Pandemic treaty talks fight late hurdles


By AFP
April 15, 2025


It has been more than five years since the Covid-19 pandemic began - Copyright AFP ADALBERTO ROQUE

Agnès PEDRERO

The head of the World Health Organization made a new plea for action Tuesday as talks on a landmark agreement on tackling future pandemics struggled to overcome late obstacles.

Negotiations, which have been going on four years, advanced slower than expected amid disagreements over the transfer of drugs and expertise to combat any new pandemic.

Five years after Covid-19 killed millions of people and devastated economies, experts have highlighted new health threats ranging from H5N1 bird flu to measles, mpox and Ebola, and WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at the talks “we need this now”.

While taking measures to coordinate pandemic prevention, preparedness and response could be costly, Tedros said that “the cost of inaction is much bigger”.

With new threats like H5N1 bird flu and ebola being highlighted by experts, Tedros said “virus is the worst enemy. (It) could be worse than a war.”

While cuts to US foreign aid spending and threatened tariffs on pharmaceuticals casting a new shadow over the talks, negotiators have stumbled over Article 11, which deals with technology transfer for pandemic health products — particularly for developing countries, sources told AFP.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, poorer countries accused rich nations of hoarding vaccines and tests.

Countries that have large pharmaceutical industries have strenuously opposed the idea of mandatory tech transfers, insisting they be voluntary.



– ‘Huge reverse’ –



Countries reached “an accord in principle” early Saturday and then took a three-day break to seek final approval from capitals.

It had appeared the tech transfer obstacle could be overcome by adding that any transfer needed to be “mutually agreed”.

But sources told AFP that major pharma countries had demanded that this phrase be added to other parts of the text.

That would be “a huge reverse from Saturday’s text”, lamented James Packard Love, head of the NGO Knowledge Ecology International, on the Bluesky social network.

Amidst the intense talks in corridors and closed rooms in the WHO headquarters, Tedros joined the negotiations late Tuesday and told reporters he thought the current draft was “good”, “balanced” and that a deal would bring “more equity”.

The United States, which has thrown the global health system into crisis by slashing foreign aid spending, has not taken part in the negotiations. President Donald Trump ordered a withdrawal from the United Nations’ health agency after taking office in January.

The US absence, and Trump’s threat to slap steep tariffs on pharmaceutical products, still hangs over the talks, making manufacturers and governments more jittery.

But NGOs insist it is time to close the deal.

“Although the agreement went through several compromises, it includes many positive elements,” Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Tuesday.

Michelle Childs, Director of Policy Advocacy at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), voiced hope countries would cross the finish line.

“It would be a first in the history of international agreements,” she said, in its recognition that when countries fund research and development of vaccines and other medical products, you “need to attach conditions to that funding that ensure public benefit”.

If an agreement is sealed, the text will be put for final approval at the WHO’s annual assembly next month.

Vespa love affair: Indonesians turn vintage scooters electric


By AFP
April 16, 2025


Switching to an electric Vespa is attracting customers who want a fashionable ride without contributing to noise and air pollution - Copyright AFP BAY ISMOYO
Dessy SAGITA

When Indonesian executive Heret Frasthio takes his antique 1957 VL Vespa for a ride, its white paint peeling off, the usual fumes and hum of the free-spirited scooters cannot be seen or heard.

The two-wheeler is just one of the vintage models converted by his company as it tries to turn a love for the Italian icon into an environmentally friendly pursuit.

Indonesia has long suffered from air pollution partly driven by its addiction to inefficient, old cars and scooters, including nearly one million Vespas as of 2022, according to the country’s Vespa Club.

“Vespa has a unique design. It has a historical and nostalgic value. It’s not just a vehicle, it’s also fashion,” said Frasthio, chief executive of Elders, which converts the older bikes into electric vehicles.

The country’s leaders are pushing for more EVs on its roads, with a target of 13 million electric motorcycles by 2030 — ambitiously far from the current number of 160,000, according to transport ministry data.

But Elders is playing its part in what the government hopes will be the early stages of an electric vehicle revolution.

Frasthio says the firm has converted and sold around 1,000 Vespas across the country since its founding in 2021 and one day aims to develop its own electric scooter.

Once converted, a Vespa’s fully charged electric battery can last 60-120 kilometres (37-74 miles), and up to 200 kilometres for an upgraded battery.

“This electric Vespa can be a solution for countries that require low emissions from motorcycles,” Frasthio said.



– Clean contribution –



Yet pricing remains a major stumbling block in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.

Frasthio’s proud but humble Vespa cost $34,000 to buy before conversion.

A brand-new Vespa Elettrica imported from Italy can cost 198 million rupiah ($11,750) and the European company already sells a range of electric scooters in the continent.

But for those who want to stay retro, there are kits to convert to vintage scooters to electric that cost between $1,500 and $3,900, Frasthio said.

