NATO ‘could never be more important than today’: Canada FM


ByAFP
May 11, 2026


Canada's Foreign Minister Anita Anand said the NATO alliance could not be 'more important' than it is today - Copyright AFP Nicolas TUCAT

Max DELANY

The “resilient” NATO alliance can weather criticism from US President Donald Trump and remains crucial to underpinning Western security in the face of Russia, Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand said Monday.

“NATO as a defensive alliance committed to collective security could never be more important than it is today,” Anand told AFP in an interview in Brussels.

Canada’s top diplomat was meeting counterparts from the EU’s 27 nations in the latest demonstration of deepening ties as Trump has rocked the global order.

Ottawa has been stepping up ties with the EU and other key partners as part of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s efforts to increase cooperation between “middle powers”.

“The EU is an extremely important facet of Canada’s work to diversify trade, and we will continue to build supply chains, to build trading relationships so that we double non-US trade over the next 10 years,” she said.

“That ultimately has to be our goal, as we see a complete rewiring of the global trading order.”

Anand — who was also holding talks with NATO chief Mark Rutte — pushed back against the notion that Trump had fatally undermined the defence alliance.

“Not at all — NATO is a resilient alliance,” she said.

“It is reasonable for member states to have differing opinions, but the resilience of the organisation means that we come together, have difficult conversations, and emerge from those conversations committed to collective defence and security.”

Trump has shaken the 77-year-old alliance as he has castigated European allies for their response to his war with Iran.

Washington frayed nerves in Europe by saying it would pull 5,000 troops from Germany amid a dispute between Trump and Chancellor Friederich Merz.

Anand pointed at areas such as tackling Russian activities in the Arctic as important for NATO’s focus — and a region where her country has a major role to play.

NATO has stepped up on the Arctic region as part of a deal with Trump to get him to drop his designs on Denmark’s territory of Greenland.

– Collective security –

“We need to take a step back and say, what are in the best interests of 32 member states from a collective security standpoint in this moment when the global threat environment is changing so rapidly,” she said.

Anand — who was co-hosting a conference with the EU on returning Ukrainian children deported by Russia — also hailed Kyiv’s “resilience” for turning around the dire situation on the battlefield.

“Ukraine is still successful in defending its territorial integrity,” she said.

US-led efforts to broker an end to Moscow’s war have largely gone quiet as Washington has become focused on Iran.

Anand said that given Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky statements the United States still had a key role to play.

“President Zelensky himself has said that it is important for the United States to stay at the table, and that the United States is necessary in this process of negotiation,” she said.

“Canada’s position has always been, we support President Zelensky. His views about what is best for Ukraine are also our views about what is best for Ukraine.”

Beatles to open first London museum on site of last gig


By AFP
May 11, 2026


Singer Paul McCartney and Apple Corps have announced the opening next year of the first official London museum dedicated to The Beatles - Copyright AFP ALAIN JOCARD

The Beatles’ first official London museum is set to open next year in the Mayfair building where the band recorded its final album and played its last gig, Paul McCartney announced Monday.

The attraction — “The Beatles at 3 Savile Row” — will feature seven floors of never-seen-before archive material and a recreated basement studio where the Fab Four recorded their 1970 “Let It Be” album.

Visitors to the venue on the upmarket central London block — better known globally for its traditional bespoke tailors — will also get access to its rooftop where the band staged an iconic performance in 1969.

“Tourists come to England and they can go to Abbey Road, but they can’t go inside… so I thought this was a terrific idea,” McCartney told the BBC.

The 83-year-old pop legend said it stemmed from efforts by Apple Corps — the company which has overseen the band’s business interests since 1968 — to reexamine “what the Beatles mean, and what people want these days from us”.

The company previously owned the Savile Row building for eight years from 1968 and it served as the band’s headquarters for two years prior to their 1970 break-up and for business purposes afterwards.

“We’re thrilled to bring Apple Corps back to its spiritual home and give The Beatles fans something truly special,” its CEO Tom Greene said in a statement.

“Every single day, fans are taking pictures of the outside of 3 Savile Row, he added.

