AFP Asia Business

Deep in Tunisia’s desert south, camels stride toward humming milking machines. Their milk is at the heart of a women-led project promising an economic lifeline for disadvantaged communities.Spearheading this effort is 32-year-old Latifa Frifita, who launched Tunisia’s first, and so far only, camel milk pasteurisation unit two years ago in Medenine.The unit is based on research by Amel Sboui, 45, a senior biochemist at the Institute of Arid Regions, who succeeded in patenting a pasteurisation method that preserves camel milk’s “nutritional and therapeutic qualities” while extending its shelf life to two weeks.Containing up to five times more iron than cow’s milk, camel milk is non-allergenic and some studies have suggested that it has immune-boosting and anti-inflammatory properties.Pasteurisation of camel milk is essential to bringing it to wider markets because the milk is highly perishable.Sboui and her lab of ten researchers — eight of them women — also conducted clinical trials at the regional hospital which showed that consuming the milk could help diabetic patients reduce their medication doses by up to half in some cases.- Growing demand -Jobs and investment in southern Tunisia are scarce, yet entrepreneur Frifita has pinned her hopes on a product long undervalued by local herders and is working to change their minds.At first, she said she faced many challenges when trying to convince the herders to sell milk instead of meat — a far more common commodity.”They didn’t see the point,” she said while testing a fresh sample of the milk, wearing a hairnet. “They usually keep it for themselves or give it away for free.”But, having built “a relationship of trust” and with demand for the product growing, Frifita said she planned to reach further agreements with breeders.Frifita, who holds a master’s degree in food technologies, began sketching out her idea in 2016, but it was not until 2023 that she launched ChameLait with the support of the Institute, which provided her startup with premises to operate.Today, she is happy to “promote a local product that defines southern Tunisia”, where dromedaries are a fixture of the landscape, she said.A mother of a two-year-old girl, she said she chose to “stay and invest in her region” rather than following her sports coach husband to the Middle East.The station in Chenchou, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Medenine, also serves as a training site for herders to learn mechanised milking, which yields up to seven litres a day compared to just two litres with traditional hand milking.Frifita now runs the business alongside two other women — one of them her older sister, Besma — producing about 500 litres of pasteurised milk per week with the aim of doubling their output within two years.ChameLait sells its products on demand and through a dozen retail shops, starting at 12 Tunisian dinars (about $4) per litre — double the price Frifita pays breeders.And the demand has been growing.Amel Sboui, a 45-year-old senior researcher at the Institute, said this was largely due to word of mouth because of “people realising the milk’s health benefits”.- ‘A future in Tunisia’ -Beyond ChameLait and with more research needed, Sboui said he saw additional potential in freeze-dried camel milk, which could one day be sold “as a medicine, a functional food or food supplement”.The Institute views Frifita’s business as a model enterprise.Established under a programme by Tunisia’s first president, Habib Bourguiba, the organisation aims to use scientific research to benefit the country’s harshest and most neglected areas.Medenine, with a population of a little over half a million, suffers from high levels of poverty and unemployment — 22 and 19 percent respectively, compared to national averages of 15 and 16 percent.These conditions have driven thousands of young people to leave, either for coastal cities or to seek opportunities abroad.”Our primary goal, even as a research centre, is to create added value and jobs,” said Moez Louhichi, head of innovation at the Institute.By supporting “farmers and young entrepreneurs in promoting the region’s resources, we encourage them to build their future here in Tunisia”.Since 2010, the Institute has helped launch 80 businesses, creating between 600 and 1,000 jobs, according to Louhichi.A major camel milk collection centre is expected to open by the end of 2025 to expand mechanised milking in the region.Louhichi said this would help the sector grow, turning the once-overlooked commodity into southern Tunisia’s “white gold”.

