Op-Ed: Clumsy US diplomacy ‘demands’ to know what Australia and Japan would do in a war with China over Taiwan


By Paul Wallis
July 14, 2025

DIGITAL JOURNAL

This frame grab from video taken on March 31, 2025 and released by the Taiwan Defence Ministry on April 1, 2025 shows Chinese military vessels in waters off Taiwan - Copyright TAIWAN DEFENCE MINISTRY/AFP Handout

Nobody has ever called the Trump administration perceptive, talented, or capable of discretion, or of being coherent on any subject.

Global defense is now basking in the joys of this uniquely American anti-skill set. For some reason, major global defense-level issues have been made public. It’s hard to describe how bottomlessly amateurish and inept the current situation is.

In an astonishingly flat-footed move, the US now wants commitments to a hypothetical war with China. It now “demands” answers from Japan and Australia to a non-existent situation while yet again stoking the fires of US/China polarization.

The Japanese were painstakingly tactful. Australia simply said it was up to the government of the day to address any real military situations, not hypotheticals.

Cunningly overlooking the often extremely complex trade and other relations between the two nations and China, the American commentary created a war scenario out of nothing.

That did not go down well. One commentator noted that Trump has made no direct commitment to defend Taiwan. Nor, I would note, has he made any commitment to defend anywhere else.

The net effect of US defense gibberish so far has been:

To make relations with China all that much more difficult based on a vague, non-existent scenario.

To divert allied military spending to non-US markets.

To antagonize allies daily.

To fumble major defense contracts.

To insist on increased military spending without defining that spending in any way.

To effectively demand that allies blow out budgets with this unspecified defense spending.

Now let’s settle in for a cosy chat about military idiocy.

The Taiwan issue is quite hot enough without uninvited babbling yokels in Washington pushing all its buttons. Any conflict would crash the global economy and create absolute chaos in any military scenario.

The world, including the US, is signed up to the One China policy, letting Taiwan and China sort it out for themselves. A few phone calls would be more productive than a war to resolve the problems. There are no benefits for anyone to be derived from a war over Taiwan. It’d be a disaster and severely damage US interests in Asia.

Any military commitment from anyone would require massive logistics over any period of time. Pouring military assets into Taiwan would be just adding clutter, not useful combat or other resources. Where are the Taiwanese supposed to put vast quantities of military assets? What about their own defense plans?

The theory of posting lots of valuable military resources at point-blank range from China is naïve to the point of imbecility, and that’s being unnecessarily polite. As a strategy, this is Manifest Delirium.

In a conflict with China, America is facing a competent near-peer adversary with a lot of depth and reach. It wouldn’t be painless and would inevitably go global. Any such conflict wouldn’t be just purely conventional military, either, given the Chinese presence on the ground around the world.

Countries like Australia, Japan, and South Korea do have their own home-grown useful military assets, which can be highly effective in a wartime environment. It’s just possible that these countries don’t want to waste them in some mindless rhetorical exercise for no reason at all.

Not for the sake of some passing political smell in DC, trying to create a profile, or a half-baked, half-witted attempt to project an image of power.

If you want friends, don’t annoy them.

_________________________________________________

Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.

Elon Musk’s xAI inks Pentagon deal for contentious Grok chatbot


By AFP
July 14, 2025


xAI apologized on Saturday for extremist and offensive messages - Copyright AFP Philip FONG

Elon Musk’s xAI, which features a large language model that has spewed Hitler-supporting rhetoric and antisemitic tropes, said Monday it has signed a deal to provide its services to the US Department of Defense.

Launched at the end of 2023, Grok has rarely been out of the headlines for its offensive gaffes, and will now offer its services as “Grok for Government.”

In addition to the Pentagon contract, “every federal government department, agency, or office (can now) purchase xAI products” thanks to its inclusion on an official supplier list, xAI added.

After an update on July 7, the chatbot praised Adolf Hitler in some responses, denounced on X “anti-white hate”, and described Jewish representation in Hollywood as “disproportionate.”

xAI apologized on Saturday for extremist and offensive messages, and said it had corrected the instructions that led to the incidents.

The new version of the chatbot, Grok 4, presented on Wednesday, consulted Musk’s positions on some questions it was asked before responding, an AFP correspondent saw.

The contract between xAI and the Department of Defense comes even as Musk and President Donald Trump are locked in a bitter feud.

The two men became close during Trump’s latest run for the presidency and, following the inauguration, the Republican billionaire entrusted Musk with managing the new agency known as DOGE to slash the government by firing tens of thousands of civil servants.