The chance to switch is attracting customers who want a fashionable ride without contributing to noise and air pollution.

One of them is Hendra Iswahyudi, who bought a converted Vespa from Frasthio’s firm, remembering the effort of riding an old model as a student.

“You would turn on the ignition and take a shower while waiting for the engine to be ready,” the 56-year-old said.

Riding an antique Vespa from the 1960s without the pollution and the noise in Jakarta’s heavy traffic has also earned him curious looks.

“People who like Vespa came to have a closer look and told me that my scooter was very cool,” he said.

The civil servant supports the niche industry for converting scooters, despite government plans to put a new fleet of electric vehicles on the road.

“I feel comfortable riding the Vespa. I feel like I’ve contributed to the clean air,” he said.



– Nostalgia –



But a yearning for the nostalgia of an original Vespa is keeping some from taking the cleaner option, instead choosing to keep the roar of an older engine.

“I prefer the authentic Vespa with its original noise because it’s what makes it unique. You can hear it coming from afar,” said Muhammad Husni Budiman, an antique Vespa lover.

“It’s classic and nostalgic.”

The 39-year-old entrepreneur fell in love with antique Vespas when he was young and started to collect some from the 1960s and 70s.

In 2021, he established a Jakarta-based club for Vespas produced in the 1960s that now boasts hundreds of members.

Despite trying an electric Vespa, Budiman’s club is mainly for those who love original models.

Frasthio is conscious that some Vespa lovers like Budiman will be hesitant about the EV uptake.

But he was quick to dispel the theory that his company was putting the conventional scooters they adore in a bad light.

“We are not trying to lecture anyone about pollution issues,” he said.

“We are just offering, for those not used to manual motorcycles, that electric motorbikes can be a solution.”

Trump orders critical minerals probe that may bring new tariffs


By AFP
April 15, 2025


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

US President Donald Trump ordered a probe Tuesday that may result in tariffs on critical minerals, rare-earth metals and associated products such as smartphones, in an escalation of his dispute with global trade partners.

Trump has upended markets in recent weeks with his sweeping on-off levies, and this investigation could see him impose further tariffs if it shows that imports of critical minerals and their derivatives endanger US national security.

China dominates global supply chains for rare metals.

Without naming any other countries, the order says that the United States is dependent on foreign sources that “are at risk of serious, sustained, and long-term supply chain shocks.”

It states that this dependence “raises the potential for risks to national security, defense readiness, price stability, and economic prosperity and resilience.”

The imports targeted include so-called critical minerals like cobalt, lithium and nickel, rare-earth elements, as well as products that partly require these resources, such as electric vehicles and batteries.

The order states that critical minerals and their derivatives are essential for US military and energy infrastructure, noting their use in jet engines, missile guidance systems and advanced computing, among others.

The Department of Commerce will have up to 180 days to deliver its report to Trump, the order says, adding that any recommendations for action should consider the imposition of tariffs.

It follows a similar “national security” investigation that Trump ordered Monday into pharmaceutical imports, and another on semiconductors and chip-making equipment.

The process is based on a 1962 law that was seldom used before Trump, during his first 2017-2021 term, called on it to justify imposing taxes on steel and aluminum imports.

The US president again resorted to this law, known as Section 232, to reintroduce in mid-March tariffs of 25 percent on steel and aluminum, and on automobiles.

Trump has slapped new tariffs on friend and foe since returning to the presidency this year in a wide-ranging but often chaotic attempt to reorder the world economy by using levies to force manufacturers to relocate to the United States.

Lessons in horror with Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge tribunal

STILL A STALINST MONARCHY

By AFP
April 15, 2025


Mean Loeuy (C), survivor of a Khmer Rouge labour camp, tells his story to a group of children during an outreach programme at a school in Phnom Srok district - Copyright AFP TANG CHHIN Sothy

Alexis HONTANG, Suy SE

Sheltering in the shade of a bus repurposed into a mobile museum, Mean Loeuy tells a group of children about the hell he went through in a Khmer Rouge labour camp.

“At the beginning we shared a bowl of rice between 10 people,” recounts the 71-year-old man who lost more than a dozen family members during Cambodia’s bloodiest era.

“By the end, it was one grain of rice with a splash of water in the palm of our hands,” he says, describing the camp as “like a prison without walls”.

The children look on with expressions ranging from nonplussed to horror.

Mean Loeuy is one of a handful of survivors supporting the latest project of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), the UN-sponsored tribunal that delivered its last verdict on Pol Pot’s brutal regime in September 2022 before wrapping up its trials.

Since January last year, a team led by a lawyer has travelled around Cambodia teaching schoolchildren about the government it ruled as genocidal, sharing 20 years’ worth of evidence and testimony from victims such as Mean Loeuy.

