One of four lynx captured in the Scottish Highlands dies


This image taken from video and made available by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland shows a lynx in the Cairngorms National Park, Scotland, Dec. 9, 2024. 

(Royal Zoological Society of Scotland via AP)

January 11, 2025

LONDON (AP) — One of four lynx thought to have been released illegally in the Scottish Highlands has died within hours after it was captured, wildlife authorities said Saturday.

The medium-sized wildcats extinct in Scotland for hundreds of years were spotted in the snowy Cairngorms National Park this week, raising concerns that a private breeder had illegally released the predators into the wild. The lynx that died was one of a pair captured Friday.

“This unfortunate development just serves to further demonstrate the folly of abandoning these amazing animals in the wild, with no preparation or real concern for their welfare,’’ said Helen Senn, head of conservation at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. “We can only imagine the stress that all four of the recovered lynx must have experienced after being thrust into an entirely new and extremely harsh environment to fend for themselves.”

The sighting and capture of the lynx comes as some environmental activists seek to reintroduce lynx as a way to control the burgeoning deer population and highlight Scotland’s commitment to wildlife diversity.

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Police are still investigating the incident and have released no information about possible suspects. Wildlife experts have speculated that the cats were released either by someone who took matters into their own hands because they were frustrated by the slow process of securing government approval or an opponent who wanted to create problems that would block the reintroduction effort.

A Conservative lawmaker for the area, Edward Mountain, said the second capture of lynx suggested “a concerted approach to illegally reintroduce lynx.’’

“These animals cannot magically appear, and the authorities should be tackling this wildlife crime with an absolute focus of finding out who is responsible,’’ he said.

The rate of HMPV infections in northern China is declining, Chinese health official says

China said on Sunday that it had seen a decline in human metapneumovirus (HMPV) among residents in northern provinces and in children under 14, amid international concern over a potential pandemic.

Wang Liping, left, researcher for the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention speaks during a press briefing by the National Health Commission as concerns surfaced in recent days over a surge in human metapneumovirus (HMPV) infections in northern China after images circulated online of hospitals overrun with masked patients, in Beijing, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Wang Liping, a researcher for the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention speaks during a press briefing by the National Health Commission as concerns surfaced in recent days over a surge in HMPV infections in northern China after images circulated online of hospitals overrun with masked patients, in Beijing, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

 January 12, 2025


BEIJING (AP) — The rate of infections with the flu-like human metapneumovirus (HMPV) in northern China is declining, a health official said Sunday, amid some international concern over a potential pandemic.

HMPV, which belongs to the same family as the respiratory syncytial virus, causes flu or cold-like symptoms including fever, cough and nasal congestion. The symptoms often clear up by themselves, though they can cause lower respiratory tract infections among children, older adults and those immunocompromised.

“The human metapneumovirus is not a new virus, and has been with humans for at least several decades,” said Wang Liping, a researcher at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, during a press briefing by China’s National Health Commission.

Wang added that the increase in recent years in the number of cases of the virus, first detected in the Netherlands in 2001, is due to better detection methods.

“At present, the rate of positive cases in human metapneumovirus detection is fluctuating, and the rate of positive cases in northern provinces is declining, and the rate of positive cases among patients aged 14 and below has started to decline,” she said.

Concerns surfaced in recent days over a surge in HMPV infections in northern China after images circulated online of hospitals overrun with masked patients. The World Health Organization said it has not received reports of unusual outbreaks in China or elsewhere.

Experts say HMPV is unlike COVID-19 in that it has been around for decades and there is some built-in immunity to it. Most children are infected with the virus by the age of 5.

Wang said respiratory diseases currently affecting people in China are caused by known pathogens, and no new infectious diseases have emerged.

The number of patients in fever clinics and emergency departments across the country has been rising but is still generally lower compared to the same period last year, said Gao Xinqiang, deputy director of the Department of Medical Emergency Response of the health commission.

“There is no obvious shortage of medical resources,” Gao said.