“But next year they can go in and explore all seven floors of the iconic building, including the rooftop where even the railings remain the same from that famous day in 1969.”

Footage of the famous January 30, 1969, concert — the last time anyone saw the Fab Four perform publicly — was recently restored and included in Peter Jackson’s “Get Back” documentary about the band.

Speaking to the BBC, McCartney said visitors will ascend the Savile Row building and see “various things” including memorabilia before they can “pretend to be a Beatle” on the roof.

It will also feature rotating exhibitions and a fan store, according to Apple Corps.

“There are so many special memories within the walls, not to mention the rooftop,” McCartney added in the official statement.

Ringo Starr, 85, the only other living Beatle, called the exhibition “like coming home”.

Apple Corps promised further details about it, and a second experience currently in development, in “due course”.

In the meantime fans can register for tickets on the band’s website.

The band’s hometown of Liverpool, in northwest England, already boasts two attractions — Liverpool Beatles Museum and The Beatles Story — but neither are officially licensed by Apple Corps.

Frustrated Trump learns he doesn’t have the cards on Iran

ByAFP
May 11, 2026


Commuters in Tehran drive past a billboard mocking US President Donald Trump over the Strait of Hormuz - Copyright AFP ATTA KENARE

Shaun TANDON

One of President Donald Trump’s favorite metaphors is that he’s got the cards — that through the might of the United States and his own acumen he can overpower any adversary.

On Iran, the former casino owner is learning that he, in fact, doesn’t have such a strong hand after all.

As he travels this week to China on a trip already delayed by his war, Trump will not project strength as a victor but instead will remain beleaguered both by Iran’s stubborn refusal to accept an agreement on his terms and dwindling approval from Americans who did not support the conflict and are now paying higher prices at the pump.

“I don’t see how the president has many, if any, good cards to play at this moment in time,” said Mona Yacoubian, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Trump joined Israel in attacking Iran on February 28, with strikes quickly killing the longtime supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and much of the other top brass.

But Iran quickly hit back by exerting control over the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passageway through which one-fifth of global oil once sailed, and it has rained missiles and drones on US-allied Gulf Arab monarchies, shattering the oil-rich countries’ hard-earned reputation for stability.

The United States would need massive force to dislodge Iran from the strait, which would cause major new havoc on global markets and new threats to Gulf Arabs, Yacoubian said.

Iran’s cleric-run state ruthlessly crushed protests in January and is now dominated by the elite Revolutionary Guards, who are even less interested in compromise with the United States.

“I think that the administration has fundamentally misjudged the character and the approach of the regime in Tehran,” Yacoubian said.

– ‘Very desperate’ –

Trump declared a ceasefire on April 8 and has indefinitely extended it, even as he was twice forced to abort trips by top US officials to negotiate in Pakistan after Iran balked at attending.

Trump last week announced “Project Freedom” in which US forces would help ships through the Strait of Hormuz, before suspending the operation two days later as Gulf Arabs worried about coming under fresh attack.

Trump then spent the weekend building anticipation for any Iranian response, only to declare Monday that Tehran’s counter-proposal was “garbage.”

“Trump’s actions over the last month show a leader who’s very desperate to end this conflict, but he continues to threaten more conflict if he doesn’t get what he wants,” said Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute.

“That shows that he simply does not know how to get a better deal. He could have gotten a better deal before the war began,” he said.

Trump just last year had berated past US leaders for Middle East interventionism and has described China as the main challenger to the United States.

But he now arrives in China “with a much weaker hand,” Katulis said.

“The US military has expended a lot of its armament and weaponry in just a month and a half, and China knows it.”

– Wanting to turn the page –

Trump and his top aides last week said that the offensive part of the war, at least, was over, as the administration would otherwise need authorization from Congress.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an interview that aired Sunday with CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” said the war was not over as there was a need to seize uranium from Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

Garret Martin, a foreign policy expert at American University, said that the only way out for Trump could be a negotiated agreement — which may wind up being less rigorous than one reached without war in 2015 by former president Barack Obama, which Trump railed against as the “worst deal ever.”

