Features

AMRITSAR, India — India's Daoke village is fenced from Pakistan on three sides and 65-year-old resident Hardev Singh, who has lived through multiple wars between the arch-rivals, knows the drill if another erupts.

"All women, children, cattle and most younger men moved back to safe shelters in 1999 and 1971," Hardev said, referring to two of the worst outbreaks of fighting between the neighbours.

"We couldn't go to our fields," he said, adding that it was only the village's elderly men who "stayed back to ensure that our homes were not looted".

Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours have plummeted after India accused Pakistan of backing the deadliest attack in years on civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22.

Islamabad has rejected the charge, and both countries have since exchanged gunfire across the de facto frontier in contested Kashmir, diplomatic barbs, expelled citizens and ordered the border shut.

Residents of the frontier villages in India's Punjab state say nothing has changed on the ground yet -- but there is a growing anxiety about the coming weeks.

"Any war would push both our countries back by many years, and there would be an even bigger loss of human lives,” Hardev said.

A border fence patrolled by troops slices in two the farmlands near Daoke, home to around 1,500 people.

Gurvinder Singh, 38, recalls the last major conflict in 1999.

Fighting then took place far from Punjab -- in the icy Himalayan district of Kargil -- but the sun-baked fields around his village did not escape unscathed.

He hopes that, if the bellicose statements issued by leaders on either side do turn into military action, his village will be left alone.

"We feel that the actual conflict would happen only in the Himalayas," Gurvinder said, adding that his village is "normal right now".

'Not just us'

In the nearby frontier village of Rajatal, between the Indian city of Amritsar and Lahore in Pakistan, residents remember the days when the golden farmland stretched without restriction.

The frontier was a colonial creation at the violent end of British rule in 1947 which divided the sub-continent into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Sardar Lakha Singh's memory stretches back to before the fence was erected.

"We used to go to the open ground on the other side to graze our cattle," 77-year-old Lakha said, sitting about 100 metres from fences topped with barbed wire.

Farmers can obtain special passes to go close to the border, including beyond the fence but still within Indian territory.

But they must always be accompanied by a soldier.

"We can't go there whenever we want," said farmer Gurvil Singh, 65. "This reduces the time we get to work on our fields".

Panic gripped border villages last week after rumours suggested farmers would be stopped from accessing fields too close to Pakistan.

Sikh elder Sardar Lakha Singh advised younger villagers to accept their fate and not to worry.

"Whatever is going to happen will happen anyway," he said.

"We didn't know when the 1965 war suddenly started, same in 1971 when the planes suddenly started crossing the border," the grey-beared farmer added.

"So, if it happens again, we don't need to worry in advance."

Gurvinder Singh, 35, said he tried to take the lesson to heart.

"It would be a high-tech war, and not an invasion or a battle of swords like the past," he said.

"When the situation worsens, it would be for the entire country -- and not just us."

By Dina Halaseh
Educational Psychologist 

What Is Dysgraphia?

Dysgraphia is a condition that affects a child’s ability to write, often impacting their fine motor skills and making handwriting slow or even painful.

As a result, their handwriting may be difficult to read.

But dysgraphia goes beyond just handwriting — it can also affect a child’s ability to express thoughts in writing, which in turn can impact their academic performance and, in many cases, their self-esteem.

Types of Dysgraphia

There are different types of dysgraphia, each with distinct challenges:

Motor Dysgraphia: Typically caused by poor fine motor skills, this form affects handwriting, drawing and the ability to form letters correctly.

Linguistic Dysgraphia: Despite having good motor control, in this case, students struggle with spelling, grammar and organising their thoughts in writing.

Spatial Dysgraphia: Involves difficulty with spatial awareness, affecting letter and word spacing, alignment and letter size.

This often results in disorganised and hard-to-read written work.

Signs of Dysgraphia 

Here are the common signs of dysgraphia: 

- Poor handwriting.

- Difficulty with holding a pencil.

- Struggling with letter spacing, size, or writing within lines.

- Trouble copying words.

- Avoiding writing tasks.

- Difficulty organizing ideas and putting them into words.

What to Look Out for at Different Ages

Children: Dysgraphia often appears as difficulty learning to write, messy handwriting and frequent complaints of hand pain during writing tasks.

Teens: In adolescence, the signs may shift to avoiding written tasks, frequent spelling errors and difficulty organising essays or notes.

