‘Help us,’ says wife of Gaza medic missing since ambulance attack


By AFP
April 17, 2025


Footage recovered by the Palestinian Red Crescent of part of the deadly March 23 ambush by the Israeli army shows the ambulances responding to an emergency call with their lights flashing. - Copyright AFP KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI

More than three weeks after an Israeli military ambush killed 15 of her husband’s fellow medics, Nafiza al-Nsasrah says she still has no idea where he is being held.

“We have no information, no idea which prison he’s in or where he is being held, or what his health condition is,” Nsasrah told AFP, showing a photograph of her husband Asaad in his medic’s uniform at the wheel of an ambulance.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said Sunday that Nsasrah was in Israeli custody after being “forcibly abducted” when Israeli soldiers opened fire on a convoy of ambulances on March 23.

In the early hours of that day, Israeli soldiers ambushed a convoy of ambulances and a firetruck near the southern city of Rafah as the crew responded to emergency calls.

Eight staff members from the Red Crescent, six from the Gaza civil defence agency and one employee of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees were killed in the attack, according to the UN humanitarian office OCHA.

Their bodies were found buried in the sand near the site of the shooting in the Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood of Rafah, in what OCHA described as a mass grave.

One member of the crew survived the attack. He was initially detained by troops but subsequently released.

The Palestinian Red Crescent was able to recover footage of part of the attack filmed by one of the medics on his mobile phone before he was gunned down.

An Israeli military official told journalists that the soldiers who fired at the ambulances “thought they had an encounter with terrorists”.

The video footage contradicts that account as the ambulances had their lights blinking when they came under attack.



– ‘Intent to kill’ –



“At the time of the incident, we had no idea what had happened,” Nsasrah said in the plastic-sheet shelter in the southern city of Khan Yunis which she and her family have called home for nearly a year.

Her husband’s body was not among those found in the mass grave near Rafah.

“We heard some ambulances had been surrounded (by the Israeli army), so we called (the Red Crescent) because (my husband) was late to return from his shift,” the 43-year-old said.

“They told us that he was surrounded but didn’t know what had happened exactly.”

Afterwards, the Red Crescent told her that he had been detained by Israeli forces.

“We felt a little relieved but not completely because detainees often face torture. So we are still afraid,” Nsasrah said, her voice drowned out by the persistent buzz of an Israeli surveillance drone overhead.

When the Red Crescent announced he had been detained, AFP reached out to the Israeli military for confirmation.

The military responded by referring AFP to an earlier statement noting that armed forces chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir had ordered a thorough investigation into the attack.

The March 23 killings occurred days into a renewed Israeli offensive in the Hamas-ruled territory and drew international condemnation.

The Palestinian Red Crescent has charged that Israeli soldiers shot the medics in their upper body with “intent to kill”.

Nsasrah, her husband and their six children have been living under canvas in Khan Yunis since May last year.

Despite the hardship, she remains determined to get her husband back.

“I call on the international community to help us get any information on Asaad Al-Nsasrah,” she said.

“I ask to obtain information about his health condition and to allow us to visit him or to help us get him released.”

Zuckerberg denies Meta bought rivals to conquer them

HE LIES


By AFP
April 16, 2025


Meta's Mark Zuckerberg. — © GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File JUSTIN SULLIVAN

Elodie SOINARD

Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday denied in court that his company bought rival services Instagram and WhatsApp to neutralize them, as his testimony in a landmark antitrust case came to a close.

The case could see the Facebook owner forced to divest of the two apps, which have grown into global powerhouses since their buyout.

During his third and final day on the stand in a federal courtroom in Washington, Zuckerberg took aim at the Federal Trade Commission’s main argument — that Facebook, since renamed Meta, devoured what it saw as competitive threats.

The co-founder of Facebook responded “No” when asked by Meta attorney Mark Hansen if his intent was to eliminate rivals with the purchases of photo sharing app Instagram and messaging service WhatsApp.

He explained that Instagram, purchased in 2012, was attractive for “its camera and photo sharing experience” but added that he “didn’t view it as a broad network really competitive with where we were.”

