Cambodia reveals damage to UNESCO-listed temple after Thailand clashes


By AFP
February 6, 2026


Cambodian officials say heavy artillery shelling and aerial bombardment carried out by the Thai army caused damage to the Preah Vihear temple - Copyright AFP TANG CHHIN

 Sothy Suy Se

Chunks of broken sandstone litter Cambodia’s UNESCO-listed Preah Vihear temple, whose centuries-old sandstone facades are pocked with fresh shrapnel scars after weeks of deadly border clashes with neighbouring Thailand.

Considered a masterpiece of Khmer architecture that looks out over the northern Cambodian plains, the temple became a war zone when a longstanding border dispute erupted into fighting with jets, artillery, tanks and ground troops last year.

Dozens of people were killed and more than a million displaced before the Southeast Asian neighbours agreed a ceasefire in December.

AFP was the first international media outlet to access the Preah Vihear temple since the clashes, documenting extensive damage to the ornate sandstone complex dating back to the 11th century.

Cambodian officials who escorted AFP said the destruction resulted from heavy artillery shelling and aerial bombardment carried out by the Thai army.

“The damage is very serious,” said Ea Darith, director of conservation and archeology at the Preah Vihear Authority, which is charged with preserving the temple.

He said 420 parts of the complex were damaged in December, and another 142 in a previous round of violence in July.

“Some temple structures could collapse. We need urgent intervention,” he said, adding that Cambodia will consult with UNESCO on how to make repairs.

The UN cultural agency told AFP in January that it would send a team to assess the damage following a Cambodian request. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

“Restoration will be difficult, take time and cost a lot,” Ea Darith said.



– ‘Damage everywhere’ –



The row between Cambodia and Thailand dates back to the drawing of their 800-kilometre (500-mile) frontier in the early 20th century during French colonial rule.

The Preah Vihear temple, which has been a UNESCO heritage site since 2008, has been a point of contention between the neighbours.

The International Court of Justice granted Cambodia sovereignty over Preah Vihear in 1962 and over a patch of land surrounding the temple in 2013, but Thailand does not recognise the tribunal’s jurisdiction.

A contested area near the temple was also the site of military clashes in 2008, and sporadic violence for several years after led to the deaths of two dozen people.

Some of the damage inflicted during last year’s fighting cannot be repaired, said Hem Sinath, deputy director of the Preah Vihear Authority.

He said that some affected areas may be preserved as “museum sites to show the damage from the firing from the Thai side”.

AFP journalists saw several unexploded shells at the site.

Thailand in December accused Cambodian forces of deliberately using the ancient site as a military outpost, saying it therefore lost its protected status.

“The Thai army fired a lot at the temple on the last day,” said a police officer stationed at the temple, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to media.

“The damage is everywhere… They wanted to destroy the temple.”

Stellantis takes massive hit for ‘overestimation’ of EV shift


By AFP
February 6, 2026


Stellantis chief Antonio Filosa presenting a new Fiat 500 Hybrid at the company's plant in Turin, Italy, in November 2025 - Copyright AFP MARCO BERTORELLO

Jeep maker Stellantis warned Friday that it would take a 22 billion euro hit after a slower takeup of electric vehicles than it expected, the latest sign that legacy automakers are struggling to navigate the shift away from combustion engines.

The admission of a “significant overestimation” of demand for EVs comes as authorities in the US and Europe have eased strict emissions targets after years of demanding cleaner vehicles.

US auto giants Ford and General Motors also recently announced multibillion-dollar write-downs as they pull back on EV operations, sparked in large part by President Donald Trump’s scrapping of hefty US subsidies for electric cars.

But the colossal $26 billion write-down at Stellantis also comes after months of management turmoil that saw the ousting of former chief Carlos Tavares in late 2024 over his contested premium pricing policy.

He was replaced in July by Antonio Filosa, an Italian and Fiat veteran who immediately embarked on a management shake-up and a vow to restore profitability after a 70 percent plunge in 2024 net profit to 5.5 billion euros.

But Filosa has not stopped the erosion of Stellantis’s stock price, which plunged nearly 23 percent Friday to 6.32 euros — and has lost roughly three-fourths of its value since March 2024.

“The charges announced today largely reflect the cost of over-estimating the pace of the energy transition that distanced us from many car buyers’ real-world needs, means and desires,” Filosa said in a statement.

“They also reflect the impact of previous poor operational execution, the effects of which are being progressively addressed by our new team,” he said.

Filosa will host a conference call with investors at 2:00 pm (1300 GMT) on Friday.

– ‘Freedom of choice’ –

Stellantis, whose 14 brands also include Fiat and Peugeot as well as Ram trucks, Dodge, Chrysler and Maserati, has been slammed in particular by falling sales in its key North American market.

It was born of the 2021 merger of France’s PSA with its US-Italian rival Fiat Chrysler, creating the world’s fourth-biggest automaker.

“Even though a ‘reset’ was widely expected… the scope of today’s announcements are beyond even the most cautious expectations,” said analysts at investment bank Oddo BhF said, adding they had anticipated a 7 billion euro write-down.

In its statement, Stellantis said reducing its EV focus would offer clients “freedom of choice, including for those customers whose lifestyles and working requirements make the company’s growing range of hybrid and advanced internal combustion engine vehicles the right solution”.

As recently as October it announced plans to invest $13 billion in US plants over the next four years, widely seen as a response to Trump’s tariffs on imported autos and parts.

Later that month it posted a 13 percent rise in third-quarter revenues, citing improved business in the United States.