Adults: In adulthood, dysgraphia can present as trouble taking notes, consistently poor handwriting and challenges with spelling or written communication.

Writing is a fundamental skill, essential across nearly all subjects.

Children with dysgraphia often struggle to complete assignments or take notes efficiently.

Over time, these challenges can lead to frustration, anxiety and even a reluctance to participate in academic settings.

That’s why early intervention is so important.

If your child is struggling with writing and it’s affecting their academic performance, it’s time to seek support and uncover the root cause.

By understanding what they’re experiencing and providing the right tools, we can empower our children to succeed — both in and out of the classroom.

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

ZAGREB — From the dark shadows still cast by the wars that accompanied Yugoslavia's collapse to social exclusion, Croatian film director Nebojsa Slijepcevic is not afraid to shy away from weighty subjects.

Slijepcevic became Croatia's first ever Palme d'Or winner -- and achieved global acclaim -- when his "The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent" premiered at the Cannes film festival last year.

The short film, which depicts a war crime in Bosnia, was also shortlisted at this year's Oscars and has won a dozen other awards, including a French Cesar and a European Academy prize.

"It was a surprise indeed... it became one the most successful short movies in history considering the number of awards," Zagreb-born Slijepcevic told AFP.

The film depicts a real-life event from February 27, 1993 when Serb paramilitaries stopped a passenger train in Strpci, a village in eastern Bosnia.

Nineteen Muslim civilians from Serbia and Montenegro were kidnapped and later killed.

Of the around 500 passengers, retired Yugoslav army officer Tomo Buzov, who was travelling to visit his son, was the only one who stood up to paramilitaries.

Buzov, an ethnic Croat, was taken along with the others. His remains, like those of most the victims, were never found.

- 'Resisting violence' -

Slijepcevic said although the film is about an atrocity committed in Bosnia in 1993, the situation is "universal, out of time and space".

"It talks about something that happens very often to us both as individuals and societies... being in a position to witness injustice or violence, as some sort of observers who seemingly can afford to pretend not seeing it, that it doesn't concern us," he said.

The movie pays respect to an unusually brave man, who was motivated by a human desire to defend innocent people armed with only his words, the 52-year-old director said.

Buzov's family lives in the Serbian capital Belgrade and he sought their approval before making the film.

Mild-mannered Slijepcevic, who describes himself as an introvert, said the movie's success was also due to the current global political turmoil.

"It is about resistance to violence. The world is much more violent today than it was when I wrote the script, the violence is increasingly showing that it could change the world forever," he said.

"Global events were in favour of the success of my film. Unfortunately. It's really sad, I don't triumph over it at all," he added.

- Social exclusion -

Slijepcevic said that when he chooses a subject to tackle, it has to resonate with him emotionally and have social significance.

"It seems completely pointless to make something as expensive and as massive as a film about socially insignificant topics," he added.

Two award-winning documentaries that he made -- "Gangster of Love" (2013) and "Srbenka" (2018) -- address social exclusion of people considered "different", notably on ethnic grounds.

"Gangster of Love", about a matchmaker trying in vain to help a Bulgarian single mother find a husband in Croatia, portrays a conservative society in a humorous but also complex way.

In rural parts of staunchly Catholic Croatia, men prefer to stay single rather than marry a foreign national with a child.

"Srbenka" highlights Croatia's still-tense inter-ethnic relations after the 1990s independence war against rebel Serbs.

The documentary originated from a theatre play set against the backdrop of the war.

The play focused on the true story of a 12-year-old ethnic Serb girl, executed in cold blood at the start of the war, in one of the most gruesome crimes committed by Croatian forces during the conflict.

More than two decades on from the war, a young Croatian girl acting in the play is filled with fear after learning that she is an ethnic Serb.

Slijepcevic is currently working on a feature film, an adaptation of Croatian writer Kristian Novak's novel "Dark Mother Earth" -- a complex tale about a writer and his flashbacks to wartime childhood.

"One of the things that will be emphasised in the film is peer violence and isolation of children in elementary school," he said.

"It's something that I partly experienced in my elementary school... so I see this topic very personally."

Slijepcevic said he hopes to finish the movie in the next two years.

KATHMANDU — Nepal's first nationwide survey of the threatened snow leopard estimated nearly 400 of the elusive big cats in the Himalayan nation, wildlife officials said on  Tuesday.

