World’s most expensive coffee goes on sale in Dubai at $1,000 a cup

Selling for nearly $1,000 a cup, a cafe in Dubai is offering the world’s most expensive coffee, brewed from Panamanian beans sold at a premium price. The wealthy emirate is known for its extravagant ventures including an enormous mall with an indoor ski area, the world’s tallest building and an artificial island dotted with five-star hotels. “We felt Dubai was the perfect place for our investment,” said Serkan Sagsoz, co-founder of the Julith cafe with the pricey offering. Located in an industrial neighbourhood that has become a hotspot for coffee lovers, Julith plans to serve “around 400 cups” of the precious beverage starting on Saturday, Sagsoz told AFP. For a price tag of 3,600 dirhams (around $980), the brew offers an experience of floral and fruity flavours reminiscent of tea.”There are white floral notes like jasmine, citrus flavours like orange and bergamot and a hint of apricot and peach,” said Sagsoz, who previously ran a cafe in his native Turkey. “It’s like honey, delicate and sweet,” he said. Dubai notched a Guinness record for the world’s most expensive cup of coffee last month, when Roasters offered one for 2,500 dirhams.The new record staggered some people, though residents also said it was par for the course for the desert city with a luxury lifestyle. “It’s very shocking but at the same time, it’s Dubai,” said Ines, who did not give her last name. “For wealthy people, it’s just another experience they can boast about,” added another resident, Maeva. The Julith cafe bought its beans at an auction in Panama after a tough battle that lasted many hours and drew hundreds of bids.It claimed to have paid the highest price ever for coffee.Twenty kilograms of the beans went for around 2.2 million dirhams, or $600,000, Julith said in a press release. Asian buyers, Emirati coffee enthusiasts and coffee bean collectors have since reached out to the cafe in the hopes of securing some of the “Nido 7 Geisha” beans, which are grown on a plantation near Panama’s Baru volcano.But the cafe said it does not plan to share its treasure, beyond a small amount reserved for Dubai’s ruling family.