As for WhatsApp, bought two years later, Zuckerberg testified that he saw the app as technically impressive but its founders as “unambitious” in terms of “maximizing the impact that they could potentially have.”

“I basically ended up pushing to add things,” he told the court.

Zuckerberg testified that Facebook put its scale and resources to work building Instagram and WhatsApp into apps now used by billions of people.

– TikTok as new threat –

A key part of the courtroom battle is how the Federal Trade Commission convincingly defines Meta’s market for the judge.

The US government argues that Facebook and Instagram are dominant players in apps that provide a way to connect with family and friends, a category that does not include TikTok and YouTube.

Meta’s defense attorneys counter that substantial investments transformed these acquisitions into the blockbusters they are today. They also highlight that Meta’s apps are free for users and face fierce competition.

The case was originally filed in December 2020, in the last days of President Donald Trump’s first administration.

Zuckerberg, the world’s third-richest person, has made repeated visits to the White House as he has tried to persuade the president to choose settlement instead of fighting the trial.

As part of his lobbying efforts, Zuckerberg contributed to Trump’s inauguration fund and overhauled content moderation policies.

He also purchased a $23 million mansion in Washington in what was seen as a bid to spend more time close to the center of political power.

Zuckerberg wrapped some 12 hours of testimony on Wednesday with an assessment of TikTok, which he said has emerged as perhaps the biggest competitive threat for Instagram and Facebook.

Meta has seen the growth of its apps slow as the China-based video-snippet sharing sensation has boomed, so the US tech titan added a TikTok-like Reels feature to fire back in the marketplace, according to Zuckerberg.

“That said, TikTok is still bigger than either Facebook or Instagram, and I don’t like it when our competitors do better than us,” he told the court.

And as video has evolved into a favorite form of online media, particularly on smartphones, YouTube has become serious competition for Meta, the chief executive testified.

Australian PM vows not to bow to Trump on national interest


By AFP
April 16, 2025


Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised to defend Australia's interests in its trade tussle with the United States during a televised election debate with opposition leader Peter Dutton - Copyright AFP 

Saeed KHAN

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised on Wednesday to defend Australia’s interests in its trade tangle with the United States, in a televised debate ahead of May 3 national elections.

US President Donald Trump’s 10 percent tariffs on close ally Australia have loomed large in the duel between 62-year-old Albanese and his hard-nosed conservative challenger, former policeman Peter Dutton.

Asked if he trusted the US president, Albanese said he had “no reason not to” despite Trump having promised to give “great consideration” to Canberra’s free trade arguments before deciding to impose the tariffs anyway.

“We made it very clear that it was an act of self-harm,” the centre-left Labor Party leader said.

But Albanese said his government “won’t budge” from Australian policies to ensure access to cheap medicines, enforce health rules on beef imports, and make big social media platforms pay for using local Australian news.

“We will stand up for Australia’s national interest, because that is important,” he said.

Albanese’s Labor Party has crept into a narrow lead in recent opinion polls, with some pundits citing public support for his criticism of the US tariffs that he has denounced as “not the act of a friend”.

Dutton — running with the slogan “Let’s get Australia back on track” — has abandoned a poorly received promise to ban working from home for public sector staff, and softened a plan to axe tens of thousands of public sector jobs.

Asked if he trusted Trump, Dutton replied: “Well, we trust the United States. And I don’t know the president. I have not met him.”

But the 54-year-old opposition leader said his Liberal-National Party conservative coalition had contacts in the White House that would enable it to open negotiations on the tariffs.

“We should be doing everything we can to enhance the relationship, to make our two countries stronger together,” he said.

“We have stood with America in every battle. It’s an incredible relationship.”

– Nuclear reactors –

On defence, Albanese denied having any contingency plans in case the Trump administration pulls out of a US-British-Australian agreement to equip Australia’s navy with stealthy, nuclear-powered submarines.

The so-called AUKUS agreement “is in the interest of the US”, he said.