“We have gone deep into every corner of our business and are making the necessary changes, mobilising all the passion and ingenuity we have within Stellantis,” Filosa said in the statement.

VW and Stellantis urge help to keep carmaking in Europe


By AFP
February 5, 2026


Europe's carmakers are battling high manufacturing costs, weak demand and fierce competition - Copyright AFP Patrick T. Fallon

Europe’s largest carmakers Volkswagen and Stellantis have called for subsidies to keep carmaking in the EU as they struggle with challenges from US tariffs to Chinese competition, in an article published Thursday.

Electric cars largely made within the bloc should benefit from subsidies for buyers, orders from government as well as a “CO2 bonus” paid directly to carmakers, VW boss Oliver Blume and Stellantis chief Antonio Filosa said.

“European taxpayers’ money should be carefully deployed to promote European production and bring investment into the EU,” they wrote in a piece published in European media including French business newspaper Les Echos and German daily Handelsblatt.

“In a world where others proudly defend their industries, Europe must urgently decide whether it wants to become merely a market for others or remain a producer and industrial power in the future,” they added.

Europe’s automakers are struggling on multiple fronts, afflicted by tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump as well as Chinese dominance of the supply chain for electric vehicles, including batteries and rare earths.

Chinese titans like BYD that have already eaten into market share of foreign carmakers in China are meanwhile establishing a foothold in Europe, leading to fears that the continent’s carmakers’ home-market could be in peril.

“Our companies have always built cars by Europeans for Europeans,” Blume and Filosa, who heads the Jeep-maker said, adding that their business model nevertheless faced “competition from importers operating under less demanding regulatory and social conditions than those in the EU.”

The EU has since 2024 levied higher tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars, alleging they benefit from unfair state subsidies.

But a “‘Made in Europe’ strategy” encompassing support for continental carmakers is necessary, Blume and Filosa said, since it is hard to sell competitively priced electric cars without relying on Chinese inputs.

“Our European customers rightly expect us to offer electric vehicles that are as affordable as possible,” they said.

“But the lower the price of a car, the greater the pressure to import the cheapest available batteries for it.”

Toyota names new CEO, hikes profit forecasts


By AFP
February 6, 2026


Toyota announces a new CEO to 'accelerate management decision-making' 

- Copyright AFP Kazuhiro NOGI

Toyota has named a new CEO to “accelerate” decision-making, the Japanese auto giant said Friday as it hiked its profit and sales forecasts for the current fiscal year despite the impact of US tariffs.

Current finance chief Kenta Kon will take over from chief executive Koji Sato on April 1 after three years in charge, the firm said.

“This change in roles is intended to accelerate management decision-making in response to changes in the internal and external environment,” Toyota said.

The move would also help “establish a structure that will enable Toyota to fully carry out its mission of contributing to society through industry,” it added.

The announcement came as the firm expects to see net profit of 3.57 trillion yen ($22.8 billion) for the year ending in March, down 25.1 percent year-on-year but up from the 2.93 trillion yen previously anticipated.

Despite the “negative impact of US tariffs that newly arose this fiscal year, we have reduced the extent of the profit decline by implementing cost reductions and marketing efforts”, the firm said in a statement.

Sales are expected to climb 4.1 percent year-on-year to 50 trillion yen, a slight upwards revision.

Operating profit is forecast to hit 3.8 trillion yen, up from the previous projection of 3.4 trillion yen.

However, Toyota said the September-December quarter saw net and operating profit fall despite a rise in sales, largely because of a “tariff impact” that increased expenses.

– Record sales –

The firm announced last month that global sales hit a new record in 2025, helping it retain its title as the world’s top automaker and widen the gap with German rival Volkswagen.

The overall increase came despite flat sales in China, a crucial market where Toyota faces intensifying competition from local automakers including electric-car champion BYD.

US sales climbed eight percent despite the 25-percent tariff on Japanese auto exports imposed by Washington between April and mid-September, when a 15-percent cap kicked in.

The United States is a key market where Toyota generates almost a quarter of its sales. But of the 2.52 million vehicles it sold there in 2025, only 1.39 million were produced in the country.

Even so, Toyota increased output last year by 10 percent at its factories in the United States, where it produces increasingly popular hybrid vehicles.

To keep exporting to the United States on competitive terms, Japanese automakers have had to slash prices.

kh-jug-stu-aph/am

Chile’s climate summit chief to lead plastic pollution treaty talks


By AFP
February 7, 2026


Julio Cordano will lead the talks on forging a new treaty on combating plastic pollution - Copyright AFP Olivier MORIN

Robin MILLARD

Countries on Saturday elected Chile’s COP climate summit chief negotiator to drive forward stalled talks on striking a landmark global treaty tackling the scourge of plastic pollution.

Career diplomat Julio Cordano was elected by countries meeting in Geneva following a drawn-out battle.

“Plastic pollution is a planetary problem that affects everyone: every country, every community and every individual,” he said after being elected. “A treaty is urgently needed.”

More than 400 million tonnes of plastic are produced globally each year, half of which is for single-use items. The plastic pollution problem is so ubiquitous that microplastics have been found on the highest mountain peaks and in the oceans’ deepest trench.

Supposedly final talks in South Korea in 2024 towards a treaty to address the problem ended without a deal — and a resumed effort in Geneva last August likewise collapsed.

Talks chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso then quit in October.

Some 156 countries met in Geneva on Saturday to pick a new chair from three candidates, with the process underlining how far apart different groups of countries remain.

