AFP Asia Business

Nvidia unveils plan for Taiwan’s first ‘AI supercomputer’

Nvidia boss Jensen Huang announced plans for Taiwan’s first “AI supercomputer”, as he showcased on Monday the company’s latest advances in artificial intelligence.Global chip giants have gathered in Taiwan for the island’s top tech expo, Computex, as the sector grapples with the impact of US tariffs and disrupted supply chains.Huang said Nvidia would work with …

Nvidia unveils plan for Taiwan’s first ‘AI supercomputer’ Read More »

Israel strikes Gaza after ‘basic’ food aid pledge

Israeli strikes killed at least 22 people in Gaza on Monday, rescuers said, after Israel pledged to let a “basic amount” of food into the territory to avert a hunger crisis.The announcement came hours after the military said it had begun “extensive ground operations” in a newly intensified campaign in Gaza, and as Israel and Hamas engaged in indirect talks.Israel has come under mounting international pressure, including from key backer the United States, to lift a total blockade on the Gaza Strip imposed more than two months ago.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Sunday that at the military’s recommendation, “Israel will authorise the entry of a basic amount of food for the population to ensure that a hunger crisis does not develop in the Gaza Strip”.Such a crisis would jeopardise the army’s new operation, it said, adding Israel would “act to prevent Hamas from seizing this humanitarian aid”.On the ground, rescuers reported heavy strikes in and around the main southern city of Khan Yunis, where civil defence agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said 11 people were killed and several others wounded, along with one more killed in nearby Abasan.Strikes on other parts of the territory killed another 11 people, including three members of the same family.Israel said its blockade since March 2 was aimed at forcing concessions from the Palestinian militant group, but UN agencies have warned of critical shortages of food, clean water, fuel and medicines.Last week US President Donald Trump acknowledged that “a lot of people are starving”, adding “we’re going to get that taken care of”.French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called on Israel following the latest announcement, to allow the “immediate, massive and unhampered” resumption of aid. In his inaugural mass, Pope Leo XIV called on the faithful not to forget “our brothers and sisters who are suffering because of war.”In Gaza, the surviving children, families and elderly are reduced to starvation,” he said.- ‘Extensive ground operations’ -Israel’s military announced on Sunday that troops had “begun extensive ground operations throughout the northern and southern Gaza Strip”, and were “currently being deployed in key positions”.The ramped-up campaign, which Israel says aims to free hostages and defeat Hamas, started Saturday as the two sides entered indirect talks in Qatar on a deal.Netanyahu’s office said negotiators Doha were “working to exhaust every possibility for a deal — whether according to the Witkoff framework or as part of ending the fighting”.Steve Witkoff is the US Middle East envoy who has been involved in discussions.Netanyahu’s statement said a deal “would include the release of all the hostages, the exile of Hamas terrorists, and the disarmament of the Gaza Strip”.Since a two-month ceasefire collapsed in March as Israel resumed its offensive, negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have failed to make a breakthrough.Netanyahu has opposed ending the war without Hamas’s total defeat, while Hamas has balked at handing over its weapons.A Hamas source familiar with the negotiations said the group was willing “to release all Israeli hostages in one batch, provided that a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire agreement is reached”, but Israel “wants to release its prisoners in one batch or in two batches in exchange for a temporary truce”.- ‘No one left’ -AFPTV footage from Gaza on Sunday showed people sifting through ruined shelters and rescuers treating the wounded.”All my family members are gone. There is no one left,” said a distraught Warda al-Shaer.”The children were killed as well as their parents. My mother died too, and my niece lost her eye.”Marwan al-Hams, director of field hospitals at Gaza’s health ministry, told AFP that since Israel’s aid blockade began, “57 children have died in Gaza as a result of famine”, adding the number could rise as supplies ran out.AFP was unable to independently verify the figure.The United Nations had warned of the risk of famine in Gaza before the aid blockade was imposed.The health ministry also accused Israel Sunday of besieging the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahia, cutting off access and “effectively forcing the hospital out of service”, leaving the north without a functioning public hospital.Hamas’s October 2023 attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.Hamas also took 251 hostages during the attack, 57 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.Gaza’s health ministry said Sunday at least 3,193 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 53,339.