Braquage de fourgons en 2015: Avallon? Connais pas, disent les accusés

L’un est passionné de mécanique, un autre se pique de couture, un troisième est féru de truffes espagnoles, mais ces hommes ont un point commun qu’ils livrent depuis mi-octobre à la cour d’assises de Paris: ils n’ont rien à voir avec le braquage d’Avallon en 2015. Treize hommes, dont une dizaine de figures connues du banditisme, comparaissent pour cette attaque, sur une aire d’autoroute, de deux fourgons de convoyage de fonds, retrouvés éventrés et incendiés dans la campagne bourguignonne.C’est l’une des plus importantes du siècle: cette nuit de mars, un commando à l’organisation millimétrée composé d’une quinzaine de malfaiteurs parfaitement renseignés, lourdement armés, repart avec plus de neuf millions d’euros de bijoux, montres et pierres précieuses. La plupart du butin n’a jamais été retrouvée.”Peu d’individus sont capables” de mener une “attaque d’une telle ampleur”, estiment les enquêteurs qui ont vite dans le viseur “une équipe de malfaiteurs particulièrement aguerris”, issus des banditismes “parisien” et “corso-marseillais”.Le Parisien Belaïd Saker, 58 ans, et le méridional Jean-Claude Belmondo, 60 ans, qui se sont rencontrés en prison, cochent ces cases. Tout comme une autre connaissance de détention, Jean-Charles Perinetti, 56 ans. Celui-ci ne sera pas là pour entendre les réquisitions lundi et le verdict le 6 novembre: il est en fuite comme Bernard Beaucorny, 40 ans, dont l’ADN a été retrouvé près des fourgons. Neuf accusés sont jugés pour des actes préparatoires. Seuls ces quatre-là, qui encourent trente ans de réclusion, sont soupçonnés d’avoir été membres du commando. Ce que réfutent Saker comme Belmondo. Pour leur défense: l’absence de preuve matérielle claire, nette et irréfutable les impliquant. A charge: un faisceau d’indices reposant sur l’usage de téléphones cryptés, des rencontres suspectes et des conversations enregistrées.  – “Grand chapeau” -Grand, mince, regard bleu perçant, visage taillé à la serpe, Belmondo a de la prestance. Né dans un train, cet homonyme du comédien est élevé par un oncle et une tante avant d’épouser la fille d’un membre connu du milieu marseillais. Ses activités le conduisent rapidement en cavale en Espagne. Quelques années plus tard, il y retourne pour se lancer dans l’import-export de truffes, raconte-t-il en début de procès. Vendredi, c’est sur les faits qu’il est invité à s’exprimer à la barre: “Jamais de la vie ! J’ai jamais été à Avallon !” Courtois, dans une langue élégante mâtinée d’accent marseillais, il s’agace de ce “grand chapeau” qu’on lui fait porter, de ces références au banditisme: “Depuis 1995, je n’ai jamais commis un seul délit. Je ne suis jamais tombé pour un braquage”.Et ce gilet pare-balles dans sa voiture? “J’ai pu oublier une veste dans ma voiture. Mais un gilet pare-balles, non”, répond ce chasseur. Les balises qu’il commande ? En aucun cas pour pister un fourgon, mais pour s’assurer qu’on ne lui vole pas les voitures d’occasion dont il fait commerce. Les téléphones cryptés ? Il voulait se lancer aussi dans ce commerce. Saker, lui, avance un alibi: à l’heure du braquage, il était aux urgences pour un genou douloureux. Sauf que les enquêteurs se demandent s’il n’y a pas envoyé son jumeau, dont il utilisait aussi les papiers pour franchir les frontières. Un soupçon renforcé par son refus de contre-expertiser son genou.  Et ces livres chez lui sur la cote des montres de luxe ? “Je regardais le mécanisme des montres, j’aime beaucoup”, dit cet homme décrit comme un bricoleur hors pair. Certes, Saker rencontrait Belmondo et Perinetti, mais c’était pour les faire profiter de ses “supers plans pour les pièces détachées de motos”. Les kilomètres parcourus pour se faire couper les cheveux par Alexandre Graziani s’expliquent simplement: celui-ci coiffait bien, comme le suggère son surnom. Le Coiffeur, qui surprend quand il évoque la couture parmi ses centres d’intérêt, est soupçonné d’avoir mis les braqueurs en relation avec ses copains de musculation, deux convoyeurs de fonds jugés pour avoir fourni des renseignements. Saker est en difficulté quand il est confronté à ses conversations dans des voitures sonorisées par la police. Trois mois après le braquage, il discute avec Perinetti des meilleures caches dans une voiture. Une autre fois, il est question de montres et de neuf millions d’euros. Saker oppose la même réponse: “Je ne me rappelle plus du tout de cette conversation”.  

Unexploded bombs sow fear among Gazans under fragile truce

Moein al-Hattu’s home has been ripped apart, its cinder block walls blown out into the street and a dusty grey bomb hangs menacingly from a damaged pillar, its tip resting on a crushed chest of drawers.Weighing more than a tonne, the munition was dropped during an airstrike on Gaza City during fighting between Israel and Hamas but has not exploded — yet.”I’m living in terror and unable to remove it,” al-Hattu told AFP, as children wandering through the rubble paused to marvel at the threatening intrusion.The grey-bearded Palestinian wants to hang tarpaulins from the shell of his bombed-out home and move back in, but has been unable to find anyone in Gaza with the skills or equipment to remove the giant bomb. “The relevant authorities, whether the civil defence or the municipality, say they can’t remove it. Who can I go to and complain to?” he demanded. “If it had exploded, it would have caused massive destruction and destroyed at least five to six houses.”After two years of war, the ruined cities of Gaza, a densely packed territory home to more than two million Palestinians, are littered with military debris, including unexploded, still-deadly munitions.In the streets of Gaza City, children play with rocket parts and the tail fins of mortar shells, oblivious to or unbothered by the danger.According to a study by charity Handicap International, Israel has dropped around 70,000 tonnes of explosives on targets in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 cross-border attack triggered the drawn-out conflict.- Cardboard for cooking –     In January this year, the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) warned that between five and 10 percent of these bombs did not explode — leaving their deadly payloads to be recovered by militants or discovered by frightened residents.At Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, Mohammed Nour sat beside a bed holding his two injured children.The pair watched mute and glassy-eyed, their legs bound and skin flecked with shrapnel as he explained how they had been injured. “We were setting up our tents and the boys went to look for wood, nylon and cardboard to burn to use for cooking,” Nour told AFP. “About ten metres away from us, we suddenly saw boys being thrown by the explosion. We didn’t think they were our children and then we found them scattered in every corner.”Nour’s sons may yet keep their limbs but in a nearby bed, six-year-old Yahya has lost part of his right hand and is all but covered in bandages. His grandfather Tawfiq al-Sharbasi sits by him, keeping vigil and strokes his hair. “These are children. What did they do wrong? They were playing,” he said.Jonathan Crickx, spokesman for UNICEF Palestine, told AFP it was very difficult to estimate how many children have been injured by unexploded ordnance.”Following the recent ceasefire, we have recorded reports indicating that at least eight children were seriously injured by explosive remnants of war,” he said, adding that UN agencies are trying to raise awareness of the threat.To date, no demining equipment has been authorised to enter the Gaza Strip by the Israeli army.