Both sides have promised measures to tame the cost of living, which top voters’ concerns in the polls.

However, their biggest divide is on how to tackle climate change.

Albanese’s government has embraced the global push towards decarbonisation, warning of a future in which iron ore and polluting coal exports no longer prop up the economy.

His election catchcry is “building Australia’s future” — an agenda that includes big subsidies for renewable energy and green manufacturing in the sun-soaked country.

Dutton’s signature policy is a US$200 billion scheme to construct seven industrial-scale nuclear reactors while slowing the rollout of solar and wind-generated energy.

Dutton said in Wednesday’s debate on public broadcaster ABC that he would use the federal government’s powers to build nuclear power plants “if need be”, even in the face of local and state opposition.

Though conceding climate change was having an impact, Dutton said he could not tell whether it was causing specific floods or disasters that were part of the history of Australia.

“I will let scientists and others pass that judgement.”

Albanese replied that the science was clear, even if climate change could not be traced to every weather event.

“The science told us that the events would be more extreme and they would be more frequent, and that is what we are seeing playing out,” he said.

Voting in Australian elections has been compulsory since 1924.

Registered voters who do not cast their ballot are slapped with an “administrative penalty” of around Aus$20 (US$12). Turnout consistently tops 90 percent.

Automakers hold their breath on Trump’s erratic US tariffs


By AFP
April 16, 2025


Automakers will need to decide how much of the hit to absorb and how much to pass on if President Donald Trump's tariffs stay in place. — © AFP/File Ronny HARTMANN

John BIERS

US President Donald Trump’s aggressive but fast-changing trade policy has foisted difficult questions on carmakers that they have not yet been forced to answer.

While Trump has retreated from some of his most onerous tariffs, carmakers are on the hook for 25 percent levies on auto imports that went into effect on April 3.

But so far, the effects of that levy have been muffled because carmakers are still selling vehicles from inventory. Auto companies and industry watchers expect this dynamic to persist for at least a few more weeks.

But if the tariffs stay in place — a big if given Trump’s tendency to reverse course — automakers will need to decide how much of the hit to absorb and how much to pass on.

“No one in this entire value chain can just absorb it,” Kjell Gruner, president of Volkswagen Group of America, said Tuesday.

“We can’t say, ‘Oh the customers need to swallow it.’ That price increase would be too high,” Gruner told an industry conference. “We can’t also say the dealers need to. Nor can we.”

A priority is clear communication to customers, said Gruner, adding that pricing changes would not be made overnight.

Tariff talk dominated Tuesday’s Automotive Forum held just ahead of the annual New York International Auto Show.


Donald Trump has slapped new tariffs on friend and foe since returning to the US presidency this year – Copyright AFP I-Hwa CHENG

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump’s myriad tariff announcements have been at the center of his administration’s economic policy.

Trump reversed course last Wednesday on the most onerous of his “reciprocal” tariffs for every country except China following upheaval in financial markets.

But other tariffs have stayed in place, such as a 25 percent levy on steel and aluminum imports, which affects automakers, along with the direct levy on automobile imports.

Beijing and Washington are locked in a fast-moving, high-stakes game of brinkmanship since Trump launched a global tariff assault that has particularly targeted Chinese imports. — ©. AFP –

On Monday, Trump opened the door to walking back his 25 percent tariff on all auto imports, saying he was “looking at something to help some of the car companies.”

One of Trump’s aims with tariffs is to boost US manufacturing.

But industry experts note that automobile capital investments are multi-year commitments that require confidence in a stable commercial environment — something undermined by constant changes in policy.

Patrick Manzi, chief economist at the National Automobile Dealers Association, opened Tuesday’s proceedings with a downcast outlook on the economy.

“I expect to see consumers holding off on big-ticket items,” said Manzi, who has raised his odds for a US recession to 60 percent.

– Aggressive pricing –

Automakers emphasized their commitment to US investments, with Volvo touting its ramping of production at a South Carolina factory and Nissan pointing to a recent decision to maintain a second shift at a Tennessee assembly plant as the companies seek to boost US output.

