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Tim Mulligan moved to central Manhattan so he could be closer to work and avoid a daily ordeal on the rattling, screeching subway, just one part of the urban noisescape that tests New Yorkers every day.”Even with your earbuds in, turned all the way up, you can’t hear anything for the whole commute, and you’re ruining your ears at that level,” said Mulligan, a US Marines veteran who lives with PTSD.At his home close to New York’s tourist hub Times Square, Mulligan has sealed his windows with high-density soundproof foam, draped them with double thick curtains and invested in earplugs to sleep.On the street he has resorted to noise-cancelling headphones, and he prefers bikes to the subway for getting around.New Yorkers and visitors to the megacity of 8.5 million people are bombarded with blaring sirens, loud locals, raucous bars and car horns almost constantly.A city-wide hotline received 750,000 noise complaints in 2024, the most commonly complained about quality of life issue.The city that never sleeps, perhaps because it can’t, is one of the few built up US areas with a noise code regulating sound from vehicles, construction, businesses, and recreation.It has even installed cameras with sensors to detect and penalize violators.Nine-in-ten New Yorkers are at risk of hearing loss from daily exposure to noise levels exceeding 70 decibels, the healthy average, a Columbia University study conducted between 2010 and 2012 found.The report’s author, professor Richard Neitzel, is now leading the first national study on noise in which 200,000 volunteers wear smart watches to track sound levels.”It looks like somewhere around one-in-four Americans are exposed to noise levels that could hurt their hearing over the long term,” said Neitzel, a professor at the University of Michigan.- ‘You can’t undo it’ -Among young people aged 18 to 25, the primary source of excess noise exposure comes from headphones.Overall, more people are exposed to high levels of environmental noise than to noise from their headphones, Neitzel added. Although the percentage of the population exposed to noise is similar to those exposed to air pollution, acoustic issues are not prioritized by residents and officials like air quality is, Neitzel said.There is clear evidence that excess noise is linked to poor sleep, cardiovascular issues, depression, cognitive decline, premature births and poor academic performance.Tinnitus, a permanent ringing in the ear affecting three out of 20 study participants, is increasingly prevalent.Loud music is even used to promote increased consumption, said Shane Newman, who manages a popular Mexican restaurant in Manhattan’s trendy Hudson Yards development. “You have a drink in the music, it feels like a nice vibe and… they end up staying longer,” he told AFP.Audiologist Michele DiStefano said the effects of noise on well-being have “not really been studied well enough.””The longer you have the exposure, and the higher the level, the (greater) degree of hearing loss you’ll have” — particularly for young people, she warned.”Once it does affect your hearing, you can’t undo it, but you can actually prevent it,” she said.”There’s really a push to educate the younger generations on how you don’t have to just have really loud noise at a concert — it can be cumulative.”

From a fake image of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin dancing in the snow with a polar bear to a fabricated photo of European leaders waiting somberly outside the Oval Office, AI-enabled disinformation has clouded the diplomatic push to end the war in Ukraine.The online fakery — dubbed widely as AI slop — underscores how easily artificial intelligence tools can flood the internet with false and satirical content around major global events.These creations also highlight the challenge of policing bogus content as tech platforms offer creators monetization incentives for viral posts.In hundreds of online posts mocking European leaders as powerless mediators snubbed by Trump, one such image purported to show French President Emmanuel Macron and other top officials waiting somberly in a White House corridor with their heads bowed.”This is utter humiliation of these corrupt scumbags. Absolutely beautiful,” said one post on X from a conservative political commentator that AFP has previously fact-checked for spreading misinformation about Ukraine.Such posts — in multiple languages including Greek, German and French — gained traction as European leaders joined Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House Monday for talks with Trump following the US president’s summit with Putin in Alaska. – Red carpet brawl -AFP fact-checkers identified visual inconsistencies that indicate the image including Macron was AI-generated. Some of the individuals depicted in the image also do not match those seen in official photographs from the high-stakes meeting.Macron and other European leaders represented a group of Ukraine’s allies known as the “Coalition of the Willing” for White House consultations.But multiple pro-Kremlin sources sharing the AI-generated image ridiculed them as the “coalition of those in waiting.”The image was also amplified by sites operated by the Pravda network, a well-resourced Moscow-based operation known to circulate pro-Russian narratives globally, the disinformation watchdog NewsGuard said in a report.The falsehood was an illustration of how “pro-Kremlin sources often seize on high-profile meetings involving European leaders to spread false claims,” NewsGuard said.In other viral posts, an AI-generated clip purported to show Trump and Putin skidding down snow-covered slopes, eating ice-cream beside a snowman, and waltzing with a polar bear to country music.And in another AI video, Trump and Putin were depicted brawling on a red carpet leading from an airplane staircase, trading punches and kicks as secret service agents idle in the background.The tongue-in-cheek posts offer a window into a social media landscape increasingly filled with AI-generated memes, videos and images competing for attention with — and sometimes drowning out — authentic content.As tech platforms scale back content moderation, AI videos spread rapidly, muddying the waters around serious diplomatic efforts to end the three-year war in Ukraine.Trump on Tuesday ruled out sending American troops to back up any Ukraine peace deal but suggested air support instead, as European nations began hashing out security guarantees ahead of a potential Russia summit.