Saturday, May 16, 2026

When two become one: Old and new watchmakers collaborate to change perception of time

Copyright Audemars Piguet and Swatch

By Rebecca Ann Hughes

Published on 15/05/2026 - EURONEWS

The bold move is part of Audemars Piguet CEO Ilaria Resta’s drive to push the boundaries of an industry whose reputation is often hampered by entrenched assumptions.

Swiss watchmakers Audemars Piguet have been creating timepieces since 1875.

The company has plenty of innovations on its resume, including developing the first skeleton watch in 1934 and manufacturing some of the thinnest watches around.

The firm’s latest challenge to convention is a collaboration with Swatch, known for creating playful, affordable watches.

The bold move is part of Audemars Piguet CEO Ilaria Resta’s drive to push the boundaries of an industry whose reputation is often hampered by entrenched assumptions.

She’s particularly passionate about breaking the narrative that watchmaking is a conservative, male-dominated art.

Historic watchmakers create pop art timepieces

Audemars Piguet and Swatch’s new Royal Pop collection “brings together creativity and audacity with haute horlogerie,” the companies write in a press release.

Inspired by Pop Art, the collaboration reinterprets the Royal Oak pocket watch, debuted by Audemars Piguet in 1972.

Purists will notice elements from the original Royal Oak are still present, including the “Petite Tapisserie” pattern, the octagonal bezel and eight hexagonal screws.

But beyond that, the design, available in eight variations, is disruptive: primary and pastel colours normally snubbed by the industry, polkadots reminiscent of Roy Lichtenstein and exposed mechanical elements.

Inspired by Pop Art, the collaboration reinterprets the Royal Oak pocket watch, debuted by Audemars Piguet in 1972. Audemars Piguet and Swatch

The pocket watch aims to be revolutionary in another way, too. It can be worn in multiple ways, including around the neck, in the pocket, as a bag charm or as an accessory.

This taps into trends favoured by younger generations, particularly the trend for whimsical, jewellery-inspired charms decorating purses.

“Why this collaboration? For the joy and boldness it represents,” says Resta. “Because audacity is often the starting point of innovation and new ideas. And because it invites a broader audience including the younger generations to experience mechanical watchmaking differently.”

Breaking an antiquated narrative

The new collection is a clear advancement of Resta’s desire to be part of new perspectives about the watchmaking world.

"It's a very vibrant time for watchmaking, although it's a tough moment for the broader industry, but we see lots of creativity,” she tells Euronews Culture.

“There is really the desire to continue pushing the boundaries of what we think is possible from a mechanical standpoint, but also from a decoration standpoint."

Resta is pushing to end the belief that the luxury watchmaking sector is conservative, overtly male-dominated and tangled up in old-fashioned traditions.

"Women have been working in watchmaking for centuries... Wrist watches were invented for women and if you look at the data for 2030, 45% of women will be buying mechanical watches," she says.

"We see women growing in the purchase of high-end complications. For me it's important also to break the narrative that there are watches for men, watches for women.”

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Tick, Tock, We Live By The Clock

As Africa rapidly goes digital, it becomes a prime target for hackers

A reported cyberattack on Senegal’s treasury highlights the vulnerability of African institutions to cybercrime. As parts of the continent go digital at breakneck speed, countries are struggling to build up their defences against hackers and fraudsters at the same pace.

Issued on: 15/05/2026 - RFI

As African nations develop increasingly dynamic digital systems, they also find themselves most vulnerable to cybercrime. © Reuters/Kacper Pempel

By: Zeenat Hansrod

This week, Senegal fell victim to the third cyberattack on a public institution in less than six months.

The government confirmed "an incident" began affecting IT systems at the Public Treasury on 10 May, with users continuing to report disruption days later. According to media reports, hackers claimed responsibility and threatened to release 70 gigaoctets of sensitive data.

In October 2025, the Senegalese tax authority's website was targeted by Black Shrantac, a cyber extortion group. The hackers alleged they had extracted nearly one terabyte of data and demanded a ransom of $10 million.