A large bloc wants bold action such as curbing plastic production, while a smaller clutch of oil-producing states wants to focus more narrowly on waste management.

The talks process has been taking decisions by consensus — which has proved impossible to find, with tiny island states drowning in foreign marine plastic and oil-producing countries pulling in opposite directions.

– Protracted process –

Saturday’s one-day meeting was purely to elect a new chair.

Some countries — led by Kuwait and backed by many oil-producing nations — requested a few hours to give the candidates a chance to lobby diplomats in the search for consensus.

Other countries charged that such requests were merely a bid to run down the clock; Antigua and Barbuda called it “an attempt to protract the process”.

After two hours of fruitless consultations the issue was forced to a vote.

Cordano came through two rounds of voting, defeating candidates from Senegal and Pakistan.

EU nations back chemical recycling for plastic bottles

 there was “strong pressure from industry” to back chemical recycling despite doubts about its benefits.

By AFP
February 6, 2026


Under EU rules, single use plastic bottles need to contain at least 25 percent of recycled plastic -- with the share set to increase to 30 percent by 2030 

- Copyright AFP/File Jean-Christophe VERHAEGEN

European nations voted Friday to allow for chemical recycling to play a larger role in the production of plastic bottles, overcoming reservations about the energy-intensive technology.

Under EU rules, single use plastic bottles need to contain at least 25 percent of recycled plastic — with the share set to increase to 30 percent by 2030.

Currently only plastic recycled through mechanical techniques, which involve washing, shredding, and remelting the stuff, can be used towards the quota.

But representatives for the European Union’s 27 member states voted Friday to extend the same benefit to chemically recycled plastics.

The vote follows a proposal put forward by the European Commission aimed at supporting investment in the plastic recycling sector, which is struggling against competition from China and other parts of Asia.

The change “will benefit the plastics industry, they now have consistent and clarified rules to calculate, verify and report the recycled content,” said Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, a spokeswoman for the European Commission.

She defined the vote as a “first milestone for defining rules for chemical recycling at EU-level.”

Brussels believes that chemical recycling can help the re-use of certain challenging types of packaging such as yoghurt pots.

But environmental groups complain that the process, which involves heating plastics to high temperatures to recycle them, is energy intensive, more polluting than mechanical techniques and could serve as a fig leaf for companies to continue produce more plastics.


Europe’s recycling sector is under severe pressure, due to abundant supply of cheap plastics as global production continues to rise.

More than half of plastics produced — 57 percent — come from Asia, with 35 percent coming from China.

Demonstrators in Berlin call for fall of Iran’s Islamic republic


By AFP
February 7, 2026


At the demonstration by the MEK, the group's leader Maryam Rajavi (C) welcomed former European Council chief Charles Michel (R) and former German economy minister Peter Altmaier on stage - Copyright AFP John MACDOUGALL

Several thousand demonstrators rallied in Berlin on Saturday calling for an end to Iran’s clerical-led government and its bloody repression of protests.

Police said 10,000 people had attended one protest at the city’s Brandenburg Gate organised by the MEK, an exiled opposition group considered “terrorist” by Tehran.

Another demonstration, this one organised by supporters of Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of the last shah of Iran, attracted 1,600 people, said police. They marched along a major avenue, carrying shah-era Iranian flags as well as US, German and Israeli ones.

The demonstrations followed protests in Iran that began at the end of December. Triggered by economic malaise in the sanctions-hit country, they spiralled into anti-government street demonstrations in January.

They were countered by a crackdown by the security forces, which rights groups say killed thousands of people.

Iran is currently engaged in talks with the United States to stave off threatened military action. US President Donald Trump has deployed a naval battle group and wants Tehran to end nuclear enrichment, curb the range of its ballistic missiles, and ease its repression.



– Rival opposition groups –



The Berlin rally by the MEK featured Charles Michel, the former president of the EU’s European Council, and Peter Altmaier, former German economy minister. Mike Pompeo, the United States’ former secretary of state, also addressed the crowd by video.

The opposition group seeks to portray itself as a leading Iranian opposition force. But it is reviled by many Iranians for having fought on Iraq’s side against Iran in a war in the 1980s.

Reza Pahlavi, whose name and photos have featured in Iranian protests, is also vying to be seen as an opposition figurehead, distinct from the MEK. He has, in interviews in the United States and on social media, urged Iranians to “be ready” for more protests.

At the MEK-organised demonstration at the Brandenburg Gate one participant, Samin Sabet, a 40-year-old hotel employee, said Iran should have free and fair elections.

“We don’t want a dictatorships, nor a monarchy,” she told AFP.

Another demonstrator, Iraj Abedini, a 61-year-old psychologist who left Iran four decades ago, said he was there “to support the Iranian people” after “having lost two nephews in the January protests” in the Iranian city of Isfahan.

He predicted that the Iran-US talks, hosted by Oman, “will go nowhere”.

“The Iranian regime is trying to use the negotiations to stay in power. And the US government, which has other plans, doesn’t support the Iranian people,” he said.

SHARE THE WEALTH

Crypto firm accidentally sends $40 bn in bitcoin to users


By AFP
February 7, 2026


South Korean crytocurrency exchange Bithumb said it accidentally sent $40 billion worth of bitcoin to users - Copyright AFP/File Jung Yeon-je

A South Korean cryptocurrency exchange apologised on Saturday after mistakenly transferring more than $40 billion worth of bitcoin to users, which briefly prompted a selloff on the platform.