After ending his assignment in May, the South African-born entrepreneur publicly criticized Trump’s major budget bill for increasing government debt.

The president and the businessman engaged in heated exchanges on social media and in public statements before Musk apologized for some of his more combative messages.

The government and the defense sector are considered a potential growth driver for AI giants.

Meta has partnered with the start-up Anduril to develop virtual reality headsets for soldiers and law enforcement, while in June OpenAI secured a contract to provide AI services to the US military.

SPACE/COSMOS

NASA’s Artemis set to search for lunar ice


By Dr. Tim Sandle
July 12, 2025

DIGITAL JOURNAL


Part of NASA's giant SLS rocket which will be used for the Artemis mission to return humans to the Moon. — © AFP MANDEL NGAN

Back to the Moon. NASA is gearing up for a new chapter in lunar exploration by sending a trio of high-tech instruments to the Moon. Two of the devices will be attached to a new lunar rover capable of carrying astronauts or operating remotely, while the third will gather data from orbit. For the Moon-bound devices, these will be equipped onto what is known as an LTV (Lunar Terrain Vehicle).

The LTV is part of NASA’s efforts to explore the lunar surface as part of the Artemis campaign and is the first crew-driven vehicle to operate on the Moon in more than 50 years. The Artemis program’s goal is to establish a permanent base on the Moon to facilitate human missions to Mars. This means reestablishing a human presence on the Moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

Designed to hold up to two astronauts, as well as operate remotely without a crew, this surface vehicle will enable NASA to achieve more of its science and exploration goals over a wide swath of lunar terrain

.

Will the Moon be a source of Earth bound dispute and conflict? Image by Tim Sandle, taken at the Greenwich Maritime Museum.

These tools will focus on hunting for ice, mapping minerals, and analysing what lies beneath the surface. The aim is to offer a clearer picture of the Moon s makeup and its potential resources. While a future battle over resources might send geopolitical shudders through many, understanding more about our only satellite offers an enticing jump in scientific understanding.

Hunting minerals with AIRES

The Artemis Infrared Reflectance and Emission Spectrometer (AIRES) will identify, quantify, and map lunar minerals and volatiles, which are materials that evaporate easily, like water, ammonia, or carbon dioxide. The instrument will capture spectral data overlaid on visible light images of both specific features of interest and broad panoramas to discover the distribution of minerals and volatiles across the Moon’s south polar region.

Looking beneath the surface

The Lunar Microwave Active-Passive Spectrometer (L-MAPS) will help define what is below the Moon’s surface and search for possible locations of ice. Containing both a spectrometer and a ground-penetrating radar, the instrument suite will measure temperature, density, and subsurface structures to more than 131 feet (40 meters) below the surface.

The L-MAPS instrument team is led by Matthew Siegler from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Another aim is to uncover clues to the history of rocky worlds in our solar system.

T

he Moon, through trees. Image by Tim Sandle.

From above

The Ultra-Compact Imaging Spectrometer for the Moon (UCIS-Moon) will be used in orbit. The instrument will provide regional context to the discoveries made from the LTV. From above, UCIS-Moon will map the Moon’s geology and volatiles and measure how human activity affects those volatiles.

The spectrometer also will help identify scientifically valuable areas for astronauts to collect lunar samples, while its wide-view images provide the overall context for where these samples will be collected.

The UCIS-Moon instrument will also provide the Moon’s highest spatial resolution data of surface lunar water, mineral makeup, and thermophysical properties.

What this all means

According to Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate: “The Artemis Lunar Terrain Vehicle will transport humanity farther than ever before across the lunar frontier on an epic journey of scientific exploration and discovery.”

She adds: “By combining the best of human and robotic exploration, the science instruments selected for the LTV will make discoveries that inform us about Earth’s nearest neighbour as well as benefit the health and safety of our astronauts and spacecraft on the Moon.”

These instruments will enable scientists to characterise the surface not only where astronauts explore, but also across the south polar region of the Moon, offering further opportunities for scientific discovery.

Can microbial life exist on other planets? Lichens provide the answer


By Dr. Tim Sandle
July 13, 2025

DIGITAL JOURNAL

The orange sea lichen, found on coastal rocks. Image by Rosser1954 Roger Griffith - Own work, Public Domain.

Lichen from the Mojave Desert can survive, and replicate, under levels of extreme solar radiation – levels of radiation equivalent to that found on Earth-like planets in other solar systems. This is due to a microscopic “sunscreen” layer that protects the cells within the complex.