Flu infections across the country are expected to gradually decline in mid-to-late January, said commission spokesperson Hu Qiangqiang.

There are no vaccines or drugs available for HMPV. Experts recommend precautions against catching the virus and other respiratory diseases including washing one’s hands regularly, avoiding crowds if possible, and wearing a mask in crowded places.

Beijing blasts false claims regarding HMPV infection

ECOCIDE

Russia forms an emergency task force as Kerch Strait oil spill continues to spread


BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
January 12, 2025

An emergency task force arrived in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region on Sunday as an oil spill in the Kerch Strait from two storm-stricken tankers continues to spread a month after it was first detected, officials said.

The task force, which includes Emergency Situations Minister Alexander Kurenkov, was set up after Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday called on authorities to ramp up the response to the spill, calling it “one of the most serious environmental challenges we have faced in recent years.”

Kurenkov said that “the most difficult situation” had developed near the port of Taman in the Krasnodar region, where fuel oil continues to leak into the sea from the damaged part of the Volgoneft-239 tanker.

Kurenkov was quoted as saying by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti that the remaining oil will be pumped out of the tanker’s stern.


The Emergencies Ministry said Saturday that over 155,000 tons of contaminated sand and soil had been collected since oil spilled out of two tankers during a storm four weeks ago in the Kerch Strait, which separates the Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula from the Krasnodar region.

Russian-installed officials in Ukraine’s partially Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia region said Saturday that the mazut — a heavy, low-quality oil product — had reached the Berdyansk Spit, some 145 kilometers (90 miles) north of the Kerch Strait. It contaminated an area 14 1/2-kilometer (9-mile) long, Moscow-installed Gov. Yevgeny Balitsky wrote on Telegram.

Russian-appointed officials in Moscow-occupied Crimea announced a regional emergency last weekend after oil was detected on the shores of Sevastopol, the peninsula’s largest city, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Kerch Strait.

In response to Putin’s call for action, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi accused Russia of “beginning to demonstrate its alleged ‘concern’ only after the scale of the disaster became too obvious to conceal its terrible consequences.”


“Russia’s practice of first ignoring the problem, then admitting its inability to solve it, and ultimately leaving the entire Black Sea region alone with the consequences is yet another proof of its international irresponsibility,” Tykhyi said Friday.

The Kerch Strait is an important global shipping route, providing passage from the inland Sea of Azov to the Black Sea. It has also been a key point of conflict between Russia and Ukraine after Moscow annexed the peninsula in 2014.

In 2016, Ukraine took Moscow to the Permanent Court of Arbitration, where it accused Russia of trying to seize control of the area illegally. In 2021, Russia closed the strait for several months.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, described the oil spill last month as a “large-scale environmental disaster” and called for additional sanctions on Russian tankers.

An emergency task force arrived in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region on Sunday after an oil spill in the Kerch Strait from two storm-stricken tankers continues to spread a month after it was first detected, officials said.

In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, booms are visible on the sea around the damaged Volgoneft-239 tanker near the port of Taman where Russian rescuers work to clean up tons of fuel oil that spilled out of two storm-stricken tankers more then three weeks ago in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region. (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)


In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, the damaged Volgoneft-239 tanker near the port of Taman as Russian rescuers work to clean up tons of fuel oil that spilled out of two storm-stricken tankers more then three weeks ago in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region. (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)


In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, Russian rescuers work to clean up tons of fuel oil that spilled out of two storm-stricken tankers more then three weeks ago near Anapa, in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region. (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)


In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, Russian Emergency Situations Minister Alexander Kurenkov, second left, speaks to rescuers who work to clean up tons of fuel oil that spilled out of two storm-stricken tankers more then three weeks ago near Anapa, in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region. (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)


In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, Russian rescuers work to clean up tons of fuel oil that spilled out of two storm-stricken tankers more then three weeks ago near Anapa, in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region. (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)


In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, Russian Emergency Situations Minister Alexander Kurenkov speaks to rescuers who work to clean up tons of fuel oil that spilled out of two storm-stricken tankers more then three weeks ago near Anapa, in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region. (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)

Germany calls a Russian oil tanker adrift in the Baltic Sea a threat to security


The oil tanker “Eventin” off the coast of the island of Rügen, Germany, Friday Jan. 10, 2025. (Stefan Sauer/dpa via AP)

January 10, 2025

BERLIN (AP) — An oil tanker believed to be part of Russia’s efforts to evade sanctions went adrift and had to be towed by a German tugboat Friday in what Germany’s foreign minister called a danger to security and tourism in the Baltic Sea.