Bithumb said it accidentally sent 620,000 bitcoins, currently worth more than $40 billion, and blocked trading and withdrawals for the 695 affected users within 35 minutes after the error occurred on Friday.

According to local reports, Bithumb was meant to send about 2,000 won ($1.37) to each customer as part of a promotion, but mistakenly transferred roughly 2,000 bitcoins per user.

“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused to our customers due to the confusion that occurred during the distribution process of this (promotional) event,” Bithumb said in a statement released Saturday.

The platform said it had recovered 99.7 percent of the mistakenly sent bitcoins, and that it would use its own assets to fully cover the amount that was lost in the incident.

It admitted the error briefly caused “sharp volatility” in bitcoin prices on the platform as some recipients sold the tokens, adding that it brought the situation under control within five minutes.

Its charts showed the token’s prices briefly went down 17 percent to 81.1 million won on the platform late Friday.

The platform stressed that the incident was “unrelated to external hacking or security breaches”.

Bitcoin, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency, sank this week, wiping out gains sparked by US President Donald Trump’s presidential election victory in November 2024.

Why bitcoin is losing its luster after stratospheric rise

By AFP
February 6, 2026


Digital currencies soared after Donald Trump's return to the White House last year - Copyright AFP SEBASTIEN BOZON

Alexandra BACON and Lucie LEQUIER

Bitcoin, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency, sank this week, wiping out gains sparked by Donald Trump’s presidential election victory in November 2024.

The digital currency slumped to $60,033.01 on Friday before trimming losses, and is down around half from its October peak above $120,000.

AFP explains why prices have fallen.



– End of Trump rally –



Digital currencies soared after Trump’s election victory as he was widely viewed as a strong supporter of the technology.

He publicly celebrated bitcoin crossing $100,000 for the first time in December 2024.

But the rally suffered a sharp setback in April after Trump announced sweeping US tariffs, rattling markets worldwide.

Bitcoin later resumed its march higher along with stocks and other markets, and hit a record of $126,251.31 six months later.

But enthusiasm has faded as investors grow impatient over regulatory uncertainty.

While the US Congress passed a law in July to regulate stablecoins — a form of cryptocurrency backed by traditional assets — a broader crypto bill, the Clarity Act, has stalled in the Senate.

“A key test for Bitcoin’s ability to sustainably recover will be the passage of the Clarity Act,” said Deutsche Bank analysts Marion Laboure and Camilla Siazon.



– Domino effect –



The recent slide in precious metals like gold and silver — as investors locked in profits after their meteoric rise — was one of the main triggers for bitcoin’s slump.

That pullback sent many investors rushing to sell cryptocurrencies and other risky assets to help raise cash.

“This break is not happening in a vacuum, but in a context of widespread mistrust,” said John Plassard, head of investment strategy at Cite Gestion Private Bank.

“Volatility in technology and precious metals is fuelling a global movement to reduce risk.”

The sell-off has been intensified by forced deleveraging, as investors who borrowed money to bet on bitcoin’s rise are forced to sell when losses mount, pushing prices lower.



– Tech contagion –



Cryptocurrency declines gathered pace this week as investors sold tech stocks on renewed concerns over an artificial intelligence bubble.

Analysts noted that bitcoin and AI-related stocks often move in the same direction.

“In recent years, liquidity has flowed across digital assets and advanced tech stocks at the same time,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading group XTB.

“This means that both asset classes share a tight financial link.”

Michael Burry, the entrepreneur who gained fame for spotting the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis, fanned fears on Monday as he flagged a possible “death spiral” for bitcoin.



– Crypto firms in focus –



The downturn has raised questions about the viability of digital asset treasury firms, which stockpile cryptocurrencies in a bet that prices will keep rising.

Many of these firms are “sitting on significant unrealised losses,” said Charlie Sherry, head of finance at BTC Markets.

If these firms are forced to sell their bitcoin holdings to stay afloat, it could flood the market and amplify a downward spiral in prices.

Shares in Strategy, which holds more than 713,000 bitcoins, plunged more than 17 percent on Friday after it reported a $12.4 billion net loss linked to crypto declines.

And US cryptocurrency exchange Gemini announced Thursday that it would slash roughly a quarter of its workforce and withdraw from several international markets amid the downturn in digital assets.

Bitcoin under $70,000 for first time since Trump’s election


By AFP
February 5, 2026


Bitcoin has fallen sharply in recent weeks as investors pull back from risky assets - Copyright AFP/File DALE DE LA REY

Bitcoin, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency, extended its price slump Thursday to trade under $70,000 for the first time since Donald Trump’s presidential election victory in November 2024.

The digital currency dropped as low as $69,821.18 before climbing back above $70,000.

Bitcoin has fallen sharply in recent weeks as investors pull back from risky assets. It had reached a record high above $126,000 in October.

“Bitcoin continues to suffer… caught up in the broader risk-off mood and geopolitical turmoil that has pushed investors away from riskier assets towards safe havens,” noted Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor.

The volatile cryptocurrency soared after Trump was elected as he was widely viewed as a strong supporter of the sector.

He publicly celebrated bitcoin crossing $100,000 for the first time in December 2024.

However it suffered a sharp setback in April last year, falling below $75,000 after the president’s announcement of sweeping US tariffs rattled global markets.

It went on to reach a record-high of $126,251.31 six months later.

The latest downturn is driven largely by regulatory uncertainty.

While the US Congress passed a law in July to regulate stablecoins — a form of cryptocurrency backed by traditional assets — a broader crypto bill, the Clarity Act, has stalled in the Senate.