In January 2026, a department at the Interior Ministry responsible for issuing identity cards was reportedly targeted by hackers calling themselves the Green Blood Group

Claiming responsibility for the attack, they said they had stolen 139 terabytes from a database said to contain information on the entire Senegalese population – including identity records, biometric data, electoral information and immigration files. It published some of the data on the dark web.

Cybersecurity experts say Senegal is the latest African country to find itself in hackers' sights.

"Through its international visibility in football, the discovery of oil and gas resources, and the recent political transition, Senegal has become an attractive target for emerging cybercriminal groups seeking recognition and visibility," Dakar-based cyber defence specialist Gérard Joseph Francisco Dacosta told RFI.

Continent-wide pattern

Recent years have seen cybercrime on the rise across the continent.

A 2024 cyberattack on the Bank of Uganda cost it nearly $17 million in stolen deposits. In January 2025, a cyberattack on South Africa's national weather service knocked key systems offline, disrupting aviation and marine forecasts across the region.

According to research by cybersecurity software company Check Point, African organisations now face an average of 2,940 attacks per week – around 700 more than the average worldwide.

In its Global Threat Intelligence report for April, the company identified financial services, government, and consumer goods and services as the sectors in Africa subject to the most attacks.

"Rapid digitalisation combined with uneven security maturity have made the continent a target for hackers," said Lorna Hardie, Check Point's regional director for Africa.

Chinese tech, ignored by the West, is taking over Africa's cyberspace

Thousands of victims

On a continent where mobile money is widespread, individuals as well as institutions are victims of cybercrime.

The emergence of artificial intelligence has escalated the threat, experts warn, with Check Point identifying AI-generated deception as "the fastest-growing threat". Deepfake voice and video impersonations can trick users into approving payments, while AI tools allow fraudsters to launch attacks faster and more cheaply.

Across West Africa and East Africa, cybercrime accounts for more than 30 percent of all crime reported, according to Interpol’s Africa Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2025.

Online scams were the most frequently reported attacks, the international police organisation said, while ransomware, business email compromise and digital sextortion were also widespread.

In 2025, Interpol coordinated a joint operation involving 18 African countries that resulted in the arrest of 1,209 cybercriminals who had targeted nearly 88,000 victims.

The three-month crackdown, dubbed Operation Serengeti 2.0, also recovered $97.4 million and dismantled 11,432 malicious infrastructures.

Lack of laws governing cybercrime making Africa a safe haven for cybercriminals

Cyber defence

Security expert Dacosta argues that the real question today is whether countries are resilient enough to detect attacks quickly, limit the damage and recover rapidly afterwards.

"This is where the issue of cyber resilience becomes critical, and on this matter, the situation still varies greatly across Africa," he said.

According to Dacosta, some African governments – such as Morocco and Rwanda – are already using protective measures including advanced antivirus solutions, endpoint threat detection and response, security information and event management, and next-generation firewalls.

He called for countries to invest in a comprehensive response to cybercrime. "Africa should not only consume foreign cybersecurity technologies," he insisted.

"The priority for African governments should be the construction of a true cyber-resilience architecture based on clear governance, modern legal frameworks, large-scale cybersecurity training, regional cooperation, critical infrastructure protection and the progressive development of sovereign cyber defence capabilities.

"They must also invest in cybersecurity operations centres that detect attacks in real time and national cyber emergency response teams."

Ok computer: Rare folk instruments and lost melodies find a digital future

By Dilbar Primova

Published on 16/05/2026 - EURONEWS

Mountain melodies, centuries-old instruments and traditional rhythms are being digitally preserved through a new open-access music platform. The archive aims to reconnect contemporary creators with sounds that had remained outside global audio libraries for decades.

A thin, breathy note escapes from a bone flute. A surnay cuts sharply through the air, while layered percussion echoes like distant footsteps across mountain villages.

Sounds once carried by shepherds, wedding processions and remote communities are now being recorded, digitised and brought into the online world through a new cultural platform in Uzbekistan.