Palestinians bury 15-year-old shot by Israeli forces in West Bank

Crowds of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank town of Silwad attended the funeral of a 15-year-old boy on Friday after he was shot dead by Israeli forces overnight.About 200 mourners clapped and chanted as they carried the body of Yamen Hamed, wrapped in a Palestinian flag, through the crowded streets.Some waved Palestinian flags, while others clutched those representing the Islamist movement Hamas and its longtime rival Fatah — the party of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.Inside, women sobbed over the teenager’s body, stroking and kissing his face. Women sobbed over the teenager’s body, stroking and kissing his face. Earlier on Friday, the Palestinian health ministry had announced the death of “Yamen Samed Yousef Hamed… by occupation bullets in Silwad, northeast of Ramallah”. When asked by AFP about the incident, the Israeli military said that during an operation in Silwad, “a terrorist was identified with a suspicious flaming object that was suspected to be an explosive device.””After identification, the soldiers responded with fire and eliminated the terrorist,” it added.Yousef Hamed, the boy’s father, said his son had been joyful in his final moments. “Right before, he was at home with us, happy and playing,” he told AFP.”Usually, when he leaves, he just says: ‘Bye, I’m leaving’. This time as he was leaving, he said goodbye to each of his brothers, his mother, everyone, one by one…. It was as if he somehow felt it this time, or God inspired him,” he added.”He said goodbye to everyone, then he left, but did not come back.”Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has soared since the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023 triggered the Gaza war.A new ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect in the territory on October 10, mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar.At least 996 Palestinians, including militants, have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers since the start of the war in Gaza, according to the Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry.During the same period, 43 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks, according to official Israeli figures.

La CGT n’ira pas au lancement de la conférence Travail et Retraites mardi, contrairement à la CFDT