Habitat loss, climate change and poaching have greatly impacted snow leopard populations across Asia, listed as a "vulnerable" species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

But the survey offers a rare shot of hope, confirming numbers lie at the upper end of the previous estimates.

With thick grey fur dotted with dark spots, and large paws that act as natural snow shoes, the species are difficult to spot and quick to hide, making field research challenging.

"This is a historic step in Nepal's snow leopard conservation journey," Haribhadra Acharya, senior ecologist at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, told AFP.

"This is the first time we are getting authentic data with the great effort of researchers," he said.

An estimated total of 397 snow leopards were counted, determined through motion-sensor camera and genetic analysis in seven key areas.

It offers the most comprehensive national estimate of snow leopards -- also known as the "ghosts of mountains" -- previously estimated by the IUCN to be in the range of 301-400.

Snow leopards are the least studied of the big cats globally due to their low population density and remote mountain habitats they inhabit.

"Nepal has only two percent of the size of the snow leopard habitats globally, [yet] we host 10 percent of the total estimated population", Ghana S Gurung, country representative of WWF Nepal, told AFP.

"More importantly, we are the second smallest country in terms of snow leopard habitat size after Bhutan, [but] we hold the fourth largest population," he added.

'Increased human activity'

The Snow Leopard Trust, a US-based conservation group, says the exact total number is not known but that "there may be as few as 3,920 and probably no more than 6,390" across 12 countries in Asia.

Although conservationists have welcomed the new population estimate, many remain concerned about the threats posed by climate change and infrastructure development.

"New road construction, installation of transmission lines, and increased human activity in search of herbs are disrupting snow leopards' habitats in the Himalayas," said Acharya, one of the lead researchers.

Experts say the increasing avalanches in the mountains -- where climate change is exacerbating extremes of weather patterns -- are another threat.

Nepal has been praised worldwide for its efforts to protect wildlife which have helped several species, including tigers and rhinos, to return from the brink of local extinction.

The country's conservation efforts have helped to triple its tiger population to 355 since 2010 and to increase one-horned rhinoceros from around 100 in the 1960s to 752 in 2021.

GAPYEONG, South Korea — They've been called a cult, accused of coercive fundraising and legally disbanded in Japan. But in a mountainous town nestled in South Korea, thousands of "Moonies" gathered this month for a mass wedding.

Around 1,300 couples from dozens of countries tied the knot at the Unification Church's sprawling headquarters in Gapyeong, north of Seoul, under the supervision of their controversial leader, known as the "holy mother".

The spectacular tradition, which dates back to the first so-called "blessing ceremony" featuring 36 couples in 1961, is an integral part of the broadly neo-Christian beliefs held by the church, founded by Moon Sun-myung and now run by his widow, Han Hak-ja.

The church claims these mass weddings can help reverse South Korea's woeful birthrate, improve family values, and ultimately bring about Moon's goal of completing the unfulfilled mission of Jesus Christ to restore humanity to a state of "sinless" purity.

"I'm just really grateful," American Emmanuel Muyongo, 29, told AFP at the ceremony, where he married his Japanese wife, whom he met years ago and grew close to at a church in the United States.

Muyongo's own parents married at a mass wedding, and he said that he was honoured "to experience what my parents' experienced".

"We love you, Holy Mother Han!" the couples shouted in unison at one point during the event, which featured blaring fanfare and confetti cannons.

Han, 82, looked almost eerily calm throughout the festivities, once slowly waving at her excited followers while wearing sunglasses and a green dress.

'Holy mother' 

The church, which was founded in 1954, claims to have around 3 million followers globally -- including 300,000 in South Korea, 600,000 in Japan -- and oversees a sprawling business empire encompassing construction, tourism, education and media, among others.

But in Japan, the church has been accused of coercive fundraising, especially after the 2022 assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, allegedly carried out by a man who harboured resentment towards the sect

A court there revoked its legal status as an organisation last month, although its members can continue to meet.

Abe's accused killer blamed the church for his family's financial ruin, after his mother made huge donations. Abe -- along with other world leaders including US President Donald Trump -- had sent video messages to events linked to the church.

But at the mass wedding this month, followers were unfazed by the recent legal blow, with the visibly emotional couples -- including Japanese -- radiating joy and gratitude to Han.

After Moon's 2012 death, Han stepped up to lead the church and is now referred to by members as god's "only begotten daughter" and the "holy mother".