The capital Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge 50 years ago on Thursday, but now two-thirds of Cambodia’s population are under 30.

Most grew up without living through the horrors of Pol Pot’s rule between 1975 and 1979, nor the 20 years of conflict that followed.

Many young people have no more than an inkling of the grimmest period of their country’s history — one still haunted by the deaths of around two million people through starvation, disease, forced labour or murder.



– Human skulls –



In a high school courtyard in Phnom Srok in the nation’s northwest, dozens of children squeeze into the air-conditioned vehicle — a bus specially adapted to hold interactive history classes, with comics, iPads and other resources.

About 10 kilometres (six miles) away lies the Trapeang Thma reservoir where Mean Loeuy laboured, one of the Khmer Rouge’s most notorious projects, accounting for thousands of worker fatalities.

At a Buddhist temple in the town, the skulls of victims of the Khmer Rouge line the shelves.

But Mouy Chheng, 14, admits she had difficulty believing the “brutality” of the ultra-Maoist government that her parents had told her little about.

“I was not born under the Khmer Rouge. I came to learn here… and understand the difficulties under the previous regime. Now I understand a lot more,” she tells AFP.

The educational initiative reached more than 60,000 children and teenagers at 92 institutions in 2024, according to the ECCC, and aims to visit 100 schools this year.

In a classroom, lawyer Ven Pov passes a microphone around between 150 or so high school students.

“Why wasn’t Pol Pot tried?”, “why weren’t (convicted Khmer Rouge cadres) given the death penalty?”, “how is it possible that famine killed so many?”, they ask one after another.

The 56-year-old Ven Pov tries his best to answer their questions but admits he still wonders why the Khmer Rouge committed such atrocities.

“We do not have answers,” he says. “We need to do more research.”



– ‘Symbolic legacy’ –



Back in the capital, the ECCC preserves hundreds of thousands of Khmer Rouge documents that are open to researchers and anyone interested.

Of the scores of ageing former leaders of the ultra-Maoist movement living freely in Cambodia, the ECCC convicted only three.

Former prime minister Hun Sen has pushed for peace and social cohesion, but critics say he sought to exploit the hybrid Cambodian-international tribunal to avoid prosecuting more Khmer Rouge cadres — of which he was once one.

“Justice and reconciliation go hand in hand,” says Ven Pov, who attributes the lack of trials to a widespread desire for unity.

“Victims want justice, but they also want peace, national unity and reconciliation.”

Nonetheless, Timothy Williams, a professor at Bundeswehr University in Munich, says “transitional justice isn’t just about those who committed the crimes, it’s also a symbolic legacy for society”.

The educational bus could have started its tours 15 years ago, he said, but added: “It’s important at a time marked by the strengthening of authoritarian power.

“The lessons of the past are crucial here.”

Cambodia genocide denial law open to abuse, say critics


By AFP

April 14, 2025

Survivors of the Khmer Rouge's genocidal regime welcome a beefed-up Cambodian law that forbids denying the movement's atrocities - Copyright AFP TANG CHHIN 

Sothy Alexis HONTANG, Suy SE

Survivors of the Khmer Rouge’s genocidal regime welcome a beefed-up Cambodian law that forbids denying the movement’s atrocities, but rights advocates and academics warn it could also stifle legitimate dissent.

Enacted last month ahead of this week’s 50th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge seizing the capital Phnom Penh, the law threatens hefty jail sentences and fines for anyone who denies the genocide that killed around two million people between 1975 and 1979.

The atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge are widely accepted by Cambodians save a dwindling group of ageing former cadres and soldiers who live mostly in the remote northwest.

The hardline Maoist group led by “Brother Number One” Pol Pot reset the calendar to “Year Zero” on April 17, 1975 and emptied cities in a bid to create a pure agrarian society free of class, politics or capital.

About a quarter of the population died — of disease, starvation, overwork or by execution — in the disastrous social engineering experiment memorably chronicled by the 1984 Oscar-winning movie “The Killing Fields”.

Some activists, however, say former prime minister Hun Sen is using the law to burnish his legacy and stifle any opposition to his son and successor, Hun Manet.

The government is trying to “reinforce state narratives rather than to genuinely encourage historical accountability”, said Sophal Ear, associate professor at Arizona State University.

“In practice, it could be another tool to silence dissent,” he said.

Political analyst Ou Virak called the law a “mistake”, adding: “A population that is afraid to discuss will be even more afraid to ask questions.”



– ‘I am the peacemaker’ –



Now 72, Hun Sen was a commander under Pol Pot before he fled to Vietnam in 1977, joining other Cambodian defectors to lead the Vietnamese army’s assault that drove the Khmer Rouge out of Phnom Penh.

In the more than 30 years Hun Sen ruled Cambodia he stifled dissent, critics say, equating opposition to his leadership as support for those he replaced.