The end effect on the US image would be the opposite of January, when Trump voiced triumph after ordering a raid into Venezuela that quickly deposed and snatched Venezuela’s leftist leader Nicolas Maduro and installed a compliant successor.

“Nobody is questioning that the American military is mightier and stronger than the Iranians’,” Martin said.

“But that’s not enough when the adversary is fighting what they see as an existential conflict.”

THE EPSTEIN CLASS

Epstein files on display at New York pop-up exhibit, all 3.5 million pages


ByAFP
May 11, 2026


Roughly 3.5 million pages of the 'Epstein files' were bound in 3,437 volumes for the exhibition - Copyright AFP Oli SCARFF

A US transparency advocacy group has opened a temporary exhibition in New York with only one text on display: a print-out of all the files released by the US Department of Justice — roughly 3.5 million pages — relating to financier and convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein.

The library, dubbed “The Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room,” has bound all the documents released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act in 3,437 volumes, all numbered and organized on shelves.

“The truth is hard to deny when it’s printed and bound for you to see,” reads the website for the Institute of Primary Facts, the Washington-based nonprofit behind the display.

Those interested in seeing the files at the library in Tribeca can do so by registering online.

However, due to errors by the Department of Justice in failing to redact the names of some of the victims included in the documents, the general public is not allowed to consult the files. The exhibit offers exceptions for some professionals like journalists and lawyers.

The pop-up also has a display on the longstanding relationship between President Donald Trump and Epstein, who died in federal custody in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges involving minors.

The pair were friends for decades before they reportedly fell out in 2004 over a property deal, after which Trump reportedly denounced his former ally. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing after showing up repeatedly in the so-called “Epstein Files.”

“We’re a pro-democracy organization, with the goal of educating the public using these kinds of sort of pop-up museums and other in-real-life experiences to help people understand the corruption in the United States, the dangers to democracy,” David Garrett, one of the creators behind the project, told AFP.

Garrett said he believes “there needs to be real public outcry” about how the Trump administration has handled the document release, with many accusing justice officials of covering up Trump’s ties to Epstein.

“And what we attempted to do here was to create, or help to create public outcry to have real accountability,” he added.

The exhibit is open to the public until May 21.

What if we killed all mosquitoes?


ByAFP
May 12, 2026


Our greatest nemesis? By transmitting diseases, mosquitoes kill three quarters of a million people a year

 - Copyright BRITISH ANTARCTIC SURVEY/AFP/File PETER BUCKTROUT

Daniel Lawler

The deadliest animals are not lions, spiders or snakes, but the tiny mosquitoes that suck our blood, make us itchy and infect us with disease.

Mosquitoes kill around 760,000 people every year, according to research site Our World in Data, with humans ourselves coming a distant second.

This is because mosquitoes account for 17 percent of all infectious diseases, including malaria, dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya and Zika.

And as the world warms due to human-driven climate change, mosquitoes are roaming to new areas during longer summers, raising fears they could propel future health crises.

So how can humanity fight back against our greatest foe? Is there a safe way we could eradicate these killer mosquitoes — and how bad would that be for the environment?

– #Notallmosquitoes –

First, we would not need to vanquish all mosquitoes. Out of roughly 3,500 mosquito species, only around 100 bite humans.

And just five species are responsible for roughly 95 percent of human infections, Hilary Ranson, a vector biologist at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, told AFP.

On balance, Ranson felt that losing five mosquito species “could be tolerated given the huge devastation” they inflict on the world, from mass death to crippling economic fallout.

Dan Peach, a mosquito entomologist at the University of Georgia, broadly agreed, but emphasised that more information was needed to compare eradication with the alternatives.

– What about the environment? –

The five disease-spreading mosquitoes “have evolved to be very closely associated to humans,” including feeding on and breeding near us, Ranson explained.

This means eradicating them would not have a major impact on the broader ecosystem — and other, genetically similar but less deadly mosquitoes would likely quickly “fill that ecological niche”, she added.

Peach was not convinced we know enough “about the ecology of most mosquito species to be confident one way or the other, but I also think that it is OK to acknowledge this and still proceed.”