Hyundai North America chief Randy Parker pointed to the South Korean conglomerate’s announcement of a $21 billion new steel plant in Louisiana announced last month at a White House event with Trump.

Parker, who quipped that US tariff policy might have changed since he last checked his phone, described the company’s strategy as “quite simple.”

“Our plan is to sell cars period,” he said. “Sell like hell.”

Hyundai has promised to hold prices steady in the short run, joining other brands like Nissan and Ford that have announced consumer-friendly pricing actions amid the tariffs.

These moves contributed to a surge in US auto sales in March as shoppers fast-forwarded purchases to get ahead of tariffs.

These trends have continued thus far into April, said Thomas King, president of the data and analytics division at JD Power.

King does not expect the US car market to see a significant hit from tariffs until the third quarter.

But by the fourth quarter, King expects auto prices to be up around five percent due to the tariffs, resulting in about an eight percent drop in US auto sales.

These figures are based on the current economic outlook.

“If we were to have a recession, it would be obviously a bigger gap,” King said.

Hamas calls for pressure to end Israel’s aid block on Gaza


By AFP
April 18, 2025


People transport from the bed of a truck the remains of a victim killed in Israeli bombardment on Jabalia, northern Gaza - Copyright AFP BASHAR TALEB

Hamas on Friday urged the international community to exert immediate pressure to end Israel’s complete blockade of the Gaza Strip that has been in place since March 2.

The appeal from the militants comes after the United Nations warned of worsening conditions and shortages of medicine and other essentials.

“The international community is required to intervene immediately and exert the necessary pressure to end the unjust blockade imposed on our people in the Gaza Strip,” Hamas’s chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya said in a statement.

The Palestinian militant group on Thursday signalled its rejection of Israel’s latest truce proposal and called for a “comprehensive” deal to end the 18-month-long war.

The United Nations warned on Monday that Gaza, which has a population of about 2.4 million, is facing its most severe humanitarian crisis since the war began in October 2023.

“The humanitarian situation is now likely the worst it has been in the 18 months since the outbreak of hostilities,” said the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

In a statement, OCHA said no supplies had reached Gaza for a month and a half.

Medical supplies, fuel, water and other essentials are in short supply, the UN has specified.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday said the country would keep preventing humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip.

“Blocking this aid is one of the main pressure levers preventing Hamas from using it as a tool with the population,” Katz said in a statement.

A Hamas source told AFP that the group sent a written response Thursday to mediators on Israel’s latest proposal for a 45-day ceasefire. Israel had wanted the release of 10 living hostages held by the group, according to Hamas.

It also called for the freeing of 1,231 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails and the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The proposal called for Hamas to disarm to secure a complete end to the war, a demand the group rejects.

ANIMISTIC CATHOLICISM

Bloody Philippine passion play sees final performance of veteran ‘Jesus’


By AFP
April 18, 2025


The Good Friday flagellation tradition draws thousands of Catholic devotees to the Philippines every Easter - Copyright AFP Ted ALJIBE

Scores of penitents whipped themselves bloody under a scorching Philippine sun while others were nailed to crosses in a polarising Good Friday tradition drawing the most extreme of Catholic devotees.

The macabre spectacle, officially frowned on by the Church, attracts thousands of Filipinos — and a smattering of tourists — each Easter weekend to sites across Asia’s only majority Catholic nation.

In Pampanga province, two hours north of Manila, 64-year-old Ruben Enaje was nailed to a cross for the 36th time on Friday.

Minutes after the nails were gingerly removed from his palms, he told reporters it would be for the last time.

“I really can’t do it anymore. They had to aim portable fans at me earlier just for me to breathe normally,” Enaje said, after temperatures reached 39 degrees Celsius (102 Fahrenheit).

In an unscripted moment, Enaje had tumbled down an embankment while navigating the narrow path to the cross after being “pushed a bit harder than usual” by a man playing a Roman soldier.

He told reporters he had felt “dizzy” while walking to the venue, needing to rest for 30 minutes before reaching the site.