The Panamanian-flagged Eventin was believed to be carrying 99,000 tons of oil from Russia en route to Egypt when it went adrift for several hours north of the German island of Rügen. The Bremen Fighter tugboat was deployed to pull the ship into a harbor, and there was no immediate danger to the environment, the German news agency dpa said.

Greenpeace says that Eventin belongs to a so-called Russian shadow fleet, which is made up of hundreds of aging tankers that are dodging sanctions in order to keep oil revenue flowing into the Russian state budget. The sanctions were imposed after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that the incident shows that Russia is endangering European security “not only with its war of aggression on Ukraine” but with sabotage and disinformation “and even with dilapidated oil tankers.”

She said that Russia was not only circumventing sanctions “with the nefarious use of a fleet of rusty tankers,” but also endangering tourism in the Baltic Sea.

Seoul’s spy agency says North Korean soldiers captured in Ukraine haven’t shown desire to defect


Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shake hands during their meeting at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside of Tsiolkovsky, in the far eastern Amur region, Russia on Sept. 13, 2023.

 (Vladimir Smirnov/Sputnik Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

BY KIM TONG-HYUNG

AP
 January 12, 2025

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers on Monday that two North Korean soldiers who were captured by Ukrainian forces while fighting alongside Russian forces in Russia’s Kursk border region haven’t expressed a desire to seek asylum in South Korea.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on the social media platform X that he’s willing to hand over the soldiers to North Korea if the country’s authoritarian leader, Kim Jong Un, arranges for an exchange with Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia. Zelenskyy added that “there may be other options” for North Korean soldiers who do not wish to return home, and a video released by his government indicated that at least one of the captured soldiers expressed a desire to remain in Ukraine.

In a closed-door briefing at South Korea’s National Assembly, the National Intelligence Service confirmed its participation in the questioning of the North Korean soldiers by Ukrainian authorities. The agency said the soldiers haven’t expressed a request to resettle in South Korea, according to two lawmakers who attended the meeting.

The agency said it was willing to discuss the matter with Ukrainian authorities if the soldiers eventually do ask to go to South Korea. About 34,000 North Koreans have defected to capitalist rival South Korea to avoid economic hardship and political suppression at home, mostly since the late 1990s.

Koo Byoungsam, spokesperson of South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said facilitating the asylum of the North Korean soldiers would require “legal reviews, including on international law, and consultations with related nations.”

“There’s nothing we can say at the current stage,” Koo said.

Seoul’s spy agency believes that about 300 North Korean soldiers have died and another 2,700 have been injured while fighting against Ukrainian forces, in what represents North Korea’s first involvement in large-scale conflict since the 1950-53 Korean War.

The agency assessed that the North Koreans are struggling to adapt to drones and other elements of modern warfare. They are further disadvantaged by the crude tactics of their Russian commanders, who have thrown them in assault campaigns without providing rear-fire support, according to Lee Seong Kweun, a lawmaker who attended the agency’s briefing.

The agency said memos found on dead North Korean soldiers indicated that they had been ordered to commit suicide before being captured, according to Lee. The agency said one North Korean soldier, facing the threat of being captured by Ukrainian forces, shouted “General Kim Jong Un” and tried to detonate a hand grenade before he was shot and killed.

Zelenskyy confirmed the capture of the North Korean soldiers on Saturday, days after Ukraine, facing a slow Russian onslaught in the east, began pressing new attacks in Kursk to retain ground captured in a lightning incursion in August — the first occupation of Russian territory since World War II.