Mosquitoes do “transfer nutrients from their aquatic larval habitats” to other areas, and serve as food for insects, fish and other animals, he said.

They also pollinate plants, but this “isn’t well understood and may vary by species”, Peach added.

Ranson acknowledged there is a valid debate over the ethics of humans committing “specicide”, while pointing out that we are currently unintentionally wiping out a huge number of species.

– How can it be done? –

One of the most prominent new technological options is called gene-drive, which involves genetically modifying animals so that they pass down a particular trait to their offspring.

When scientists tweaked females of malaria-carrying Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes to make them infertile, it wiped out a population in the lab over just a few generations.

Target Malaria, funded by the Gates Foundation, has tested this technology in several African countries.

However the effort was dealt a major blow last year when Burkina Faso’s military-led government ended testing in the country, where it had been criticised by civil society groups and targeted by disinformation campaigns.

Another strategy involves infecting Aedes aegypti mosquitoes with the bacteria Wolbachia. This can crash their population — or simply reduce their ability to transmit dengue.

This raises another question: do we actually need to kill them?

– What if we made them harmless instead? –

When Wolbachia-infected sterile mosquitoes were released in the Brazilian city of Niteroi, there was an 89 percent drop in dengue cases, research showed last year.

More than 16 million people across 15 countries have now been protected by these mosquitoes, with “no negative consequences”, Scott O’Neill, founder of the World Mosquito Program, told AFP.

Meanwhile, a project called Transmission Zero is trying to use gene-drive technology to make it so that Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes no longer spread malaria.

Lab research published in Nature late last year suggested the scientists are getting closer to this goal, with the team planning to launch an in-country trial in 2030.

The Burkina Faso setback showed that these projects must have some “political support or buy-in” from the countries where they are tested, study author Dickson Wilson Lwetoijera of Tanzania’s Ifakara Health Institute told AFP.

– No ‘magic bullet’ –

Rather than just relying on a technological “magic bullet”, usually funded by the Gates Foundation, Ranson called for a more “holistic solution” for these diseases.

This would require giving people in disease-hit countries more access to treatment, diagnosis, better housing and better vaccines, she said.

However sweeping foreign aid cuts by Western countries have threatened progress against most mosquito-borne diseases over the last year, humanitarian organisations have warned.

Antarctic talks in Japan: key things to know


ByAFP
May 12, 2026


Antarctic treaty members meeting in the Japanese city of Hiroshima are set to focus discussions on climate change and tourism - Copyright AFP PAUL MILLER

Talks between Antarctic Treaty members began Tuesday in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, with a focus on the growing threats posed to the fragile region by climate change and tourism.

Here are the key things to know about the ice-covered continent and the challenges it faces:



– The Antarctic Treaty –



The Antarctic Treaty was signed in 1959 and designates the continent as a land of science and peace while freezing territorial claims.

The 14-million-square-kilometre region — roughly twice the size of Australia — holds around 90 percent of the world’s fresh water.

There are nearly 60 signatories to the treaty and 29 of them operate scientific research from around 100 bases and facilities.

Signatories meet for discussions annually.

Some countries have a significant presence, such as the United States with seven facilities, Russia with 11, Argentina with 13 and Chile with 14, according to the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs.

But smaller countries including Belarus, Bulgaria and Ukraine also have a presence.

The balance of power in the South Pole is in increasing question at a time of geopolitical turmoil, including US President Donald Trump’s Greenland ambitions, and as melting Arctic ice opens maritime trade routes on the planet’s far north.



– Discussions and divisions –



Around 400 government officials and researchers from some 50 countries, including the US, China, Russia and Ukraine, will take part in the Hiroshima meeting, according to Jiji Press.

Key issues will be climate change and measures to deal with the growing environmental impact of rising tourism, according to Hideki Uyama of the foreign affairs ministry, who will chair the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting.

Almost 120,000 visitors came to Antarctica in 2024-2025, and delegates will mull potential restrictions on areas or activities, as well as possible quotas.