La CGT ne participera pas mardi au lancement de la conférence Travail et Retraites, inititée par le gouvernement, mettant en avant un problème d’agenda, tandis que la cheffe de file de la CFDT Marylise Léon a confirmé sa participation à l’AFP.”C’est le jour de notre CCN (comité confédéral national), le parlement de la CGT. Évidemment que la CGT ne pourra pas être là”, a déclaré à l’AFP Sophie Binet.”Je veux dire au ministre du Travail, que s’il souhaite la participation de la CGT, il faut que le calendrier, le contenu, les modalités, l’animation de cette fameuse conférence travail dont on ne sait rien, soit décidé et travaillé avec l’ensemble des organisations syndicales, y compris la CGT”, a-t-elle encore expliqué.Le ministre du Travail Jean-Pierre Farandou a annoncé vendredi le lancement dès mardi de cette conférence voulue par le Premier ministre, le jour de l’ouverture des débats à l’Assemblée sur le budget de la sécurité sociale (PLFSS) où la suspension de la réforme des retraites sera un sujet clé.Le ministère a précisé qu’il s’agira d’une réunion “consacrée à la présentation de cette initiative ainsi qu’à de premières discussions sur le format et la méthode de travail envisagés”.”Si la conférence travail, c’est qu’on nous invite pour tenir les chandelles entre celles et ceux qui veulent un système à points et ceux qui veulent la capitalisation, c’est sans nous. Nous, ce que nous voulons, c’est un cadre sérieux pour parler du financement du système de retraite par répartition, pour parler du financement de l’abrogation de la réforme des retraites”, a souligné Sophie Binet.La CGT sera la seule des cinq organisations syndicales représentatives à être absente de la réunion de mardi.En plus de Marylise Léon, le président de la CFTC Cyril Chabanier a confirmé à l’AFP sa participation, ainsi que FO qui sera représenté par sa numéro deux Patricia Drevon et son responsable pour la fonction publique Christian Grolier.La CFE-CGC sera de son côté représentée par Christelle Thieffinne et Maxime Legrand, a indiqué son président, François Hommeril.

Panic across US as health insurance costs set to surge

Rachel Mosley, a Florida pre-school teacher, recently learned her family’s health insurance premiums are set to nearly triple to a staggering $4,000 a month next year when US government subsidies expire.Like more than 20 million middle-class Americans, Mosley and her husband until now have benefited from subsidies connected to the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.But under US President Donald Trump, these subsidies are set to expire at the end of the year — and Republicans for now are refusing to negotiate their extension.The explosive issue is core to the budget standoff between Republicans and Democrats, which has triggered a shutdown that has paralyzed the American federal government for a month.And on November 1, insurance renewals and enrollments open — leaving households across the country to learn their new rates with terror.”I had some tears on my front porch,” Mosley — a mother of five kids, who makes around $24,000 a year as a teacher — told AFP. Combined with her salary and her husband’s work as a physician’s assistant, she said “it’s a third of our income.””I can’t possibly imagine how we could pay it.”Mosley, 46, works part-time because she had a heart attack last year — she thought she was in perfect health but nearly died.So canceling insurance altogether isn’t an option: if “I have to go to the hospital for a heart attack or stroke…how would I pay the bill?””I really wouldn’t be able to pay.”It’s an impossible choice with rippling effects nationwide.Audrey Horn, a 60-year-old retiree from Nebraska, is in similar panic.Her premium is currently fully covered by the federal government, but it is set to go from more than $1,740 to more than $2,430 — and that substantial subsidy is in limbo.Horn’s husband works for a small construction company and is paid by the hour. She said they’re already feeling the impact of inflation and simply do not have the budget to absorb such a health care increase.”I balance my checkbook to the penny,” she told AFP, saying they share a very small house and drive old cars. “We don’t have a lot.”- Societal ‘burden’ -In the US, about half of American workers receive health insurance through their employers. The rest — employees of small businesses, self-employed individuals, people working part-time, and those working multiple jobs or doing contract work — are largely covered through “Obamacare.”The program’s subsidies were created with the goal to “bridge the gap” between the enormous price of US health insurance and what people can actually pay, explained Mark Shepard, a Harvard economist and public policy expert.The subsidies got a boost during the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic, but are now set to decrease or even disappear — even as the cost of living continues to soar.KFF, a health policy think tank, said the expiration would mean the average premium cost of $888 in 2025 would spike to $1,906 next year.The Congressional Budget Office estimates that dramatic increase will mean 4 million Americans will lose their health insurance.”There’s going to be a burden on the overall society,” said Shepard, because people will still show up uninsured, frequently to emergency rooms.When that happens people accumulate debts that can easily amount to tens of thousands of dollars — and when they’re unable to pay, “the hospitals or local governments or state governments end up bearing the burden of that cost,” he said.Mosley has called and written to her Republican senators in recent days, urging them to reconsider their positions.She hasn’t received a response.On the other side of the country, Claire Hartley, who owns a California yoga studio, is making similar calls — and asking her Democratic representatives to “stand firm.”Hartley received notice that premiums for her, her husband and their 18-year-old daughter would go from $1,100 a month to $2,022 next year.”The longer the Republicans wait, the more people are going to get these notices,” she told AFP, voicing hope that people will become more aware of the political battle and what’s at stake.She’s urging people to contact their reps and say “‘wait, I can’t afford this. You can’t cave to these demands.'”

