AFP USA

A replica of the annex where Jewish schoolgirl Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis will open in New York next week, targeting a new generation with the lessons of the Holocaust.The recreation of the cramped hiding space shared by Anne and seven others at Manhattan’s Center for Jewish History is the first replica displayed outside of Amsterdam, and will be free to visit for thousands of schoolchildren.”They live in a different world. They have a very different media landscape around them. They are still very interested in the topic — but know less about it,” said Anne Frank House executive director Ronald Leopold.Unlike the Amsterdam museum, set in the building where Anne Frank hid from Nazis and wrote her diary during the Second World War, the New York iteration is furnished as it would have been in the 1940s.Visitors are led through a bookcase like the one behind which Anne and her family hid from the Nazi occupiers after Anne’s sister Margot received orders to go to a labor camp in July 1942.The exhibition is brought to life largely with visual installations and uses minimal text narration. It relies instead on audio guides tailored to different age groups and interactive displays like a giant underfloor map of Europe and the Nazi Holocaust machinery.”This is how we think, at this moment in time, you could bring the memory of the Holocaust across towards these young generations,” Leopold said.- Not just ‘in the past’ -Mockups of the rooms used by Anne Frank and her family were recreated by an exhibition designer with experience of theater and opera using two scale models commissioned by Anne’s father Otto Frank in the 1960s.  The daily struggle of living in hiding is illustrated with ordinary objects and photos including artifacts that belonged to Anne Frank, like the first diary book gifted to her on her 13th birthday on June 12, 1942.Her diary has since been published in more than 70 languages with millions of copies sold. It recounts her life as an ordinary teenager living in extraordinary circumstances up until her arrest along with everyone in the annex in August 1944 after 25 months in hiding. She died along with Margot in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in February 1945.”Now young people (can) come here in this exhibition and get to know what it means to be in hiding, what it means to be persecuted,” said Hannah Elias, granddaughter of Anne Frank’s cousin Buddy Elias.”This has a strong connection to the present, because there are still a lot of people that are persecuted or that might go into hiding, and to know that it’s not just a thing in the past. It’s not something that we can close a chapter and then not look at it again.”The exhibition opens to the public Monday to coincide with International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp.”The Anne Frank House feels that our responsibility has never been greater,” said Leopold.”This story is not just about the past. It’s a reminder that is also very much a call to action for the present and for the future — stand against anti-Semitism, stand against other forms of hate.”

The United States, the world’s biggest donor, froze virtually all foreign aid on Friday, making exceptions only for emergency food, and military funding for Israel and Egypt.Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent an internal memo days after President Donald Trump took office vowing an “America First” policy of tightly restricting assistance overseas.”No new funds shall be obligated for new awards or extensions of existing awards until each proposed new award or extension has been reviewed and approved,” said the memo to staff seen by AFP.The sweeping order appears to affect everything from development assistance to military aid — including to Ukraine, which received billions of dollars in weapons under Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden as it tries to repel a Russian invasion.The directive also means a pause of at least several months of US funding for PEPFAR, the anti-HIV/AIDS initiative that buys anti-retroviral drugs to treat the disease in developing countries, largely in Africa.Launched under president George W. Bush in 2003, PEPFAR is credited with saving some 26 million lives and until recently enjoyed broad popular support along partisan lines in Washington.But the memo explicitly made exceptions for military assistance to Israel — whose longstanding major arms packages from the United States have expanded further since the Gaza war — and Egypt, which has received generous US defense funding since it signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.Rubio also made an exception for US contributions to emergency food assistance, which the United States ahs been contributing following crises around the world including in Sudan and Syria.Lawmakers from the rival Democratic Party said that more than 20 million people relied on medication through PEPFAR and 63 million people on US-funded anti-malaria efforts including nets.”For years, Republicans in Congress have decried what they see as a lack of U.S. credibility vis-a-vis countries like China, Russia, and Iran,” said Representative Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Relations Committee, and Representative Lois Frankel.”Now our credibility is on the line, and it appears we will cut and run from American commitments to our partners around the world,” they wrote in a letter.Washington has long leveraged aid as a tool of its foreign policy, saying it cares about development and drawing a contrast with China, which is primarily concerned about seeking natural resources.Meeks and Frankel also noted that foreign assistance is appropriated by Congress and said they would seek its implementation.- ‘Life or death consequences’ -The memo allows the State Department to make other case-by-case exceptions and temporarily to fund salaries to staff and other administrative expenses.The memo called for an internal review of all foreign assistance within 85 days.In justifying the freeze, Rubio — who as a senator was a supporter of development assistance — wrote that it was impossible for the new administration to assess whether existing foreign aid commitments “are not duplicated, are effective and are consistent with President Trump’s foreign policy.”The United States has long been the world’s top donor in dollar terms, although a number of European nations, especially in Scandinavia, give significantly more as a percent of their economies. The United States gave more than $64 billion in overseas development assistance in 2023, the last year for which records were available, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which advises industrialized countries. Trump had already on taking office Monday signed an executive order suspending foreign assistance for 90 days, but it was not immediately clear how it would be implemented. Anti-poverty group Oxfam said that Trump was abandoning a longstanding consensus in the United States for foreign assistance. “Humanitarian and development assistance accounts for only around one percent of the federal budget; it saves lives, fights diseases, educates millions of children and reduces poverty,” Oxfam America president Abby Maxman said in a statement. “Suspending and ultimately cutting many of these programs could have life or death consequences for countless children and families who are living through crisis,” she said.