Uyama told the Asahi Shimbun newspaper however that reaching consensus “is a difficult process”.

“It appears divisions within the international community are being carried over into the Antarctic sphere,” he added.



– Emperor penguins –



Conservation group WWF is urging the designation of emperor penguins as a specially protected species at the Hiroshima meeting.

The animal was declared an endangered species last month by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Emperor penguins rely on stable sea ice — essentially platforms of frozen ocean water — to live, hunt and breed.

Their numbers have plummeted as warming driven by greenhouse gas emissions has caused sea ice to break up earlier in the year.

“With the shocking decline in Antarctic sea ice that we are currently witnessing, these icons on ice may well be heading down the slippery slope towards extinction by the end of this century unless we act now,” WWF’s chief advisor on polar and oceans Rod Downie said in a statement.



– Chinese ambitions –



China has been expanding its polar science capacity and is planning a sixth station in the continent following the 2024 opening of its fifth.

“China is not hiding its interest in Antarctica’s natural resources” despite their inaccessibility, said Anna Wahlin, Swedish co-chair of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research.

“It’s no secret: there are large maps showing natural resources, oil and gold when you visit their polar research secretariat,” she said.

The timing of China’s increased interest in Antarctica has coincided with the US’s decision to withdraw from scientific research.

For the first time in six decades, the US does not have an icebreaker in the Southern Ocean after pulling out its final research ship due to budget cuts in 2025.

The pullback extends to global gatherings, said Yan Ropert-Coudert, researcher and former director of the French Polar Institute.

“Delegations to international meetings on the subject have been whittled down to a shadow of their former selves,” he said.

New Zealand moves to halt lawsuits over climate damage

REVANCHIST CLIMATE DENIERS

ByAFP
May 12, 2026


UN chief Antonio Guterres said every key climate indicator was flashing red

 - Copyright AFP JACK GUEZ

New Zealand will change the law to prevent lawsuits that seek to hold companies liable for “climate change damage” linked to greenhouse gas emissions, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said on Tuesday.

Goldsmith cited a lawsuit launched by Indigenous Maori climate activist Michael Smith, who is seeking to hold six prominent New Zealand companies responsible for environmental harms linked to climate change.

He said such cases were “creating uncertainty in business confidence”.

New Zealand would change the law to “prevent findings of liability” for “climate change damage or harm caused by greenhouse gas emissions”, Goldsmith said.

“The courts are not the right place to resolve claims of harm from climate change, and tort law is not well-suited to respond to a problem like climate change which involves a range of complex environmental, economic and social factors,” Goldsmith said.

Tort law deals with civil cases in which people seek compensation for harmful or negligent actions.

Climate activist Smith said the government’s announcement was “an affront to democracy”.

“If parliament can cancel a live court case, then no legal claim is secure at all, once it becomes politically inconvenient,” he told national broadcaster Radio New Zealand.

Smith’s case named some of New Zealand’s biggest and best-known companies, including dairy farming giant Fonterra.

The laws are all but certain to pass parliament, given New Zealand’s ruling coalition holds a majority of seats.

– Climate targets –

New Zealand’s right-leaning government has unravelled a string of environmentally friendly policies since coming to power in 2023.

It has cancelled a clean car discount incentivising electric vehicle uptake, reversed a ban on oil and gas exploration, and begun a fast-track scheme for mining permits.

From South Korea to Germany, a growing body of litigation around the world is pushing courts to take climate change more seriously.

New Zealand is currently facing a separate legal challenge over its emissions targets.

In January 2025, the government said it aimed to reduce carbon emissions by 51 percent from 2005 levels by 2035.

The target was barely changed from a 50-percent cut targeted for 2030.

Lawyers for Climate Action and the Environmental Law Initiative took Climate Change Minister Simon Watts to court in March, arguing the government was not doing enough.