A new initiative called “Ohang” aims to preserve and catalogue rare musical traditions by recording instruments and melodies that have long remained outside global audio libraries.

As contemporary music producers increasingly draw on traditional motifs and folk instruments for pop, hip-hop and electronic tracks, many of the original sounds remain undocumented or disconnected from their cultural origins.

According to the project team, this creates a gap in access and knowledge. “Non-specialists often confuse local motifs with Arabic, Azerbaijani, or Turkmen music,” said Uktam Khakimov, an expert in intangible cultural heritage. “When searching on music stock platforms using queries like ‘Uzbek music,’ relevant results are often missing, or platforms suggest unrelated tracks.”

The platform is designed as a free digital catalogue of Uzbekistan’s traditional music, bringing together core melodies, instrument recordings, and sound samples in one place for open use by creators.

The process of recording a sound of karnay We Digital

“Our goal is to bring together the key traditional Uzbek melodies and make them accessible,” said representative of Uzbektelecom, the supporting company of the project. “We want to share the musical culture of Uzbekistan and promote it among the younger generation.”

Field research and rare recordings

The project began with field expeditions in Tashkent and the surrounding region. Researchers visited workshops, remote villages, and studios in search of traditional performers and instrument makers.

“We conducted our first expeditions in December,” project coordinator Maftuna Abdugafurova explains. “We searched for musicians performing traditional music, as well as craftsmen creating traditional instruments.”

Recordings were later completed in a professional studio, where musicians participated in both solo and ensemble sessions. The result is an archive that includes 24 traditional instruments and more than 200 recorded sound samples.

Among the most notable discoveries is the gajir nay, a rare wind instrument.

“It is a wind instrument with a very rare and distinctive sound. It is made from the wing bone of a scavenger bird called gajir”, Khakimov described.

He explains that such instruments were historically used in everyday life in mountain regions. “In ancient times, they were used by shepherds and mountain dwellers while herding animals,” he says.

The project also documented musical material that had not been widely performed for decades. “We recorded ancient surnay melodies that have not been performed for 40–50 years,” Khakimov notes. “As far as we know, such recordings do not exist elsewhere.”

Other materials include sibizga, regional doira patterns, and Bukhara percussion traditions, some of which were reconstructed during the process.

Changqobuz- traditional uzbek musical instrument We Digital

“These recordings are important not only for creators, but also for future research and preservation,” Khakimov adds.

Maintaining the original sound of traditional instruments during studio recording was a central concern throughout the project.

“For us, it was important that professional recording did not change the authentic sound,” Khakimov says. “We worked with sound engineers who understand how these instruments sound in real life.”

He adds that technical precision alone is not sufficient. “The main task was not to improve the instrument through processing, but to capture its true, original sound.”

A free-access cultural platform

The OHANG platform will be fully free to use. “The platform will be completely free,” said Khasanov. “There will be no paid functions or subscriptions.”

According to the project, all recordings will be released under a public user licence, allowing free use in personal, creative, and commercial projects.

“Users can download tracks and use them in video, film, advertising, or music,” he explains. The only restriction applies to the resale of unaltered content.

The project emphasises both accessibility and cultural respect. “We want these recordings to be widely used, but not misused in ways that distort or disrespect culture,” he adds.

Expanding the archive and future directions

The platform is scheduled for official launch in June. Initially, it will feature recordings from the first expeditions in the Tashkent region, with further expansion planned.

“This is only the beginning,” says project coordinator Maftuna Abdugafurova. “We will continue expeditions across Uzbekistan and gradually expand the catalogue.”

Beyond archiving, the platform is also expected to evolve into a creative space, potentially including remixes, user-generated content, and collaborations between traditional and contemporary musicians.

Creative director Sardor Babayev sees this as a natural development. “We already see interest from DJs and producers,” he says. “The platform can become a bridge between traditional music and modern genres.”

Plans are also being considered for an electronic music festival that would showcase reinterpretations of traditional Uzbek sounds.

“We want to bring together musicians and producers who work with these materials,” Babayev explains. “Traditional music should not remain in the past; it can exist in new forms.”

