Instagram CEO to testify at social media addiction trial


By AFP
February 11, 2026


Starting December 10, some of the world's largest social media platforms will be forced to remove all users under the age of 16 in Australia. © AFP/File David GRAY

Benjamin LEGENDRE

Instagram’s CEO Adam Mosseri takes the stand Wednesday in a landmark trial that could determine whether social media giants knowingly hooked children on their platforms for profit.

YouTube-owner Google and Meta — the parent company of Instagram and Facebook — are defendants in a blockbuster trial that could set a legal precedent regarding whether social media giants deliberately designed their platforms to be addictive to children.

Mosseri will be the first major Silicon Valley figure to appear before the jury to defend himself against accusations that Instagram functions as little more than a dopamine “slot machine” for vulnerable young people.

His testimony precedes the highly anticipated appearance of his boss, Mark Zuckerberg, currently scheduled for February 18, with YouTube CEO Neal Mohan expected the following day.

The civil trial in California state court centers on allegations that a 20-year-old woman, identified as Kaley G.M., suffered severe mental harm after becoming addicted to social media as a young child.

She started using YouTube at six and joined Instagram at 11, before moving on to Snapchat and TikTok two or three years later.

Opposing lawyers made opening remarks to jurors this week, with an attorney for YouTube on Tuesday insisting that the video platform was neither intentionally addictive nor technically social media.

“It’s not social media addiction when it’s not social media and it’s not addiction,” YouTube lawyer Luis Li told the 12 jurors during his opening remarks.

YouTube is selling “the ability to watch something essentially for free on your computer, on your phone, on your iPad,” Li insisted, comparing the service to Netflix or traditional TV.

On Monday, the plaintiffs’ attorney Mark Lanier told the jury YouTube and Meta both engineer addiction in young people’s brains to gain users and profits.

Meta and Google “don’t only build apps; they build traps,” Lanier said.

– ‘Gateway drug’ –

Stanford University School of Medicine professor Anna Lembke, the first witness called by the plaintiffs, testified Tuesday that she views social media, broadly speaking, as a drug.

She also said young people’s brains were undeveloped, which is why they “often take risks that they shouldn’t,” Lembke testified, comparing YouTube to a gateway drug for kids.

The trial is currently scheduled to run until March 20.

Social media firms face more than a thousand lawsuits accusing them of leading young users to become addicted to content and suffer from depression, eating disorders, psychiatric hospitalization, and even suicide.

Kaley G.M.’s case is being treated as a bellwether proceeding whose outcome could set the tone for a wave of similar litigation across the United States.

Two further test trials are planned in Los Angeles between now and the summer, while a nationwide lawsuit will be heard by a federal judge in Oakland, California.

In New Mexico, a separate lawsuit accusing Meta of prioritizing profit over protecting minors from sexual predators began on Monday.

New drones provide first-person thrill to Olympic coverage


By AFP
February 11, 2026


A drone hovers as UK's Makayla Gerken Schofield competes in the freestyle skiing women's moguls during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at Livigno Aerials & Moguls Park - Copyright AFP Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV

Whether chasing skiers as they fly down the mountain or tracking the luge as it tears around bends, new drone-mounted cameras are offering Winter Olympics viewers a wild ride.

So-called “first person view” (FPV) drones have made their Winter Games debut this year, with 15 deployed across the Milan-Cortina events, offering an exhilarating experience.

Traditional drones, which have been used in live broadcasting for more than a decade, are piloted by an operator looking up at the machine.

But FPVs are piloted by a driver wearing goggles and holding a controller, allowing incredibly precise guidance.

The downside for TV viewers is the constant buzzing, which disrupts the stillness of the mountains.

But many athletes say they are not bothered — even when it looks from afar like the drones are getting too close.

“I saw on the replay that I nearly got hit by it but I wasn’t aware of it while I was doing it,” Australian snowboarder Ally Hickman told 7News.

– Pretty cool –

The drones are particularly useful on the sliding track — for luge, bobsleigh and skeleton — where they help avoid having cameras positioned at every turn.