Lichens are organisms that consist of a symbiotic association of fungi and algae (or, more accurately, cyanobacteria). The complexes can be found in various environments worldwide and are known for their ability to colonise surfaces like tree bark and rocks.

Lichens play an important role in ecosystems, serving as indicators of air quality by absorbing pollutants and contributing to cleaner air. They are also often visually impressive, appearing as colourful patches on trees and rocks.

The structure of lichens includes layers of fungi and algae, with the thallus being the prominent non-reproductive body

.

A lichen that grows like powder dusted on a rock. Image by Tigerente – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

Mojave Desert lichen

Researchers from the U.S. Desert Research Institute have been examining the common lichen Clavascidium lacinulatum, found in the Mojave Desert. The lichen survived for three months under levels of solar radiation previously considered lethal. Remarkably, the lichen was able to recover and replicate.

C. lacinulatum is a dark brown squamulous terricolous lichen. In one of the areas it can be commonly found – Joshua Tree National Park, U.S. – it is the most common of the biological soil crust lichens.

According to lead scientist Henry Sun: “The study was motivated by a curious observation…I was just walking in the desert and I noticed that the lichens growing there aren’t green, they’re black. They are photosynthetic and contain chlorophyll, so you would think they’d be green. So I wondered, ‘What is the pigment they’re wearing?’ And that pigment turned out to be the world’s best sunscreen.”

Exoplanets and other life

In relation to life on other worlds, scientists have pondered whether many of the Earth-like planets discovered in recent years could possibly harbour life. However, several of these planets revolve around stars known as M and F stars that emit intense UVC radiation, especially during solar flares. UVC rays represent the shorter, more damaging wavelengths, proving lethal to life after a given period of exposure.

Sun collected the lichen from the Mojave Desert close to Las Vegas. He placed it next to a UVC lamp in a controlled laboratory setting for three months straight. Remarkably, half of the algal cells in the lichen remained viable and replicated when rehydrated.

Why is the lichen resistant?

Sun investigated the lichen’s protective layer by cutting a cross-section of it and he found that the top layer was darker, analogous to a human’s suntan. When the algal cells were separated from the fungi and protective layer, exposure to the same UVC radiation killed the fungal cells in less than a minute.

The discovery that lichen has evolved this protective layer to UVC radiation was surprising, because it is not necessary for their survival. Earth’s atmosphere filters out UVC rays. Sun assumes the protection is a mere bonus, as by-product of the lichen’s protection from the type of ultraviolet radiation that reaches the surface – UVA and UVB.

Some of the damage that occurs from exposure to intense solar radiation is the result of chemical reactions with the atmosphere, particularly the production of ozone when oxygen, nitric oxide, and UV radiation interact. To test the lichen’s protection under different atmospheric conditions, the researchers placed it in an oxygen-free box with the UVC light and found that the radiation damage was further reduced.

The scientists conclude that the lichen’s top layer – a less than one millimetre thick – assures that all the cells below are protected from radiation. This layer acts as a photo stabiliser and protects the cells from harmful chemical reactions caused by the radiation, including reactive oxygen.

The research appears in the journal Astrobiology, titled “UVC-Intense Exoplanets May Not Be Uninhabitable: Evidence from a Desert Lichen.”

Peruvian citadel that is nearly 4,000 years old opens doors to tourists


By AFP
July 12, 2025


The citadel of Penico, now opened to the public, was built in Peru nearly 4,000 years ago - Copyright AFP JUSTIN TALLIS

Carlos MANDUJANO

To the music of conch shell trumpets, a 3,800-year-old citadel of the Caral civilization — one of the oldest in the world — opened its doors to visitors in Peru on Saturday, after eight years of study and restoration work.

The archaeological site, known as Penico, was a meeting point for trade between the first human communities on the Pacific coast and those from the Andes and Amazon regions, researchers have said.

Located in the Supe valley, some 110 miles (180 kilometers) north of the Peruvian capital Lima and around 12 miles from the Pacific ocean, Penico was a hilly landscape before exploration work began in 2017.

Archaeologists believe it could hold insights into why the Caral civilization — which flourished between 3,000 and 1,800 BC — faded.

At the opening ceremony, artists from the region played pututus — the traditional shell trumpets — during an ancestral ritual offering to the Pachamama, Mother Earth, consisting of agricultural products, coca leaves and local drinks.

Penico was an “organized urban center devoted to agriculture and trade between the coast, the mountains and the forest,” archaeologist Ruth Shady, who leads research on the site, told AFP.

The site itself dates back to between 1,800 and 1,500 BC, she added.