He adds that international participation is also being considered, positioning the project as a potential cultural exchange platform.

Inside the Korean hotel training humanoid robots with cameras on workers’ hands

By Roselyne Min with AP
Published on 14/05/2026 - EURONEWS

The project reflects South Korea’s wider ambition to turn its chip industry, manufacturing strength and industrial know-how into an edge in ‘physical AI’. But can it catch up in a field still dominated by the US and China?

In South Korea, hotel workers are folding napkins and polishing glasses while cameras track every movement, all to teach humanoid robots how to do the same work inside hotels, factories, and warehouses.
At a high-end hotel in the country’s capital, Seoul, David Park is folding napkins, wiping glasses down, and setting tables, all while every movement is recorded in detail, with cameras strapped to his head, chest, and hands.
Park takes part in the recording sessions about once a month as part of a project run by South Korean artificial intelligence (AI) company RLWRLD, attempting to develop AI systems for five-finger robotic hands intended to more closely replicate human touch and movement.
The company says the process captures highly detailed information, including finger positioning, joint angles, and the amount of force applied during tasks.
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Developers then use that data to train robots equipped with humanlike metal hands and onboard cameras.
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In demonstrations, robots sort cutlery, lift cups, organise trays, and fold cloth napkins inside recreated hotel environments.
Current humanoid systems remain far slower than humans. RLWRLD says a robot would currently need several hours to clean a hotel room that staff can prepare in around 40 minutes.
However, the company says advances in AI software and robotic hardware are accelerating rapidly and it hopes its technology can be used in industrial AI robots by 2028.
RLWRLD says hospitality work provides valuable training because many hotel tasks require precision and subtle hand control.
“For example, with Lotte Hotel, if you were to have a robot fold napkins, a gripper wouldn’t be able to achieve the precise and crisp folds expected of hotel service quality. It wouldn’t be able to achieve a level that can be used in service,” said Hyemin Cho, RLWRLD business and strategy executive.
The company says it is also collecting similar data from logistics workers at South Korean conglomerate CJ Group’s warehouses and from staff at Japanese convenience store chain Lawson, where workers’ hand movements are tracked as they arrange food displays and handle goods.
The goal is to build AI software that can operate across robots used in a range of factories and other workplaces in the coming years, before potentially expanding into homes.
RLWRLD’s engineers say replicating the dexterity of human hands is a key priority.
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Physical AI race

The project is part of South Korea’s growing push into “physical AI,” a sector focused on robots that can perceive, decide, and act in real-world environments.
Just as chatbots such as ChatGPT and Gemini train on vast troves of internet text, AI robots require extensive data on human action to handle advanced physical tasks.
South Korean companies believe they may have an advantage because of the country’s manufacturing base and its large pool of skilled industrial workers, whose expertise can be translated into robot training systems.
The push is part of a wider national effort to turn South Korea’s semiconductor and manufacturing strengths into a stronger position in AI robotics, even as the United States and China continue to lead the field as part of their wider technological rivalry.
The country is stepping up efforts to compete in the humanoid robotics race, with its government recently announcing a $33 million (€28 million) national project aimed at recording the “instinctive know-how and skills” of experienced technicians to help train AI-powered manufacturing robots.
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Major corporations are also investing heavily. Hyundai Motor plans to introduce humanoid robots developed by Boston Dynamics at its factories from 2028.
Samsung Electronics says it aims to convert all manufacturing facilities into “AI-driven factories” by 2030 using humanoids and task-specific robots across production lines.
The development has also raised concerns among some labour groups that robots could eventually replace jobs.
However, for Park, who has worked in hospitality for nine years, the innovation is more exciting than worrying.
“If you look at the entire process of preparing for an event in the back-of-house space, we think humanoids might be able to take over about 30% to 40% of that workload,” Park said.
“However, I think it will be difficult for them to replace the remaining 50%, 60%, 70% of the work, which involves the actual 'human-to-human' interaction. In that sense, it’s more exciting than concerning”.