World

OSAKA, Japan — World Expo opened on Sunday with 160 countries and regions showcasing their technology, culture and food, with host Japan hoping to provide the world with some much-needed hope.

Highlights at the show in Osaka until mid-October include a Mars meteorite, a beating artificial heart grown from stem cells and Hello Kitty figures in algae form.

Surrounding most of the pavilions -- a chance for architects' fancies to run wild -- is the world's largest wooden structure, the "Grand Ring".

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said the event would help bring a sense of unity in a "divided society".

But with conflicts raging and US President Donald Trump's tariffs causing economic turmoil, that may be optimistic.

"Not for sale" states a yellow and blue sign over Ukraine's booth, which contains objects used in the restoration of power facilities damaged by the Russian invasion.

Russia was absent from the Expo.

"We are the ones who create, not the ones who destroy," Tatiana Berezhna, deputy minister of economy of Ukraine, told AFP.

Yahel Vilan, head of Israel's pavilion -- there is also a Palestinian one -- featuring a stone from the Western Wall in occupied east Jerusalem, told AFP that "we came with a message of peace".

The US building has the theme "America the Beautiful", focusing not on politics but landscapes, AI and space.

The nearby Chinese pavilion, evoking a calligraphy scroll, focuses on green technology and features lunar samples brought by the country's Moon probes.

France's pavilion is enveloped in immense white drapes and is inspired by the Japanese legend of "Akai Ito", an invisible red thread representing shared values.

Human washing machine 

After enjoying the view atop the Grand Ring's "skywalk", hungry visitors can stop by the world's longest sushi conveyor belt or meet many-eyed Expo 2025 mascot Myaku-Myaku.

Among the more bizarre displays are 32 sculptures of Hello Kitty dressed as different types of algae -- to symbolise the plant's many uses -- and a "human washing machine".

Elsewhere are demonstrations of drone-like flying vehicles, and the tiny artificial heart made from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) shown in public for the first time.

"It has an actual pulse," Byron Russel of Pasona Group, which runs the exhibit, told AFP.

Themes of sustainability run through the Expo, including at the bauble-like Swiss pavilion, which aims to have the smallest ecological footprint.

But Expos have been criticised for their temporary nature, and after October Osaka's man-made island will be cleared to make way for a casino resort.

According to Japanese media, only 12.5 per cent of the Grand Ring will be reused.

Slow ticket sales 

Expo is also known as a World's Fair, and the phenomenon, which brought the Eiffel Tower to Paris, began with London's 1851 Crystal Palace exhibition and is held every five years.

Osaka last hosted the Expo in 1970 when Japan was booming and its technology the envy of the world. It attracted 64 million people, a record until Shanghai in 2010.

But 55 years on, Japan is less of a trendsetter and opinion polls show low levels of enthusiasm among the public for the Expo, particularly after it went 27 percent over budget.

So far 8.7 million advance tickets have been shifted, below the pre-sales target of 14 million.

Japan is also experiencing a record tourism boom, meaning accommodation in Osaka -- near hotspot Kyoto -- is often fully booked with prices sky-high.

But early visitors at the venue voiced their excitement despite persistent rain on day one.

Local resident Emiko Sakamoto, who also visited the Expo in 1970, was determined to return to the site repeatedly to see all the pavilions.

"I think the Expo is meaningful" in this chaotic time, she told AFP. "People will think about peace after visiting the venue."

GOMA — Doctors Without Borders [MSF] on Friday denounced a deadly incursion on a hospital in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, which the medical charity blamed on the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group.

An MSF statement said around 20 armed men from the group had entered the grounds of Kyeshero hospital in the eastern city of Goma, on the night of April 4 to 5, looking for people who had taken refuge there.

The M23 force captured Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu province, at the beginning of the year.

"During this operation, the MSF teams... witnessed these armed men shooting outside the hospital wards," said the MSF statement.

"One person was killed and three others were wounded. Two members of hospital staff were severely beaten. Although the gunmen did not enter the wards, bullets landed inside some of them," it said.

Margot Grelet, MSF's emergency coordinator for Goma and North Kivu, said in the statement: "Such events are unacceptable and must never be repeated."

MSF teams have had to deal with around 15 violent incidents since the beginning of the year in which local hospitals had been directly affected, the statement added.

The M23 has taken control of large swathes of the DRC's eastern provinces of North and South Kivu since 2021 and captured their capitals Goma and Bukavu in a lightning offensive earlier this year.

The DRC's enormous mineral reserves are critical to global supplies of lithium and cobalt, used in cell batteries and electric vehicles, tantalum, tin and gold used in electronic devices, and copper for power lines and uranium.

But they have also fuelled and financed the multiple rebellions that have gripped the vast African country.

