who promote 'perfect bodies and perfect faces', often to feather their own nest," Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan, an analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, told AFP.
"Among men, this is mixed with the misogyny of the manosphere, which often blames women for male insecurities, creating a toxic combination," he added.
Many looksmaxxing influencers appear to have a financial incentive, frequently leveraging their popularity to promote products ranging from skin cleansers to pheromone perfumes, and even Chinese knock-off watches.
Looksmaxxing is rooted in "incel" -- or involuntarily celibate -- communities, an internet subculture rife with misogyny, with men tending to blame women and feminism for their romantic failings.
"The incel ideology is being rebranded to looksmaxxing on TikTok," Anda Solea, a researcher at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Portsmouth, told AFP.
In a study, Solea found that incel-inspired accounts on TikTok were circumventing a ban on hateful language with a focus on looksmaxxing and more palatable words about self-improvement.
"There are a lot of pressures on men –- we want to protect women from gender-based violence but we should also be careful about young men and boys," Solea said.

'Deeply damaging'

Other related maxxing trends have also gained traction, including "gymmaxxing," which focuses on building muscle, and "moneymaxxing," which centers on improving financial status -- all with the ultimate goal of increasing sexual desirability.
Looksmaxxing influencers –- many of whom idolize male models such as Australian Jordan Barrett and American Sean O'Pry -- have amassed massive followings as algorithms propel their content to millions.
These algorithms can lead to real-world harm, experts warn. 
The danger was dramatized in the recent Netflix hit "Adolescence," which follows the case of a 13-year-old boy accused of killing a classmate after consuming misogynistic content online.
The fictional crime drama references the popular but unfounded "80/20" theory that claims 80 percent of women are attracted to 20 percent of men.
In a study last year, researchers at Dublin City University created fake accounts registered as teenage boys. They reported that their TikTok and YouTube feeds were "bombarded" with male supremacy and misogynistic content.
"More widely, this does feed into toxic beauty standards which affect men as well as women," said Venkataramakrishnan, from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.
"The idea that if you don't look like a Hollywood star, you might as well give up trying for a relationship is deeply damaging."
rb-ac/sla/bjt

education

Trump ramps up conflict against defiant Harvard

BY JOE PREZIOSO WITH SEBASTIAN SMITH IN WASHINGTON

  • It shows that you're not going to bow down, you're not going to let free speech be taken," student Darious Hanson told AFP. - Anti-Semitism - Trump posted on social media that non-profit Harvard "should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity" if it does not submit to his demands for the university to change the way it runs itself, including selection of students and authority for professors.
  • President Donald Trump escalated his war against elite US universities Tuesday with a threat to strip Harvard's tax-exempt status if the country's most famous educational establishment refuses to submit to wide-ranging government oversight.
  • It shows that you're not going to bow down, you're not going to let free speech be taken," student Darious Hanson told AFP. - Anti-Semitism - Trump posted on social media that non-profit Harvard "should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity" if it does not submit to his demands for the university to change the way it runs itself, including selection of students and authority for professors.
President Donald Trump escalated his war against elite US universities Tuesday with a threat to strip Harvard's tax-exempt status if the country's most famous educational establishment refuses to submit to wide-ranging government oversight.
Harvard stands out for defying Trump, in contrast to several other universities and a string of powerful law firms that have folded under intense pressure from the White House in its crackdown on American institutions.
Its president, Alan Garber, said the school would not "negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights."
Tuesday's threat of a major tax bill comes a day after the freezing of $2.2 billion in federal funding.
The impacts are already being felt on a campus that has produced 162 Nobel prize winners and whose alumni range from Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg to eight US presidents.
The university said one faculty member had just been told to halt her tuberculosis research because of "the broader funding freeze."
But the mood was defiant.
"I love it. I think it's amazing. I think more schools across the country need to. It shows that you're not going to bow down, you're not going to let free speech be taken," student Darious Hanson told AFP.

Anti-Semitism

Trump posted on social media that non-profit Harvard "should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity" if it does not submit to his demands for the university to change the way it runs itself, including selection of students and authority for professors.
Trump and his White House team have justified their pressure campaign on universities as a reaction to what they say is uncontrolled anti-Semitism and support for the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Trump "wants to see Harvard apologize. And Harvard should apologize," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told journalists.
The anti-Semitism allegations are based on controversy at protests against Israel's war in Gaza that swept across campuses last year.
Columbia University in New York -- an epicenter of the protests -- stood down last month and agreed to oversight of its Middle Eastern department after being threatened with a loss of $400 million in federal funds.
The White House has also strong-armed dozens of universities and colleges with threats to remove federal funding over their policies meant to encourage racial diversity among students and staff.
The White House has cited similarly ideological goals in its unprecedented crackdown on law firms, pressuring them to volunteer hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of legal work to support issues that Trump supports.