He has hinted at retirement in the past, and this year local officials finally introduced his successor: Arnold Maniago, a veteran of 24 crucifixions.

Maniaco conceded he was “a little nervous” about taking on the role of Jesus.



– More than penance –



Among the procession, men with their faces covered by bandanas rhythmically whipped themselves as they walked towards the cross.

But the flails, tipped with bamboo shards, rarely produce the desired blood.

An older man showed AFP a small wooden paddle embedded with sharp glass he used on the backs of penitents to make it flow.

Children trailed many of the processions.

A boy no more than eight years old lightly flailed the back of a shirtless man lying in the road.

Mark Palma, whose back was raw and smeared with blood, said flagellation was more than an act of penance.

The 30-year-old told AFP he had spent half his life taking part in the flagellation ritual as a way of praying for his sister born with a heart defect.

“She’ll be going through an operation this year, she has a hole in her heart,” he said.

“I’m praying for her to be healed. I want the operation to be successful.”

Raymond Ducusin, 31, said he began taking part in 2022 when his parents developed health issues.

Though his father passed away, he had no plans to stop.

“I want to commemorate his legacy through this. I still believe in miracles,” Ducusin said.

Officials said about 10,000 people attended Good Friday events in Pampanga.

More than 50 foreign tourists who had purchased special passes viewed the proceedings from under a tent.

David, a 45-year-old from New York City, said he and his partner had planned their holiday to attend the crucifixions.

“To see something born at the community level that’s still vibrant… most religious affiliation and sentiment in the West is pretty much fading away and here, it’s still incredibly visceral,” he said.

Russia rains missiles on Ukraine as US mulls ending truce efforts


By AFP
April 18, 2025


The US has been trying to press Moscow into a ceasefire, without success

 - Copyright AFP Roman PILIPEY

Sergey BOBOK

Russia fired a fresh volley of missiles and drones at Ukraine overnight, wounding dozens of people, Kyiv said Friday, as the United States warned it could end efforts to broker a ceasefire if it did not see progress soon.

US President Donald Trump has been pressing Moscow and Kyiv to agree to a truce, but has failed to extract any major concessions from the Kremlin, despite repeated negotiations between his administration and Russia on the three-year war.

After meeting European officials in Paris to discuss Ukraine, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington needed to figure out soon whether a ceasefire was “doable in the short term”.

“Because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on,” he told reporters at Le Bourget airport before leaving the French capital.

Russia fired at least six missiles and dozens of drones at Ukraine overnight, killing two people in the eastern regions of Kharkiv and Sumy and wounding 70 others, officials said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed the attack, which came just days before Easter.

“This is how Russia started Good Friday — with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, shahed drones. A mockery of our people and cities,” he said on Telegram.

An AFP photographer in the city of Kharkiv witnessed the aftermath of one strike, which left rubble and debris scattered across a street.

An elderly resident could be seen bandaged, her face smeared with blood, while residents assessed the damage.



– ‘Memorandum’ on mineral deal –


Since taking office Trump has embarked on a quest to warm ties with the Kremlin that has alarmed Kyiv and driven a wedge between the US and its European allies.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last month rejected a joint US-Ukrainian proposal for a full and unconditional pause in the conflict, while the Kremlin has made a truce in the Black Sea conditional on the West lifting certain sanctions.

Trump has also repeatedly expressed anger and frustration at Zelensky in a marked break from policy under his predecessor, Joe Biden.

The US is pushing Ukraine into a deal that would give Washington sweeping access to its mineral resources.

Ukraine’s prime minister will visit Washington next week for talks with top US officials aimed at clinching the minerals and resources deal by April 26, according to a US-Ukraine signed “memorandum of intent” published Friday.

Trump wants the deal — designed to give the United States royalty payments on profits from Ukrainian mining of resources and rare minerals — as compensation for aid given to Ukraine under Biden.

– Witkoff on ‘Russian side’ –

France hosted meetings between US and European officials in Paris on Thursday, saying the talks had launched a “positive process”.

