Présidentielle en Bolivie: les communautés autochtones face au changement
Un vent nouveau souffle sur El Alto, la ville qui domine La Paz, à la veille du premier tour de la présidentielle de dimanche, où la droite pourrait mettre fin à deux décennies de socialisme.Perchée à plus de 4.100 mètres d’altitude, la cité semble dominée par un paquebot échoué au sommet d’un immeuble de neuf étages.Surnommé “Titanic”, l’édifice s’inscrit dans une constellation de demeures extravagantes de style andin, érigées au cours des 20 dernières années par la bourgeoisie aymara émergente.Victor Choque Flores, un homme d’affaires autodidacte, a investi des millions de dollars pour rejoindre le cercle très fermé des propriétaires de “cholets”, ces édifices de style néo-andin dont le nom mêle “chalet” et “chola”, en référence aux femmes autochtones. Sorti de la misère grâce au commerce et à l’immobilier, l’homme de 46 ans a doté le sien d’une salle de bal, d’un hôtel et d’un bateau de croisière de trois étages au sommet. Il symbolise pour lui l’identité aymara. “C’est un peu comme nous, les Aymaras, enracinés dans le passé mais tournés vers l’avenir”, souffle-t-il. Reconnaissant le rôle historique de l’ancien président Evo Morales, premier dirigeant indigène de Bolivie (2006-2019), qui a permis une plus grande inclusion politique de la majorité autochtone, il se dit néanmoins prêt à adopter “une autre ligne politique” pour sortir le pays de la grave crise économique qu’il traverse.Pour la première fois depuis 2005, la droite pourrait l’emporter dimanche, les candidats de gauche étant à la peine dans les sondages.Ecarté par la limite des mandats et visé par un mandat d’arrêt, Evo Morales, figure historique de la gauche bolivienne, n’a pas pu se présenter, tandis que le président sortant, Luis Arce, profondément impopulaire, a renoncé à briguer un second mandat.- “Plus jamais” -Au coeur de ce tournant électoral, El Alto, incarne un destin étroitement lié à celui de la gauche bolivienne.C’est dans cette ville qu’une répression sanglante d’une révolte liée aux exportations de gaz provoqua en 2003 la chute du président de droite de l’époque, ouvrant la voie à l’accession d’Evo Morales au pouvoir trois ans plus tard.Désormais, partout sur les murs, des graffitis relaient la promesse du candidat de centre droit Samuel Doria Medina, au coude-à-coude avec l’ancien président de droite Jorge Quiroga, de juguler la crise en “100 dias, carajo!” (100 jours, bon sang!).Signe de l’importance du vote dans ce bastion traditionnel de la gauche, le magnat de l’hôtellerie et de la restauration rapide y a organisé son dernier rassemblement de campagne.Dans le studio de la radio San Gabriel, diffusée en langue aymara, Arcenio Julio Tancara, un leader communautaire de 72 ans, exprime à l’antenne sa colère face à l’appel d’Evo Morales à voter nul pour protester contre sa mise à l’écart, selon lui orchestrée par le gouvernement, alors qu’il espérait briguer un quatrième mandat.”Il a toujours appelé à des grèves et à des barrages”, peste l’homme coiffé d’un chapeau de feutre à large bord. “Au début, nous pensions que cela pouvait être nécessaire, mais depuis nous avons compris que ce n’était pas pour une cause, mais simplement pour qu’il reprenne le pouvoir”, affirme-t-il.Santos Colque Quelca, l’animateur de 38 ans de la station, assure que si certains auditeurs soutiennent la gauche, d’autres disent désormais aussi : “plus jamais Evo, ni Arce”.”Si la droite gagne… le peuple se soulèvera”, prévient cependant Matilde Choque Apaza, 49 ans, dirigeante d’une association de femmes autochtones et rurales. Déclarant ne pas vouloir “revenir au 20e siècle”, elle assure que les candidats de l’opposition “serrent les mains avec ferveur”, mais lorsqu’ils montent dans leur voiture se les désinfectent.Dans les rues de la ville de près d’un million d’habitants, des femmes coiffées de chapeaux melon et vêtues de jupes colorées vendent leurs marchandises, tandis que glissent au-dessus d’elles les cabines du téléphérique urbain le plus haut au monde, reliant El Alto à La Paz et inauguré sous Evo Morales.