Moscow’s counterattack has left Ukrainian forces outstretched and demoralized, killing and wounding thousands and retaking more than 40% of the 984 square kilometers (380 square miles) of Kursk that Ukraine had seized.

Moon Seong Mook, a retired South Korean brigadier general, said the high death toll for North Korean soldiers was predictable, as they would not have been sufficiently prepared for an unfamiliar mission in the terrain of the Kursk region, which is vastly different from North Korea’s mountainous landscape.

Another disadvantage for the North Koreans is that they are not conducting independent operations but are being thrust into combat under Russian commanders, possibly struggling with unfamiliar tactics and communication issues due to language barriers, said Moon, who has taken part in numerous military talks with North Korea. The North Korean forces could be operating special surveillance teams to arrest or execute attempted deserters, he said.

“The current battlefield environment, combined with drones and other technologies, have created situations North Korean soldiers have never encountered before,” Moon said. “They are also being deployed in large numbers in wide-open fields, where there is no place to hide, in continuous battles to retake the area, and that seems to be where the casualties are coming from.”

North Korea’s decadeslong financial troubles, which have forced many soldiers to grow their own food or spend long hours deployed in construction and other work to sustain the national economy, could also have impacted the quality of training they receive at home, Moon said.

Still, there are concerns in Seoul that North Korea’s participation in the Ukraine crisis poses a significant threat to South Korea, as North Korean forces may gain crucial combat experience and Russia may provide technology transfers that could enhance North Korea’s nuclear-armed army.

KIM TONG-HYUNG
Kim has been covering the Koreas for the AP since 2014. He has published widely read stories on North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, the dark side of South Korea’s economic rise and international adoptions of Korean children.

Canada’s Trudeau urges US consumers to consider the harm of Trump’s tariff threats


President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pose for a photo as Trudeau arrives at the White House in Washington, on Oct. 11, 2017.

 (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

BY JIM MORRIS
January 12, 2025

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Canada’s outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday suggested that President-elect Donald Trump’s remarks about Canada becoming America’s “51st state” has distracted attention from the harm that steep tariffs would inflict on U.S. consumers.

Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian imports.

“The 51st state, that’s not going to happen,” Trudeau said in an interview with MSNBC. “But people are talking about that, as opposed to talking about what impact 25% tariffs (has) on steel and aluminum coming into the United States.”

Trudeau told MSNBC: “No American wants to pay 25% more for electricity or oil and gas coming in from Canada. That’s something I think people need to pay a little more attention to.”

Trump has also said that if Canada merged with the U.S., taxes would decrease and there would be no tariffs.


“I know that as a successful negotiator he likes to keep people off balance,” Trudeau said of Trump’s threats to use economic force to turn Canada into the 51st state. Trump has also erroneously cast the U.S. trade deficit with Canada — a natural resource-rich nation that provides the U.S. with commodities like oil — as a subsidy.


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Canadian officials say that if Trump follows through with his threat of punishing tariffs, Canada would consider slapping retaliatory tariffs on American orange juice, toilets and some steel products. Already during Trump’s first term in the White House, Canada responded to Trump’s tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum with its own on American products like bourbon, Harley Davidson motorcycles and playing cards

“He got elected to try and make life easier for all Americans, to support American workers,” Trudeau said of Trump. “These (tariffs) are things that are going to hurt them.”

Trump said last week that the U.S doesn’t need oil, or anything else, from Canada. But almost a quarter of the oil that the U.S. consumes each day comes from Canada. The energy-rich western province of Alberta exports 4.3 million barrels of oil a day to the U.S.

Data from the United States Energy Information Administration shows that the U.S. consumes 20 million barrels a day, and produces about 13.2 million barrels a day.

Canada, a founding partner of NATO and home to more than 40 million people, is also the top export destination for 36 U.S. states. Nearly $2.7 billion worth of goods and services cross the border each day.