Wall Street bounces on Amazon, Apple earnings

Wall Street stocks moved higher on Friday as investors welcomed strong earnings reports by Amazon and Apple.But Europe and Asian stock markets mostly fell at the end of a fluctuating week as traders reacted to company earnings, central bank decisions and a tentative US-China trade truce.Wall Street had ended lower on Thursday, with bloated AI spending by Meta reviving worries among investors. But after trading ended sentiment was boosted by Amazon reporting better-than-expected earnings driven by surging demand for its cloud computing services.Apple also posted quarterly sales that beat estimates, powered by iPhone and services revenue.The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jump 1.5 percent at the open of trading on Friday in New York as Amazon shares soared more than 11 percent.”Investors remain bullish thanks to strong gains across tech and semiconductor stocks driven by optimism over the future of artificial intelligence,” said David Morrison, senior market analyst at financial services provider Trade Nation.While Wall Street’s main indices gave up some of their gains as the day wore on, Amazon shares were still up over 10 percent in early afternoon trading.Shares in Apple were 0.6 percent higher.Shares in AI chipmaker Nvidia gained 2.1 percent after it said on Friday it will supply 260,000 of its most cutting-edge chips to South Korea.Investor confidence in artificial intelligence lifted markets at the start of the week, pushing Nvidia to become the first firm with a $5 trillion market value and sending several stock markets to record highs.Sentiment was further boosted by a detente in the US-China trade war that has shaken global markets, though momentum faded as the two sides stopped short of producing a signed agreement.While the Fed on Wednesday cut interest rates as expected, Powell’s follow-up comments that another reduction by the end of the year was not guaranteed dampened sentiment as investors had been expecting another cut at the US central bank meeting in December.The European Central Bank and Bank of Japan held their rates steady Thursday.The ECB’s stance was reinforced by data Friday showing inflation eased closer to the central bank’s two-percent target in October. European stocks ended the day lower.In Asia, Tokyo’s main benchmark gained more than two percent on Friday while Seoul added half a percent, with both reaching record closes.Japan’s climb came despite a plunge in Nissan shares after the auto giant said it expected to suffer an operating loss in its current fiscal year ending in March.- Key figures at around 1630 GMT -New York – Dow: FLAT at 47,532.45 pointsNew York – S&P 500: UP 0.3 percent at 6,840.17New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 23,736.34 London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0. percent at 9, (close)Paris – CAC 40: DOWN 0. percent at 8, (close)Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0. at 24, (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 2.1 percent at 52,411.34 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.4 percent at 25,906.65 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.8 percent at 3,954.79 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1537 from $1.1564 on ThursdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3135 from $1.3142Dollar/yen: UP at 154.13 yen from 154.06 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 87.83 from 87.98 penceWest Texas Intermediate: FLAT at $60.57 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at $64.32 per barrelburs-rl/st