German luger Felix Loch, a triple gold medallist competing in his fifth Olympics, said he had no problem with the drones.

“No, you don’t notice something like that,” he told AFP’s German sports subsidiary SID, praising the use of the technology.

“They’re definitely different images. It really looks pretty cool. You have to say, it’s really, really a nice thing what the guys are doing there,” he said.

German alpine skier Emma Aicher, the 22-year-old who has won two silver medals at the Milan-Cortina Games, also said the drones didn’t affect her concentration as she shot down the piste.

“For us, it’s really cool footage. I don’t notice the drone, it’s so far away,” she said.

Yiannis Exarchos, the head of Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), who supply the images to the broadcasters for Olympics, said they had worked with athletes in designing the system.

“We didn’t want this to become a factor affecting them. We wanted this to become a factor enhancing them,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

Drone cameras made their debut in the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, in 2014, while FPV were first introduced in Paris in 2024, providing live images of mountain biking.

Exarchos said that technology had moved on hugely.

Now, it is possible to “achieve safely speeds like some of the athletes do. A few years ago this was not possible”, he told reporters.

– Fast and noisy –

The noise depends on the size of the propeller, which in turn depends on how fast they are going, according to one expert involved in the Olympics who asked not to be named due to commercial confidentiality.

Each drone is custom built, with the smallest measuring just ten centimetres (four inches) and weighing less than 250 grams (half a pound).

“If you are going to chase something super fast, you go for a small system that is super powerful — and that’s going to be really noisy,” he told AFP.

One issue for operators during the Olympics is the cold, which drains the batteries quickly, according to another drone operator.

“There’s a constant change of battery, every race,” he told AFP.

TotalEnergies can do without Russian gas: CEO


By AFP
February 11, 2026


The Yamal LNG plant is located in the Arctic circle, some 2500 km from Moscow - Copyright AFP/File Maxim ZMEYEV

French fossil fuels giant TotalEnergies said Wednesday it will abide by a European ban on imports of Russian liquefied natutral gas (LNG) due to come into force next year and said it can easily replace the supplies.

The company still holds a 20-percent stake in the massive Yamal natural gas field in Siberia and ships LNG from there to Europe.

“We’ve always clearly stated that we’ll follow regulations which are adopted,” chief executive Patrick Pouyanne told journalists.

“We’ll no longer have the right to import LNG from Russia” into Europe, he added, “but we’ll remain a shareholder in Yamal”.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, most Western companies have sold off their Russian operations and holdings, or at least isolated them, as Western sanctions have made trading in most goods difficult.

Pouyanne confirmed that TotalEnergies continues to receive “dividends” from its stake in Yamal, but cannot incorporate them into its earnings. The funds remain in Russia, he added.

While EU nations cut their imports of Russian natural gas by pipeline, some of that was replaced by LNG imports.

Last December, EU states and lawmakers reached an agreement to ban all Russian natural gas imports from the autumn of 2027 in order to deny Moscow a key source of funding for its war effort in Ukraine.

Russian gas has fallen from 45 percent of total EU natural gas imports in 2021 to 19 percent in 2024.

“We were criticised for continuing to import (Russian) LNG, but we did it to ensure supply security and avoid prices rising sky high” during the energy crisis provoked after the start of the war in 2022, said Pouyanne.

Numerous new LNG projects are set to go online in 2027 and 2028, which should ensure better supplies and lower prices, something Pouyanne said was “good news for European consumers”.

This means TotalEnergies “can do without this LNG” from Russia, he added.

Earlier Wednesday the company reported a 17 percent drop in net profit last year to $13.1 billion due to declining oil and gas prices.

The company, which has faced criticism from environmental campaigners over its continued focus on climate-warming fossil fuels, has designated natural gas as one of its strategic priorities.

Berlin Film Festival to open with a rallying cry ‘to defend artistic freedom’


By AFP
February 12, 2026


Image: — © AFP Odd ANDERSEN

Jastinder KHERA with Antoine GUY in Paris

The Berlin Film Festival will kick off on Thursday evening with an eclectic selection of films reflecting current upheavals, and with Wim Wenders, one of Germany’s most illustrious directors, heading the jury.