Near the holy city of Mecca, men in white robes stand quietly in a long queue, waiting for the next important act of their hajj pilgrimage: a haircut.Shaving or cutting the hair comes near the end of the hajj, and marks the moment when pilgrims can change out of the Ihram clothing that signifies purity and devotion.The barbershop, strategically positioned by the Jamarat complex in Mina, where the “stoning of the devil” ritual took place on Friday, opens exclusively for the annual hajj and does a roaring trade.On the pilgrimage’s third day, which coincides with the major festival of Eid al-Adha, its barbers typically handle 6,000 customers, said manager Imad Fawzi, an official employed by the hajj organisation.Inside, men in plastic aprons wield electric clippers and cut-throat razors, shearing scalps on an industrial scale for 60 riyals ($13) per head.Despite the rush — there are so many customers that an usher is required — Ahmed, a 28-year-old barber from Egypt, is happy in his work.”This is a very simple thing to do, but it brings us so much joy,” he says.”We’re happy to serve the pilgrims… and to be able to work in a holy place,” he said.Fawzi, who grew up in Mecca, called himself a “child of the hajj”.”I’ve been working in hajj since I was seven,” he says.- ‘This outfit is exhausting’ -The once-a-year hairdresser is not the only place for a cut: parts of Mecca and the plain of Mina, on its outskirts, turn into an open-air barbershop at this stage of the hajj.Leaving the Jamarat, a southeast Asian man took out a razor and started scraping the back of his head as he walked. Further down the street, a group of African men were shaving each other with clippers.In Mecca, entire streets are lined with barbershops doing brisk business. While men shave their hair, women trim theirs by a fingertip-length.About 1.6 million pilgrims have gathered in and around Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, for this year’s hajj, which all Muslims with the means must complete at least once.Outside the Jamarat barbershop, Hani Abdel Samih is looking forward to changing out of the wrap-around skirt and shawl he has been wearing for the past three days.”The stoning of the devil at Jamarat requires great effort and we’ve been wearing these clothes all day,” he said.”We wanted to wear our everyday clothes and be comfortable, so we went to the nearest barbershop we could find after the Jamarat,” said the Egyptian.Yet his face was beaming with joy. He said he did not mind the wait for a haircut that bears a special place in his spiritual journey.”I’m excited, of course! Because this is Sunnah from the Prophet, peace be upon him,” he said, referring to the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed.”We like (this ritual) and we cannot break it,” he said.The hajj retraces the Prophet’s last pilgrimage, with rites at Mecca’s Grand Mosque and Mount Arafat before “stoning the devil” — throwing pebbles at three giant walls at Jamarat.

Major stock indexes pushed higher Friday as data showed the US labor market is resilient despite uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s tariffs, while upcoming US-China talks added to hopes of easing trade tensions.Tesla stocks regained some ground after plunging Thursday following a stunning public row between the company’s billionaire boss Elon Musk and Trump.A below-par reading …

Stocks climb on reassuring jobs data, US-China trade optimism Read More »