Bitcoin’s has been hit also by Trump recently nominating former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh to head of the US central bank.

Warsh, seen by observers as a defender of the Fed’s independence, reassured traditional markets, prompting investors to sell safe-haven assets such as gold and silver, whose prices plunged.

Many investors rushed also to sell cryptocurrencies and other risky assets to help raise cash.

Trump’s close ties to the crypto sector have sparked accusations of conflicts of interest, as he has promoted his own cryptocurrency-related ventures since returning to office.

According to recent Bloomberg estimates, his family’s fortune grew by $1.4 billion last year from digital assets alone.

Just hours before his inauguration in January 2025, the 79-year-old billionaire launched his own cryptocurrency, $TRUMP, which slumped after a blockbuster debut.

UN human rights agency in ‘survival mode’: chief


By AFP
February 5, 2026


UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said his office was now in 'survival mode' - Copyright AFP Fabrice COFFRINI

Robin MILLARD

The UN human rights chief said Thursday his agency was “in survival mode” due to funding shortfalls, as he launched a $400 million appeal to tackle global rights crises in 2026.

Volker Turk warned countries that at a time when global human rights are under significant assault, his office was facing dire funding shortages hampering its increasingly important and life-saving work.

“Our reporting provides credible information on atrocities and human rights trends at a time when truth is being eroded by disinformation and censorship,” he told diplomats at the UN rights office headquarters in Geneva.

“We are a lifeline for the abused, a megaphone for the silenced, and a steadfast ally to those who risk everything to defend the rights of others.”

In 2025, the UN Human Rights Office’s regular budget — set by the UN General Assembly of member states — was $246 million, but it ultimately received only $191.5 million of that money.

It also sought $500 million in voluntary contributions, of which $257.8 million came in.

Funding for the UN’s human rights work has long been chronically underfunded, but Turk said: “We are currently in survival mode, delivering under strain.”

“These cuts and reductions untie perpetrators’ hands everywhere, leaving them to do whatever they please. With crises mounting, we cannot afford a human rights system in crisis,” he added.

The UN human rights office lost around 300 out of 2,000 staff last year and had to end or scale back its work in 17 countries.

Its programme in Myanmar, for example, was cut by 60 percent.



– High impact, low cost –



This year, the General Assembly approved a regular budget of $224.3 million for human rights.

However with the United Nations facing a liquidity crisis, uncertainty remains over how much Turk’s office will receive.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is among a slew of international organisations hit by a global funding crisis.

The United States was the United Nations’ biggest contributor but has slashed its funding since President Donald Trump returned to power in January 2025 — while other countries have tightened their belts.

UN chief Antonio Guterres warned last Friday that the world body is on the brink of financial collapse and could run out of cash by July, as he urged countries to pay their dues.

Against this backdrop, Turk is seeking $400 million in voluntary funding from countries and donors.

He said human rights accounted for a very small slice of overall UN spending but produced “high-impact” results that help to stabilise communities, build trust in institutions and underpin lasting peace.

“The cost of our work is low; the human cost of underinvestment is immeasurable,” he insisted.

In 2025, UN human rights staff working in 87 countries undertook more than 5,000 human rights monitoring missions — down from 11,000 in 2024.

“That means less evidence for both protection and prevention,” said Turk.



– ‘Countering secrecy’ –



Giving examples of his office’s work, Turk said it supported 67,000 survivors of torture and modern slavery, documented tens of thousands of human rights violations and exposed discrimination in more than 100 countries.

Its monitoring mission in Ukraine is the “only organisation” with a comprehensive record of verified civilian casualties “since the initial Russian invasion in 2014”, he said.

In Bangladesh, its fact-finding mission on the 2024 crackdown “helped establish a comprehensive record of systematic and serious human rights abuses”.

And the probe in the Democratic Republic of Congo “uncovered patterns of grave human rights violations that may amount to crimes against humanity”.

“All this work aims to bring the stories of victims to the world, countering secrecy — the oppressor’s strongest ally — and challenging injustice and impunity,” Turk said.

Brazil mine disaster victims in London to ‘demand what is owed’

By AFP
February 4, 2026


Marilda Lyrio de Oliviera, one of the Indigenous leaders of the Boa Esperanca village in Aracruz, Espirito Santo - an area affected by the 2015 Mariana dam disaster, is pictured outside Britain's High Court in London - Copyright AFP ADRIAN DENNIS

Victims of a 2015 dam collapse in Brazil, for which Australian mining giant BHP has been found liable, attended a London hearing on Wednesday ahead of a trial to determine damages.

In one of Brazil’s worst environmental disasters, an iron-ore mine run by a firm co-owned by BHP unleashed a deluge of toxic mud into villages, fields, rainforest, rivers and the ocean, killing 19 people.

In November, the High Court in London found BHP “strictly liable” for the disaster following a mammoth trial, which could lead to billions of dollars in damages shared among 620,000 plaintiffs.

“We are demanding what is owed to us,” Marilda Lyrio de Oliveira, from Aracruz in the state of Espirito Santo, told AFP on Wednesday.

“We hope for a just outcome, because the impact was enormous, the crime was enormous.

“Many people are dying of cancer, something that didn’t exist before,” added Lyrio de Oliveira, representing the region’s Indigenous people, as she stood alongside about a dozen other victims attending court.

“We have physical and mental health problems because we can no longer carry out our former activities,” she added.

The two-day hearing aims to set the timetable for the compensation trial, which could begin in October or the first half of 2027, the law firm Pogust Goodhead, representing the plaintiffs, told AFP.