Trump has said that he would reconsider his tariff threat if Canada made improvements in managing security at the Canada-U.S. border, which he and his advisers see as a potential entry point for undocumented migrants.

Trudeau has said that less than 1% of illegal immigrants and fentanyl cross into the U.S. from Canada.

But after a meeting last November with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, the president-elect’s private club and residence in Florida, Trudeau announced an increase in spending on border security, expressing willingness to address Trump’s concerns in hopes that he would reconsider his tariff threat.

With the challenge of Trump’s second administration looming and Trudeau’s party trailing badly in the polls, the beleaguered Canadian prime minister announced his resignation last Monday. He will be replaced on March 9, when his Liberal party is set to pick a new leader.

Trump’s Tariffs Mean Taxes at Temu

Dean Baker

January 13, 2025

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Donald Trump seems confused about how tariffs work, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us need to be also. It actually is fairly simple, let’s take the case where we are shopping at Temu.

Temu advertises this neat icemaker for $52.62. Trump says he wants to place a 100 percent tariff on the goods we import from China.

This 100 percent tariff (tax) would be applied to the icemaker at the point where it was brought into the country. Let’s say the cost when the icemaker is unloaded at the port is $35.00, the rest of the price is shipping costs and Temu’s profits.

In this story, the 100 percent Trump tax would be $35.00, the price of the good imported. That would mean that $35.00 would be added to the price of the neat icemaker that you wanted to buy. Instead of paying $52.62 for the icemaker you would be paying $87.62.

Now, it is likely that the price will end up being slightly lower than this, but not by much. The whole point of a retailer like Temu is to sell a large volume at a low profit for each item. This means that they don’t have much room to lower the price, before it is not worth making the sale.

So maybe the price they end up charging us in Trump Tariff World would be $87.00 instead of the $87.62 price if the tax was passed in full.

That’s the real world story of Trump’s tariffs. We aren’t sure what story is in Donald Trump’s head.

This first appeared on Dean Baker’s Beat the Press blog.

Dean Baker is the senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC. 

Biden administration expands cancer coverage for vets exposed to burn pits


President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced an expansion of VA benefits for veterans possibly linked to burn pits on Wednesday. Photo by Leigh Vogel/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 8 (UPI) -- The Department of Veterans Affairs on Wednesday added more cancers to the list of those presumed related to veterans affected by burn pit exposure, widening the net for care and benefits.

The VA said that the expansion creates a presumptive service connection for veterans of the Gulf War and post-9/11 veterans diagnosed with acute and chronic leukemias, multiple myelomas, myelodysplastic syndromes, myelofibrosis, urinary bladder, ureter and related genitourinary cancers, lowering the burden of proof for veterans with these cancers to receive benefits.

"At VA, our goal is to provide every veteran with the care and benefits that they've earned for their service to our nation -- and that's what this is all about," VA Secretary Denis McDonough said.

"Adding these presumptives lowers the burden of proof for veterans to get the benefits they deserve for the conditions that followed them home from war. We encourage veterans with these conditions -- and all veterans -- to apply today for the benefits they serve."

President Joe Biden in 2022 signed the PACT ACT which he described as the most significant expansion of benefits and services for toxic-exposed veterans in more than 30 years" in a White House statement Wednesday.

Biden said the addition in coverage announced by the VA closes a loophole in coverage for veterans addressing the results of possibly being exposed to harmful chemicals during war, like Agent Orange, radiation, and other hazards of warfare.

"Veterans with these conditions, as well as survivors of veterans who passed away due to these conditions, can immediately apply for benefits," Biden said in a White House statement. "I encourage them to do so."

Affordable Care Act 2025 enrollment hits record at nearly 24 million

Nearly 24 million Americans enrolled in the Affordable Care Act for 2025, a record-breaking total. The White House said Wednesday over 45 million people now have ACA health insurance. President Joe Biden said ACA enrollment nearly doubled during his term. 