It was built on a geological terrace 2000 feet (600 meters) above sea level, parallel to a river to avoid flooding.

Research carried out by the Peruvian Ministry of Culture has identified 18 constructions, including buildings and residential complexes.

Researchers believe that it was built at the same time as the first civilizations in the Middle East and Asia.

Shady said researchers are hoping the site can shed light on the crisis they think helped hasten the end of the Caral civilization.

This crisis, she said, was linked to climatic changes that led to droughts and affected agricultural activities in the region.

“We want to understand how the Caral civilization formed and developed over time, and how it came to be in crisis as a result of climate change,” she added.

Rewriting the past: Indonesia’s new history books spook scholars

By AFP
July 12, 2025


Scholars fear the Indonesian government's plans to issue new history books could be used to cover up past abuses like the 1998 riots targeting mostly ethnic Chinese - Copyright AFP/File CHOO Youn-Kong

Marchio GORBIANO

The Indonesian government’s plans to issue new history books have sparked fears that mention of deadly riots in 1998 targeting mostly ethnic Chinese in the country will be scrubbed from the text.

The 10-volume account was ordered by the administration of President Prabowo Subianto, an ex-general accused of abducting activists in the unrest that preceded dictator Suharto’s fall, claims he denies.

Scholars fear his government could use the exercise to rewrite history and cover up past abuses.

Draft volume summaries and a chapter outline seen by AFP do not include any specific section on the 1998 violence.

A summary of Suharto’s rule in the volume dedicated to him only mentions how “student demonstrations… became a factor” in his resignation.

“The writing was flawed since the beginning,” said Andi Achdian, historian at Jakarta’s National University, who has seen the outline.

“It has a very strong tendency to whitewash history.”

Suharto ruled Indonesia with an iron fist for more than three decades after grabbing power in the wake of a 1965-6 massacre.

The culture minister overseeing the government’s history project, Fadli Zon, told lawmakers last week the account “does not discuss May ’98… because it’s small”.

Neither does it promise to include most of the “gross human rights violations” acknowledged by former president Joko Widodo in 2023.

Jajat Burhanudin, a project editor, contradicted Fadli and dismissed concerns, telling AFP the new volumes would include 1998 events, with the draft outline just a “trigger for discussion”.

Officials say the new historical account is needed to strengthen Indonesian identity, but warned that any omission about its darkest past will raise eyebrows over objectivity.

“What is feared is that… the cases that have been accepted by the previous government to be resolved will be ignored,” said Marzuki Darusman, a former attorney general and head of a civil society coalition opposed to the volumes.

– ‘Updated’ history –

While it remains unclear how the government plans to use the books, Jajat said the volumes could be used as “one of the main sources” for history books taught in schools.

Neither historian Susanto Zuhdi, who is helming the project, nor the presidential palace responded to requests for comment.

The revisionist history garnered renewed scrutiny after the culture minister questioned whether mass rape had occurred at the end of Suharto’s rule.

Ethnic Chinese Indonesians bore the brunt of the bloodshed during the riots, when rape squads — purportedly led by army thugs — roamed Jakarta’s streets.

“Was there really mass rape? There was never any proof,” Fadli told local media in an interview last month.

“If there is, show it.”

A 1998 fact-finding report, commissioned by Indonesia’s first president after Suharto, found at least 52 reported cases of rape in the unrest.

“This project risks erasing uncomfortable truths,” said Usman Hamid, executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia.

Fadli told AFP the nation-building project would go ahead despite criticism.

“The consensus (is) we continue,” he said.

“This is an updated version of our history,” he added, saying there would be a public debate “this month”, without elaborating.

– ‘Historical propaganda’ –

The project involves 113 academics including historians, but at least one of them has resigned.

Archaeologist Harry Truman Simanjuntak told AFP he quit in a dispute over language — the term “early history” was used instead of “prehistory” for Indonesia’s ancient civilisation.

Fadli told lawmakers the phrase was avoided because it was created by Indonesia’s former Dutch rulers.

But Harry said it showed the political influence over the text.

“It was very obvious that editors’ authority did not exist. They were under the control of the government,” he said.

The furore around the project has caused some opposition lawmakers and critics to call for its suspension or cancellation.

Activist Maria Catarina Sumarsih, whose son was killed in a military crackdown after Suharto’s fall, accused the writers of warping the past.

“The government is deceiving the public… especially young people,” she said.

Others said documenting Indonesia’s past was best left to academics.