“Hun Sen wants to impose his vision of things, saying: ‘I am the peacemaker’,” said Adriana Escobar Rodriguez of the French National Centre for Scientific Research.

One form of genocide denial tended to downplay Vietnam’s role in ousting the Khmer Rouge, she said, but another stemmed from the fact that some “people still can’t believe that Khmers could have killed other Khmers” — referring to Cambodia’s majority ethnic group.

Hun Sen has defended the stricter law, comparing it to similar legislation against Holocaust denial in Europe.

The 2013 law it replaced stemmed from a case involving one of Hun Sen’s main opponents that took place just before national elections.

Kem Sokha was accused of describing notorious Khmer Rouge prison S-21 — where an estimated 15,000 people were tortured to death — as a Vietnamese fabrication.

He has spent lengthy periods in prison on various charges since, and is currently under house arrest on treason charges and banned from politics.

Chum Mey, one of a small handful of people who emerged alive from S-21, sells books describing his experiences outside the former prison, which was turned into the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.

He says it would be stupid for anyone to deny the Khmer Rouge’s atrocities.

“There is evidence,” the 94-year-old said.

“They killed my four children and my wife.”

Long-abandoned Welsh mine revived as gold prices soar

By AFP
April 15, 2025


Clogau gold is prized for its scarcity, Welsh heritage and ties to the British royal family, fetching up to 10 times the standard market rate - Copyright AFP Brendan Smialowski
Clément ZAMPA

At the bottom of a long-abandoned mine, 50 metres below the surface, one company searches for rare Welsh gold, attracted by soaring prices and its royal connection.

The Clogau-St David’s mine, located in a national park near the coast of Wales, was flooded until its latest licence-holder, Alba Mineral Resources, spent months pumping out water to begin operations.

Down rickety ladders along narrow, damp tunnels, Alba focuses on finding quartz — a snow-like white rock that indicates the presence of gold.

“The mine up to now has been in exploration phase. We’re slowly transitioning” to proper operations, said Mark Austin, the project’s chief geologist, who spent four decades working in mines in Africa.

From the depths of the mine, they drill, blast, and haul the ore to the surface.

The first pickaxes struck Clogau in 1854, initially aimed at finding lead, before quickly turning to gold.

Local legend has it that a miner discovered the first flakes by accident after kicking a piece of rock.



– Soaring gold price –



After six decades of prosperity, the mine shut in 1911, and only occasionally reopened in the years that followed.

At the time of its final shutdown in 1998, gold sold for $300 a troy ounce (31.1 grammes).

Today, the price of gold has soared beyond $3,000 an ounce — and hit a new record on Monday, attracting investors seeking a safe-haven asset as US President Donald Trump’s stop-start tariffs roil global markets.

“The economics of coming in and finding unworked seams of gold is obviously very attractive,” said George Frangeskides, executive chairman of Alba.

“We had an idea that with modern techniques… we could find unworked seams of gold here,” he told AFP.

Clogau gold is prized for its scarcity, Welsh heritage and ties to the British royal family, fetching up to 10 times the standard market rate.

Royal family members, including Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles III, Princess Diana and Princess Catherine have all worn a Clogau wedding ring — a tradition that dates back a century to the wedding of King George VI.

The royal connection “adds, obviously, to the cachet, the allure of the project that we’re involved with”, Frangeskides told AFP.

Even with limited production — a few hundred ounces per year — he believes the venture will be profitable.

The company has invested £4 million ($5.3 million) into the site, where 10 people work.

Early test auctions of one-ounce pieces have been successful, with the first selling for £20,000 ($26,500) — more than eight times the traded price of gold.



– Once-thriving mine –



Remaining features, like rusty rails and wooden foundations, serve as reminders of the history of this once-thriving mine.

Austin, donning a hard hat, pointed to the holes in the walls where explosives will be placed to extract tiny gold particles from crushed rocks.

A promising extension to the original quartz vein, around 120-metres long, has been identified in the exploration area measuring 107 square kilometres.

World Gold Council market strategist John Reade said it is not the quality of Clogau gold that attracts its premium price but the fact it is a small, “boutique mine”.

Over the course of the mine’s history, only 80,000 ounces (2.5 tonnes) of gold have been extracted.

That compares to global gold production of around 3,600 tonnes a year, he said.

But thanks to its royal connection, the Welsh gold may attract “traditionalists, people who may be strong monarchists” willing to pay more, Reade added.

In the nearby town of Dolgellau, some locals are more concerned with the potential environmental impact than the prospect of gold.

Alba said it has reassured authorities and is committed to protecting bats that live in the area.

At the bustling Cross Keys pub in the town centre, Will Williams, a 75-year-old retired doctor, chuckled: “I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of young people around here don’t even know it exists.”