Against the backdrop of polarisation and repression, “it’s more critical than ever that we defend our artistic freedom”, festival director Tricia Tuttle told AFP.

German Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer said the 76th edition of the festival would be a testament to the fact that “screenplays, cameras and screens are not mere artistic tools, but weapons in the fight for freedom and human dignity”.

“We must not allow the despots in Tehran or Caracas to win,” he said in a statement.

Berlin is the first major international festival in the world’s film calendar and has a reputation for topical and progressive programming.

This year’s edition takes place against the backdrop of international tensions, the bloody crackdown on protests in Iran and global threats to human rights.

The opening film, “No Good Men” by Iran-born Afghan director Shahrbanoo Sadat, tells the story of Naru, a reporter at a Kabul TV station separated from her husband on account of his infidelities who questions her beliefs about men during a fateful assignment.

The film is set in the run up to the Taliban’s seizure of power in 2021, which led Sadat herself to leave the country. She now lives in Hamburg.

“It’s about Afghan women’s experience, which you wouldn’t see if it wasn’t for Shahrbanoo’s work,” Tuttle said.

– ‘Biting satire’ –

The festival’s opening ceremony, starting at 7:00 pm (1800 GMT), will honour Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh, who won the Best Actress Oscar in 2023 for “Everything, Everywhere, All at Once”.

More than 200 films will be shown over the 10 days of the festival, of which 22 will be in competition for the Golden Bear, which last year was scooped by Norwegian director Dag Johan Haugerud’s film “Dreams”.

Stars will be hitting the red carpet at the 76th Berlinale – Copyright AFP RALF HIRSCHBERGER

As was the case last year, a majority of the films being shown this year were made by women directors, as were nine of the 22 films in official competition.

In comparison with Cannes or Venice, Berlin attracts fewer big productions with A-list-heavy casts.

But that is not to say there are no big names on the programme.

“The Weight” features Russell Crowe and Ethan Hawke in a tale of a man forced to smuggle gold through the lethal wilderness of Depression-era rural Oregon.

Southern Germany stands in for the US Northwest in the film, one of an increasing number of American productions choosing to shoot abroad to save on costs.

In the official competition section, one of the most eagerly awaited films is “Rosebush Pruning” from Berlinale favourite Karim Ainouz, billed as “a biting satire about the absurdity of the traditional patriarchal family”.

The cast boasts Elle Fanning, Callum Turner, Jamie Bell and Pamela Anderson, who are sure to be some of Saturday’s red-carpet highlights.

German actress Sandra Hueller, who attracted international acclaim for her roles in “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Interest”, stars in “Rose”, in which she plays a woman passing herself off as a male soldier returning to a German village in the early 17th century.

Also in the competition section, Amy Adams stars as a woman leaving rehab and confronting buried trauma in Kornel Mundruczo’s “At The Sea”, while in Beth de Araujo’s “Josephine”, Channing Tatum plays the father of a child traumatised by witnessing a violent crime.

WHO urges US to share Covid origins intel


By AFP
February 11, 2026


The Covid-19 pandemic killed millions, shredded economies and turned people's lives upside-down - Copyright AFP Sergei SUPINSKY

Robin MILLARD

The World Health Organization on Wednesday urged Washington to share any intelligence it may be withholding on the Covid-19 pandemic’s origins, despite the United States quitting the WHO.

The global catastrophe killed an estimated 20 million people, according to the UN health agency, while shredding economies, crippling health systems and turning people’s lives upside-down.

The first cases were detected in Wuhan in China in late 2019, and understanding where the SARS-CoV-2 virus came from is seen as key to preventing future pandemics.

On his first day back in office in January 2025, US President Donald Trump handed the WHO his country’s one-year withdrawal notice, which cited “the organisation’s mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic”.

Trump’s administration has officially embraced the theory that the virus leaked from a virology laboratory in Wuhan.

But the WHO said Washington did not hand over any Covid origins intelligence before marching out the organisation’s door.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recalled that some countries have publicly said “they have intelligence about the origins — especially the US”.