File Photo by Pete Marovich/UPI | License Photo

UPI
Jan. 8, 2025 


Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Nearly 24 million Americans enrolled in the Affordable Care Act for 2025, a record-breaking total, the White House said Wednesday.

The White House announced that 45 million people now have ACA health insurance, also known as Obamacare, with one week to go in this year's enrollment period.

"Today, we have once again set a record when it comes to ensuring access to affordable, quality health care: nearly 24 million Americans have signed up for Affordable Care Act coverage," President Joe Biden said in a statement. "That means that enrollment has nearly doubled since I took office."

Biden's statement said the upsurge in enrollment is not a coincidence.

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He said when he took office he promised the American peoiple that he "would bring down the cost of health care and prescription drugs, make signing up for coverage easier, and strengthen the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and Medicaid."

Biden said his administration delivered on that promise.

"I'm proud that my Administration delivered -- even as Republican elected officials, who have been eager to put millions of Americans' coverage at risk, stood in the way," Biden's statement added. "I urge Congress to double down on the progress we have made and ensure Americans have access to quality, affordable health care by extending the ACA premium tax credit this year."

According to the White House more Americans have health insurance than ever before. The uninsured rate is at record lows.

Among the actions the Biden administration took is what the White House said is the largest ever outreach and enrollment assistance, especially in rural or underserved communities.

But the Biden administration warned Wednesday that the efforts to lower costs and expand coverage under the ACA "are now in danger."

"If Republicans in Congress take away the enhanced premium tax credits that make ACA coverage more affordable, premiums will skyrocket and people will lose coverage," the White House said.

For a single parent making $50,000 a year, ACA premiums could increase by $1600 a year without the enhanced tax credits.

A retired couple earning $85,000 a year could see ACA premiums rise by $18,000 a year without the tax credits.

Loss of those credits would result in an estimated 3-5 million people becoming uninsured, according to the White House.

The Medicaid expansion helped drive the ACA enrollment to over 45 million.

The White House said Biden administration actions cutting red tape made applying for Medicaid coverage easier while making sure people have access " to the care they need when they need it."


The Medicare Drug Price Negotiation program won prices 38% to 79% lower for ten specific drugs in the first round of negotiations, according to the White House.

As those reductions kick in they will be $6 billion per year lower than what Medicare currently pays.

Medicare enrollees will also have annual out-of-pocket drug costs capped at $2,000 in 2025, with insulin prices limited to $35 per month.

BELGIAN YELLOW PERIL  COLONIALIST COMIC

Ninety years on, Tintin and The Blue Lotus return in new colour edition

The Blue Lotus, the story of Tintin's adventures in Shanghai, has this week been reissued, as Hergé's legacy enters the public domain in the United States.


Issued on: 12/01/2025 - RFI

Hergé's cover drawing for the first colour edition of "The Blue Lotus", published in 1946. AP - Michel Euler

The Moulinsart and Casterman publishing houses are reissuing the original 1936 version of The Blue Lotus – in a newly colourised version.

This new edition contains "a palette of unprecedented colours, with shades that particularly enhance the night scenes, thus revealing the intensity of the action and the beauty of the vignettes".

Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, Tintin in the Congo and Tintin in America received the same treatment between 2017 and 2020.

"The purists didn't particularly expect them, but with their large format, they have the charm of today's larger comic book images," said Benoît Peeters, an expert on Hergé's work.

Hergé and Chinese art

The preface reminds readers that Hergé held a deep appreciation for Chinese art, which he studied in order to create his backgrounds.

"I drew my taste for order, my desire to combine meticulousness with simplicity, harmony with movement from it," Hergé said in 1975, quoted in this 2025 edition of The Blue Lotus.

In his home country of Belgium, the Hergé Museum in Louvain-la-Neuve, 30km outside Brussels, explores this influence in an exhibition entitled "In China with Tintin", which opened on Friday.

One key figure in Hergé's fascination with Chinese art was Tchang Tchong-Jen, a young Chinese student he met at the Beaux-Arts in Brussels.