Japan orders Google to cease alleged antitrust violation

By AFP
April 15, 2025


The move mirrors similar crackdowns on Google in the United States and Europe. - Copyright AFP Sergei GAPON

Japanese authorities said Tuesday they had issued a cease-and-desist order to US tech titan Google over an alleged violation of national antitrust laws.

It is the first time the country has issued such an order to a global technology giant, Japanese media reported, and follows similar moves in Europe and the United States.

“We have concluded that Google LLC’s conduct threatens to impede fair competition,” Saiko Nakajima of the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) told reporters on Tuesday.

The problem is “related to the implementation of search functions for Android smartphones, in violation of the antitrust law”, she said.

The JFTC accuses Google of imposing binding conditions on Android smartphone manufacturers in Japan since at least July 2020.

Specifically, it says Google made sure its online app store Google Play would be installed as part of a package with its web-browser search app Chrome.

Google Play is so widely used that without it, “Android devices are basically unsellable”, a government source told AFP in December.

No financial penalties were announced Tuesday, but Nakajima said the order would increase the options available to smartphone makers.

“This will encourage competition and benefit” society, she said.

Google Japan said it was “disappointed” by the JFTC’s findings.

“(Our) agreements with Japanese partners help to promote competition and have undeniably boosted their ability to invest in product innovations which deliver more choice for consumers,” it said in a statement.

“We will review the order thoroughly to determine our next steps.”

The US government asked a judge in November to order the dismantling of Google by selling its widely used Chrome browser, in a major antitrust crackdown on the company.

And the European Commission said in 2023 that Google should sell parts of its business and could face a fine of up to 10 percent of its global revenue if it fails to comply.

In Japan, the JFTC conducted an on-site inspection of Amazon’s Japanese subsidiary in Tokyo last year, accusing it of abusing its industry dominance to drive down prices.

Amazon Japan used its coveted “buy box” — a prominent spot on its website — against sellers, pressuring them into lowering prices to give it a competitive edge over rival e-commerce sites, the JFTC said.

Europe seeks to break its US tech addiction


By AFP
April 15, 2025


EU rules say tech titans must provide a choice for users to pick a browser - Copyright AFP/File Sergei GAPON
Raziye Akkoc

With President Donald Trump more unpredictable than ever and transatlantic ties reaching new lows, calls are growing louder for Europe to declare independence from US tech.

From Microsoft to Meta, Apple to Uber, cloud computing to AI, much of the day-to-day technology used by Europeans is American.

The risks that brings were hotly debated before Trump returned to power, but now Europe is getting serious — pushing to favour European firms in public contracts and backing European versions of well-known US services.

As Europe faces Trump’s tariffs, and threatens to tax US tech unless the two sides clinch a deal averting all-out trade war, there is a growing sense of urgency.

Tech sovereignty has been front and centre for weeks: the European Union unveiled its strategy to compete in the global artificial intelligence race and is talking about its own payment system to rival Mastercard.

“We have to build up our own capacities when it comes to technologies,” EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen has said, identifying three critical sectors: AI, quantum and semiconductors.

A key concern is that if ties worsen, Washington could potentially weaponise US digital dominance against Europe — with Trump’s administration already taking aim at the bloc’s tech rules.

That is giving fresh impetus to demands by industry, experts and EU lawmakers for Europe to bolster its infrastructure and cut reliance on a small group of US firms.

“Relying exclusively on non-European technologies exposes us to strategic and economic risks,” said EU lawmaker Stephanie Yon-Courtin, who focuses on digital issues, pointing to US limits on semiconductor exports as one example.



– ‘Buy European’ push –



The data paints a stark picture.

Around two-thirds of Europe’s cloud market is in the hands of US titans: Amazon, Microsoft and Google, while European cloud providers make up only two percent.

Twenty-three percent of the bloc’s total high-tech imports in 2023 came from the United States, second only to China — in everything from aerospace and pharmaceutical tech to smartphones and chips.

Although the idea of a European social media platform to rival Facebook or X is given short shrift, officials believe that in the crucial AI field, the race is far from over.

To boost European AI firms, the EU has called for a “European preference for critical sectors and technologies” in public procurement.

“Incentives to buy European are important,” Benjamin Revcolevschi, chief executive of French cloud provider OVHcloud, told AFP, welcoming the broader made-in-Europe push.

Alison James, European government relations lead at electronics industry association IPC, summed it up: “We need to have what we need for our key industries and our critical industries to be able to make our stuff.”

There are calls for greater independence from US financial technology as well, with European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde advocating a “European offer” to rival American (Mastercard, Visa and Paypal) and Chinese payment systems (Alipay).

Heeding the call, EU capitals have discussed creating a “truly European payment system”.

Industry insiders are also aware building tech sovereignty requires massive investment, at a moment when the EU is pouring money into defence.