“If the government feel this nation needs a history that could make us proud… it can’t be through the government’s version of historical propaganda,” said Marzuki.

“It should be the result of the work of historians.”

‘Las Vegas in Laos’: the riverside city awash with crime


By AFP
July 13, 2025


The Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone in Laos was set up in 2007, when the Laos government granted the Kings Romans Group a 99-year lease on the area

 - Copyright AFP STR

Rising from the muddy fields on the Mekong riverbank in Laos, a lotus tops a casino in a sprawling city which analysts decry as a centre for cybercrime.

Shabby, mismatched facades –- including an Iberian-style plaza replete with a church tower, turrets and statues — stand alongside high-rise shells.

The Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (GTSEZ) is the most prominent of more than 90 such areas established across the Mekong region in recent years, often offering people reduced taxes or government regulation.

Traffic signs in the GTSEZ are in Chinese script, while everything from cigarettes to jade and fake Christian Dior bags are sold in China’s yuan.

Analysts say the towers are leased out as centres operating finance and romance scams online, a multibillion-dollar industry that shows no signs of abating despite Beijing-backed crackdowns in the region.

The GTSEZ was set up in 2007, when the Laos government granted the Kings Romans Group a 99-year lease on the area.

Ostensibly an urban development project to attract tourists with casinos and resorts, away from official oversight international authorities and analysts say it quickly became a centre for money laundering and trafficking.

The city has now evolved, they say, into a cybercrime hub that can draw workers from around the world with better-paying jobs than back home.

Laundry hung out to dry on the balconies of one high-rise building supposed to be a tourist hotel, while the wide and palm-lined boulevards were eerily quiet.

It is a “juxtaposition of the grim and the bling”, according to Richard Horsey of the International Crisis Group.

It gives the “impression of opulence, a sort of Las Vegas in Laos”, he said, but it is underpinned by the “grim reality” of a lucrative criminal ecosystem.

– ‘Horrendous illicit activities’ –

In the daytime a few gamblers placed their bets at the blackjack tables in the city’s centrepiece Kings Romans Casino, where a Rolls Royce was parked outside.

“There are people from many different countries here,” said one driver offering golf buggy tours of the city, who requested anonymity for security reasons. “Indians, Filipinos, Russians and (people from) Africa.”

“The Chinese mostly own the businesses,” he added.

Cyberfraud compounds have proliferated in special economic zones across Southeast Asia, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

Kings Romans’ importance as a “storage, trafficking, deal-making, and laundering hub (is) likely to expand”, it said in a report last year, despite crackdowns on illegal activities.

The founder of the Kings Romans Group and the GTSEZ is Zhao Wei, a Chinese businessman with close links to the Laos government, which has given him medals for his development projects.

He and three associates, along with three of his companies, were sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2018 over what it called “an array of horrendous illicit activities” including human, drug and wildlife trafficking and child prostitution.

Britain sanctioned him in 2023, saying he was responsible for trafficking people to the economic zone.

“They were forced to work as scammers targeting English-speaking individuals and subject to physical abuse and further cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment,” Britain’s Treasury said.

The same year and again last August, authorities in China and Laos cracked down on cyberfraud operations in the GTSEZ, raiding offices and arresting hundreds of suspects.

– ‘Violence doesn’t always pay’ –

With public anger in China mounting, over both scamming itself and alleged kidnappings, Beijing instigated raids this year on centres in Myanmar and Cambodia.

The operations primarily targeted Chinese workers, thousands of whom were released and repatriated, along with hundreds of other foreigners.

Some say they are trafficking victims or were tricked and forced to scam people online, but some authorities say they are there voluntarily.

Scammers have adapted by shifting their locations and targets, specialists say, and Horsey explained that trafficking and abuses have reduced as the business model has developed.

“If you’re trying to scale and produce a huge business… violence doesn’t always pay,” he said.

“It’s better to have motivated workers who aren’t scared, who aren’t looking over their shoulder, who are actually free to… do their job.”

Beijing realises it cannot completely stop criminality in the region, so prefers to manage it, he added.

Chinese authorities can “pick up the phone” to Zhao and tell him: “Don’t do this, limit this, don’t target Chinese people”, he said.

That “is actually more valuable for China than trying to eradicate it everywhere and just lose all influence over it”.

The United States Institute for Peace estimated in 2024 that Mekong-based criminal syndicates were probably stealing more than $43.8 billion annually.

Representatives of both the GTSEZ and Kings Romans did not respond to AFP’s repeated requests for comment, while Zhao could not be reached.