The church has links to everything from a major South Korean newspaper to a high-end ski resort used for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. It is also affiliated with esteemed art institutes.

In 1991, Han joined her late husband -- revered by followers as a messiah but dismissed by critics as a charlatan -- on his trip to North Korea to meet with its founder, Kim Il -sung, to discuss the reunification of the divided peninsula.

When her husband died, North Korea's current leader Kim Jong -un sent a personal message of condolence. He later presented her with a pair of North Korean Pungsan dogs, a token of his goodwill.

This week, South Korean media alleged that the church had bribed former first lady Kim Keon Hee -- whose husband, Yoon Suk Yeol, was recently ousted over his declaration of martial law -- with a diamond necklace worth around $41,970.

Indemnity 

The church has appealed the Japanese court's decision.

Experts say that Japan, Korea's former colonial ruler, has long been a financial hub for the sect.

"Usually, religious businesses like Unification Church target isolated lower-middle class individuals," Vladimir Tikhonov, Korean Studies professor at the University of Oslo, told AFP.

"Their main 'hunting ground' is not South Korea, it is actually Japan," he added.

Since the 1960s, the church is believed to have generated as much as 80 percent of its global revenues from Japan, according to Levi McLaughlin, a religious studies professor at North Carolina State University.

During Japan's 1980s bubble economy, its branch reportedly sent up to 10 billion yen ($70 million) per month to the South Korean headquarters

Japanese followers are told to "atone" for the country's colonial past, and McLaughlin told AFP the mass weddings have been framed as a form of "indemnity".

The church plays a role in match-making couples, experts say, with Japanese women often matched with non-Japanese men -- and critics slam the cult-like cutting of family ties that sometimes results.

But this month in Gapyeong, more than 1,000 couples -- each bride in near-identical white gowns and modest tiaras -- wiped away tears, held hands tightly, and swayed to music as they danced and took selfies.

The couples "started from happiness and love, but it seems that those who don't understand it well are misinterpreting it and only seeing the negative aspects", Remi Kosuga, 27, one of the brides, told AFP.

"We simply want to believe in and learn about love. ... I hope people can see that."

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — Kyrgyzstan is getting rid of its Soviet-inspired national anthem and has launched an unprecedented public contest to find an alternative.

The mountainous Central Asian country adopted a new anthem in 1992 after independence from the USSR but it is largely based on the Soviet-era one.

The government says the anthem fails to accurately represent the young nation descending from the ancient history of the nomadic Kyrgyz people.

The Kyrgyz were incorporated into first then Tsarist and then the Soviet empires and the country still retains a strong Russian influence.

“Winning this competition would be a huge success,” said Balasaguyn Musayev, a 36-year-old composer and one of hundreds who have submitted entries for a new national anthem.

Speaking during a rehearsal at the music conservatory in the capital Bishkek, Musayev said it took him a month to find inspiration and then he “wrote the music in two days”.

“The new anthem must be better than the previous one in every way. Otherwise people will wonder why we changed it,” Musayev told AFP.
The winner of the contest was due to have been announced in April but the contest rules were modified and it is now unclear when an announcement could be expected.
‘State in our own right’

Soliciting ideas from the public is a rarity in Central Asia, where Kyrgyzstan’s more competitive political system is an exception among its authoritarian neighbours.
On a global scale, a complete change of the national anthem without a radical change of the political regime is also exceptional.

In recent years, Australia, Austria and Canada have replaced some words in their anthems to promote greater gender and ethnic inclusivity.

Kyrgyzstan’s unusual decision is part of a series of measures to overhaul state symbols taken by President Sadyr Japarov, who has been in power since 2021.

Following a constitutional reform in 2021 that strengthened his powers, Japarov changed the sun on the Kyrgyz flag at the end of 2023 so that it no longer resembled a sunflower, arguing that this would strengthen national sovereignty.

He has achieved a number of successes in his time in office including boosting economic growth and fighting corruption but rights groups are concerned about growing pressures on civil society.

Japarov has said that the anthem’s lyrics about the Kyrgyz people being “on the road to freedom” does not reflect the country’s historic reality after more than three decades of independence.

“Are we going to sing for another hundred years that we have just become independent? We have a state in our own right now, and we need to write an anthem that will inspire young people and future generations,” he said last year.

Officials have also been critical of the current anthem for other reasons.

Parliament speaker Nurlanbek Shakiyev said it was so bad that “birds fly away” when they hear it.