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized top museums for their “woke” focus on subjects including “how bad Slavery was,” his latest attack on the cultural institutions in a country that fought a civil war over the issue.”The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future,” Trump wrote.He was referring to the Smithsonian Institution, an independent organization that operates 17 museums, galleries and a zoo located across the country, which receives public funding, and which he has previously accused of espousing a “corrosive ideology.”The translatlantic slave trade from Africa to the Americas spanned three centuries, and has been referred to as the United States’ “original sin.”The country’s South fought to maintain slavery in the 1861-1865 Civil War, but lost. Since then African Americans have fought for their civil rights, including in the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, which forced a new national reckoning on the darker parts of US history.”The Museums throughout Washington, but all over the Country are, essentially, the last remaining segment of ‘WOKE’,” Trump wrote in the Truth Social post, using his shorthand for leftist social justice movements.For months now, Trump has disparaged cultural institutions, which have worked to bring more diversity to exhibits and programming in recent years, highlighting women, people of color and queer culture.Last week, the White House posted a letter to its website saying the administration plans to target eight major museums for “comprehensive internal review” in an effort to “celebrate American exceptionalism” and “remove divisive or partisan narratives.”The targeted institutions include the National Museum of American History, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the National Museum of the American Indian, the letter said.”Now museums are being targeted because they speak too openly about the horrors of slavery,” wrote prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump on X in response to Trump’s post.”If telling the truth about slavery makes a museum ‘too woke,’ then the problem isn’t the history, it’s the people who want to erase it,” he continued.In 2017, during his first term, Trump visited the National Museum of African American History — which opened the year before and which depicts the slave trade, among other historic subjects.”This museum is a beautiful tribute to so many American heroes,” Trump said after his tour, according to US media reports from the time. “It’s amazing to see.” 

Former champion boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. has been detained in Mexico after deportation by the United States to face shock charges of involvement with a drug cartel, Mexican authorities said Tuesday.The son of boxing icon Julio Cesar Chavez stands accused of serving as a henchman for the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel, which Washington designated a foreign terrorist organization this year, and of trafficking firearms and explosives.Acccording to Mexican media, which claim to have had access to the case files, Chavez, 39, was allegedly a “hitman” used to punish members of the cartel.”He hangs them (and) grabs them like a punching bag,” the Reforma newspaper reported, citing testimony in the prosecutor’s documents.The Attorney General’s Office has withheld details of the indictment. Chavez was handed over Monday and transferred to a prison in Mexico’s northwest Sonora state, according to information on the country’s National Detention Registry.”He was deported,” President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters, adding there was an active arrest warrant for him in Mexico.US authorities arrested Chavez in July for being in the United States illegally. They also said he was wanted in Mexico for alleged ties to the Sinaloa cartel, one of six Mexican drug trafficking groups designated as terrorist organizations by the United States.The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees US immigration enforcement, said Chavez had entered the United States legally in 2023 on a tourist visa that was valid until February 2024.He applied for permanent residency in April, 2024 “based on his marriage to a US citizen, who is connected to the Sinaloa Cartel through a prior relationship with the now-deceased son of the infamous cartel leader Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman,” DHS said in its July 3 arrest announcement.His extradition comes as US President Donald Trump cracks down on immigrants as part of a promise to deport millions of people.- Boxing legacy -Chavez’s arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Los Angeles occured four days after his lopsided loss to YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul before a sell-out crowd in California.Once a top-rated boxer, Chavez won the WBC middleweight world title in 2011 and successfully defended it three times. But his career has also included multiple suspensions and fines for failed drug tests.Homeland Security said that in addition to the active warrant in Mexico, Chavez had criminal convictions in the United States, including for possession of an assault weapon, in January 2024 in Los Angeles.The Los Angeles Times reported at the time that police said they had found Chavez in possession of two AR-style hard-to-trace “ghost” rifles. DHS in its announcement had expressed astonishment that the administration of Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden had not prioritized Chavez’s deportation.”Under President Trump, no one is above the law — including world-famous athletes,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in the announcement.After his US arrest, the boxer’s defense team sought to prevent his prosecution in Mexico by filing multiple legal appeals, which were rejected by the Mexican courts.Julio Cesar Chavez Sr, now 63, was a world champion in three weight divisions, and held various title belts from 1984 to 1996.