The Laos government could not be reached for comment, but the official Lao News Agency said after last year’s busts that the country was “committed to decisively addressing and eliminating cyber-scam” activity.

France’s military pigeons race in memory of brave predecessors

By AFP
July 14, 2025


Around 200 pigeons live in Mont Valerien

 - Copyright AFP/File SAUL LOEB, Pavel Bednyakov

Tea Ziade

These days, French military pigeon number 193-529 is no longer needed to carry tiny messages during war-time communication blackouts.

But the racing bird serves as a reminder of the brave service of its predecessors in World Wars I and II, and the 1870 siege of Paris.

Inside Europe’s last military pigeon loft, Sergeant Sylvain cradled 193-529, an alert feathered athlete with an iridescent green neck.

“He’s a carrier pigeon, like the ones who served in World Wars I and II,” said Sylvain, withholding his surname for security purposes.

“But today he races,” added the member of the armed forces, whose grandfather was also a pigeon fancier.

In Mont Valerien outside Paris, Sylvain flits between dovecotes, tending to some 200 pigeons — cleaning their shelters and making sure they have enough to eat.

These days, they only use their navigating skills when they are released during competitions, military ceremonies, or demonstrations for visitors, he said.

Humans have been using homing pigeons since Antiquity, but the French military started using them as a communication tool during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 after the Prussians besieged Paris.

In October that year, the interior minister boarded a hot-air balloon to flee the French capital.

Around a month later, the French military had elaborated a messenger pigeon plan to communicate with people still in the city, according to a French government account.

– ‘Pigeongrams’ –

Patriotic Parisians donated more than 300 pigeons to the war effort, which were loaded into the wicker baskets of hot-air balloons and transported southwards to the city of Tours.

Upon arrival they were fitted with small tubes containing 3 to 4 cm (1 to 1.5 inch) of microfilm on which minute messages had been inscribed, called “pigeongrams”.

They were then released as close to the capital as possible so they could carry them back inside.

Only around 50 pigeons made it.

Parisians who found the pigeons then placed the microfilm between sheets of glass and, using a magic lantern — an early type of image projector, projected it onto a large screen to read it.

They transcribed the contents and delivered the message to its intended recipient.

During the two world wars, pigeons were used again when “modern means of communication reached their limits”, such as “bombardments ripping down telephone lines”, Sylvain said.

During World War II, a French pigeon helped alert Allies that six German U-boats were undergoing maintenance in the French port of Bordeaux, leading to aerial raids that destroyed four of them, Sylvain said.

The pigeon, nicknamed “Maquisard” like some members of the French Resistance, received an award.

– Old training manuals –

A British pigeon too made headlines.

Gustav, a homing pigeon in the British Royal Air Force, travelled 240 km (150 miles) back across the Channel to break the first news of the D-Day landings in June 1944, according to the Imperial War Museum.

He carried a message from a war correspondent, and was also awarded a medal.

The French military last relied on homing pigeons during the war in Algeria from 1954 to 1962 that led to the North African country’s independence from France.

In 1961, the French armed forces ended the messenger pigeon programme.

Sylvain said the military continued to train the birds for a while, fearing an electromagnetic attack would bring down communications.

But today there is no longer such a risk, he said, with the military having set up specialised shields to protect its communications from any such attack.

Should the need for messenger pigeons however return, Sylvain says he is ready.

“I have all the training manuals from World War I right up to 1961,” he said.

“It worked a century ago, so I don’t see why it wouldn’t again today.”

EU climate VP seeks ‘fair competition’ with China on green energy


By AFP
July 14, 2025


The EU imposed extra import taxes of up to 35 percent on Chinese electric vehicle imports in October - Copyright AFP/File GREG BAKER

Oliver HOTHAM

The European Union is seeking “fair competition” with China and not a race to the bottom in wages and environmental standards, the bloc’s vice president for the clean transition told AFP on Monday.

Deep frictions exist over economic relations between the 27-nation bloc and Beijing.

Brussels is worried that a manufacturing glut propelled by massive state subsidies could add to a yawning trade deficit and result in a flood of cheap Chinese goods undercutting European firms.

Speaking during a visit to Beijing ahead of a major EU-China summit in the city this month, Teresa Ribera dismissed China’s claims that the bloc was engaging in “protectionism”.

“We Europeans don’t want to go down a race towards low incomes, lower labour rights or lower environmental standards,” said Ribera, who also serves as the bloc’s competition chief.

“It is obvious that we could not be in a good position if there could be an … over-flooding in our markets that could undermine us with prices that do not reflect the real cost,” she said.