Harvard defiant

Harvard, the oldest and wealthiest university in the United States, is now the most prominent institution to resist Trump's ever-growing bid for control.
The Trump administration is demanding that a wide range of Harvard departments come under outside supervision for potential anti-Semitism. It also seeks to require "viewpoint diversity" in student admissions and choice of professors.
Garber's insistence that Harvard cannot "allow itself to be taken over by the federal government" sets up a likely long-running, high-profile fight.
Hard-line presidential advisors such as Stephen Miller depict universities as bastions of anti-conservative forces that need to be brought to heel -- a message that resonates strongly with Trump's hard-right anti-elite base.
For Trump's opponents, the Harvard refusal to bend marks a chance to draw a line in the sand against an authoritarian takeover.
"Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions -- rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom," former president Barack Obama wrote on X. "Let's hope other institutions follow suit."
Dozens of universities and other stakeholders are separately battling the Trump administration in court over broad research funding cuts that have led to staff layoffs and created deep uncertainty among US academics.
bur-sms/wd/des

politics

Russia jails four journalists who covered Navalny

  • A judge sentenced the reporters -- Antonina Kravtsova, Konstantin Gabov, Sergei Karelin, and Artem Kriger -- who all covered Navalny to "five years and six months in a general-regime penal colony", an AFP journalist heard.
  • Russia on Tuesday sentenced four journalists it said were associated with late opposition leader Alexei Navalny to five and a half years in a penal colony, intensifying a crackdown on press freedom and Kremlin critics.
  • A judge sentenced the reporters -- Antonina Kravtsova, Konstantin Gabov, Sergei Karelin, and Artem Kriger -- who all covered Navalny to "five years and six months in a general-regime penal colony", an AFP journalist heard.
Russia on Tuesday sentenced four journalists it said were associated with late opposition leader Alexei Navalny to five and a half years in a penal colony, intensifying a crackdown on press freedom and Kremlin critics.
Navalny -- Putin's main opponent -- was declared an "extremist" by Russian authorities, a ruling that remains in force despite his death in an Arctic penal colony on February 16, 2024.
Moscow also banned Navalny's organisations as "extremist" shortly before launching its 2022 Ukraine offensive and has ruthlessly targeted those it deems to have links to him.
A judge sentenced the reporters -- Antonina Kravtsova, Konstantin Gabov, Sergei Karelin, and Artem Kriger -- who all covered Navalny to "five years and six months in a general-regime penal colony", an AFP journalist heard.
They were found guilty of "participating in an extremist group" after being arrested last year.
The trial proceeded behind closed doors at Moscow's Nagatinsky district court with only the sentencing open to the media, as has become typical for political cases in Russia amid its Ukraine offensive.
Around a hundred supporters, journalists and Western diplomats came to the court for the verdicts. 
Supporters cheered and clapped as the defendants were led in and out and one shouted: "You are the pride of Russia!"
"They will all appeal" their sentences, said Ivan Novikov, the lawyer defending Kriger.
"The sentence is unlawful and unjust," said a second lawyer for Kriger, Yelena Sheremetyeva. 
"No evidence was presented that these guys committed any crimes, their guilt was not proven," Gabov's lawyer Irina Biryukova said. 

'Doing their job'

The press secretary of Navalny's widow Yulia, Kira Yarmysh, wrote on X that the journalists were convicted simply "for doing their job".
"Antonina, Artem, Sergei and Konstantin are real journalists and just honest, brave people. They should be released immediately," she wrote.
Germany's foreign ministry said on X that the sentences showed that "in Putin's Russia, the freedom of the press enshrined in the Constitution is worth nothing".
Since Navalny's still unexplained death in an Arctic prison last year, Russian authorities have heavily targeted his family and associates.
In January, three lawyers who had defended him in court were sentenced to several years in prison.
Moscow has also escalated its decade-long crackdown on independent media amid its military offensive on Ukraine.
Shortly after ordering troops into Ukraine in 2022, Moscow passed sweeping military censorship laws that ban criticism of its army, forcing most of the country's independent media to leave the country.
The journalists sentenced on Tuesday rejected the charges of being associated with an extremist group.
Kravtsova, 34, is a photographer who worked for the independent SOTAvision outlet and uses the pen name Antonina Favorskaya.
She had covered Navalny's trials for two years and filmed his last appearance via video-link in court just two days before his death. 
Video correspondents Gabov and Karelin are accused of preparing photos and video material for Navalny's social media channels.
Both had worked at times with international outlets -- Gabov with Reuters and Karelin with the Associated Press and Deutsche Welle.
Kriger, 24, the youngest among the accused, covered political trials and protests for SOTAvision.
After the verdict, he said in court: "Everything will be fine. Everything will change. Those who sentenced me will be sitting here instead of me."
bur/giv