In an initiative called EuroStack, digital policy experts said creating a European tech ecosystem with layers including AI would cost 300 billion euros ($340 billion) by 2035.

US trade group Chamber of Progress puts it much higher, at over five trillion euros.



– Different values –



US Vice President JD Vance has taken aim at tech regulation in denouncing Europe’s social and economic model — accusing it of stifling innovation and unfairly hampering US firms, many of whom have aligned with Trump’s administration.

But for many, the bloc’s values-based rules are another reason to fight for tech independence.

After repeated abuses by US Big Tech, the EU created major laws regulating the online world including the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA).

Much to the chagrin of US digital giants, the EU in 2018 introduced strict rules to protect European users’ data, and last year ushered in the world’s broadest safeguards on AI.

In practice, supporters say the DMA encourages users to discover European platforms — for instance giving users a choice of browser, rather than the default from Apple or Google.

Bruce Lawson of Norwegian web browser Vivaldi said there was “a significant and gratifying increase in downloads in Europe”, thanks in large part to the DMA.

Lawson insists it’s not about being anti-American.

“It’s about weaning ourselves off the dependency on infrastructure that have very different values about data protection,” Lawson said.

Pointing at rules in Europe that “don’t necessarily exist in the United States”, he said users simply “prefer to have their data processed by a European company”.

Nanoplastics in soil: How soil type and pH influence mobility


By Dr. Tim Sandle
April 15, 2025

DIGITAL JOURNAL


Local farmers say decades of incompetent water management has led to a situation in which they can't use rainwater from reservoirs - Copyright AFP/File Chris DELMAS

To help to combat plastic pollution, scientists have conducted batch adsorption testing in different soil types to understand the adsorption and aggregation behavior of nanoplastics in soil.

Nanoplastics are an increasing threat to the ecosystem; however, their mobility in the soil is still underexplored. Researchers from Waseda University and the Japanese National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology investigated the adsorption and aggregation behaviour of nanoplastics in different types of soil under different pH conditions.

The researchers found that while nanoplastics do not self-aggregate, they adsorb onto soil particles and this interaction varies with soil composition and acidity. The findings suggest new directions for environmental risk assessments and pollution control.

The study provides new perspectives on the migration and environmental interactions of nanoplastics, while broadening our knowledge of pollution dynamics and soil contamination processes.

Plastics are everywhere—from packaging and textiles to electronics and medical devices. As plastic waste breaks down, it releases microscopic particles that can penetrate our ecosystems, hinder plant growth, and potentially transfer harmful pollutants to organisms, including humans. Therefore, these plastic particles are a potential threat to the ecosystem, especially in their nanoparticulate form (1–100 nm diameter), which can penetrate the environment through different routes, including the soil beneath our feet.

Researchers from Japan have set out to study the migration behavior of nanoplastics in different soil types. The scientists focused on the adsorption of the nanoplastics on soil and the aggregation characteristics of both the nanoplastics and soil particles under varying pH conditions. The aggregation properties of nanoplastics and their adsorption onto soil particle surfaces are known to affect their migration in soil.

The research team focused on three major aspects. First, the homo or self-aggregation of the nanoplastics. Second, the adsorption properties of the nanoplastics onto soil, and third, how the adsorption of nanoplastics affects the aggregation of soil particles.

To understand the behavior of the nanoplastics under different soil conditions, the researchers used two different types of soil: andosol (volcanic soil) and fine sand. “Both andosol and fine sand have extremely different properties, and we utilized these two to get a broader idea of how the behavior of nanoplastics changes with respect to soil composition and surface characteristics”.

For the self-aggregation studies of nanoplastics, the team first prepared a suspension of polystyrene nanoparticles under three different pH conditions. Further, they determined its particle size, aggregate particle size, and zeta potential—a measure of the electrical charge on particle surfaces, which helps determine the stability of nanoparticles.

Additionally, the researchers tested the adsorption properties of the polystyrene nanoparticles onto the two soil types under varying pH conditions. To analyze the adsorption behavior, the researchers used batch adsorption testing.

The analysis of aggregation and adsorption involved advanced instrumental techniques, including laser diffraction, UV spectroscopy, and zeta potential analysis. According to the results, no aggregation was observed in the polystyrene nanoparticles owing to the high negative charge on the polystyrene nanoparticles. This is because the highly negative zeta potential of the polystyrene nanoparticles causes repulsion between the particles and remains unaffected by pH changes.

This was in contrast to that observed for the adsorption properties of the nanoplastics onto soil. Polystyrene nanoparticles adsorbed onto soil, which was influenced by pH, and further, aggregation of the soil particles.

The results, therefore, suggest that the soil type and pH of the solution can critically alter the movement of nanoplastics in the soil. Understanding these important aspects could help to reform policies and strategies for mitigating plastic pollution.