According to the Musée Hergé: "For both artists, this cultural encounter between East and West was a tremendous opening to the world, but also, and above all, the start of a beautiful friendship. Their complicity is such that it extended onto paper, giving birth to a new Tintin adventure, one that was more sensitive and human than the previous stories, as it symbolised the brotherhood forged between Tintin and [Tchang]."

A biography, Tchang Tchong-Jen: Travelling Artist, written by his daughter Tchang Yifei and Tintin expert Dominique Maricq, was also released by Casterman and Moulinsart on Wednesday.

Sculptor and painter Tchang Tchong-Jen, who inspired Hergé's character Tchang in "The Blue Lotus". © AFP - Jean-Pierre Muller

Copyright in the US vs EU

The original black and white edition of Tintin in the Land of the Soviets is no longer protected by copyright in the United States, as of 1 January. Under US law, works older than 95 years can be freely exploited, regardless of the author's date of death.

But for the Belgian artist's heirs, this is a "non-event," as they told French broadcaster BFMTV in December.

"The economic stake is low. Tintin is barely present in the US, as seen with the relatively modest success of Spielberg's film," confirms Peeters, referring to The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, released in 2011.

In Europe and Canada, Tintin remains fully protected until 1 January, 2054. European Union copyright terms extend 70 years past creators' deaths, and Hergé died in 1983.

The heirs – Hergé's widow, Fanny Vlamynck, 90, and her second husband, Nick Rodwell, 72 – maintain a strict stance in line with the creator's last wishes: a strict ban on anyone drawing Tintin and his companions.

Peeters explained: "There is often talk of abuse on their part. However, it must be reiterated that in the era of piracy and the theft of books by AI, it is normal to protect an author's work, even long after their death. And that's what they are doing."

(with AFP)

Haiti's future remains 'hanging in the balance' 15 years after earthquake

Remembrance of the catastrophic earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010 comes as the country faces major challenges, including gang violence and extreme poverty.


Issued on: 12/01/2025 - RFI

Debris and devastation in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on 12 January, 2010. 

By: Melissa Chemam

"I remember the day the earthquake happened very, very well. That year, I was 19 years old, I was in my final year of high school. I lived in a two-storey house. I was working on a maths assignment with my cousin, it was about 4:45pm, when suddenly the earth started shaking. I had no idea what was happening and I started running."

Claudine St Fleur will never forget the day the earthquake struck Haiti. It claimed the life of her aunt, who was her only caregiver. "She was everything to me," Claudine told RFI, speaking from Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, via a poor connection.

She and her cousin lived in a tent for weeks, and only found refuge thanks to an uncle months later. An American friend of her aunt, who used to live in the same house as them, later helped her to pursue her studies.

But despite her resilience after the devastation, Claudine is unemployed now – thanks to a new set of challenges Haiti is facing. "I lost my job because of the gangs and violence," she says.


Reconstruction controversy

The earthquake, which had a magnitude of 7, took place on 12 January, 2010, killing at least 200,000 people and displacing 1.5 to 2 million more.

Within 30 seconds Port-au-Prince was turned upside down, families torn apart and tens of thousands of people put at risk of starvation.

Fifteen year later, the scars remain visible in the city.

Various countries and international groups raised almost $10 billion (€9.7 billion) for Haiti, pledging to rebuild the island and support its people.

But Antonal Mortimé, who was at the time executive secretary of the Platform of Haitian Human Rights Organisations (POHDH), told Haitian media that the funds were not in fact invested in the reconstruction plan after the earthquake.

"Everything would have been different if the allocated funds had actually been invested," he said.

Like him, many Haitians blame the international community and the United Nations for their slow response. They claim there was a focus on Western staff in the immediate searches.

They also blame the UN for the cholera crisis which broke out a few months after the earthquake and claimed yet more victims. It was reported that the outbreak was due to UN troops from Nepal improperly setting up waste disposal in their camp at Meille, a small village north of Port-au-Prince.