Israel’s military announced Friday the deaths of four soldiers in Gaza, saying it needed thousands more troops to press its offensive, just as the premier’s coalition faces the prospect of collapse over ultra-Orthodox conscription.News of the soldiers’ deaths came as Gaza’s civil defence agency reported 38 killed Friday in Israeli attacks across the territory, where Palestinians observed the Eid al-Adha holiday under the shadow of war for a second consecutive year.Military spokesman Effie Defrin said the four soldiers were killed as they “were operating in the Khan Yunis area, in a compound belonging to the Hamas terrorist organisation”. “Around six in the morning, an explosive device detonated, causing part of the structure to collapse,” he said, adding that five other soldiers were wounded, one of them severely.”The losses suffered today by the occupation in Khan Younis… illustrate what the occupation forces will face wherever they are present,” said a statement attributed to Abu Obeida, spokesman for the armed of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, while urging the Israeli public to “force its leaders to end the war of extermination or prepare to receive more of its sons in coffins”. The deaths bring to 429 the number of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza since the start of the ground offensive in late October 2023.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended his condolences to the soldiers’ families, saying they “sacrificed their lives for the safety of all of us”.Israel recently stepped up its Gaza campaign in what it says is a renewed push to defeat Hamas, whose October 7, 2023 attack sparked the war.- Conscription row -Asked by a reporter about the issue of ultra-Orthodox conscription, which has emerged as a thorn in the side of Netanyahu’s government, Defrin said “this is the need of the moment, an operational necessity”.The army was short around 10,000 soldiers, he added, including about 6,000 in combat roles, adding that “tens of thousands more notices will be issued in the upcoming draft cycle”.The conscription issue has threatened to sink Netanyahu’s government, with ultra-Orthodox religious parties warning they will pull out of his coalition if Netanyahu fails to make good on a promise to codify the military exemption for their community in law.At the same time, much of the public has turned against the exemption amid the increasing strain put on reservists’ families by repeated call-up orders during the war.In April, a military representative told a parliamentary committee that of 18,000 draft notices sent to ultra-Orthodox individuals, only 232 received a positive response.Netanyahu’s office announced shortly after 1:00 am on Friday that he had met with a lawmaker from his Likud party who has recently pushed for a bill aimed at increasing the ultra-Orthodox enlistment and toughening sanctions on those who refuse.The premier’s office said “significant progress was made”, with “unresolved issues” to be ironed out later. Netanyahu also faced scrutiny after he admitted to supporting an armed group in Gaza that opposes Hamas.Knesset member and ex-defence minister Avigdor Liberman had told the Kan public broadcaster that the government, at Netanyahu’s direction, was “giving weapons to a group of criminals and felons”.The European Council on Foreign Relations think tank describes the group a “criminal gang operating in the Rafah area that is widely accused of looting aid trucks”.- ‘He wears a white shroud’ -The humanitarian situation in Gaza, meanwhile, has reached dire lows, with residents enduring severe shortages of food and other essentials, even after a more than two-month Israeli blockade on aid was recently eased.The shortages have made it all but impossible for many Gazans to celebrate Eid al-Adha, which fell on Friday and is traditionally marked with huge family meals and gifts of new clothes.Suad al-Qarra told AFP from Nasser Hospital on Friday that her son never got a chance to wear his new clothes.”He went to get dressed and there was an explosion,” she said, her soft voice breaking. “I took him to the hospital and (they) found him dead.””They took the children from us,” she continued. “I bought him Eid clothes yesterday and he didn’t wear them, instead he wears a white shroud.”In the Muslim faith, Eid commemorates the sacrifice Ibrahim — known to Christians and Jews as Abraham — was about to make by killing his son, before the angel Gabriel intervened and offered him a sheep to sacrifice instead.The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday’s strikes.Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, at least 4,402 people have been killed since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18 after a brief truce, taking the war’s overall toll to 54,677, mostly civilians.

Israel warned Friday that it would keep striking Lebanon until militant group Hezbollah has been disarmed, after hitting south Beirut in what Lebanese leaders called a major violation of a November ceasefire.Thursday’s attacks on what the Israeli military said were underground Hezbollah drone factories came after an Israeli evacuation call on the eve of Eid al-Adha, a key Muslim religious festival, and sent huge numbers of residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs fleeing.It was the fourth and heaviest Israeli bombardment of the heavily populated area, known as a bastion of support for Hezbollah, in the six months since a ceasefire deal aimed at ending hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. The last attack was in late April.”There will be no calm in Beirut, and no order or stability in Lebanon, without security for the State of Israel,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.”Agreements must be honoured and if you do not do what is required, we will continue to act, and with great force.”The state-run National News Agency reported around a dozen strikes, while Health Minister Rakan Nassereldine said several people were wounded by flying glass.AFP photographers on Friday saw huge destruction as residents, some wearing masks, inspected the debris and damage to their homes.- ‘Blatant act’ -A Hezbollah statement said a preliminary assessment showed nine buildings were completely destroyed and dozens of others damaged. A woman in her 40s who lives near one of the strike sites said she fled on foot with her young children including a three-month-old baby.”Thank God” the building was not destroyed, she told AFP after returning Friday morning to find the windows of her flat shattered.South Beirut resident Fatima, 40, said “life goes on”, adding that she and her two children were following the usual Eid traditions after fleeing the previous night. Hezbollah sparked months of deadly hostilities by launching cross-border attacks on northern Israel in stated solidarity with Palestinian ally Hamas following its October 7, 2023 attack.France, part of a committee overseeing the ceasefire, condemned the strikes and urged all parties to respect the truce, noting that the monitoring mechanism “is there to help the parties deal with threats and prevent any escalation”.Lebanese President Joseph Aoun late on Thursday voiced “firm condemnation of the Israeli aggression” and “flagrant violation of an international accord… on the eve of a sacred religious festival”.Prime Minister Nawaf Salam condemned the strikes as a violation of Lebanese sovereignty.Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Ammar on Friday urged “all Lebanese political forces… to translate their statements of condemnation into concrete action”, including diplomatic pressure.Hezbollah backer Iran called the strikes “a blatant act of aggression against Lebanon’s territorial integrity and sovereignty”, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said.The war left Hezbollah massively weakened, with top commanders including longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah killed and weapons caches incinerated.- ‘Refusal to cooperate’ -Under the ceasefire, Lebanon should disarm Hezbollah, once reputed to be more heavily armed than the state.A Lebanese military official told AFP the committee received no warning before the Israeli evacuation order.The Lebanese army “attempted to go to one of the sites… but Israeli warning shots prevented it from carrying out its mission”, the official said, requesting anonymity.Lebanon’s army, which has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure under the truce, said the Israeli military’s ongoing violations and “refusal to cooperate” with the ceasefire monitoring mechanism “could prompt the (Lebanese) military to freeze cooperation” on site inspections.The French foreign ministry statement noted that “dismantling unauthorised military sites… falls as a priority to the Lebanese” army with the support of United Nations peacekeepers.The Israeli military had said Hezbollah was “operating to increase production of UAVs (drones) for the next war” in “blatant violation” of the truce understandings.Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah fighters were to withdraw north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border.Israel was to withdraw troops from Lebanon but has kept them in five areas it deems “strategic” and still launches regular strikes on south Lebanon.Israel’s military also issued an evacuation warning for the southern village of Ain Qana. It then struck a building there that it alleged was a Hezbollah base, according to the NNA.