New Zealand’s goal, enshrined in law, is to have net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, excluding methane produced by waste and agriculture.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

French court convicts VW for ‘consumer harm’ in ‘Dieselgate’ scandal


ByAFP
May 12, 2026


Volkswagen admitted in 2015 it had sold 11 million vehicles equipped with devices designed to cheat environmental regulations by lowering cars' emissions during testing - Copyright AFP/File John MACDOUGALL

A French court has ordered Volkswagen to pay 100,000 euros ($117,000) on charges of “consumer harm” over the Dieselgate emissions fraud, an advocacy group said Tuesday, as around 950,000 clients in France await a class-action ruling on compensation.

The German automaker admitted in 2015 it had sold 11 million vehicles equipped with devices designed to cheat environmental regulations by lowering cars’ emissions during testing.

Among the dozens of lawsuits spurred by the scandal, France’s CLCV consumer protection association joined a claim filed by a car owner in Pau, southwest France, alleging “harm to the general interests of consumers”.

In a May 5 ruling seen by AFP, the court said VW “failed in its obligation of conformity” by selling nearly 950,000 vehicles equipped with the devices in France between 2007 and 2015.

“It’s an encouraging step for the class action” lawsuit to be heard next year by a court in Soissons, eastern France, said Francois Carlier, director of the CLCV.

VW also faces a separate aggravated fraud case over the scandal in Paris, with a date for the trial to be set in December.

Germany wants to put TikTok ‘in European hands’


By AFP
May 12, 2026


Germany's culture minister wants Europe to follow the US on TikTok - Copyright AFP/File Patrick T. Fallon

TikTok’s European business should be “in European hands,” following the example of the United States, Germany’s Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer said Tuesday.

ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, ceded control of the platform’s US operations to a majority American-owned joint venture, in response to a threatened ban in the United States.

“I am firmly convinced that Europe should follow the American example and that the company’s ownership structure must be put up for discussion,” Weimer told reporters before meeting his EU counterparts in Brussels.

“That means we should place TikTok’s European business in European hands,” he said.

“TikTok collects data on Europe’s young people on an unimaginably large scale. This data flows to servers whose origin we do not know precisely,” he added.

Weimer said Europe did not know what happened to the data, adding that “we are talking here about the most intimate data of Europe’s youth”.

Contacted by AFP, TikTok declined to comment.

TikTok has previously sought to allay EU concerns by storing European users’ information in Europe, with limitations on who can access the data.

The EU executive did not support Weimer’s comments.

Brussels did not look “at the colour of a company, at its ownership, at its country of origin. What we’re looking at is compliance” with rules, European Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier told reporters in Brussels.

The platform is the subject of EU inquiries under the bloc’s digital content rules.

The EU told TikTok in February that it needed to change its “addictive design” or risk heavy fines.

The platform is also under investigation in a separate probe opened in late 2024 on alleged foreign interference during the Romanian presidential elections.

Russia tests long-range missile after US nuclear treaty expires


By AFP
May 12, 2026


Putin said Sarmat could carry a warhead four times more powerful than anything Western militaries possessed - Copyright Russian Defence Ministry/AFP Handout

Russia on Tuesday tested a new long-range missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads, months after the last treaty with the United States limiting their atomic arsenals lapsed.

The ending of the New START agreement in February formally released the world’s two largest nuclear powers from a raft of restrictions.

“This is the most powerful missile system in the world,” claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin after receiving a report of a successful launch of Sarmat, an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

He said the missile could carry a warhead more than four times more powerful than anything Western militaries possessed, adding that Sarmat would be on “combat duty” by the end of this year.

Even though Moscow and Washington agreed to reestablish high-level military dialogue shortly after New START expired, there were no immediate signs of renewing or prolonging it.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly pressed for a new treaty to include China, whose arsenal is growing but still significantly smaller than those of Russia or the US, but Beijing has publicly rejected the pressure.

Trump had been mostly silent on Russian calls to extend New START, which was signed in 2010 and imposed the last restrictions on Moscow and Washington after decades of agreements dating from the Cold War.

Both countries have repeatedly accused each other of failing to adhere to the agreement.

Sarmat, referred to as “Satan II” in NATO designation, is the first ICBM produced in post-Soviet Russia to be classed as “super heavy”.

Put said it was capable of travelling 35,000 kilometres (22,000 miles).