Raising the bar: Nepal’s emerging cocktail culture
On a lively weekend, a bartender in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu balances carefully a slice of titaura, a local tangy and spicy hog plum treat, on top of a martini glass.The drink is an example of how a new wave of cocktail bars is combining age-old techniques with local traditions to craft uniquely Nepali drinks to make a global mark.Until recently, cocktails were an afterthought on most bar menus in the capital of the Himalayan nation, often overshadowed by beers or straight spirits.Concoctions available tended to be unbalanced, too strong or far too sweet.But over the past five years, the city’s cocktail scene has changed, led by a new generation of bartenders turning global experience into local innovation.”It’s definitely evolving at a very fast pace,” Abhishek Tuladhar, who started his own bar after returning home to Kathmandu from a finance job in Singapore, told AFP.”We’re really thrilled, because we have a lot of ingredients and a lot of talent that we can definitely showcase to the world.”Tuladhar’s Barc this year won the prestigious Asia’s 50 Best Bars’ Michter’s Art Of Hospitality Award, a first for Nepal, and has climbed up their rankings to number 35.The speakeasy Barc’s menu champions tea from Ilam in western Nepal, childhood tangy street favourites like titaura and khattu — dried fruit sweet snacks — and local rice spirit aila, flavouring it with local spices.”I think it is understanding that flavour and making it palatable to all markets,” Tuladhar said. “It’s not just a direct translation.”- ‘Forced creativity’ -When Rabin Gurung returned from Hong Kong and decided to open a cocktail bar, he spent months trying to finding a simple key ingredient — lemon.”Classic cocktail recipes demand lemon, but I could only find lime in the markets,” said Gurung, 37, co-founder of the bar Bitters & Co.”We sent out people to look at all citrus grown here in Nepal until we found something.”Many imported ingredients and liqueurs can be hard to find — or are very expensive.US-returnee Santosh Faiia, 29, who runs the popular BlackBird bar and newly opened Layaa in the heart of Kathmandu’s tourist hub Thamel, said that the struggle to find ingredients forced the industry to be “creative”.Bartenders now make several ingredients from scratch, including special bubble-less clear ice, house bitters, and syrups infused with local botanicals like rhododendron.That approach is paying off.With a growing curiosity among Nepali drinkers and tourists alike, bartenders now find themselves at the heart of a fast-evolving scene.”I think that is what creates a great amount of excitement amongst consumers. And that is why I think the recognition has happened,” said veteran Indian bartender Yangdup Lama, who has designed the cocktail menu of the newly opened Old House in Kathmandu. “There’s this ‘wow’ factor.”Both BlackBird and Bitters & Co have previously been listed in Asia’s 50 Best Bars’ extended list. – ‘Nepali hospitality’ -Growing interest in cocktails is driving new investments, creating more stable job opportunities for bartenders, particularly significant in a country where around 1,600 young people leave daily in search of work abroad.”Things are gradually shifting, and bartending is starting to be seen as a viable career path so people can work here in Nepal and stay close to their families,” said Faiia.The drinks themselves are out of the price range of many ordinary people in Nepal, one of the poorest countries in Asia.But several new bars have popped up in the last year that prominently feature cocktail recipes with home-grown names and ingredients. Emma Sleight, head of content for Asia’s 50 Best Bars, sees strong potential in Nepal’s emerging bar scene.”Anyone who has experienced Nepali hospitality knows it is full of sincerity and heart,” she said.”Combine that with Nepal’s rich culture, its incredible ingredients, and the passion of its people, and you get something truly unique.”