The EU imposed extra import taxes of up to 35 percent on Chinese electric vehicle imports in October and has investigated Chinese-owned solar panel manufacturers.

Asked whether EU moves against Chinese green energy firms could harm the global transition to renewables, Ribera said: “It is fair to say that, yes, we may benefit in the very short term.”

However, she also warned “it could kill the possibility” of long-term investment in the bloc’s future.

– Global disruption –

Ribera’s visit comes as Beijing seeks to improve relations with the European Union as a counterweight to superpower rival the United States, whose President Donald Trump has disrupted the global order and pulled Washington out of international climate accords.

“I don’t think that we have witnessed many occasions in the past where a big economy, a big country, decides to isolate in such a relevant manner,” she told AFP.

“It is a pity.

“The Chinese may think that the United States has given them a great opportunity to be much more relevant in the international arena,” Ribera said.

The visit also comes as the bloc and the United States wrangle over a trade deal. Trump threw months of negotiations into disarray on Saturday by announcing he would hammer the bloc with sweeping tariffs if no agreement was reached by August 1.

Ribera vowed on Monday that the EU would “defend the interests of our companies, our society, our business”.

Asked if a deal was in sight, she said: “Who knows? We’ll do our best.”

However, she insisted that EU digital competition rules — frequently condemned by Trump as “non-tariff barriers” to trade — were not on the table.

“It’s a question of sovereignty,” Ribera said.

“We are not going to compromise on the way we understand that we need to defend our citizens and our society, our values and our market.”

The activist who fought for Sierra Leone’s first World Heritage site


By AFP
July 13, 2025


Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary in Sierra Leone that has become a UNESCO World Heritage Site - Copyright AFP Saidu BAH

Lucie PEYTERMANN, with Saidu BAH on Tiwai Island

Activist Tommy Garnett’s decades of work paid off when Sierra Leone’s Tiwai island — a lush forest home to one of the world’s highest concentrations of primates — landed a spot Sunday on the UN cultural agency’s World Heritage list.

The 66-year-old and the conservation group he founded are the reason Tiwai, which was nearly destroyed during Sierra Leone’s 1991-2002 civil war, still exists.

“I feel very happy, relieved, hopeful,” the environmentalist told AFP from the verdant island, ahead of the announcement.

The Gola-Tiwai complex, which also includes the nearby Gola Rainforest National Park, will be Sierra Leone’s first UNESCO site.

UNESCO director general Audrey Azoulay called Gola-Tiwai “a jewel of biodiversity, a sanctuary for rare species and a model of community management.”

The wildlife and fauna in the two areas have been imperilled for years by threats such as deforestation.

Tiwai island, located in the Moa river, measures just 12 square kilometres (4.5 square miles) and has 11 species of primates — including the endangered western chimpanzee, the king colobus monkey and the Diana monkey.

In 1992, Garnett, who has dedicated his life to environmental projects in west Africa, created the Environmental Foundation for Africa (EFA).

In the early 2000s, he started working to save Tiwai. Today, the wildlife sanctuary is a gleaming success story for Sierra Leone.

Even as the country descended into civil war or was ravaged by Ebola in 2014, Garnett was able to stave off deforestation, poaching and other threats.



– Raising the alarm –



As well its primates, Tiwai has animals such as the pygmy hippopotamus and the critically endangered African forest elephant.

While Gola is the largest expanse of tropical rainforest in Sierra Leone, Tiwai, located to the south, serves as a centre for biodiversity research and a destination for ecotourism.

In order to achieve this for Tiwai, EFA had to convince local communities to abandon certain activities to protect the forest.

The tourism revenue in turn helps provide jobs, training and technical agricultural assistance.

During the civil war, the island’s wildlife was almost decimated, but Garnett, his NGO and donors brought it back from the brink.

The centre’s structures had become dilapidated, the ground covered in empty rifle cartridges and people began logging trees, Garnett said.

“We raised the alarm that this place was going,” he said.

The environmentalist quickly found funding for reconstruction and raising awareness among local communities.



– ‘Country is grateful’ –



Since then, Garnett and his group have safeguarded the haven despite an onslaught of Ebola, Covid-19 and disastrous weather.

“Our lives and livelihoods and cultures and traditions are so inextricably linked to the forest that if the forest dies, a big part of us dies with it,” he said.

An avid cyclist and yoga enthusiast, Garnett’s warm, welcoming approach has easily won him allies.

“One of my first experiences in life was having a forest as backyard and recognizing the richness of it,” he said.