He said the next one should “stimulate the country towards development” and be “easy to sing”.

But Nurzhyguit Moldoyar, a 25-year-old composer and vocalist who has also submitted an entry, said the current one was already “a masterpiece”.

“The bar is very high,” he said, adding that he would not have wanted to change the anthem.

He said he hoped the winner would be selected based on “the feelings felt when listening to it, the musical novelties and sincerity”.

LAGOS — Sat comfortably in a large chair at the New Afrika Shrine, his family's legendary Nigerian music venue, Femi Kuti was surrounded by history.

The concert hall is an homage to his father Fela Kuti's original Shrine, which had also been located in the northern outskirts of Lagos before its demise.

Femi's own music awards are scattered around, recognition for his determination to keep fighting the good fight his Afrobeat legend father was known for -- calling out corruption and injustice in Africa's most populous nation.

Part of a family defined by its determination to speak defiantly about what was going on around them -- whether through lyrics or protest or both -- Femi Kuti, however, is ready to turn inward, and focus on the "virtues that have guided me in my life", he told AFP in a recent interview.

Those reflections will be apparent in the 62-year-old's upcoming album, "Journey Through Life," his 13th record, set to release on April 25.

In the upcoming record, he sings about "the kind of advice I give myself to where I am today," he said. The title track, for example, is "not political".

But listeners should not expect a member of the Kuti clan to give up politics completely.

From Afrobeat to Afrobeats

The elder Kuti came to define Afrobeat, the 70s-era jazz- and funk-inspired genre that would later give birth to the modern, R&B-inspired Afrobeats -- plural -- style shaking up the global music industry today.

He was also a poster child of protest -- using his lyrics to call out government abuses, even under brutal military juntas that ran Nigeria off and on before its latest transition to democracy in 1999, two years after his death from AIDS.

Femi Kuti's grandmother, meanwhile, was a women's rights and independence activist.

It might be a given, then, that the virtues that guided Femi Kuti would be political in nature -- though he has tempered his expectations of what exactly music can do.

"My father used to say music is the weapon. I think music is a weapon for change, but it can't be the soul," he said. "We still need organisations."

After all, the elder Kuti was repeatedly beaten and jailed by authorities -- and with an incomplete record to show for it. Democracy might have eventually taken hold, but the corruption he railed against has been trickier to uproot.

"Self-reflection makes me think maybe it's not possible to change the world. But one thing I'm sure of is that I can change myself, I can make myself a better person," Kuti told AFP.

New songs, same struggles

Femi Kuti has spent the last four decades as the heir to his father's activism and musical style.

Together with his son Made and brother Seun, he keeps the New Afrika Shrine a sweaty, bumping place to be each Sunday night, and continues to tour internationally.

The album, Kuti promised, is "still very political" -- and Kuti has some of his own thoughts to share as well.

"I've been singing political songs for 38 years," yet not much has changed. In "Nigeria, it's gotten worse".

"Corruption must stop in the political class," he said. "Everybody thinks the only way to be successful is through corruption."

"The health care -- there's nothing that works," he said.

"We can't afford a good education [for children]."

These days he is unlikely to be beaten or jailed like his father -- which traumatised his family growing up, he said.

Though things are not always rosy for musicians in the modern political climate either.

Broadcasting authorities earlier this month banned "Tell Your Papa", by Eedris Abdulkareem, for its lyrics blasting President Bola Tinubu's handling of the economic and security situation in the country.

The government is pursuing painful -- though necessary, it argues -- economic reforms, while insecurity from jihadist groups continues to menace the country's north.

"It will probably be very hard for me to not talk on political subjects," Kuti admitted, before an electrifying live performance at an all-night show.

"I've lived it all my life with my father"

Significant hormonal changes occur in a woman’s body during pregnancy, which can increase the risk of developing dental problems such as gingivitis and periodontal disease.

Pregnancy gingivitis, characterised by inflamed and sensitive gums, is common due to increased hormone levels such as oestrogen and progesterone, which can promote the proliferation of bacteria in the mouth.

If not properly treated, gingivitis can progress to more severe periodontal disease, increasing the risk of tooth loss and other long-term oral health problems.
Poor oral health during pregnancy has been associated with a higher risk of obstetric complications, such as premature birth and low birth weight.
Periodontal bacteria can trigger a systemic inflammatory response that could affect the fetus, underscoring the importance of maintaining optimal oral health during this stage.
It is essential to consider that hormonal changes and morning sickness can affect the oral hygiene habits of pregnant women, which could increase the risk of cavities and other dental problems.