entertainment

Harvey Weinstein New York retrial for sex crimes begins

BY ANDRéA BAMBINO

  • The three survivors of Weinstein's alleged crimes are expected to testify once again.
  • Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein's retrial on rape and sex assault charges began Tuesday, forcing survivors who helped fire up the "#MeToo" movement to prepare to testify against him once more.
  • The three survivors of Weinstein's alleged crimes are expected to testify once again.
Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein's retrial on rape and sex assault charges began Tuesday, forcing survivors who helped fire up the "#MeToo" movement to prepare to testify against him once more.
Weinstein's 2020 conviction by a jury was overturned last year by an appeals court that ruled that the way witnesses were handled in the original New York trial was unlawful.
The voiding of the jury's verdict by the New York Court of Appeals was a setback to survivors of the #MeToo movement against sexual violence and the promotion of justice for them.
Weinstein was wheeled in to court wearing a dark blue suit, and adjusted his tie as he took his seat at the defense table while the trial lawyers spoke to the judge.
Judge Curtis Farber said he expected presentation of evidence to last five to six weeks.
"I am hopeful the trial will be over by the end of May," he said.
Several dozen prospective jurors indicated they felt they could not give Weinstein a fair trial because of what they knew about the case.
The onetime Miramax studio boss was charged with the sexual assault of former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006, the rape of aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013, and a new count for an alleged sexual assault in 2006 at a hotel in Manhattan. 
Haleyi and Mann testified in the earlier trial, sharing graphic accounts of their interactions with Weinstein.
Lindsay Goldbrum, a lawyer for the unnamed woman who brought the new complaint, told reporters outside court that "she had the honor of representing an incredible woman."
"They are going to ensure Weinstein is held accountable for his heinous crimes against women," she said.
"The fact they are going to testify again is testimony to their bravery."
Weinstein, 73, said he hopes the case will be judged with "fresh eyes," more than seven years after investigations by the New York Times and the New Yorker led to his spectacular downfall and a global backlash against predatory abusers.
Weinstein is serving a 16-year prison sentence after being convicted on separate charges in California in 2023 for raping and assaulting a European actor a decade prior.

'Fry Harvey'?

The producer of a string of box office hits like "Sex, Lies and Videotape," "Pulp Fiction" and "Shakespeare in Love," Weinstein has battled health issues.
"It'll be very, very different because of the attitude of New York City, New York state and, I think, the overall country," said his lawyer Arthur Aidala.
"Five years ago, when you guys were here, there were protests. There were people chanting: 'Fry Harvey, he's a rapist'... I think that, overall, has died down," he said, adding that he hoped jurors would try the case on its merits.
Aidala separately told Fox 5 Monday that Weinstein had several ailments, including a "horrible infection in his mouth, his throat -- and he's struggling to speak, and when you're about to go on trial you need to communicate with your lawyer."
Weinstein has never acknowledged any wrongdoing and has always maintained that the encounters were consensual.
Accusers describe the movie mogul as a predator who used his perch atop the cinema industry to pressure actors and assistants for sexual favors, often in hotel rooms.
Since his downfall, Weinstein has been accused of harassment, sexual assault or rape by more than 80 women, including actors Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lupita Nyong'o and Ashley Judd.
In 2020, a jury of New Yorkers found Weinstein guilty of two out of five charges -- the sexual assault of Haleyi and the rape of Mann.
But the conviction and the 23-year prison sentence were overturned in April 2024.
In a hotly debated four-to-three decision, New York's appeals court ruled that jurors should not have heard testimonies of victims about sexual assaults for which Harvey Weinstein was not indicted.
The three survivors of Weinstein's alleged crimes are expected to testify once again.
"I'm going on jury duty -- I hope I don't get that (trial)," said a woman smoking a cigarette outside the courthouse.
gw/aha