KABUL — Fresh US cuts to food assistance risk worsening already widespread hunger in Afghanistan, according to the World Food Programme, which warned it can support just half the people in need , and only with half rations.

In an interview with AFP, WFP's acting country director Mutinta Chimuka urged donors to step up to support Afghanistan, which faces the world's second-largest humanitarian crisis.

A third of the population of around 45 million people needs food assistance, with 3.1 million people on the brink of famine, the UN says.

"With what resources we have now barely eight million people will get assistance across the year and that's only if we get everything else that we are expecting from other donors," Chimuka said.

The agency already has been "giving a half rations to stretch the resources that we have", she added.

In the coming months, WFP usually would be assisting two million people "to prevent famine, so that's already a huge number that we're really worried about", Chimuka said.

Already grappling with a 40 per cent drop in funding for this year globally, and seeing a decline in funding for Afghanistan in recent years, WFP has had to split the standard ration, designed to meet the daily minimum recommended 2,100 kilocalories per person.

"It's a basic package, but it's really life-saving," said Chimuka. "And we should, as a global community, be able to provide that."

WFP, like other aid agencies, has been caught in the crosshairs of funding cuts by US President Donald Trump, who signed an executive order freezing all foreign aid for three months shortly after his inauguration in January.

Emergency food aid was meant to be exempt, but this week WFP said the United States had announced it was cutting emergency food aid for 14 countries, including Afghanistan, amounting to "a death sentence for millions of people" if implemented.

Washington quickly backtracked on the cuts for six countries, but Afghanistan, run by Taliban authorities who fought US-led troops for decades, was not one of them. 

If additional funding doesn't come through, "Then there's the possibility that we may have to go to communities and tell them we're not able to support them. And how do they survive?"

She highlighted the high levels of unemployment and poverty in the country, one of the worlds poorest where thousands of Afghans are currently being repatriated from Pakistan, many without most of their belongings or homes to go to.

 'Vicious cycle' 

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, this week urged international donors to keep supporting Afghanistan, saying 22.9 million needed assistance this year.

"If we want to help the Afghan people escape the vicious cycle of poverty and suffering, we must continue to have the means to address urgent needs while simultaneously laying the groundwork for long-term resilience and stability," said Indrika Ratwatte, the UN's resident and humanitarian coordinator in Afghanistan, in a statement. 

The statement warned that lack of international aid in Afghanistan could lead to increased migration and strain on the broader region.

The call for funding comes as other countries including Germany and Britain have also made large cuts to overseas aid. 

But the Trump administration cut has been the deepest. The United Sates was traditionally the world's largest donor, with the biggest portion in Afghanistan, $280 million, going to WFP last fiscal year, according to US State Department figures.

But other UN agencies, as well as local and international NGOs are being squeezed or having to shut down completely, straining the network of organisations providing aid in Afghanistan.

The Trump administration also ended two programs, one in Afghanistan, with the UN Population Fund, an agency dedicated to promoting sexual and reproductive health, the agency said Monday. 

And other organisations working on agriculture on which some 80 per cent  of Afghans depend to survive,  and malnutrition are impacted. 

"We all need to work together," said Chimuka. "And if all of us are cut at the knees... it doesn't work."

BRUSSELS, Belgium — European defence ministers held fresh talks Thursday on the potential deployment of troops to secure any Ukraine ceasefire, but there were more questions than answers as US peace efforts with Russia stall.

Britain and France are spearheading discussions among a "coalition of the willing" of 30 countries looking to shore up any deal US President Donald Trump might strike.

"Our planning is real and substantial. Our plans are well developed," UK defence minister John Healey told the meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

"Our reassurance force for Ukraine would be a committed and credible security arrangement to ensure that any negotiated peace does bring what President Trump has pledged, a lasting peace for Ukraine."

Healey said he did not envisage "a peacekeeping force that will separate the currently warring sides down the line of contact". Bolstering Ukraine's battered forces would be a key part of the plans, he added.

France's Sebastian Lecornu echoed his British counterpart, saying "the first guarantee of security is obviously support for the Ukrainian army, which means refusing to demilitarise Ukraine, as Russia is demanding".

‘What is the mandate?' 

London and Paris insist progress has been made at repeated rounds of talks -- and military planners will now step up work on how to secure any peace in the skies, at sea and on land.

But ministers from other countries said there was still uncertainty over the aims of any possible deployment -- and whether it would be backed up by US military might.

"What is the potential mission, what is going to be the goal?" asked Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans.

"What is the mandate? What would do we do in the different scenarios, for example, if there would be any escalation regarding Russia?" he added. 

"It's very important to have the United States on board, but then it also needs to be clear what type of mission it is and what we ask from the United States."

European officials say so far some six countries -- including Britain, France, and the Baltic states -- have said they could contribute troops.

Swedish minister Pal Jonson said Stockholm had "a number of questions that we need to get clarified" before making any commitments. 