The meetings included French President Emmanuel Macron, Rubio and US envoy Steve Witkoff.

European officials had expressed dismay at being shut out from the peace process, while Ukraine has expressed concern that Witkoff — one of Trump’s closest allies — is biased towards Russia.

Zelensky accused Witkoff on Thursday of having adopted the “strategy of the Russian side”, after the US envoy suggested a peace deal with Moscow hinged on the status of Ukraine’s occupied territories.

“He is consciously or unconsciously, I don’t know, spreading Russian narratives,” Zelensky told journalists.

Witkoff told Fox News on Monday that a peace settlement depended on “so-called five territories” — the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Crimea, that Russia claims to have annexed.

The Kremlin wants its claims over the regions to be recognised as part of any peace deal, a proposal that Ukraine has balked at. Moscow does not fully control any of them except for Crimea, which it seized in 2014.

Zelensky also said Thursday he had “information” China was supplying weapons to Russia, amid an escalating row between Kyiv and Beijing over China’s support for Moscow.

China, which has portrayed itself as a neutral party in the three-year war, has hit back at Kyiv’s criticism and called on all parties in the conflict to refrain from “irresponsible remarks”.

India’s elephant warning system tackles deadly conflict

By AFP
April 18, 2025


Conflict between humans and wild elephants has grown -- 629 people were killed by elephants across India in 2023-2024, according to parliamentary figures

 - Copyright AFP/File R.Satish BABU

Arunabh SAIKIA

In central India’s dry forests, community trackers hunt for signs of elephants to feed into an alert system that is helping prevent some of the hundreds of fatal tramplings each year.

Boots crunch on brittle leaves as Bhuvan Yadav, proudly wearing a T-shirt with his team’s title of “friends of the elephant”, looks for indicators ranging from tracks or dung, to sightings or simply the deep warning rumbles of a herd.

“As soon as we get the exact location of the herd, we update it in the application,” Yadav said, as he and three other trackers trailed a herd deep in forests in Chhattisgarh state, preparing to enter the information into their mobile phone.

The app, developed by Indian firm Kalpvaig, crunches the data and then triggers warnings to nearby villagers.

There are fewer than 50,000 Asian elephants in the wild, according to the World Wildlife Fund. The majority are in India, with others in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.

The usually shy animals are coming into increasing contact with humans because of rapidly expanding settlements and growing forest disturbance, including mining operations for coal, iron ore, and bauxite.

Mine operations in particular have been blamed for pushing elephants into areas of Chhattisgarh where they had not been seen for decades.

– ‘Line of defence’ –

“We have to be quiet so that there is no confrontation,” said Yadav, trekking through forests surrounding the Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve.

“We try and maintain a distance of 200 metres (220 yards) from the herd — so that there is room to run,” added Yadav, who is one of around 250 trackers employed by the state forestry department.

Despite weighing up to six tonnes, an Asian elephant can cover several hundred metres in just 30 seconds, according to research published in the journal Nature.

And as elephant habitats shrink, conflict between humans and wild elephants has grown — 629 people were killed by elephants across India in 2023-2024, according to parliamentary figures.

Chhattisgarh accounted for 15 percent of India’s elephant-related human casualties in the last five years, despite being home to just one percent of the country’s wild elephants, government data show.

Authorities say the government-funded alert system has slashed casualties.

In the Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve area, elephants killed five people in 2022, a year before the app was launched.

Among them was 50-year-old rice farmer Lakshmibai Gond, who was trampled while watching her fields in the state’s Gariaband district, her son Mohan Singh Gond said.

“She was caught off-guard,” he told AFP. “The elephant ripped her skull apart.”

Since the alarm system began in February 2023, just one elephant-related death has been recorded.

“Villagers provide their mobile number and geo-tag locations,” said state forest official Varun Jain, who leads the initiative.

“They get calls and text messages when an elephant is within five kilometres (three miles).”

Announcements are also broadcast on loudspeakers in villages in key conflict zones as a “second line of defence”, he added.