US President Donald Trump announced Friday a new round of trade talks with China in London next week, a day after calling Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in a bid to end a bitter battle over tariffs.The talks in the British capital on Monday will mark the second round of such negotiations between the world’s two …

Trump says fresh US-China trade talks in London next week Read More »

Only the cemetery in Damascus’s devastated suburb of Jobar showed signs of life on Friday as residents returned to visit and pray for Eid al-Adha, the first since Bashar al-Assad’s fall.Jawdat al-Qais fought back tears as he knelt at the tomb of his father, who died less than a month ago.”His wish was to be buried in Jobar — and Jobar was liberated and he was buried here,” said Qais, 57.”We carried out his wish, thank God,” he said, adding that “many people haven’t been able to be buried in their hometowns.”Once home to around 350,000 people, Jobar was turned into a wasteland due to heavy fighting from the start of Syria’s civil war, which erupted in 2011 with Assad’s brutal repression of anti-government protests.In 2018, an accord between Assad’s government and opposition factions allowed fighters and their families to evacuate.After being forced out, Jobar’s residents have returned for Eid al-Adha, the biggest holiday in Islam, during which it is customary to pay respects to the dead. Among the utter ruin of the once rebel-held district, the call to prayer rose from damaged mosque’s minaret as dozens of faithful gathered both inside and out.- Population ‘zero’ -In the deathly silence, devastated buildings line barely passable roads in Jobar, which is also home to a historic synagogue.At the cemetery, which was also damaged, residents — including former fighters in wheelchairs or using crutches — came together after years of separation, some drinking coffee or eating dates.”The irony of Jobar is that the cemetery is the only thing bringing us life, bringing us together,” Qais said.Some visitors struggled to find their loved ones’ tombs among the overturned headstones.A few etched names or drew rudimentary signs to help identify them on the next visit.”I found my mother’s tomb intact and I wept,” said Jihad Abulmajd, 53. He said he has visited her grave regularly since Assad’s December 8 ouster.”We find peace here, with our ancestors and relatives,” he told AFP.The day after Assad was toppled, Hamza Idris, 64, and his family returned to Jobar from Idlib in the country’s northwest, where they fled in 2018.He said a definitive return to the ghost town, whose infrastructure has been destroyed, was impossible.”Jobar’s population… is zero,” he said after praying in front of the mosque.”Even the cemetery wasn’t spared the bombs,” said Idris, who lost three children during the war and was unable to visit their graves until Assad’s ouster.”The town is no longer habitable. It needs to be entirely rebuilt,” he said.