Dissatisfied with the proceedings in Brazil, the victims turned to the British courts two years ago, seeking £36 billion ($49 billion) in compensation.

At the time of the disaster, one of BHP’s global headquarters was in Britain.

“The suffering was so immense that it shattered our lives and interrupted our dreams,” Ana Paula Auxiliadora Alexandre, who lost her husband in the tragedy, told AFP on Wednesday.

“For ten years, we fought for justice. The fact that a mega-corporation has been convicted here in England makes me think that the British justice system is more diligent than the Brazilian one,” she added.

The mine was managed by Samarco, co-owned by BHP and Brazilian miner Vale.

The trial at the High Court in London ran from October 2024 to March 2025.

Indigenous Brazilians protest Amazon river dredging for grain exports


By AFP
February 4, 2026


Auricelia Arapiun, pictured during the COP30 UN climate talks in 2025, was one of several Indigenous leaders protesting plans to dredge rivers in the Amazon

 - Copyright AFP Pablo PORCIUNCULA

Fran BLANDY

Hundreds of Indigenous people have been protesting in northern Brazil for two weeks outside the port terminal of US agribusiness giant Cargill, angered over the dredging and development of Amazonian rivers for grain exports.

Brazil’s Indigenous communities have raised the alarm for months about port expansion on rivers they see as vital to their way of life, a grievance they protested at COP30 climate talks last November.

“The government is opening up our territories to many projects … to boost agribusiness,” Indigenous leader Auricelia Arapiuns told AFP in a video message from the Amazon port city of Santarem, in the same state that hosted COP30 in Belem.

“We have been here for 14 days, but this struggle didn’t start now. We occupied Cargill to draw attention so that the government would come up with a proposal.”

By Wednesday, some 700 Indigenous people from 14 communities were taking part in the demonstration, according to the Amazon Watch advocacy group.

The protesters have blocked trucks from “entering and leaving the terminal,” Cargill said in a statement sent to AFP, adding it has “no authority or control” over their complaints.

The Minnesota-based multinational has agricultural logistics operations across Brazil, where it employs 11,000 people.

Protesters on Wednesday demanded the cancellation of a decree signed by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in August which designates major Amazonian rivers as priorities for cargo navigation and private port expansion.

They also want the cancellation of a federal tender issued in December worth 74.8 million reais ($14.2 million) to manage and dredge the Tapajos River — a major Amazon tributary.

“This infrastructure that is coming is not a space for us, and it never will be. It is a project of death to kill our river and our sacred places,” Indigenous leader Alessandra Korap of the Munduruku people said in a statement.

The ports ministry said earlier in January that the contract of a company for maintenance dredging was necessary to “increase navigation safety… and ensure greater predictability for cargo and passenger transport operations.”



– ‘Serious environmental risks’ –



The protesters criticized the government for only sending mid-level officials to meet with them and breaking a COP30 promise not to carry out projects on Amazonian rivers “without prior consultation.”

Brazil’s Ministry of Indigenous Peoples said in a statement Monday it recognizes the “legitimacy of the concerns raised” and that no dredging or other projects can take place on the Tapajos river without the consent of those affected.

Fed up, the protesters were no longer in the mood to negotiate.

“We don’t want a consultation. We want this decree revoked,” Indigenous leader Gilson Tupinamba, wearing a large headdress of blue and orange feathers, told a meeting with government representatives on Wednesday.

Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of soybeans and corn, and in recent years has switched to northern river ports to export grains more cheaply.

Critics see plans to boost barge traffic on Amazonian rivers as yet another project where economic development is clashing with Lula’s much vaunted commitment to the environment.

“What did the government do after the COP? They launched the dredging tender,” Arapiuns told the government representatives.

After the meeting, the protesters blocked the road leading to the Santarem international airport — a popular hub for tourists.

Brazil’s Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) — which has taken legal action against the dredging efforts — on Tuesday pointed to “serious environmental risks” for the river.

In a statement, the MPF referred to the release of heavy metals such as mercury into the water, and destruction of crucial habitats for threatened species of dolphins, turtles and aquatic birds.

 

When Earth’s magnetic field took its time flipping

Ancient pole reversals dragged on far longer than previously known, according to new research by paleomagnetists from Utah and Japan

University of Utah

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Yuhji Yamamoto examines drilling cores on the JOIDES Resolution during the 2012 expedition in the North Atlantic. 

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Credit: Peter Lippert, University of Utah

Earth’s magnetic field is generated by the churn of its liquid nickel-iron outer core, but it is not a constant feature.

Every so often, the magnetic north and south poles swap places in what are called geomagnetic reversals, and the record of these flips is preserved in rocks and sediments, including those from the ocean floor. These reversals don’t happen suddenly, but over several thousand years, where the magnetic field fades and wobbles while the two poles wander and finally settle in the opposite positions of the globe.

Over the past 170 million years, the magnetic poles have reversed 540 times, with the reversal process typically taking around 10,000 years to complete each time, according to years of research. Now, a new study by a University of Utah geoscientist and colleagues from France and Japan has upended this scenario after documenting instances 40 million years ago where the process took far longer to complete, upwards of 70,000 years. These findings offer a new perspective on the geomagnetic phenomenon that envelops our planet and shields it from solar radiation and harmful particles from space.

Extended periods of reduced geomagnetic shielding likely influenced atmospheric chemistry, climate processes and the evolution of living organisms, according to co-author Peter Lippert, an associate professor in the U Department of Geology & Geophysics.