‘Leave our marshes alone’: Iraqis fear oil drilling would destroy fabled wetlands

Plans to drill for oil in the protected Mesopotamian Marshes of southern Iraq have galvanised villagers and activists determined to save the mythical wetlands already battered by years of drought.”We will never accept it,” marshes activist Murtada al-Janubi told a meeting, seeking to reassure anxious residents gathered in a traditional hall made of woven reeds from the wetlands, to discuss the government’s plans for the UNESCO-listed area that is their home.Everyone nodded in approval.If they fail to save the Huwaizah Marshes, “a historical era… with its heritage and southern identity will vanish for ever”, Janubi, 33, told AFP during a tour of the wetlands that straddle the Iraq-Iran border.The millennia-old history of the marshes — the reputed home of the biblical Garden of Eden — “would end with this oilfield”, said the moustached, tanned activist.In 2023, as China became a major player across various sectors in Iraq, the oil-rich country awarded a Chinese firm the rights to explore the Huwaizah field.Several residents of Abu Khsaf, the village in Missan province where the meeting with activist Janubi was held, said that at the time they did not fully grasp the implications.Only this year, when heavy machinery was brought in to conduct seismic studies and open a new road, did the residents say they recognised a “threat” to the swamplands that have sustained their traditional way of life.The government says that the oil and environment ministries are collaborating closely to avoid endangering the wetlands, and that any activity would occur near, not inside, the marshes.Satellite images of the area from March, which AFP obtained from Planet Labs, show tracks left by heavy vehicles.Wim Zwijnenburg of Dutch peace organisation PAX said the images point to the “rapid” construction of “a 1.3-kilometre-long dirt road in the vegetation of the marshes”.- ‘All we want is water’ -Missan province already has several oilfields, including one just kilometres (miles) from the marshes.Its emissions fill the sky with heavy grey smoke, and its gas flares can be seen from the fishing boats that roam the depleted marshes, suffering after years of harsh drought and dwindling water supplies.Nestled between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the Mesopotamian Marshes depend on rivers and tributaries originating in neighbouring Turkey and Iran.Sparse rainfall and reduced water flows blamed on climate change, upstream dams and government rationing have created shortages with severe impacts on the marsh ecosystem.Residents expect the marshes to dry up in summer, hoping for a long-absent good rainy season to revive them.The current water level in many areas is less than a metre (three feet) deep. Um al-Naaj lake, once teeming with fish, is now just three metres deep, compared with at least six before the drought.Rowing his boat on the lake, fisherman Kazem Ali, 80, said that while the new project may create some jobs, “we, the average people, will not benefit”.”All we want is water,” he said.Rasul al-Ghurabi, a 28-year-old buffalo farmer, said he would never quit “the marshes and the freedom that comes with them” even if the oil company offered him a job.- Protected core -One cool March morning, as he led his buffaloes to the marshes to graze, Ghurabi was surprised to see workers laying cables and drilling holes.A cable caused one of his animals to stumble, he said.The marshes contain a core area that serves as a habitat for numerous species, including migratory waterbirds, surrounded by a buffer zone for protection.Activists have accused authorities of conducting seismic studies within the core, which the state-owned Missan Oil Company denies, saying that the vehicles spotted in the area were carrying out work for a separate field nearby and had since left.The Huwaizah oilfield was discovered in the 1970s, and Iraq shares it with Iran, which has been extracting oil for a long time.The Missan Oil Company says that 300 square kilometres (116 square miles) of the field’s area overlap with the marshes’ buffer zone, but that the oilfield does not encroach on the core.An environmental impact assessment concluded in 2024 would provide “the baseline for work in the field”, the company said, adding that exploration would take place “without harming the natural habitat”.According to environment ministry official Jassem Falahi, the protected status of the marshes does not bar development projects.”But investment is subject to specific conditions and standards that must not disturb the core area… or affect the site and its biodiversity,” he told AFP.- Balance -Iraqi activist Ahmed Saleh Neema, a vocal advocate for the protection of the marshes, expressed concerns that oil companies might not adhere to regulations and further drain the marshes.A UNESCO spokesperson told AFP that “concerns have been raised in recent years” over the potential impact of oil-related activities on the marshes.Across the border in Iran, local media have long warned against the environmental impact of oil projects.In a report earlier this year, two decades into oil activities in the wetlands known in Iran as Hoor al-Azim, the Tasnim news agency said energy companies had obstructed water flows and drained areas to build infrastructure.Tasnim also said that oilfields have polluted water resources.Environmental activist Neema said authorities should strike “a balance between two great resources: the oil and the marshes”.Iraq is one of the world’s largest oil producers, and crude sales account for 90 percent of state revenues.But while oil is financially vital, the marshes represent the livelihood of its people and “the heritage, the folklore, and the reputation of Iraq”, Neema said.Back in the village of Abu Khsaf, Janubi said: “Our region is already teeming with oilfields. Isn’t that enough?””Leave our marshes alone.”