Therefore, maintaining a proper oral care routine, including regular brushing and flossing, as well as periodic visits to the dentist, is essential to preventing complications and ensuring optimal oral health for both mother and baby.
Essential Preventive Measures

A healthy diet rich in essential nutrients, including calcium, vitamins and minerals, is vital for both maternal and fetal health.
Limit sugary snacks and beverages to reduce the risk of tooth decay.
If you experience morning sickness, rinse your mouth with water or a fluoride mouthwash after vomiting to neutralise stomach acids and protect your tooth enamel from erosion.

Brush your teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste and floss daily to remove plaque and food particles that can contribute to tooth decay and gum disease.
Regular dental check-ups are safe and recommended during pregnancy.

Your dentist can monitor your oral health, address any concerns and provide preventive care to maintain a healthy smile.
Professional teeth cleaning is particularly important during pregnancy to remove plaque and tartar buildup, reducing the risk of gum disease and other oral health issues.
If you experience a dental emergency, such as severe tooth pain or a dental infection, it’s crucial to seek prompt treatment from your dentist.
Delaying treatment can worsen the condition and potentially harm both you and your baby.

By taking care of your teeth and gums, you’re not only safeguarding your own health but also giving your baby the best start. Remember, a healthy smile is a happy pregnancy!

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

INDIO, United States — As the full moon rose, conductor Gustavo Dudamel's signature theatrics were projected with a front-facing view to a spellbound audience, his baton whipping his orchestra into Richard Wagner's legendary "Ride of The Valkyries".

It was perhaps an unlikely spectacle at Coachella, but one that generated a huge, enthusiastic crowd -- and was befitting of a maestro who has become a bona fide celebrity.

"WERK!" shouted one young audience member at Dudamel, as he and the Los Angeles Philharmonic began what was seen as one of the festival's most memorable performances.

Under Dudamel's direction for the past 17 years, the LA Phil has cultivated an air of cool, fostering a relationship with pop and celebrity especially during the ensemble's summer series at the Hollywood Bowl.

So it was only natural that the 44-year-old take his act to California's Coachella, one of the world's highest-profile music festivals that in recent years has gained a reputation for buzzy surprises and eclectic line-ups.

The orchestra delivered, launching into a mesmerizing set that included classics like Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, film themes like John Williams' "Imperial March" from "Star Wars," and a genre-spanning array of guests including country star Maren Morris, Icelandic jazz-pop singer Laufey, LA's own Becky G and EDM DJ Zedd.

The grand finale saw Dudamel's baton conjure bars from one LL Cool J, a genre-blending pas de deux that mirrored a rap battle.

"This place represents a culture," Dudamel said of the festival in a backstage interview with AFP, ahead of his and the Phil's first performance, which they will reprise on Saturday during Coachella's final weekend.

"This is what I believe is the mission of art, this identity," he explained. "The identity of a new generation, hungry for beauty."

'Catharsis' 

Over the years, some observers have marveled over -- or criticised -- Dudamel's ties with Hollywood and his efforts to unite the classical world with music of the Hot 100 variety.

But for the conductor -- whose talent was shaped by Venezuela's illustrious "El Sistema" musical education programme -- working across genre is "the most natural thing," he said.

In his youth, "my father had a salsa band, and I grew up listening to that and going to the orchestra, and it was always very natural to just enjoy music -- whatever it was, a bolero, a rock band", Dudamel recalled.

"There are different styles of music, but music is one."

Johanna Rees, the vice president of presentations at the LA Phil, one of the most prestigious orchestras in the United States, says cross-genre collaborations are in part about drawing in fresh audience members.

"It could be considered an entry point," she said, "exposing the orchestra to these younger, newer audiences so they can come back and check out more things and discover orchestral concerts on their own."

A lot of audience members at Coachella, she predicted, were "seeing an orchestra for the very first time."

"It's quite awesome, in the most literal sense of that word, to see how everybody can come together and make this music completely without the genre."

Some in the classical music world have balked at this notion, considering it a dilution, or cheapening, of the art form.

But such criticism misses the expansive possibilities ingrained in the process of collaboration, Rees said: "We're not creating orchestral wallpaper behind a band."

"It's hearing the music in a different way. It's not dumbing it down," she added. "It's just making it another version of itself."