– ‘Such a clever creature’ –

Residents say the warnings have saved lives, but they resent the animals.

“When there is an announcement, we do not go to the forest to forage because we know anything can happen,” said community health worker Kantibai Yadav.

“We suffer losses, because that is our main source of livelihood and they also damage our crops,” she added. “The government should not let wild elephants roam around like that.”

Forest officials say they are trying to also “improve the habitat” so that elephants do not raid villages in search of food, Jain said.

The app requires trackers to monitor the elusive animals over vast areas of thick bush, but Jain said the alert system was more effective than darting and fixing radio collars to the pachyderms.

“An elephant is such a clever creature that it will remove that collar within two to three months,” Jain said.

Radio collars would be usually fitted to the matriarch, because that helps track the rest of the herd who follow her.

But the elephants that pose the most danger to humans are often rogue bulls, solitary male animals enraged during “musth”, a period of heightened sexual activity when testosterone levels soar.

“Casualties you see in 80 percent of the cases are done by the loners,” he said.

“The app is to ensure that there are no human casualties.”

Chinese vent anger at Trump’s trade war with memes, mockery


By AFP
April 18, 2025


AI-generated videos putting Trump, US Vice President JD Vance -- who sparked outrage with comments referring to "Chinese peasants" -- and tech mogul Elon Musk on footwear and iPhone assembly lines quickly went viral 

- Copyright AFP Adek BERRY

Mary Yang and Isabel Kua

While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online.

The US president’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin.

Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing back to the United States, forcing companies to employ US workers.

But China’s online warriors have been taking advantage of the massive strides in artificial intelligence to create memes highlighting that many of the goods bought by Americans such as shoes and smartphones are made using cheap Chinese labour.

Defiant posts have shot to the top of most-searched lists on social media, flooding platforms with patronising comments and jokes.

In one video, a Chinese internet user opens his hands to reveal what goods he buys from the United States — nothing.

His dozens of videos railing against the United States have accumulated tens of millions of views on TikTok, officially blocked in China but accessible through a virtual private network (VPN).

“Donald Trump started a trade war, so… F*** MAGA,” he says in one video, referring to Trump’s campaign slogan of Make America Great Again.

– ‘Two-faced behaviour’ –

The user, based in northeastern China’s Liaoning province and who asked to be identified by his online persona “Buddhawangwang”, told AFP the posts were a way of “venting my anger”.

The 37-year-old poster said he moved to California in 2019 but “threw away” his green card four years later — angry over “prejudices against China”.

That included “fake news” about Xinjiang, the far-western region where Beijing is accused of widespread human rights abuses against minorities. China denies the claims.

Now, he feels vindicated in his quest to “debunk Western propaganda”.

For many in China — whose status as “the world’s factory” fuelled its meteoric rise as an economic superpower — the idea of Americans making their own shoes or phones is laughable.

AI-generated videos putting Trump, US Vice President JD Vance — who sparked outrage with comments referring to “Chinese peasants” — and tech mogul Elon Musk on footwear and iPhone assembly lines quickly went viral.

Others show rows of befuddled overweight shophands fiddling with sewing machines as Americans make clothes, shoes and electronic devices.

The alleged hypocrisy of US officials railing against China while enjoying the fruits of globalisation has also been targeted.

One post traced a dress worn by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt to Chinese online shopping platform Taobao.

“Attacking ‘Made in China’ is work; enjoying ‘Made in China’ is life,” one comment read.

“Two-faced behaviour. Don’t wear it then, don’t use it,” another said.

Another post shared by Beijing’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning showed Trump’s trademark “MAGA” hat marked “Made in China” — with a price tag indicating an increased cost.

– ‘Made in China’ –

Elsewhere, Chinese users have taken to TikTok to show Americans how they can get around the swingeing tariffs — going to China and buying goods straight from the source.

In one, a man in a warehouse claiming to work at a factory making Birkenstocks in the eastern hub of Yiwu sold pairs of the iconic sandal for just $10.