“The amazing thing about the magnetic field is that it provides the safety net against radiation from outer space, and that radiation is observed and hypothesized to do all sorts of things. If you are getting more solar radiation coming into the planet, it’ll change organisms’ ability to navigate,” said Lippert, who heads the Utah Paleomagnetic Center. “It’s basically saying we are exposing higher latitudes in particular, but also the entire planet, to greater rates and greater durations of this cosmic radiation and therefore it’s logical to expect that there would be higher rates of genetic mutation. There could be atmospheric erosion.”

The results appear in Nature Communications Earth & Environment. The lead author is Yuhji Yamamoto of Japan’s Kochi University.

“This finding unveiled an extraordinarily prolonged reversal process, challenging conventional understanding and leaving us genuinely astonished,” Yamamoto wrote in a summary posted by Springer Nature.

Yamamoto and Lippert worked together on a 2012 drilling expedition in the North Atlantic that was investigating climate change during the Eocene Epoch, 56 to 34 million years ago. The two-month trip was facilitated by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program’s Expedition 342. The team drilled off the coast of Newfoundland in the North Atlantic, extracting sediment cores, layered time capsules built grain by grain over millions of years, from up to 300 meters below the sea floor.

As paleomagnetists, Yamamoto and Lipperts’ job was to “measure the direction and the intensity of the magnetization that’s preserved in those cores,” Lippert said. “We don’t know what triggers a reversal. Individual reversals don’t last the same amount of time, so that creates this unique barcode. We can use the magnetic directions preserved in the sediments and correlate them to the geologic timescale.”

These sediments carry a reliable magnetic signal locked in by tiny crystals of magnetite produced by ancient microorganisms and from dust and erosion from the continents. Like a compass, the direction they point reveals Earth’s polarity at the time the sediments were deposited.

One 8-meter-thick layer took the scientists by surprise, appearing to record prolonged geomagnetic reversals in incredible detail.

“Yuhji noticed, while looking at some of the data when he was on shift, this one part of the Eocene had really stable polarity in one direction and really stable polarity in another direction,” Lippert said. “But the interval between them—of unstable polarity when it went to the other direction—was spread out over many, many centimeters.”

They realized this was no ordinary flip and collected extra samples at extremely fine spacing, just a few centimeters apart, to capture the sediments’ story in high resolution.

resolution and to test if the strange magnetic behavior was due to changes in the magnetic field or the sediments. In subsequent analysis of these cores over several years, Lippert and his colleagues confirmed this was recording changes in the magnetic field and constructed high-precision timelines for two reversals, one lasting 18,000 years and another for 70,000 years.

While the finding was a surprise, it may not have been unexpected, according to the study. Computer models of Earth’s geodynamo—in the swirling outer core that generates the electrical currents supporting the magnetic field—had indicated reversals’ durations vary, with many short ones, but also occasional long, drawn-out transitions, some lasting up to 130,000 years.

In other words, Earth’s geomagnetism may have always had this unpredictable streak, but scientists hadn’t caught it in the rocks until now.

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The study, titled “Extraordinarily long duration of Eocene geomagnetic polarity reversals,” was posted online Jan. 20 in Nature Communications Earth & Environment. Lead author is Yuhji Yamamoto of Kochi University, Slah Boulila of Sorbonne Universite and Futoshi Takahashi of Kyushu University. Funding came from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and Kochi University.

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Journal

Communications Earth & Environment

DOI

10.1038/s43247-026-03205-8 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Extraordinarily long duration of Eocene geomagnetic polarity reversals,

The coming end of ISS, symbol of an era of global cooperation

By AFP
February 4, 2026


The International Space Station will be guided back to Earth in 2030, marking the end of its three-decade mission - Copyright AFP/File Chanakarn Laosarakham

Frederic Bourigault

When the International Space Station comes back to Earth in 2030, it will mark the end of three decades of peaceful international cooperation — and an era when space became central to our daily lives.

Since November 2000, there have always been several humans on board the football field-sized scientific laboratory, whipping around the planet at eight kilometres per second.

With a new crew of astronauts set to blast off for the station as soon as next week, some of those who have helped the station from the ground are nostalgic about its looming demise.

“The ISS is a cathedral to human cooperation and collaboration across borders, languages and cultures,” John Horack, the former manager of NASA’s Science and Mission Systems Office, told AFP.

“For more than 25 years, we have had people in space, 24/7/365,” added Horack, who now holds the Neil Armstrong Chair in aerospace policy at Ohio State University.

“It is a testament to how we can ‘figure it out’ rather than ‘fight it out’ when we wish to interact with each other.”

The ISS was first proposed in the aftermath of the Cold War, illustrating a newfound spirit of cooperation between space race rivals Russia and the United States.

While many ties between Russia and the West have been severed over Moscow’s war in Ukraine, cooperation has continued on board the space station.

“The history of human spaceflight is first and foremost the space race,” Lionel Suchet of France’s space agency CNES told AFP.

“This is a very interesting moment in the evolution of space exploration,” said Suchet, who coordinated several early ISS projects after witnessing its predecessor, the Mir space station, de-orbiting in 2001.

– Back to Earth –

However, the ISS is getting old and its equipment is outdated.

NASA announced last year it had selected Elon Musk’s SpaceX to build a vehicle that can push the station back into Earth’s atmosphere in 2030, where it will break up.

“This large rocket engine will slow down the ISS, and enable it to have a precise re-entry over the Pacific Ocean, far from land, people or any other potential hazards,” Horack explained.