Japan posts modest growth despite US tariffs
Japan eked out modest growth in the second quarter despite painful US tariffs, official data showed Friday, in welcome news to embattled Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.A preliminary estimate showed gross domestic product (GDP) in the world’s number four economy growing 0.3 percent in the three months to June, above market forecasts of 0.1 percent.The cabinet office data also saw a revision upwards for its reading for the previous quarter to show an expansion of 0.1 percent.On an annualised basis, GDP grew 1.0 percent, beating market forecasts of 0.4 percent and following 0.6 percent in the last quarter.The previous estimate was for a contraction and, without the revision, a second negative reading would have put Japan in technical recession.The new figures are a fillip for Ishiba, whose future has been uncertain since the disastrous upper house elections in July.With voters angry about the cost of living, his coalition lost its majority months after it suffered a similar catastrophe in the lower chamber.An opinion poll this week by broadcaster NHK suggested, however, that more people want Ishiba to stay than to quit. There is also no obvious successor to the 68-year-old leader, who took office in October, while the opposition is likely too fragmented to form an alternative government.- Trade deal -The economic growth came despite tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump being applied to Japanese imports into the United States.Causing particular pain are levies of 27.5 percent on Japanese cars, a sector that accounts for eight percent of all jobs in Japan.Japan last month secured a trade deal that cut a threatened 25 percent “reciprocal” tariffs on other Japanese goods to 15 percent.The rate on Japanese cars was also cut to 15 percent, although to Tokyo’s consternation, this has yet to take effect.Toyota this month cut its annual net income forecast by 14 percent, projecting a $9.5 billion hit from the tariffs this year.First-quarter profits halved at Honda, but the firm lowered its forecast for the tariff impact, as did electronics giant Sony.Economist Yoshiki Shinke at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute said that Japan’s economy still faces “many downside risks”, with exports the major concern.Automakers “are expected to rethink their pricing strategies, and there is a possibility they may move to raise prices in the future,” Shinke said in a note.”In such a case, sales volumes in the US are likely to decrease, and export volumes could also be pressured downward,” Shinke said before the release of the data.- ‘Behind the curve’ -Trump’s administration, meanwhile, is seen as pressuring the Bank of Japan (BoJ) to hike interest rates, which could put a brake on growth.The BoJ has been reluctant to raise borrowing costs, seeing above-target inflation as caused by temporary factors.”The Japanese have an inflation problem,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Bloomberg TV after speaking to the BoJ governor.”They are behind the curve, so they are going to be hiking,” Bessent said.Experts said the comments were likely driven by the Trump administration’s desire to weaken the dollar and address rising yields on US long-term bonds.Marcel Thieliant at Capital Economics said that despite the better-than-expected GDP figures, growth will “slow a bit over the coming quarters.””Nonetheless, with inflation set to remain far above the BoJ’s 2-percent target, we’re increasingly confident in our forecast that the Bank will resume its tightening cycle in October,” Thieliant said.
Man dies fleeing ICE raid in California: officials
A man who was believed to have been running from a raid by US immigration agents died Thursday after being hit by a car on a freeway, police said.City managers in Monrovia, near Los Angeles, said police had been called after there were reports of activity by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at a Home Depot.During the raid, one man ran from the parking lot of the hardware store — a place where day laborers commonly gather looking for casual work — and onto a busy freeway during rush hour, Monrovia City Manager Dylan Feik told media.A spokesman for the California Highway Patrol (CHP) said the 40-year-old man was taken to a hospital where he died from his injuries a few hours later.Neither CHP nor the city were immediately able to provide any details on the man’s identity.Feik said: “The city has not received any communication or information from ICE.”ICE did not immediately respond to an AFP request for information.Masked and armed agents from ICE and US Border Patrol began carrying out raids in and around Los Angeles earlier this year, as President Donald Trump looked to fulfill his election promise to carry out the most deportations in US history.The raids, which target hardware stores, carwashes and other businesses where undocumented people seek work, sparked fury in the mutlicultural city.Protests in Los Angeles, some of which saw isloated instances of violence, were met with the mass deployment of soliders by the federal government, even as local law enforcement said they could handle the unrest.A federal court in July ordered a halt to ICE’s roving patrols in several California counties, after rights groups argued that the raids appeared to be arresting people largely based on their race, the language they were speaking or the place they had gathered.