“We have seven colours,” he says, pointing to multiple pairs of shoes displayed on a cardboard box with the words “Made in China” printed on it.

“If you need, please contact me,” he added, gesturing towards stacks of boxes behind him.

“There certainly is nationalism here,” Gwen Bouvier, a professor at Shanghai International Studies University who researches social media and civic discourse, told AFP.

The videos make “fun of how rude JD Vance is and, by extension, the Trump administration”, Bouvier said — a timely clapback against the vice president’s “peasants” comments.

But beneath the humour there is likely deep concern over the impact of the trade war on China’s export-dependent economy.

Censors on the country’s strictly regulated internet appear to have scrubbed out narratives that warn of the effects they may have on Chinese consumers and manufacturers.

On China’s X-like Weibo platform, all comments under the hashtag “The United States will impose a 104% tariff on Chinese goods” have been removed.

By contrast, the hashtag “America is fighting a trade war while begging for eggs” — a reference to soaring prices for the kitchen staple — was viewed 230 million times.

Under fire at debate, Canada PM Carney tries to focus on Trump


By AFP
April 18, 2025


Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and Canadian Prime Minister and Liberal Party chief Mark Carney shake hands following an election debate in Montreal on April 17 - Copyright AFP Adek BERRY

Anne-Marie Provost with Ben Simon in Toronto

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney faced sustained attacks from his Conservative rival at an election debate Thursday, but the Liberal leader sought to focus attention on what he calls Canada’s top threat, President Donald Trump.

Most opinion polls show Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party is trailing Carney’s Liberals ahead of the April 28 vote.

But the race remains tight and Poilievre worked hard at the debate to stem Liberal momentum that has picked up since Carney replaced Justin Trudeau as prime minister on March 14.

Trump’s trade war and annexation threats have caused broad outrage across Canada and the Tory leader has faced criticism for directing his ire entirely at the Liberals instead of attacking Washington.

As the campaign has evolved, Poilievre has increasingly sought to do both: condemning Trump while accusing the Liberals of weakening the economy during Trudeau’s decade in power and leaving Canada vulnerable to hostile US policies.

He continued that strategy at Thursday’s debate, charging the Liberals had given “Donald Trump and the US a near monopoly over our energy” by refusing to build pipelines that could allow Canadian oil to be exported abroad.

Poilievre, a 45-year-old who has served in parliament for two decades, consistently tried to brand Carney as an extension of Trudeau, who became deeply unpopular toward the end of his tenure.

“The question you have to ask is, after a decade of Liberal promises, can you afford food? Is your housing more affordable than it used to be?” Poilievre asked.

“How can we possibly believe that you (Carney) are any different than the previous ten years of Liberal government?” Poilievre further said, repeatedly reminding that Carney had served as “Justin Trudeau’s economic advisor.”

Addressing the Conservative leader, Carney said: “I know you want to be running against Justin Trudeau. Justin Trudeau isn’t here.”

Throughout the night, Carney tried to refocus attention on Trump.

“The biggest risk we have to this economy is Donald Trump,” said the 60-year-old former central banker, who has never served in parliament or held a publicly elected office.

Trump, he added, “is trying to break us so he can own us.”

“We’re all going to stand up against Donald Trump. I’m ready.”

– Private sector past –

Carney also took fire from the two other party leaders on stage, the head of the left-wing New Democratic Party Jagmeet Singh, and the leader of the Quebec separatist Bloc Quebecois, Yves-Francois Blanchet.

Both hit Carney over his years in the private sector, including with the major Canadian corporation Brookfield, questioning whether the Liberal leader would advocate for workers given his background.

Carney spent the early part of his career as an investment banker with Goldman Sachs.

Carney countered that his private sector experience would help him in government but rejected suggestions that his loyalties were divided.

“I’m on the side of Canadians,” he said.

On January 6, the day Trudeau said he would resign, the Liberals trailed the Conservatives by 24 points, according to the public broadcaster CBC’s poll aggregator.

On Thursday, the CBC data put Liberal support at 43.3 percent and gave the Conservatives 38 percent backing.