Congo’s Nobel winner Mukwege pins hopes on new filmTue, 23 Sep 2025 16:07:36 GMT

Congolese Nobel Peace Prize winner Denis Mukwege hopes a new film about his life will achieve what decades of activism have struggled to do: bringing his country’s “forgotten” wars to wide public attention.Mukwege, a world-renowned gynaecologist who specialises in treating rape victims, is the central figure in the Franco-Belgian biopic “Muganga – Celui qui soigne” …

Congo’s Nobel winner Mukwege pins hopes on new filmTue, 23 Sep 2025 16:07:36 GMT Read More »

China may strengthen climate role amid US fossil fuel push

All eyes are on China this week, as the world’s biggest polluter readies a new emissions-cutting plan — reinforcing its role as a steadfast defender of global climate diplomacy while Europe stalls and the United States doubles down on fossil fuels.United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has convened a mini climate summit on Wednesday during a week of high-level talks, where Beijing is expected to unveil its updated “Nationally Determined Contributions.”These need to be in place before the main climate gathering of the year, the COP30 summit in Belem, Brazil, in November. Although China accounts for nearly 30 percent of annual global greenhouse gas emissions, it has increasingly positioned itself as a driving force in international climate talks and as a green technology superpower. It has strongly backed the UN process under the Paris Agreement despite the second departure of its principal geopolitical rival, the United States.”China is a very stable partner,” Brazil’s Ana Toni, CEO of COP30, told AFP. “We are expecting China to continue on the right path. Let us hope that the other players will do the same.”Chinese Premier Li Qiang is poised to be the first speaker at the mini summit and could unveil the new plan then, or it may come before.What China chooses as its 2035 emissions reduction target could make or break the Paris goal of limiting warming to “well below” 2C since preindustrial times and preferably 1.5C — a target Guterres told AFP last week could be at risk of “collapsing.” Beijing has said its 2035 plan will, for the first time, cover all economic sectors and greenhouse gases.- Under promise, over deliver -Under its last plan, announced in 2021, China said it would aim to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve net zero by 2060 — deemed highly insufficient by groups that track such targets.But observers say it is more important to watch what China does than what it says.”The China approach is ‘We’ll set a modest target then outperform it,'” Helen Clarkson, CEO of the international nonprofit Climate Group that runs Climate Week in New York City every September told AFP. By contrast, the European Union failed to adopt a unified plan ahead of the UN General Assembly, opting for a non-binding statement of intent — although the 27-nation bloc has decarbonized faster than many other developed nations.And the United States under President Donald Trump has recast itself as a zealous promoter of fossil fuels. During his first term, the US withdrew from the Paris accord. In his second term, Washington has not simply abandoned climate action but has gone on the offensive for oil and gas interests — threatening to punish countries that participate in the International Maritime Organization’s carbon pricing system for shipping and embedding the sale of US liquefied natural gas (LNG) in trade deals, for example.”Countries are confronted with competing sales pitches, as China tries to sell them solar panels and the US pushes LNG,” Manish Bapna, president of the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council, told AFP.”For China, it’s a long-term economic plan, and of course, they can do that because of the structure of their politics,” said Clarkson. “What we haven’t really figured out is how to do these long-term climate plans on short-term democratic cycles.”