The White House launched a TikTok account on Tuesday, as President Donald Trump continues to permit the Chinese-owned platform to operate in the United States despite a law requiring its sale.”America we are BACK! What’s up TikTok?” read a caption on the account’s first post on the popular video sharing app, a 27-second clip.The account had about 4,500 followers an hour after posting the video. Trump’s personal account on TikTok meanwhile has 110.1 million followers, though his last post was on November 5, 2024 — Election Day.TikTok is owned by China-based internet company ByteDance.A federal law requiring TikTok’s sale or ban on national security grounds was due to take effect the day before Trump’s inauguration on January 20. But the Republican, whose 2024 election campaign relied heavily on social media and who has said he is fond of TikTok, put the ban on pause. In mid-June Trump extended a deadline for the popular video-sharing app by another 90 days to find a non-Chinese buyer or be banned in the United States.That extension is due to expire in mid-September.While Trump had long supported a ban or divestment, he reversed his position and vowed to defend the platform — which boasts almost two billion global users — after coming to believe it helped him win young voters’ support in the November election.Trump’s official account on X, formerly Twitter, has 108.5 million followers — though his favored social media outlet is Truth Social, which he owns, where he has 10.6 million followers.The official White House accounts on X and Instagram have 2.4 million and 9.3 million followers, respectively.

Top US and European military officers met in Washington Tuesday to discuss the mechanics of a possible Ukraine peace deal, after President Donald Trump ruled out sending American troops to back an agreement but suggested air support instead.In a flurry of diplomacy aimed at ending the war, Trump brought Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders to the White House on Monday, three days after his landmark encounter with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Alaska.But while Trump said Putin had agreed to meet Zelensky and accept some Western security guarantees for Ukraine, those promises have been met with extreme caution by Kyiv and Western capitals, and many details remain vague.Putin proposed holding the summit with Zelensky in Moscow, three sources familiar with a call between Trump and the Russian leader told AFP. One source said Zelensky immediately said no to meeting in the capital of his country’s invader.As Western leaders push for an agreement, top US officer General Dan Caine held talks Tuesday evening with European military chiefs to discuss “best options for a potential Ukraine peace deal,” a US defense official told AFP.The in-person talks precede a virtual meeting of military chiefs from NATO’s 32 member countries on Wednesday, in which Caine is also scheduled to participate.Trump, long a fierce critic of the billions of dollars in US support to Ukraine since Russia invaded in 2022, earlier said that European nations were “willing to put people on the ground” to secure any settlement.”France and Germany, a couple of them, UK, they want to have boots on the ground,” Trump said in a Fox News interview. “We’re willing to help them with things, especially, probably, if you talk about by air.”Asked what assurances Trump had that US boots would not be on the ground, he replied: “Well, you have my assurance and I’m president.”- Allies discuss next steps -The White House later doubled down on Trump’s statements — but gave few new details on either the summit or the security guarantees.Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump “has definitively stated US boots will not be on the ground in Ukraine” and that the use of US air power was an “option and a possibility.” Leavitt insisted that Putin had promised Trump he would meet Zelensky, and said top US officials were “coordinating” with Russia on a summit.Trump had dramatically interrupted his meeting with Zelensky and the Europeans at the White House on Monday to call the Russian leader.Allies have expressed doubts that Putin will go through with the meeting, but the Europeans are seizing on the possibility of a peace deal following the Trump talks.French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer brought together around 30 of Ukraine’s allies known as the “Coalition of the Willing” for virtual consultations.Starmer told them coalition teams and US officials would meet in the coming days to “prepare for the deployment of a reassurance force if the hostilities ended,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.- Geneva, Budapest floated for summits -Russia has warned that any solution must also protect its own “security interests” and has ruled out Ukraine joining NATO.Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov added that any meeting between the leaders “must be prepared very thoroughly.”Lavrov’s comments, and Putin’s offer of Moscow as a summit venue, reinforced European fears that Russia was once again stalling. Macron said he wanted the summit to take place in Geneva, a historic venue for peace talks.Switzerland said it was ready to offer immunity to Putin, who faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over the war.Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz have both said the summit could take place in two weeks.The White House declined to comment on a Politico report that it was eying Hungary’s capital Budapest as a venue for a follow-up three-way summit including Trump.On the streets of Kyiv, there was skepticism about whether the latest talks can end the grinding conflict.”The main problem is Putin himself doesn’t want it,” said Anton, 32, who works in a warehouse.But in Moscow, some people were more optimistic. “I hope we can agree on mutually beneficial terms,” said Vyacheslav, 23, who works for the government. burs-dk/wd/st