Israël: un projet majeur de colonisation en Cisjordanie suscite des condamnations
Un ministre israélien a appelé jeudi à accélérer un projet clé de construction de 3.400 logements en Cisjordanie et à annexer ce territoire palestinien occupé par Israël, suscitant des condamnations à l’international.Le ministre des Finances Bezalel Smotrich, d’extrême droite, ripostait aux annonces de plusieurs pays qui, face à la poursuite de l’offensive israélienne et du désastre humanitaire à Gaza, ravagée par plus de 22 mois de guerre, ont dit envisager de reconnaître un Etat de Palestine, à l’occasion de l’Assemblée générale de l’ONU en septembre. Parmi eux, la France, le Royaume-Uni mais aussi le Canada.L’ONU et l’Union européenne ont appelé Israël à ne pas mener à bien le projet de construction baptisé E1 qui selon ses détracteurs couperait la Cisjordanie en deux et empêcherait définitivement la création d’un éventuel Etat palestinien disposant d’une continuité territoriale.”Ceux qui veulent aujourd’hui reconnaître un Etat palestinien recevront une réponse de notre part sur le terrain (…) Par des faits concrets: des maisons, des quartiers, des routes et des familles juives qui construisent leur vie”, a déclaré M. Smotrich. “En ce jour important, j’appelle le Premier ministre Benjamin Netanyahu à appliquer la souveraineté israélienne en Judée-Samarie, à abandonner définitivement l’idée d’une partition du pays et à faire en sorte que d’ici septembre, les dirigeants hypocrites européens n’aient plus rien à reconnaître”, a-t-il dit.M. Smotrich faisait référence au nom biblique de la Cisjordanie utilisé par Israël, qui occupe la Cisjordanie depuis 1967. Quelque trois millions de Palestiniens y vivent, aux côtés d’environ 500.000 Israéliens installés dans des colonies, illégales au regard du droit international.”Si vous reconnaissez un Etat palestinien en septembre, notre réponse sera l’application de la souveraineté israélienne sur toutes les parties de Judée-Samarie”, a-t-il menacé. Le ministre s’exprimait lors d’un événement organisé dans la colonie de Maalé Adoumim, pour faire le point sur l’avancée du projet E1.L’Autorité palestinienne basée à Ramallah en Cisjordanie a “condamné fermement” ce projet et “appelé à une intervention internationale et des sanctions pour arrêter sa mise en œuvre”. “La construction dans la zone E1 est une continuation des plans d’occupation visant à anéantir toute possibilité d’établir l’Etat palestinien”, a-t-elle affirmé.- Condamnations -L’ONG israélienne anti-colonisation, La Paix maintenant, a dénoncé un “plan fatal pour l’avenir d’Israël et pour toute chance d’une solution à deux Etats” du conflit israélo-palestinien vieux de plusieurs décennies.Selon elle, un accord final au plan sera discuté mercredi prochain par un comité technique dépendant du ministère de la Défense et, après toutes les étapes bureaucratiques, “il pourrait être mis en place d’ici quelques mois avec des constructions dans un an environ”. L’ONG affirme que ce comité a déjà rejeté toutes les objections légales au projet.Le patron de l’ONU, Antonio Guterres, a averti que ce projet, “s’il se concrétisait” “mettrait fin aux perspectives d’une solution à deux Etats” et couperait le nord du sud de la Cisjordanie”.”La décision des autorités israéliennes de faire avancer le plan de colonisation E1 sape davantage la solution à deux Etats tout en constituant une violation du droit international”, a déclaré la cheffe de la diplomatie de l’Union européenne Kaja Kallas.A Berlin, soutien historique d’Israël, le ministère des Affaires étrangères a dit s’opposer “fermement” à la poursuite par Israël de son projet. “La construction de colonies viole” les résolutions “du Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies” et “complique une solution négociée à deux Etats”, souligne la diplomatie allemande.La diplomatie d’Arabie saoudite, à l’initiative avec la France d’une conférence internationale à l’ONU sur la solution à deux Etats, a pour sa part “condamné” le projet “dans les termes les plus forts”, dans un communiqué sur X.La reconnaissance d’un Etat palestinien par plusieurs pays en septembre sera largement symbolique en raison du refus d’Israël à la création d’un tel Etat auquel aspirent les Palestiniens. Ces derniers ambitionnent de l’établir sur les territoires de Cisjordanie et de Gaza avec comme capitale Jérusalem-Est, annexé par Israël.La guerre à Gaza a été déclenchée par une attaque sans précédent du mouvement islamiste palestinien Hamas sur le sol israélien le 7 octobre 2023.