L’UE traque les failles anti-arnaques des plateformes

Les géants de la tech en font-ils assez pour protéger leurs utilisateurs contre les arnaques financières en ligne? C’est ce que veut vérifier l’Union européenne, au risque de s’attirer de nouveau les foudres de Donald Trump, qui fustige l’interventionnisme de Bruxelles dans le secteur du numérique.La Commission européenne a annoncé mardi avoir envoyé des “demandes d’information” à Apple, Google et Microsoft, ainsi qu’à la plateforme de réservation d’hôtels Booking, dans le cadre de la législation sur les services numériques (DSA), pour savoir “comment ils s’assurent que leurs services ne sont pas détournés par des fraudeurs”, a précisé un porte-parole.Dans le détail, la demande de la Commission concerne la boutique d’applications d’Apple (App Store), celle de Google (Google Play), le moteur de recherche de Microsoft (Bing), et Booking.Parmi les activités criminelles ciblées, la Commission évoque la création d’applications trompeuses, qui se font passer pour des applications bancaires officielles, ou l’utilisation de moteurs de recherche pour diffuser des liens ou des publicités pour des sites frauduleux.”C’est une étape essentielle pour protéger les utilisateurs dans l’ensemble de l’UE contre ce genre de pratiques, et vérifier que les plateformes font leur part” pour lutter contre ce phénomène, a estimé un porte-parole de la Commission.- Fausses réservations -“Microsoft s’engage à créer des expériences en ligne sûres et continuera de collaborer avec la Commission européenne sur ce sujet important”, a assuré à l’AFP un porte-parole du groupe.De son côté, Google a rappelé qu’il “fournit une protection de pointe dans l’ensemble de ses produits, et détecte et supprime des millions de résultats de recherche frauduleux chaque jour”.Booking a pour sa part assuré s’engager “à discuter des faits de manière constructive”, assurant pour prouver ses efforts avoir fait chuter de 83% l’an dernier les “fausses réservations liées au phishing détectées et bloquées”.Cette démarche, qui n’en est pas encore au stade d’une enquête formelle, s’appuie sur le vaste arsenal juridique dont l’Europe dispose pour réguler la tech avec le DSA et le règlement sur les marchés numériques (DMA).Désinformation, haine en ligne, contrefaçons ou produits dangereux, le DSA vise à protéger les utilisateurs européens en imposant aux plateformes des obligations. Les manquements à ces règles peuvent leur valoir des amendes pesant jusqu’à 6% de leur chiffre d’affaires annuel mondial.Bruxelles a déjà lancé de multiples enquêtes dans le cadre du DSA, ciblant en particulier les plateformes de Meta, Facebook et Instagram, mais aussi TikTok et X, ou encore le site chinois AliExpress.Mais cet interventionnisme de l’UE dans un secteur dont les champions sont souvent Américains lui a valu les foudres de Donald Trump, qui a menacé de représailles les pays ou organisations régulant le secteur de la tech.Le président américain s’est ainsi insurgé contre l’amende géante (près de 3 milliards d’euros) infligée début septembre par la Commission européenne à Google, pour abus de sa position dominante dans la publicité en ligne.Malgré ces menaces, l’UE a assuré qu’elle mènerait à bien ses enquêtes ouvertes dans le cadre du DSA.”Dans les semaines et les mois à venir, nous serons en mesure de finaliser bon nombre de ces enquêtes”, avait déclaré vendredi à l’AFP la commissaire européenne en charge du numérique Henna Virkkunen, ajoutant que “c’étaient les premières décisions qu'[ils allaient] prendre en vertu de la loi sur les services numériques”.”Nous en lancerons probablement de nouvelles”, avait-elle ajouté en référence à ces enquêtes. 