The study appears in the journal Science of the Total Environment, titled “Effect of solution pH on nanoplastic adsorption onto soil particle surface and the aggregation of soil particles.”
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Palestinian student detained at US citizenship interview

PRO PALESTINE DETENTION COMING TO CANADA IF CONSERVATIVES WIN ELECTION

By AFP
April 14, 2025


Mahmoud Khalil -- a prominent face of the protest movement that erupted in response to Israel's war in Gaza -- was arrested and taken to Louisiana - Copyright AFP/File Amid FARAHI

US immigration authorities on Monday arrested another Columbia University student who participated in pro-Palestinian campus protests, detaining him as he attended an interview to become an American citizen.

Mohsen Mahdawi’s lawyers, in a court filing seeking his release and halt to any imminent deportation, also claimed President Donald Trump’s mounting crackdown on immigrant student protesters violates the US Constitution — the latest judicial challenge to the Republican adminstration.

A Palestinian born in the occupied West Bank, Mahdawi has been a legal US permanent resident since 2015, was set to graduate next month and planned to attend a Columbia master’s program this fall, the court filing said.

He is the co-founder of a Palestinian student group at Columbia alongside Mahmoud Khalil, a face of the movement who Trump has also been trying to expel since his March arrest.

“Mohsen Mahdawi of White River Junction, Vermont, walked into an immigration office for what was supposed to be the final step in his citizenship process. Instead, he was arrested and removed in handcuffs by plain-clothed, armed, individuals with their faces covered,” Senator Bernie Sanders said in a statement signed by other Vermont lawmakers.

A video apparently made by Mahdawi’s friends circulating online showed masked agents loading an individual into a black SUV.

District Judge William Sessions issued a temporary restraining order barring authorities from deporting Mahdawi or moving him out of Vermont “pending further order” from the court, a court filing showed.

The arrest of Khalil and other students associated with campus activism has triggered outrage from Trump opponents, free speech advocates and some on the political right, who say the case will have a chilling effect on freedom of expression.

Immigration officers have similarly detained and sought to deport a Tufts University student from Turkey, Rumeysa Ozturk, and Columbia student Yunseo Chung who is a US permanent resident originally from South Korea.

Their deportations have also been blocked for now by courts.

“Mahdawi was active on Columbia’s campus in organizing for Gaza and Palestine during the course of Israel’s genocide in Gaza,” the Palestinian Youth Movement said on Instagram.

“His targeting represents a continuation of the Trump administration’s campaign that began with the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil last month, and an escalation in tactics by ICE and DHS to abduct and detain students and other noncitizens who have been vocal in their opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

“We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Mohsen Mahdawi.”

Trump resurrects ghost of US military bases in Panama


ByAFP
April 15, 2025


A cargo ship transits through Panama Canal locks - Copyright AFP/File MARTIN BERNETTI
Juan Jose Rodriguez

US President Donald Trump’s bid to take back control of the Panama Canal has put his counterpart Jose Raul Mulino in a difficult position and revived fears in the Central American country that US military bases will return.

After Trump vowed to reclaim the interoceanic waterway from Chinese influence, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed an agreement with the Mulino administration last week for the United States to deploy troops in areas adjacent to the canal.

For more than two decades, after handing over control of the strategically vital waterway to Panama in 1999 and dismantling the bases that protected it, Washington has regularly conducted maneuvers in the country.

So what is changing and why is the new agreement causing controversy?

– Will US military bases return? –

Although the agreement does not allow the United States to build its own permanent bases, Washington will be able to maintain a long-term rotational force in Panama, similar to the one it has in Australia and other countries, for training, exercises and “other activities.”

The United States will be able to deploy an unspecified number of personnel to three bases that Washington built when it previously had an enclave in the canal zone.

That is a “flagrant violation” of the constitution, which prohibits foreign bases, and the 1977 handover treaties that establish the “neutrality” of the canal and permit only Panama to have military forces on national territory, Euclides Tapia, a Panamanian professor of international relations, told AFP.

But there is a loophole: one of the treaties “allows the US to defend the canal when it feels the neutrality is jeopardized,” said Will Freeman, an expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, a US-based think tank.

Benjamin Gedan, former director for South America on the US National Security Council, argues that Panama has cooperated with the United States in securing the canal.

Panamanian lawyer Arturo Hoyos sees no violation of laws or treaties, as the new agreement allows “joint” operations.

– Is Mulino in trouble? –

Mulino’s government says that the facilities and land belong to Panama and will be for “joint use” by US and Panamanian security forces.

He maintains that he has not ceded an inch of sovereignty to Trump, a natural right-wing ally.

The agreement is a “trade-off” because it “limits the Trump administration’s pressure tactics and hostility and maybe the scope of the concessions” by Panama, Freeman said.