aid

More than 10% of Afghans could lose healthcare by year-end: WHO

BY CLAIRE GOUNON

  • The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) this month urged international donors to continue supporting the 22.9 million Afghans in need of aid this year. 
  • More than 10 percent of the Afghan population could be deprived of healthcare by the end of the year due to the termination of US aid, the World Health Organization warned Tuesday.
  • The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) this month urged international donors to continue supporting the 22.9 million Afghans in need of aid this year. 
More than 10 percent of the Afghan population could be deprived of healthcare by the end of the year due to the termination of US aid, the World Health Organization warned Tuesday.
Afghanistan, with a population of 45 million that has long been dependent on aid, faces the world's second-largest humanitarian crisis.
Since US funding cuts earlier this year, about three million people have lost access to health services because of the closure of more than 364 medical centres, with a further 220 centres at risk of closing by the third quarter of 2025, the UN's health agency said. 
That would mean more than half of the 1,068 centres across the country would be closed, Edwin Ceniza Salvador, the WHO representative in Afghanistan, told AFP in an interview. 
"That's maybe another two or three million people who have no access to healthcare services," Salvador said in Kabul.
"When the funding stopped, of course the existing donors tried to step up. But you're talking about a significant gap to US funding," he added.
Afghanistan's dilapidated healthcare system has been weakened by decades of war and records some of the world's highest infant and maternal mortality rates.
The global aid situation has grown dire since President Donald Trump ordered the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development early this year, and to begin Washington's withdrawal from the WHO.
His administration scrapped 83 percent of humanitarian programmes funded by USAID. The agency had an annual budget of $42.8 billion, representing 42 percent of total global humanitarian aid. 
"The system is already very fragile, and whatever system is remaining, is really coping the best that they can," Salvador said.
"It's only getting worse, and if we're not able to collectively address the gap, I fear that it will only get worse moving forward."
The risk of disease outbreaks such as dengue, malaria and tuberculosis will increase, while immunisations will fall, Salvador added.
The WHO is also trying to vaccinate enough children to eradicate polio, which is now endemic in only two countries: Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) this month urged international donors to continue supporting the 22.9 million Afghans in need of aid this year. 
Eighty-five percent of Afghans live on less than a dollar a day, according to the UN's development agency (UNDP).
"I know there are a lot of priorities, different priorities in the world," Salvador said. 
"My request is let us also not forget about the needs of Afghanistan and the people of Afghanistan."
cgo/sw/rsc

court

Andrew Tate accusers suing for 'six-figure' sum, UK court hears

  • Anne Studd, who is representing the women, said in a written submission that the case "is understood to be the first claim where allegations of coercive control have been considered in a civil context of whether that behaviour can amount to intentional infliction of harm".
  • Four women suing the social media influencer Andrew Tate over abuse and coercive behaviour claims are seeking damages of more than 100,000 pounds ($132,000), London's High Court heard Tuesday.  
  • Anne Studd, who is representing the women, said in a written submission that the case "is understood to be the first claim where allegations of coercive control have been considered in a civil context of whether that behaviour can amount to intentional infliction of harm".
Four women suing the social media influencer Andrew Tate over abuse and coercive behaviour claims are seeking damages of more than 100,000 pounds ($132,000), London's High Court heard Tuesday.  
Papers filed last week accuse Tate, a self-described misogynist, of rape and sexual assault, and of pointing a gun at a woman's face.
Judge Richard Armstrong told a preliminary hearing of the civil case on Tuesday that the claimants were "seeking damages likely to reach six figures", and that there could be a three-week trial in early 2027.
Anne Studd, who is representing the women, said in a written submission that the case "is understood to be the first claim where allegations of coercive control have been considered in a civil context of whether that behaviour can amount to intentional infliction of harm".
She called coercive control "a form of grooming and manipulation".
Armstrong allowed the women's request for one expert witness to appear, but rejected another.
Court papers seen by AFP claim that Tate, a former professional kickboxer, grabbed one woman by the throat several times in 2015. He is also accused of assaulting her with a belt and raping her.
Tate's lawyer called the claims a "fabrication" and a "pack of lies".
A second woman alleges that Tate strangled her without her consent during sex in 2015. A third accuses him of raping her in 2013, and a fourth said Tate throttled her until she passed out during sex, then continued to have sex and threatened to kill her.
The civil case comes after the UK Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided in 2019 not to take action.
Matt Jury, a lawyer whose practice is representing the women, told the BBC that his clients had "been denied justice by the police and CPS, while watching Andrew Tate's influence grow".  
Tate is facing legal action in several countries, including some cases where he is accused alongside his brother Tristan Tate.
In Romania, the Tate brothers face separate allegations of trafficking minors, sexual intercourse with a minor and money laundering.
jwp/jkb/js