Syrians chase equestrian glory in sport once dominated by Assads

For weeks, Ziad Abu al-Dahab has been training for gold at an equestrian tournament near Damascus — in a sport once dominated by Syria’s Assad family and their inner circle.”Results used to be decided in advance, always favouring those close to the government,” the 25-year-old rider said.”My greatest ambition was to reach third place, but today, I can aim for first and do well with my new horse.”For decades, former president Bashar al-Assad, his relatives and allies enjoyed wide-ranging privileges before his overthrow in a lightning Islamist-led offensive in December.Equestrian sports surged in the 1990s under Assad’s late brother Bassel, who was being groomed to succeed their father Hafez before dying in a car crash in 1994. Bashar took over and became president in 2000.Bassel used to take part in tournaments at home and abroad and styled himself as Syria’s “first rider”.His profile helped shine a spotlight on the sport, which came to symbolise elite status under the Assads.Abu al-Dahab said those close to the family had European horses, which far outperformed the local ones of other competitors.”It was impossible to compete with the ruling family,” he said while walking his horse on the sand.- Impossible competition -Outside the Dimas equestrian club near Damascus, a statue of Bassel still stands, his face now hidden by the new Syrian flag.The family’s grip on the sport passed to the next generation, including Sham, daughter of Bashar’s brother Maher.Sham used to compete in Syria and at international tournaments, often placing high.The attention she received in the media stirred controversy, with critics seeing it as propaganda.That grip on the sport kept some away. Munana Shaker, 26, said her father banned her from competing until the Assads were gone.”My father forbade me from practising due to fear (of the ruling family), and he always told me that competition with them was impossible,” she said as she stroked her white mare, Mariana.”He didn’t want us associating with the Assad family at all. He told me the story of the equestrian who was jailed after beating Bassel al-Assad, and did not want to put me in danger.”She was referring to Adnan Qassar, a prominent rider who outperformed Bassel before being imprisoned without trial in 1993, accused of plotting to kill him.Many believe his sporting success was the real reason for his arrest. Qassar was freed 21 years later under a presidential pardon.”I have long stayed away from this sport, but it is now time to come back strong. I am from the Shaker family, not the Assad family,” she said.- ‘Dream come true’ -Shadi Abu al-Dahab, 48, oversees about 240 horses — including some of the Assads’ former European ones.”Around 40 horses were set aside for the Assad family. No one else was allowed to get near them,” he said.But today, he’s seeing new faces and growing interest in the sport.”We have new skills that we discover daily, and enthusiastic children… We now have a large number of riders aspiring to compete and get titles,” he said.Fellow trainer Salah al-Ahmad, 52, was beaming as his son took the mare Topsy for a spin — once ridden by Sham al-Assad.”He used to dream of touching her or patting her head,” Ahmad said. “Now in this new era, the mare is with him, and he has won two tournaments.”It’s a dream come true.”