Therefore, several months ago, the UN health agency wrote to senior officials in the United States, urging them to “share any intelligence information that they have”, he told a press conference on Wednesday.

“We haven’t received any information,” Tedros lamented.

“We hope they will share, because we haven’t still concluded the Covid origins,” and “knowing what happened could help us to prevent the next” pandemic.

The WHO’s investigations have proved inconclusive, pending further evidence, with all hypotheses still on the table.

Tedros asked any government which had intelligence on the Covid-19 pandemic’s origins to share the information so that the WHO will be able to reach a conclusion.



– Critical information ‘obstructed’ –



Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s epidemic and pandemic threat management chief, said: “We continue to follow up with all governments that have said that they have intelligence reports, the US included.

“We don’t have those reports to date,” she said, other than those in the public domain.

As the US notice countdown expired on January 22, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the WHO had “obstructed the timely and accurate sharing of critical information that could have saved American lives”.

They also claimed the WHO had “tarnished and trashed everything that America has done for it”.

“The reverse is true,” the WHO said in reply.

The WHO constitution does not include a withdrawal clause.

But the United States reserved the right to withdraw when it joined the WHO in 1948 — on condition of giving one year’s notice and meeting its financial obligations in full for that fiscal year.

The notice period has now expired but Washington has still not paid its 2024 or 2025 dues, owing around $260 million, according to data published by the WHO.

Sanofi says board has removed CEO Paul Hudson


By AFP
February 12, 2026


Paul Hudson was ousted after six years on the job - Copyright AFP/File MIGUEL MEDINA

French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi has removed Paul Hudson as chief executive, thanking him Thursday for “valuable contributions” but without giving any reason for his surprise exit.

Belen Garijo, currently chief executive of Germany’s Merck KGaA and previously a Sanofi vice president, will take over at the group’s AGM in April, the company said.

“Belen Garijo’s brilliant international career attests to her strategic vision and her ability to drive profound and value-creating transformations,” board chairman Frederic Oudea said in a statement.

“She has the experience and profile to accelerate the pace, strengthen the quality of execution of strategy and lead the next growth cycle of the company, which is essential to build the group’s future.”

Hudson took over at Sanofi in 2019 after previous stints at Novartis and AstraZeneca.

His removal came less than a month after Sanofi reported that sales rose 6.2 percent last year to 43.6 billion euros ($51.8 billion).

In a statement at the time, Hudson said: “In 2026, we expect sales to grow by a high single-digit percentage and business EPS to grow slightly faster than sales.

“We anticipate profitable growth to continue over at least five years.”

But analysts said Sanofi had recently suffered setbacks in drug development, and its share price has lost a fourth of its value over the past year. The stock slumped 4.5 percent on Thursday after Hudson’s ousting.

The company is looking in particular for new drugs success as its blockbuster anti-inflammation treatment Dupixent, which had sales of more than 15 billion euros last year, will lose its patent protection in five years.

“Potential management change at Sanofi had been debated for a while now following Sanofi’s R&D strategy hitting potholes,” analysts at the investment group Jefferies said in a statement.

In December however the US Food and Drug Administration doused hopes for its tolebrutinib drug by refusing to approve it for a form of multiple sclerosis.

Sanofi’s stock also took a beating last September when amlitelimab, to treat atopic dermatitis, after discouraging study results, after previously disappointing investors in May with a study failure for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Paul Hudson was “excellent at selling dreams”, Jean-Louis Peyren of the Fnic-CGT pharmaceutical industry union told AFP.

“Instead of having a financier who does more marketing than anything else, we hope that if it’s a doctor, she will be more focussed on treatment needs than financials,” he said in reference to Garijo.

“Whether there will be more management changes (R&D?) remains to be seen, but Merck did manage to hire credible R&D operators from places like AstraZeneca,” the Jefferies analysts said.

Belgian police raid EU commission in real estate probe


By AFP
February 12, 2026


The European Commission sold 23 properties to the Belgian state in 2024 

- Copyright AFP/File Nicolas TUCAT

Police raided the premises of the European Commission in Brussels Thursday in a probe into a 2024 real estate deal done with the Belgian state, a source close to the investigation told AFP.