US says dismantled telecoms shutdown threat during UN summit

The US Secret Service said Tuesday it had dismantled a network of electronic devices that could have crashed New York’s telecommunications network in an attack ahead of the UN General Assembly.The protective agency did not say who was responsible for the sophisticated material but linked it to “nation-state” actors and “individuals that are known to federal law enforcement.”ABC News quoted a law enforcement source briefed on the investigation as saying officials “believe the plot is connected to the Chinese government.””The potential for disruption to our country’s telecommunications posed by this network of devices cannot be overstated,” Secret Service Director Sean Curran said.In a statement released shortly before President Donald Trump began addressing world leaders at the UN headquarters in New York, the Secret Service said the network of devices was uncovered after threats were made against senior US officials.”In addition to carrying out anonymous telephonic threats, these devices could be used to conduct a wide range of telecommunications attacks,” the agency said.”This includes disabling cell phone towers, enabling denial of services attacks and facilitating anonymous, encrypted communication between potential threat actors and criminal enterprises.”Secret Service special agent Matt McCool said the agency was “working towards identifying those responsible and their intent, including whether their plan was to disrupt the UN General Assembly.”McCool said no arrests have been made so far.He said the investigation that led to the seizure of the electronics began this spring in an effort to identify what he called the “fraudulent calls” made to senior US officials.- 300 servers, 100,000 SIM cards -The Secret Service said the devices it seized were located within a 35-mile (56-kilometer) radius of the UN and included 300 computer servers and 100,000 SIM cards across multiple sites.”Given the timing, location and potential for significant disruption to New York telecommunications posed by these devices, the agency moved quickly to disrupt this network,” it said.”Early analysis indicates cellular communications between nation-state threat actors and individuals that are known to federal law enforcement,” it said.The New York Times said an initial analysis of data on SIM cards has identified ties to “at least one foreign nation” as well as drug cartel members.The newspaper said 80 grams of cocaine and illegal firearms had been found at locations where the electronic devices were found.

US lawmaker warns of military ‘misunderstanding’ risk with China

The leader of a US congressional delegation to China warned Tuesday of the “risk of a misunderstanding” between the two countries’ militaries as advances in defence technology move at breakneck speed.Adam Smith, the most senior Democrat on Washington’s Armed Services Committee, told journalists in Beijing that China needs to talk more about its military with other global powers “for basic de-confliction”.”We’ve seen this with our ships, our planes, their ships, their planes coming entirely too close to one another,” he said at a news conference at the US Embassy.”We need to have a better conversation about de-conflicting those things.”The four-person delegation also includes other members of the same Armed Services Committee — Democrats Ro Khanna and Chrissy Houlahan — as well as Republican congressman Michael Baumgartner, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. The group on Monday met Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun, with whom they talked about the importance of “working through our differences” and more candid dialogue, according to a statement from the US side.Dong called on the visitors to “remove disruptive and restrictive factors” between them, China’s Xinhua state news agency reported.Speaking on Tuesday alongside the other lawmakers and the US Ambassador to China, David Perdue, Smith said: “AI and drone warfare and cyber and space is moving so rapidly and innovation is happening so quickly. “The risk of a misunderstanding of capabilities on one side or the other is great,” he said, adding the two sides need to talk so they “don’t stumble in any sort of conflicts”. – Tariffs, TikTok and Taiwan -The bipartisan congressional delegation comes just days after Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump spoke by telephone for the second time since the return to the White House of Trump, who has tried to keep a lid on tensions despite his once virulent criticism of China.Trump said he would meet Xi on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea starting at the end of next month and that he would travel to China next year. He said Xi would also visit the United States at an unspecified time and that the two leaders would speak again by telephone. Both sides dramatically hiked tariffs against each other during a months-long dispute earlier this year, disrupting global supply chains. Washington and Beijing then reached a deal to reduce levies, with the United States imposing 30 percent duties on imports of Chinese goods and China hitting US products with a 10 percent tariff. The deal expires in November. Smith’s group on Monday held talks with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, in which they discussed the ongoing trade talks and the hot-button issues of fentanyl, critical minerals and the future of TikTok. The White House has said a US version of TikTok would feature a homegrown model of the app’s prized algorithm, potentially clearing one of the main obstacles to keeping the Chinese-owned platform online in the United States.Asked about the TikTok issue, Smith said: “My understanding is that I don’t think that has been 100 percent resolved.”The delegation later met Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who said the “current stabilisation of China-US relations is hard-won and should be cherished”, according to a readout from Beijing.But the top diplomat took a swipe at Washington over Taiwan, telling the group of lawmakers: “The United States has made a political commitment on the one-China issue. “To safeguard peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, it is necessary to firmly oppose ‘Taiwan independence’.”