Garnett was born in 1959 in the rural district of Kono in the country’s east, and lived there until age 18.

After studying agriculture and development economics abroad, he returned home in the 1990s to reconnect with his family and help Sierra Leone during the war.

He began working in environmental protection after witnessing the conflict’s destruction and its reliance on mineral resources and mining, particularly diamonds.

For 30 years, he and foundation colleagues have travelled the country confronting traffickers and conducting community meetings.

Over the past 20 years, EFA has planted more than two million trees in deforested areas across Sierra Leone, Garnett said, including 500,000 between 2020 and 2023.

The country’s environment minister, Jiwoh Abdulai, told AFP he was “really excited and thrilled” about UNESCO’s decision, adding that Garnett gave him a lot of “hope and optimism”.

His contributions preserving nature are something “that the entire country is grateful for”, he said.

Anger in West Bank village at funeral of two young men

SILENCE FROM TRUMP IS DEAFENING


By AFP
July 13, 2025


US Palestinian Saif al-Din Abdul Karim Musalat, 20, and Mohammed al-Shalabi, 23, were killed in clashes with Israeli settlers on Friday 

- Copyright AFP/File Samuel Alabi

Chloe ROUVEYROLLES-BAZIRE

Palestinian-American Saif al-Din Abdul Karim Musalat’s body — draped in a flag and covered with a yellow and orange wreath — was carried through the crowded streets of Al-Mazra’ah ash-Sharqiyah in the occupied West Bank on Sunday.

The village, perched atop limestone hills, is known for its colonnaded villas and manicured gardens — and its few thousand residents who mostly come from the Palestinian diaspora in North America.

Musalat, 20, was one of them. Born and raised in Florida, he ran an ice cream parlour in Tampa, arriving in the Palestinian territory just a few weeks ago with a plan to spend the summer with his mother and siblings.

But on Friday, he was beaten to death by Israeli settlers in nearby Sinjil, the Palestinian health ministry said, in the latest violence to hit the village north of Ramallah.

Hundreds gathered on Sunday, chanting prayers and slogans at Musalat’s funeral. Inside his family’s upmarket home, women wept and screamed at the sight of the young man’s lifeless body.

On one of the walls, the young man looked from a poster — his beard neatly groomed and against the backdrop of the Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem’s Islamic sanctuary.

Two teenagers embraced as tears ran down their faces. “It’s awful,” one of them sobbed.

In recent months, the area has witnessed frequent attacks by Israeli settlers, sometimes backed by the Israeli army, local residents say.

A few days before Musalat’s death, the UN said that “attacks, harassment, and intimidation by Israeli settlers against Palestinians have become a daily reality”.

– ‘Dehumanisation’ –

Musalat’s family said he was killed on farmland owned by them. Israeli settlers beat him brutally, they claimed, leaving him to die for over three hours and preventing a medical team from reaching him.

The Israeli army confirmed that “violent clashes” occurred Friday “between Palestinians and Israeli civilians, along with acts of vandalism against Palestinian property” in the area, and said an investigation had been launched.

The victim’s father told reporters after the funeral: “We demand justice for these terrorist settlers. There’s no doubt that they are terrorists. They’re illegally on these lands — they do not belong to them,” said Kamil Hafez Musalat.

“We demand the US government do something about it. They’re always saying, you know, for justice, justice, justice. But as Palestinians, they dehumanise us,” he added.

Hafez Abdoul Jabar, also a dual national, said he had been waiting for help from the US Embassy for weeks.

“We need protection,” he told the crowd, adding that it has become nearly impossible for residents of the area to access their land without risking their lives.

Jabar is also a bereaved father: his son was killed in January 2024 under unclear circumstances involving settlers and the Israeli military, his family reported.

– Anger –

In the village schoolyard, hundreds of men gathered to recite mourning prayers for Musalat and Mohammed al-Shalabi, 23, who also died on Friday after being shot during the attack and “left to bleed for hours”, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

“We are people trying to live in peace. We try to protect our land. We have nothing against the world or against Israelis — we are just trying to preserve our land,” said his uncle, Samer al-Shalabi, calling the attacks “barbaric and savage”.

“We will pursue justice as far as we can — but what good is the law if the judge is our enemy?”

Violence in the Palestinian territory has surged since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, after the Palestinian militants’ attack on October 7, 2023.

At least 955 Palestinians — both militants and civilians — have been killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers, according to an AFP tally based on data from the Palestinian Authority.

At the same time, at least 36 Israelis, including both civilians and members of security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations in the West Bank, according to official Israeli data.