The UN admitted some responsibility in 2016, with deputy spokesman for the secretary-general, Farhan Haq, saying: "Over the past year, the UN has become convinced that it needs to do much more regarding its own involvement in the initial outbreak and the suffering of those affected by cholera."

A history of violence: Haiti's revolution, collapse and descent into anarchy

'Futures slipping away'

A generation of children is bearing the scars of Haiti’s earthquake, according to the charity Save the Children, their futures shaped by repeated displacements, ongoing crises and persistent disruption to their education over the past 15 years.

"While Haiti has made some strides in recovery, ongoing violence from armed groups has crippled progress, leaving children’s futures hanging in the balance," the charity said in a statement issued on Wednesday, 8 January.

Chantal Sylvie Imbeault, Save the Children’s country director for Haiti, said: “Life has been a series of crises for many children in Haiti. From hurricanes to earthquakes to the rampant violence we’re seeing today, many families we’ve spoken to have been displaced eight, nine, 10 times in the past 15 years."

Referring to the situation in the country today, she added: "Armed groups have turned Port-au-Prince into an open-air prison for children. Nowhere in the city is safe. They can’t safely go to school, play outside or leave their neighbourhoods. These children’s futures are slipping away.”

One of those children, 17-year-old Cassandra, told Save the Children that her education is on hold. "I have lost two school years – one because of the earthquake, and another because of the violence. It is painful. I don’t know when I will return to school."

Political instability

The Haitian capital has witnessed a spike in gang-related violence over the past two years, despite the deployment of a multinational security mission, led by Kenya, since 2024.

These armed gangs are accused of widespread murder, kidnapping and sexual violence. The United Nations says gangs control around 80 percent of Port-au-Prince, and regularly attack civilians.

President Jovenel Moise's 2021 assassination exacerbated the instability, and the consequences of several natural disasters, including the 2010 earthquake, have worsened the crisis.

Almost half the population now lives in hunger and extreme poverty, according to the International Rescue Committee, who put Haiti on its list of "10 crises the world can’t ignore in 2025".

But Haiti has suffered from political violence for decades, due to political instability and years of dictatorship followed by poor governance, US interventions and the consequences of the enormous debt inflicted by its former colonial ruler, France, since Haiti's independence in 1804.

Haitians had paid more than 112 million francs to France (around €547 million) by 2022, according to research by the New York Times and academic centres.

Mozambique opposition leader calls for national strike, demos

STALINIST FRELIMO WON ELECTION

Mozambican opposition leader Venancio Mondlane, whose return from exile last week sparked confrontations between supporters and police in the capital Maputo, has called for three days of protests this week.


Issued on: 12/01/2025 - RFI

Mozambican presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane addresses people on the streets of Maputo upon his return from exile, Mozambique, 09 January 2025. 

© LUSA - LUISA NHANTUMBO

Mondlane insists he was robbed of victory in last October's elections, which saw the Frelimo party officially awarded a crushing win to extend half a century of rule.

In a Facebook post late Saturday, Mondlane urged a "national strike" as the new parliament prepares to sit from Monday, with Frelimo's Daniel Chapo due to be invested as president on Wednesday.

Chapo, a 48-year-old former governor with no state experience, will succeed outgoing President Filipe Nyusi.

"These three days are important to decide what future the people want," Mondlane said in his post.

"We must declare a national strike... paralyse activities during these three days," he said.

Thousands welcome Mozambique opposition leader as he returns from exile

Will of the people

Urging supporters to "demonstrate our refusal" of the official election result, he called for a "peaceful mobilisation," adding that "if the Assembly takes the oath, it is a betrayal of the will of the people".

Mozambique's highest court confirmed the parliamentary seat allocation from the election just before Christmas, with Frelimo obtaining 171 and Podemos, a small party that has become the main opposition grouping, winning 43.

Renamo, a historic opposition party resulting from the civil war, earned 28 seats while the opposition MDM group took eight.

"Let us demonstrate against the inauguration of those who betrayed the will of the people on Monday and against those who stole the will of the people on Wednesday," Mondlane said.

(with AFP)