Plainte pour escroquerie contre Amaury Leveaux, ex-star de la natation

Amaury Leveaux, ancienne gloire de la natation française, est visé par une plainte pour escroquerie, notamment, sur fond de plateforme de cryptomonnaie, a-t-on appris vendredi auprès de l’avocat du plaignant, confirmant une information du Parisien.La plainte, consultée par l’AFP, vise l’ancien champion olympique pour escroquerie d’une somme de 100.000 euros, abus de confiance et blanchiment. Elle a été déposée fin septembre auprès du procureur du tribunal judiciaire de Paris.Au coeur de cette affaire se trouve Spantale, plateforme numérique de sponsoring sportif, créée pour financer les talents du sport français via une cryptomonnaie et lancée en 2021 par Amaury Leveaux. Les plaignants, parents d’une jeune cavalière à la recherche d’un sponsor pour des concours hippiques, affirment avoir transféré la somme de 100.000 euros à Amaury Leveaux à l’été 2021, en vue d’un rendement prometteur espéré. La plainte, rédigée par Me Robin Binsard, mentionne un contrat dans lequel l’ex-nageur s’engage à ce que Spantale rembourse la somme investie en cas de chute du cours de la cryptomonnaie (AEL Tokens).Dans un premier temps, en janvier 2022, le portefeuille de cryptomonnaie des parents affiche la somme de 2,5 millions d’euros. Mais ce montant est bloqué, sans possibilité de retrait ou transfert selon la plainte. Sans qu’ils puissent agir, les parents voient ensuite ce portefeuille se dégarnir un mois plus tard puis se vider complétement en avril 2023.  Malgré “les promesses mêlées d’excuses” d’Amaury Leveaux, “aucun remboursement n’est intervenu”, souligne la plainte.Amaury Leveaux nie toute “escroquerie” dans Le Parisien et dit qu’il ne s’est “pas enrichi”. Ni l’ancien nageur ni son avocat n’ont pu être joints par l’AFP vendredi.Tous les liens sur internet qui renvoyaient autrefois vers Spantale sont désormais désactivés. 

Trump’s nuclear testing order risks expanded arms race

By ordering a resumption of nuclear testing, US President Donald Trump risks an expanded arms race that could benefit China, experts say — something especially concerning given the shaky status of international arms control efforts.Trump caught the world by surprise when he announced the order just hours before meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in South Korea, saying Washington would start testing nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with Moscow and Beijing.”We are already in the midst of a three-way arms race among Russia, the United States, and China,” said William Hartung of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.”A resumption in testing of nuclear warheads would make this unstable situation worse, possibly far worse,” he said.Trump said US testing would begin “immediately,” drawing pushback from both China and Russia.Beijing expressed its hope that Washington would respect its obligations under the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and “take concrete actions to safeguard the global nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation system.”And Moscow, which recently tested nuclear-powered and nuclear-capable weapons — the Burevestnik cruise missile and the Poseidon underwater drone — insisted that those moves did not constitute a direct test of an atomic weapon.- China would benefit -But it seems that Pandora’s box has been opened.”By foolishly announcing his intention to resume nuclear testing, Trump will trigger strong international opposition that could unleash a chain reaction of nuclear testing by US adversaries, and blow apart the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty,” Arms Control Association Executive Director Daryl Kimball said in a statement.Doreen Horschig of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) meanwhile said that “the only one who would benefit from nuclear warhead testing would be China, because they haven’t done as many as Russia and the US.”According to experts, China is developing its nuclear arsenal at a rapid pace, but still remains far behind the United States and Russia, the world’s two leading nuclear powers.The Pentagon warned last year that China moving faster than anticipated on nuclear arms, particularly in regard to the development of operational warheads.As of early 2025, China had a total of 600 warheads, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.- ‘Big risk’ -International nuclear arms control efforts have meanwhile suffered setbacks.The latest arms control agreement between Washington and Moscow — known as New Start, which limited each party to 1,550 deployed strategic offensive warheads and includes a currently suspended verification mechanism — will expire in February 2026.Russia has proposed extending the agreement for a year, but has not mentioned any inspections of arsenals.Asked in October about the issue, Trump responded that extending the deal “sounds like a good idea to me,” but the US government has yet to give an indication of what it plans to do.In July, the Republican leader also said that “we are starting to work on that” issue, noting that it “is a big problem for the world when you take off nuclear restrictions.”The United States also withdrew in 2019 from a major 1987 disarmament treaty on intermediate-range nuclear forces.Aside from North Korea, no state has officially conducted an explosive nuclear test in three decades, but countries including the United States regularly test their delivery systems such as missiles and warplanes.Horschig said that as far as nuclear weapons themselves, “everything is done now through computational testing.””The US is far ahead of Russia and China on how much data it has from this, so it really doesn’t need it at the moment,” she said of explosive testing.”None of them actually want to return to testing, but because they’re thinking the other is preparing for testing, then that’s how we end up testing. So that’s the big risk involved at the moment,” Horschig added.