The Venezuelan government on Tuesday claimed that 66 Venezuelan children are being illegally held in the United States after being separated from their parents during deportation, as the White House cracks down on immigration.Caracas is demanding the children be handed over to Venezuelan authorities so they can be repatriated.”We have 66 children kidnapped in the United States. It’s a number that grows each day… a cruel and inhumane policy,” said Camila Fabri, president of the government’s Return to the Homeland program that advocates for the voluntary return of people who left the country.She spoke at a gathering at which women read out letters to US First Lady Melania Trump asking her to intercede on behalf of the children, who they said had been placed in foster care.More than 7.7 million Venezuelans have left the country since 2014, the largest population exodus in Latin America’s recent history, according to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. It blamed “rampant violence, inflation, gang-warfare, soaring crime rates as well as shortages of food, medicine and essential services.”In recent years Venezuelans in the United States had been granted temporary protected immigration status, allowing them to live and work there for a designated time period. But President Donald Trump’s administration revoked that protection as part of his aggressive campaign to deport millions of undocumented migrants from the United States.The US Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to AFP requests for comment on the claim by Caracas.To date, 21 stranded children have been returned to Venezuela, including a daughter of one of the 252 Venezuelans detained in Trump’s immigration crackdown in March, who was accused without evidence of gang activity and deported to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison.   The men were freed in a prisoner swap in July and flown home to Venezuela, where four of them told AFP they suffered beatings, abuse and deprivation.Fabri said that 10,631 Venezuelans have returned in 2025, both those deported frm the United States and others stranded in Mexico.The White House has also squared off against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who faces federal drug trafficking charges, with the US placing a $50 million bounty on him. Washington, which does not recognize Maduro’s past two election victories, accuses the South American country’s leader of leading a cocaine trafficking gang, and has launched anti-drug operations in the Caribbean.On Monday Maduro said he would deploy millions of militia members in the country in response to the US “threats.”

Donald Trump said Tuesday that a Ukraine peace deal could boost his chances of getting to heaven — joking that his odds of making it through the pearly gates are currently low.The 79-year-old US president has previously said he wants to end Russia’s war in Ukraine as part of his bid to win the Nobel Peace Prize.But a day after hosting the leaders of Ukraine and several European nations at the White House, Trump said his motivations were not all earthly.”I want to try and get to heaven if possible,” Trump told Fox News morning show “Fox & Friends.””I hear I’m not doing well — I hear I’m really at the bottom of the totem pole! But if I can get to heaven this will be one of the reasons.”By traditional yardsticks the three-times-married, twice-impeached Trump is no saint.The billionaire Republican has been embroiled in a number of scandals over the years and is the first president to have a criminal conviction, in his instance a hush money case involving payouts to a porn star.But Trump has taken on an increasingly religious tone since surviving an assassination attempt last year. He said at his inauguration in January that he had been “saved by God to make America great again.”Boasting strong support from America’s religious right, Trump has embraced the trappings of faith far more strongly in his second term in the White House.He has notably appointed an official spiritual adviser, Paula White, who has led a number of prayer gatherings that have seen attendees lay their hands on Trump at White House events.Trump’s Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday she believed “the president was serious” about his Ukraine comments.”I think the president wants to get to heaven, as I hope we all do in this room,” the 27-year-old Leavitt — who herself holds prayer sessions before her briefings — told reporters.