“The risk that nobody’s pricing in, at least on the US side, is that they make Mulino a lame duck” by humiliating him, leaving the Panamanian leader “unable to govern,” he added.

Former presidential candidate Ricardo Lombana accused Mulino of “camouflaging” military bases and disguising “surrender” as “cooperation.”

“The United States is recolonizing and reoccupying us,” said Julio Yao, who advised the Panamanian government in the 1977 negotiations.

Gedan, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, believes Panamanians “are not willing” to allow the return of US bases due to the trauma of the past occupation of the canal zone and the 1989 US invasion to overthrow dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega.

– What does Trump really want? –

The United States considers a Hong Kong company’s operation of ports at both ends of the canal to be a threat to its national security.

“Trump wants to minimize the risk of Beijing blocking the canal to prevent the passage of military vessels in a potential conflict,” Gedan said.

Natasha Lindstaedt, an expert at Britain’s University of Essex, sees the US moves as “part of a larger conflict with China as the US is trying to curb China’s influence in Panama and the region more generally.”

Freeman said that the Trump administration “most likely is trying to show that if it wanted to, it could close the canal to Chinese commerce as a way of exerting pressure on China, either not to invade Taiwan or in the event of a conflict over Taiwan.”

“What we’re seeing in Panama is also about Trump’s doctrine of peace through strength,” he said.

But Tapia was skeptical that China really poses a threat, suggesting the threats were aimed at boosting Trump’s domestic support.

“Canada becoming part of the United States or saying that they will take over the canal and Greenland is just a gimmick aimed at the American public,” he said.

Nvidia to build supercomputer chips entirely in US for first time

MORE TRUMP TARIFF BULLSHITING

By AFP
April 14, 2025


Nvidia says it plans to produce about a half trillion dollars worth of artificial intelligence infrastructure in the United States by the end of the decade through partnerships with TSMC, Foxconn and others - Copyright POOL/AFP Julia Demaree Nikhinson

Nvidia on Monday announced plans to build top-end artificial intelligence supercomputer chips entirely in the United States for the first time.

Supercomputer plants are being built in Texas in partnerships with Foxconn and Wistron, with manufacturing expected to ramp up over the course of the next 12 to 15 months, according to the Silicon Valley-based company.

TSMC plants in Arizona have already started production of Nvidia’s most advanced graphics processing unit (GPU), called Blackwell, Nvidia added.

“The engines of the world’s AI infrastructure are being built in the United States for the first time,” Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang said in the blog post.

“Adding American manufacturing helps us better meet the incredible and growing demand for AI chips and supercomputers, strengthens our supply chain and boosts our resiliency.”

Nvidia plans to produce as much as half a trillion dollars worth of AI infrastructure in the United States by the end of this decade through partnerships with TSMC, Foxconn, Wistron, Amkor and SPIL.

“Onshoring these industries is good for the American worker, good for the American economy, and good for American national security,” the White House said in a statement.

The US government has clamped down on the export of sophisticated AI chips to China due to national security concerns, and keeping production close to home could allow for tighter control of designs and products.

Now, chips are poised to get caught up in a trade war between the US and China.

On Air Force One Sunday, Trump said tariffs on semiconductors — which power any major technology from e-vehicles and iPhones to missile systems — “will be in place in the not distant future.”

“We want to make our chips and semiconductors and other things in our country,” Trump reiterated.

The US president said he would announce tariffs rates for semiconductors “over the next week” and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said they would likely be in place “in a month or two.”

Nvidia expects $5.5 bn hit as US targets chips sent to China

By AFP
April 15, 2025


Companies on the AI frontlines point out that Nvidia’s primordial role makes it the de-facto kingmaker on where the technology is going. — © AFP

Nvidia on Tuesday notified regulators that it expects a $5.5 billion hit this quarter due to a new US licensing requirement on the primary chip it can legally sell in China.

US officials last week told Nvidia it must obtain licenses to export its H20 chips to China because of concerns they may be used in supercomputers there, the Silicon Valley company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, which overtook Microsoft and Apple as the world’s most valuable publicly traded company – Copyright AFP/File I-Hwa CHENG

Shares of Nvidia, which have already seen high volatility since Trump’s April 2 tariffs announcement, were down over six percent in after-market trades.

The new licensing rule applies to Nvidia GPUs (graphics processing units) with bandwidth similar to that of the H20.

The United States had already barred exports to China of Nvidia’s most sophisticated GPUs, tailored for powering top-end artificial intelligence models.

Nvidia was told the licensing requirement on H20 chips will last indefinitely, it said in the filing.

Nvidia’s current fiscal quarter ends on April 27.

“First quarter results are expected to include up to approximately $5.5 billion of charges associated with H20 products for inventory, purchase commitments, and related reserves,” Nvidia said in the filing.