"It's helpful if there's a clarity of what that mission would entail, and what do we do -- if we are peacekeeping, deterrence or reassurance," he said.

A major problem for European allies as they scramble to come up with any plan is that they are largely in the dark about US efforts with Russia to halt the fighting.

Trump's administration has held several rounds of talks with both Ukrainian and Russian officials hoping to secure a halt in fighting, without seeing any tangible results.

The two sides in principle agreed to stop targeting energy infrastructure but they never cemented the conditions and strikes have continued.

Russia so far has said it would not accept troops any NATO countries be stationed on Ukrainian soil as part of a peace deal.

BRUSSELS — EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday welcomed US President Donald Trump's decision to pause planned tariff increases as an "important step towards stabilising the global economy".

"Clear, predictable conditions are essential for trade and supply chains to function," the European Commission president said in a statement.

"The European Union remains committed to constructive negotiations with the United States," she said, reiterating the bloc's offer of a bilateral tariff exemption for cars and other industrial goods.

The EU was hit with a 20 per cent rate as part of Trump's universal tariffs and the commission has been preparing its response, although Brussels has made it clear it would prefer to avoid retaliation.

Trump announced the punishing tariffs last week, throwing global markets into chaos until he announced on Wednesday that he was halting the measures for almost all nations for 90 days.

The 27-nation EU is among dozens of countries including Japan, but not China, that now face a baseline tariff rate of 10 per cent.

The bloc also remains subject to previously enacted US tariffs on steel and aluminium, to which it retaliated on Wednesday, and on the auto sector.

Trump's aggressive trade moves and hostile rhetoric against the EU have focused minds in Brussels, with leaders now scrambling to establish closer trade ties with other nations including India.

"Europe continues to focus on diversifying its trade partnerships, engaging with countries that account for 87 per cent of global trade," von der Leyen said.

The EU will also bolster its own single market and remove barriers, she added.

SYDNEY — Papua New Guinea will "immediately" lift a ban on forest carbon credit schemes, the Pacific nation's climate minister told AFP on Thursday, opening up its vast wilderness to offset global emissions.

The island of New Guinea is cloaked in the world's third-largest rainforest belt, helping the planet breathe by sucking in carbon dioxide gas and turning it into oxygen.

Foreign companies have in recent years snapped up tracts of forest in an attempt to sell carbon credits, pledging to protect trees that would otherwise fall prey to logging or land clearing.

But a string of mismanagement scandals forced Papua New Guinea to temporarily shut down this "voluntary" carbon market in March 2022.

Environment Minister Simo Kilepa told AFP that, with new safeguards now in place, this three-year moratorium would "be lifted immediately".

"Papua New Guinea is uplifting the moratorium on voluntary carbon markets," Kilepa said.

"We now have carbon market regulations in place and... guidelines to administer and regulate the carbon market."

Papua New Guinea has ambitions to become a "key player in international carbon markets", officials from the national climate body told a briefing last week.

Carbon credit schemes are seen as a crucial tool in halting the destruction of Papua New Guinea's steamy rainforests, which are thought to shelter around seven percent of global biodiversity.

Before the 2022 moratorium, foreign-backed syndicates were able to sign carbon credit deals directly with village elders.

In essence, they paid landowners so that tracts of rainforest would not be cleared for crops, sold for mining, or chopped down and turned into logs.

By protecting jungle that would have disappeared, these companies generated carbon credits they could sell on international markets.

 'Carbon cowboys' 

The scale of some proposals was immense,  one carbon trading scheme to be based on Papua New Guinea's northern coast would have ranked among the biggest in the world, according to Carbon Market Watch.

But Papua New Guinea's carbon market was mired in controversy, with one regional governor alleging some foreign firms were little more than "carbon cowboys" out to make quick cash.

An investigation by Australian national broadcaster ABC alleged logging was still taking place in rainforests set aside for carbon credits.

And some landowners complained the lucrative promises of their foreign partners went largely unfulfilled.

"Attempts to establish projects have resulted in land disputes and the emergence of 'Carbon Cowboys'," wrote Australian environmental consultants Sustineo.

Carbon credit schemes around the world have been marred by a litany of similar complaints.

No common set of rules governs these trades, and many projects have been accused of selling essentially worthless credits.

Governments often force heavy polluters to offset emissions through mandatory carbon credit schemes.

But firms, charities and individuals can also choose to buy credits on so-called voluntary carbon markets.

Papua New Guinea's voluntary scheme falls under an international framework known as REDD, or reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries.

Papua New Guinea has been hammering out a bilateral deal which could see it produce carbon credits for city-state Singapore.

In 2023, Papua New Guinea signed a memorandum of understanding with Dubai-based firm Blue Carbon, which has been securing swaths of land across Africa for carbon credits.