Several spacecraft and telescopes — including Mir — have met a similar fate, splashing down at an isolated spot in the ocean called Point Nemo.

After 2030, the only space station orbiting Earth will be China’s Tiangong.

For the future, the US is focusing more on space stations built and operated by private companies.

“We are moving into an era where space stations have a much more commercial dimension,” similar to what has already happened with rockets and satellites, Horack said.

National space agencies would then need to pay these companies to stay on board.

Several companies, including Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin and Axiom Space, are already working on plans to build the first commercial space station.

Suchet emphasised that “the business model will still be largely institutional because countries are always interested in sending astronauts into low-Earth orbit”.

Scientific research and exploration also remain an “objective of all humanity”, he added, pointing to treaties that govern how nations are supposed to act in space.

Whether these treaties will hold once humans make it to the Moon — the US and China both have plans to build lunar bases — remains to be seen.

– ‘Quite sad’ –

For Horack, the end of the ISS could be seen as “quite sad”.

His children “had a lifetime of going out into the backyard to watch the ISS fly over”.

But the end of this era will mark the opening of another, he added.

“We must grow as humans in our space-faring capacity, in our exploration of space, and in the use of space to generate social, economic, educational and quality of life outcomes for all people everywhere.”

He finished by quoting the former head of the European Space Agency, Jean-Jacques Dordain: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

New crew set to launch for ISS after medical evacuation


By AFP
February 4, 2026


French astronaut Sophie Adenot, left, with NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway will blast off to the ISS - Copyright AFP/File Chanakarn Laosarakham
Daniel Lawler and Frederic Bourigault

Four astronauts could blast off to the International Space Station (ISS) next week, after setbacks including a mysterious medical evacuation of the previous crew, last-minute rocket problems, and some scheduling conflicts with NASA’s Moon mission.

The crew was scheduled to launch on February 11, Elon Musk’s SpaceX company said this week it was grounding all flights on its Falcon 9 rocket while it investigates an unspecified issue.

This late uncertainty is just the most recent twist for the SpaceX Crew-12 mission, which includes Americans Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, French astronaut Sophie Adenot and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.

They will be replacing Crew-11, which returned to Earth in January, a month earlier than planned, during the first medical evacuation in the space station’s history.

NASA has declined to disclose any details about the health issue that cut the mission short.

However, the scientific laboratory, which orbits 400 kilometres above Earth, has since been staffed by a skeleton crew of three.

Because of the medical evacuation, NASA moved the date of the Crew-12 launch forward a few days.

The launch had also overlapped with NASA’s first mission to fly astronauts around the Moon in more than half a century.

The launch window for the Artemis 2 mission had been set for February 6-11 — until leaks detected this week during final tests pushed the date back to March 6.

– ‘One day, that will be me’ –



Once the astronauts finally get on board, they will be one of the last crews to live on board the football field-sized space station.

Continuously inhabited for the last quarter century, the ageing ISS is scheduled to be pushed into Earth’s orbit before crashing into an isolated spot in the Pacific Ocean in 2030.

The ISS, once a symbol of warming post-Cold War relations, has been a rare area of continued cooperation between the West and Russia since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022.

However, the space station has not entirely avoided the tensions back on Earth.

In November, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev — who had long been planned to be a member of Crew-12 — was suddenly taken off the mission.

Reports from independent media in Russia suggested he had been photographing and sending classified information with his phone. Russian space agency Roscosmos merely said he had been transferred to a different job.

His replacement Fedyaev, has already spent some time on the ISS as part of Crew-6 in 2023.

During their eight months on the space station, the four astronauts will conduct many experiments, including research into the effects of microgravity on their bodies.

Meir, who previously worked as a marine biologist studying animals in extreme environments, will serve as the crew’s commander.

Adenot will become the second French woman to fly to space, following in the footsteps of Claudie Haignere, who spent time on the Mir space station.

When Adenot saw Haignere’s mission blast off, she was 14 years old.

“It was a revelation,” the helicopter pilot said recently.

“At that moment, I told myself: one day, that will be me.”

Among other research, the European Space Agency astronaut will test a system that uses artificial intelligence and augmented reality to allow astronauts to carry out their own medical ultrasounds.

The mission is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 1100 GMT on February 11. If called off, launches can also be attempted on the following two days.

Russia says thwarted smuggling of giant meteorite to UK


By AFP
February 5, 2026


Prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into smuggling

 - Copyright Federal Customs Service of Russia/AFP Handout

Russian investigators have prevented a giant meteorite fragment being smuggled to Britain disguised as a garden ornament, the Federal Customs Service reported Thursday.

The huge specimen weighing more than 2.5 tonnes is believed to have come from the Aletai meteorite, one of the largest known iron meteorites on Earth, it said.

Prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation.

“The strategically important cargo was discovered during checks on a sea container at the port of Saint Petersburg,” the customs service said in a statement.

“When attempting to export it, it was declared as a garden sculpture. But a detailed inspection revealed that the origin and value of the cargo differed from the information declared,” it added.

Video showed customs officers prying open a crate to find the rock, its surface grey and rugged.

The fragment could be worth approximately 323 million rubles ($4.2 million), the statement said.

The statement did not say who attempted to import the fragment, only that it was destined for the United Kingdom.

Scientists have expressed ethical concerns about the sale of meteorites, which are often coveted for research purposes and hold important clues about the make-up of the early solar system.

The Aletai meteorite was discovered in western China in 1898 and is thought to be at least 4.5 billion years old.