The prime sunset slot at Coachella serves as a capstone ushering in Dudamel's final year of his nearly two-decade run in Los Angeles -- the product of "years of dreaming, and breaking walls, and connecting more not only with styles of music but with different people's identities," he said.

It's an ethos the maestro aims to bring to the eminent New York Philharmonic when he officially assumes his post as that company's next director in the 2026-27 season.

And it's vital, he said, in a moment of boiling political turmoil.

"We need these spaces of catharsis," he said, to "connect to the power of a tool of humanity that is music."

PARIS — Astronomers announced on Thursday that they had detected the most promising "hints" of potential life on a planet beyond our solar system, though other scientists expressed scepticism.

There has been vigorous debate in scientific circles about whether the planet K2-18b, which is 124 light years away in the Leo constellation, could be an ocean world capable of hosting microbial life, at least.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, a British-US team of researchers detected signs of two chemicals in the planet's atmosphere long considered to be "biosignatures" indicating extraterrestrial life.

On Earth, the chemicals dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and dimethyl disulfide are produced only by life, mostly microscopic marine algae called phytoplankton.

The researchers emphasised caution, saying that more observations were needed to confirm these findings, and that they were not announcing a definitive discovery.

But the implications could be huge, according to Nikku Madhusudhan, a Cambridge University astrophysicist and lead author of the study, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

"What we are finding at this point are hints of possible biological activity outside the solar system," he told journalists.

"Frankly, I think this is the closest we have come to seeing a feature that we can attribute to life."

But outside experts pointed to disputes over previous discoveries about the exoplanet, adding that these chemicals could have been created by unknown means having nothing to do with life.

Chemical clues

More than eight times the mass of Earth and 2.5 times as big, K2-18b is rare among the roughly 6,000 exoplanets discovered so far in that it orbits its star in a habitable or "goldilocks" zone.

This means it is neither too hot nor too cold to have liquid water, considered the most important ingredient for life.

Telescopes observe such far-off exoplanets when they cross in front of their star, allowing astronomers to analyse how molecules block the light streaming through their atmosphere.

In 2023, the Webb telescope detected methane and carbon dioxide in K2-18b's atmosphere, the first time such carbon-based molecules were detected on an exoplanet in a habitable zone.

It also detected weak signals of the chemical DMS, leading astronomers to turn Webb towards the planet again a year ago, this time using its mid-infrared instrument to detect different wavelengths of light.

They found much stronger signs of the chemicals, though still well below the "five sigma" threshold of statistical significance scientists seek for such discoveries.

Even if the results are confirmed, it would not necessarily mean that the planet is home to life.

Last year, scientists found traces of DMS on a comet, which suggested it can be produced in non-organic ways and is perhaps not a "biosignature".

However the concentration of the chemical observed on K2-18b appears to be thousands of times stronger than levels on Earth, likely suggesting a biological origin, Madhusudhan said.

Are we alone in the universe?

K2-18b has long been considered the premier candidate for a "hycean planet" -- an ocean world bigger than Earth with a hydrogen-rich atmosphere.

These planets would not be expected to be home to intelligent alien life, but rather tiny microbes similar to those in Earth's oceans billions of years ago.

Some research has questioned whether the currently proposed hycean planets are too close to their stars to support liquid water -- including K2-18b, which orbits its star every 33 days.

Raymond Pierrehumbert, a planetary physics professor at Oxford University, has conducted separate research indicating K2-18b is too hot for life.

If the planet did have water, it would be "hellishly hot" and uninhabitable, he told AFP, adding that oceans of lava were more plausible.

Sara Seager, a professor of planetary science at MIT, called for patience, pointing to previous claims of water vapour in K2-18b's atmosphere that turned out to be a different gas.

Madhusudhan estimated that it would take just 16 to 24 more hours of Webb's time to reach the five-sigma threshold, which could happen in the next few years.

The current three-sigma is comparable to the odds of flipping a coin 10 times and getting the same result each time, Cambridge University statistician Stephen Burgess explained.

Five sigma would be getting that result after 20 flips, and would mean "we can be very confident that this observation isn't just a chance finding," he said.

Even beyond K2-18b, Madhusudhan said Webb and future telescopes could allow humanity to discover life outside our home planet sooner than one might think.

"This could be the tipping point, where suddenly the fundamental question of whether we're alone in the universe is one we're capable of answering," he said.