Israeli far-right minister backs contentious West Bank settlement plan
Israel’s finance minister backed plans on Thursday to build 3,400 homes in a particularly contentious area of the occupied West Bank, calling for the territory’s annexation in response to several countries’ plans to recognise a Palestinian state.The United Nations chief warned that building Israeli homes in the area would “put an end to” hopes for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Israel has long had ambitions to build on the sensitive parcel of land east of Jerusalem known as E1, but the plan has been frozen for decades amid international opposition.Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law, while critics and the international community have warned construction on the roughly 12 square kilometres would undermine hopes for a contiguous future Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.The site sits between the ancient city and the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, near routes connecting the north and south of the Palestinian territory. There are also separate, frozen plans to expand Israel’s separation barrier to envelop the area.”Those who want to recognise a Palestinian state today will receive a response from us on the ground… Through concrete actions: houses, neighbourhoods, roads and Jewish families building their lives,” said Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, who was speaking at a pro-settlement event on the advancement of plans for the E1 parcel.”On this important day, I call on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to apply Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, to abandon once and for all the idea of partitioning the country, and to ensure that by September, the hypocritical European leaders will have nothing left to recognise,” the far-right figurehead added, using the Biblical term for the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.Britain and France are among several countries to announce in recent weeks plans to recognise a Palestinian state later this year, saying they wanted to keep the two-state solution alive.- ‘Breach of international law’ -Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said “If this went ahead — which we call on the Israeli government not to do… it would sever the northern and southern West banks.”He added that “it would put an end to the prospects of a two-state solution”.The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the plans and called for “genuine international intervention and the imposition of sanctions on the occupation to compel it to halt the implementation”.”Colonial construction in the E1 area is a continuation of the occupation’s plans to destroy the opportunity for the establishment of a Palestinian state,” it added.The European Union’s chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said the plan “further undermines the two-state solution while being a breach of international law” and called on Israel “to desist”.Germany said it “strongly objects” to the plan and called on the Israeli government to “stop settlement construction”, while Saudi Arabia also condemned the move “in the strongest possible terms”.Israeli NGO Peace Now, which monitors settlement activity in the West Bank, denounced the E1 plan as “deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving a peaceful two-state solution”.The NGO said the final approval hearing would be held next Wednesday by a technical committee under the defence ministry that has already rejected all objections to the proposals.After the bureaucratic steps are completed, “infrastructure work in E1 could begin within a few months, and housing construction within about a year”, Peace Now said.The West Bank is home to around three million Palestinians, as well as about 500,000 Israeli settlers.
YouTube turns to AI to spot children posing as adults
YouTube has started using artificial intelligence (AI) to figure out when users are children pretending to be adults on the popular video-sharing platform amid pressure to protect minors from sensitive content.The new safeguard is being rolled out in the United States as Google-owned YouTube and social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok are under scrutiny to shield children from content geared for grown-ups.A version of AI referred to as machine learning will be used to estimate the age of users based on a variety of factors, including the kinds of videos watched and account longevity, according to YouTube Youth director of product management James Beser.”This technology will allow us to infer a user’s age and then use that signal, regardless of the birthday in the account, to deliver our age-appropriate product experiences and protections,” Beser said.”We’ve used this approach in other markets for some time, where it is working well.”The age-estimation model enhances technology already in place to deduce user age, according to YouTube.Users will be notified if YouTube believes them to be minors, giving them the option to verify their age with a credit card, selfie, or government ID, according to the tech firm.Social media platforms are regularly accused of failing to protect the well-being of children.Australia will soon use its landmark social media laws to ban children under 16 from YouTube, a top minister said late last month, stressing a need to shield them from “predatory algorithms.”Communications Minister Anika Wells said four-in-ten Australian children had reported viewing harmful content on YouTube, one of the most visited websites in the world. Australia announced last year it was drafting laws that will ban children from social media sites such as Facebook, TikTok and Instagram until they turn 16. “Our position remains clear: YouTube is a video sharing platform with a library of free, high-quality content, increasingly viewed on TV screens,” the company said in a statement at the time. “It’s not social media.” On paper, the ban is one of the strictest in the world. It is due to come into effect on December 10. The legislation has been closely monitored by other countries, with many weighing whether to implement similar bans.