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday ruled out sending US troops to back up any Ukraine peace deal but suggested air support instead, as European nations began hashing out security guarantees ahead of a potential Russia summit.In a flurry of diplomacy aimed at ending the war, Trump brought Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders to the White House on Monday, three days after his landmark encounter with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Alaska.But while Trump said Putin had agreed to meet Zelensky and accept some Western security guarantees for Ukraine, those promises have been met with extreme caution by Kyiv and Western capitals, and many details remain vague.Putin proposed holding the summit with Zelensky in Moscow, three sources familiar with the Trump call told AFP. One source said Zelensky immediately said no to meeting in the capital of his country’s invader.Trump, long a fierce critic of the billions of dollars in US support to Ukraine since Russia invaded in 2022, said that European nations were “willing to put people on the ground” to secure any settlement.”France and Germany, a couple of them, UK, they want to have boots on the ground,” Trump said in a Fox News interview. “We’re willing to help them with things, especially, probably, if you talk about by air.”Asked what assurances Trump had that US boots would not be on the ground, he replied: “Well, you have my assurance and I’m president.”- Allies discuss next steps -The White House later doubled down on Trump’s statements — but gave few new details on either the summit or the security guarantees.Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump “has definitively stated US boots will not be on the ground in Ukraine” and that the use of US air power was “option and a possibility.” Leavitt insisted that Putin had promised Trump he would meet Zelensky, and said top US officials were “coordinating” with Russia on a summit.Trump had dramatically interrupted his meeting with Zelensky and the Europeans at the White House on Monday to call the Russian leader.Allies have expressed doubts that Putin will go through with the meeting.The Europeans are however seizing on the possibility of a peace deal following the Trump talks.French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer brought together around 30 of Ukraine’s allies known as the “Coalition of the Willing” for virtual consultations.Starmer told them coalition teams and US officials would meet in the coming days to “prepare for the deployment of a reassurance force if the hostilities ended,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.The military chiefs of staff of all 32 nations in the NATO military alliance will meet by video Wednesday to discuss Ukraine, officials said.- Geneva, Budapest floated for summits -Russia has warned that any solution must also protect its own “security interests” and has ruled out Ukraine joining NATO.Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov added that any meeting between the leaders “must be prepared very thoroughly.”Lavrov’s comments, and Putin’s offer of Moscow as a summit venue, reinforced European fears that Russia was once again stalling. Macron said he wanted the summit to take place in Geneva, a historic venue for peace talks.Switzerland said it was ready to offer immunity to Putin, who faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over the war.Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz have both said the summit could take place in two weeks.The White House declined to comment on a Politico report that it was eying Hungary’s capital Budapest as a venue for a follow-up three-way summit including Trump.On the streets of Kyiv, there was skepticism about whether the latest talks can end the grinding conflict.”The main problem is Putin himself doesn’t want it,” said Anton, 32, who works in a warehouse.But in Moscow, some people were more optimistic. “I hope we can agree on mutually beneficial terms,” said Vyacheslav, 23, who works for the government. burs-dk/st

Former champion boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. has been detained in Mexico after deportation by the United States to face drug cartel-related charges, Mexican authorities said Tuesday.Chavez, the son of legendary fighter Julio Cesar Chavez, was handed over at midday Monday and transferred to a prison in Mexico’s northwest Sonora state, according to information on the country’s National Detention Registry.”He was deported,” President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters, adding that there was an arrest warrant for him in Mexico.US authorities arrested Chavez in July for being in the United States illegally. They also said he was wanted in Mexico for alleged ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, one of six Mexican drug trafficking groups designated as terrorist organizations by the United States.His extradition comes as US President Donald Trump cracks down on immigrants as part of a promise to deport millions of people. Chavez’s arrest in July happened days after his lopsided loss to YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in a cruiserweight bout before a sell-out crowd in California.Once a top-rated boxer, he won the WBC middleweight world title in 2011 and successfully defended it three times. But his career has also included multiple suspensions and fines for failed drug tests.Homeland Security, which oversees US immigration enforcement, said Chavez had entered the United States legally in 2023 on a tourist visa that was valid until February 2024.In April last year, he applied for permanent residency based on his marriage to a US citizen “who is connected to the Sinaloa cartel through a prior relationship with the now-deceased son of the infamous cartel leader Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman.”Homeland Security said that in addition to the active warrant in Mexico, Chavez had criminal convictions in the United States, including on weapons charges in 2024 in Los Angeles.