A spokesman for the EU executive said it was “aware of an ongoing investigation” into the sale of 23 commission buildings, and was “confident that the process was conducted in a compliant manner”.

Valued at 900 million euros ($965 million at the time, equivalent now to $1.1 billion), the sale came as the commission moved to shrink its office space by a quarter with more staff working from home since the Covid pandemic.

Searches were carried out at commission premises early on Thursday, a source close to the investigation told AFP, confirming a report by the Financial Times.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) confirmed only that it was “conducting evidence-collecting activities in an ongoing investigation” involving the commission.

The commission said it was “committed to transparency and accountability and will cooperate fully with EPPO and the competent Belgian authorities on this issue”.

The properties in question were acquired by a Belgian sovereign wealth fund, which planned to renovate them so they are more sustainable and put them back on the market as businesses and housing.

Brussels wants to transform the European Quarter where most EU institutions are located so that it becomes more people-friendly.

For the commission, the sale went towards the aim of occupying fewer buildings, which are more energy-efficient, as its need for office space declined post-pandemic.

The EPPO is the independent public prosecution office of the EU, responsible for investigating crimes against the bloc’s financial interests.

Trump ends immigration crackdown in Minnesota


By AFP
February 12, 2026


Copyright AFP Charly TRIBALLEAU

President Donald Trump’s pointman on Thursday announced the end of aggressive immigration operations in Minnesota that triggered large protests and nationwide outrage following the killing of two US citizens.

Thousands of federal agents including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have in recent weeks conducted sweeping raids and arrests in what the administration claims are targeted missions against criminals.

“I have proposed and President Trump has concurred that this surge operation conclude,” Trump official Tom Homan told a briefing outside Minneapolis. “A significant drawdown has already been underway this week and will continue through the next week.”

The operations have sparked tense demonstrations in the Minneapolis area, and the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti less than three weeks apart last month led to a wave of criticism.

Homan raised the prospect that the officers would deploy to another location but gave no details, as speculation is rife about which city might be targeted next.

“In the next week, we’re going to deploy the officers here on detail, back to their home stations or other areas of the country where they are needed. But we’re going to continue to enforce immigration law,” he said.

Campaigning against illegal immigration helped Trump get elected in 2024, but daily videos from Minnesota of violent masked agents, and multiple reports of people being targeted on flimsy evidence, helped send Trump’s approval ratings plummeting.

The case of Liam Conejo Ramos, five, who was detained on January 20, also stoked anger.



– ‘Trump’s leadership’ –



After killings of Good and Pretti, the Republican president withdrew combative Customs and Border Protection commander Gregory Bovino and replaced him with Homan who sought to engage local Democratic leaders.

Minneapolis is a Democratic-run “sanctuary” city where local police do not cooperate with federal immigration officials.

Opposition Democrats have called for major reforms to ICE, including ending mobile patrols, prohibiting agents from concealing their faces and requiring warrants.

If political negotiations over ICE fail in Washington, the Department of Homeland Security could face a funding shortfall starting Saturday.

Customs and Border Protection and ICE operations could continue using funds approved by Congress last year, but other sub-agencies such as federal disaster organization FEMA could be affected.

Homan said that some officers would stay behind in Minnesota but did not give a figure.

“The Twin Cities, Minnesota in general, are and will continue to be, much safer for the communities here because of what we have accomplished under President Trump’s leadership,” Homan said at the briefing on the outskirts of Minneapolis and neighboring St. Paul.

He said more than 200 people had been arrested in the course of the operation for interfering with federal officers, but gave no estimate for the number of immigration-linked arrests and deportations.

Thousands of Venezuelans stage march for end to repression

By AFP
February 12, 2026


University students who oppose the Venezuelan government march on Youth Day in Caracas on February 12, 2026 - Copyright AFP FRANCK FIFE

Thousands of Venezuelans demonstrated on Thursday to demand the release of all remaining political prisoners and full freedoms a month after the overthrow of autocratic leader Nicolas Maduro.

“We are not afraid,” the demonstrators chanted at the first major opposition rally since Maduro’s capture by US forces, creating scenes that would have been unthinkable during his repressive rule.

Elsewhere in Caracas, thousands of people attended a counter-demonstration in support of the post-Maduro government allowed to remain in place by President Donald Trump, who asserts that he in effect controls Venezuela and its oil wealth.

The opposition demonstration called by student organizations came as lawmakers prepared to debate a bill granting amnesty to all political prisoners for alleged offenses over 27 years of socialist rule.

Referring to the slow release of prisoners over the past five weeks, the demonstrators chanted: “Not one or two, but all.”

“Amnesty now!” read a banner hanging at the entrance to the Central University of Venezuela, where the demonstrators gathered.

“We spend a lot of time underground, silent in the face of all the repression Venezuela experienced…but today we are rising up and uniting to put forward demands for the country,” Dannalice Anza, a 26-year-old geography student, told AFP.

“VENEZUELA WILL BE FREE! Long live our students!,” exiled opposition leader Maria Corina Machado wrote on X, alongside a video of a Caracas street thronged with demonstrators, some of whom waved Venezuelan flags.

The administration of Maduro’s successor, Delcy Rodriguez, organized a counter-demonstration, which attracted thousands of pro-Maduro demonstrators on Venezuela Youth Day.

China carbon emissions ‘flat or falling’ in 2025: analysis


By AFP
February 11, 2026


Smoke rises from chimneys at a power plant during sunset in Taicang, in eastern China's Jiangsu province - Copyright AFP/File STR

Sara Hussein

China’s emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide were “flat or falling” in 2025, analysis showed Thursday, but progress remains fragile and it is not yet clear that emissions have peaked.

China is the world’s biggest emitter of the gases that drive climate change, and has committed to peaking emissions by 2030, though some analysts expect it will do so early.

Last year, emissions fell in almost all major sectors, including power generation as China’s massive renewable expansion meets growing demand, according to the analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) for climate website Carbon Brief.

That mean CO2 emissions likely declined 0.3 percent for 2025.

There is some uncertainty about figure because of margins of error around some of the numbers involved, including coal consumption.

“Because the relative drop is so small, we can’t say with certainty yet that it’s a fall, therefore the ‘flat or falling,'” explained CREA lead analyst Lauri Myllyvirta.

But the analysis suggests it is the first time that emissions have stayed flat or declined for a full calendar year at a time when energy demand was rising.

The most recent decline in emissions came during the pandemic and was linked to lockdowns.

Last year’s decline extends a “flat or falling” trend in emissions dating back to March 2024 and driven partly by China’s massive installation of renewable energy.

That has helped drive down emissions in the power sector despite growing demand.

Emissions across industry have also dropped, most notably in building materials, as construction slows, but also in transport with the growing uptake of electric vehicles.

Still, the progress is fragile.

Emissions from the chemical industry grew sharply in 2025, and are set to continue rising.

While the sector is still a relatively small emitter compared to other industries, it is having an outsize impact because of how fast its emissions are growing, the analysis found.

And while emissions have now been trending downwards or stagnant for almost two years, any decline is not yet substantial.

“This means that a small jump in emissions could see them exceed the previous peak level,” the analysis warned.

That would scupper hopes of China peaking emissions earlier than a 2030 target, something analysts say could easily be achieved.

“Whether emissions increase or decrease by a fraction of a percent year-on-year change only has symbolic significance,” Myllyvirta told AFP.

“The really significant implication is that emissions aren’t rising rapidly like they did until 2023,” he said.

But “they’re also not falling the way that they need to for China to start making progress towards the carbon neutrality target.”

There is still space for China to speed up the fall in emissions, notably further scaling up renewables.

While capacity is being added at record speed, it has not always translated into power generation, partly due to grid congestion.

Grid reforms could alleviate that and help push emissions down quicker.

Storage capacity, primarily from batteries, is also growing rapidly and could help increase the share of power generated from renewables.

Coal still dominates China’s power generation, but it fell by nearly two percent last year, despite rising electricity demand, data reviewed by AFP showed this week.