The US Supreme Court agreed on Friday to weigh whether public funds can be used to establish a religious charter school, a major case testing the historic separation of church and state.The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled last year that the public funding mechanism for a proposed Catholic charter school in the southwestern state was unconstitutional.Charter schools, of which there are some 8,000 in the United States, are government-funded but operate independently of the local school district.They are not allowed to charge tuition or have a religious affiliation.The Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal of the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s ruling that blocked the state Charter School Board’s 2023 approval of the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School.The separation of church and state is a founding US principle. The First Amendment of the US Constitution forbids the establishment of a national religion or the preference of one religion over another.An attorney for the conservative Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which is representing the school board, welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court to hear the case.”Oklahoma parents and children are better off with more educational choices, not fewer,” ADF chief legal counsel Jim Campbell said.”The US Constitution protects St. Isidore’s freedom to operate according to its faith and supports the board’s decision to approve such learning options for Oklahoma families.”The American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and allied groups urged the Supreme Court to uphold the ruling by Oklahoma’s top court.”The law is clear: Charter schools are public schools and must be secular and open to all students,” they said. “Converting public schools into Sunday schools would be a dangerous sea change for our democracy.”The conservative-dominated Supreme Court has issued a number of recent rulings blurring the boundaries between church and state, including a decision that a public high school football coach can lead his players in prayer.The court has also allowed parents to use government vouchers to pay for the education of their children at private religious schools.Oklahoma’s Republican superintendent Ryan Walters, the highest education official in the state, has been among those pushing for the establishment of the religious charter school.In June, Walters ordered public schools in Oklahoma, part of America’s so-called “Bible Belt,” to teach the Bible, a move met with lawsuits by parents and teachers.The Supreme Court did not set a date for oral arguments in the religious charter school case but ordered briefs to be submitted by April 21.

The United States, the world’s biggest donor, froze virtually all foreign aid on Friday, making exceptions only for emergency food, and military funding for Israel and Egypt.Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent an internal memo days after President Donald Trump took office vowing an “America First” policy of tightly restricting assistance overseas.”No new funds shall be obligated for new awards or extensions of existing awards until each proposed new award or extension has been reviewed and approved,” said the memo to staff seen by AFP.The sweeping order appears to affect everything from development assistance to military aid — including to Ukraine, which received billions of dollars in weapons under Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden as it tries to repel a Russian invasion.The directive also means a pause of at least several months of US funding for PEPFAR, the anti-HIV/AIDS initiative that buys anti-retroviral drugs to treat the disease in developing countries, largely in Africa.Launched under president George W. Bush in 2003, PEPFAR is credited with saving some 26 million lives and until recently enjoyed broad popular support along partisan lines in Washington.But the memo explicitly made exceptions for military assistance to Israel — whose longstanding major arms packages from the United States have expanded further since the Gaza war — and Egypt, which has received generous US defense funding since it signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.Rubio also made an exception for US contributions to emergency food assistance, which the United States ahs been contributing following crises around the world including in Sudan and Syria.The memo allows the State Department to make other case-by-case exceptions and temporarily to fund salaries to staff and other administrative expenses.The memo called for an internal review of all foreign assistance within 85 days.In justifying the freeze, Rubio — who as a senator was a supporter of development assistance — wrote that it was impossible for the new administration to assess whether existing foreign aid commitments “are not duplicated, are effective and are consistent with President Trump’s foreign policy.”- ‘Life or death consequences’ -The United States has long been the world’s top donor in dollar terms, although a number of European nations, especially in Scandinavia, give significantly more as a percent of their economies. The United States gave more than $64 billion in overseas development assistance in 2023, the last year for which records were available, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which advises industrialized countries. Washington has long leveraged aid as a tool of its foreign policy, saying it cares about development and drawing a contrast with China, which is primarily concerned about seeking natural resources.Trump had already on taking office Monday signed an executive order suspending foreign assistance for 90 days, but it was not immediately clear how it would be implemented. Anti-poverty group Oxfam said that Trump was abandoning a longstanding consensus in the United States for foreign assistance. “Humanitarian and development assistance accounts for only around one percent of the federal budget; it saves lives, fights diseases, educates millions of children and reduces poverty,” Oxfam America president Abby Maxman said in a statement. “Suspending and ultimately cutting many of these programs could have life or death consequences for countless children and families who are living through crisis,” she said.World Relief, a Christian-oriented humanitarian group, called on the Trump administration to ensure the flow of vital assistance including disaster relief.”We urge that the review of foreign development assistance be conducted swiftly and result in continued prioritization of investments that save lives and mitigate humanitarian crises,” said the group’s senior vice president of international programs, Lanre Williams-Ayedun.

Wall Street stocks retreated Friday as the market’s latest rally lost steam, while the yen pushed higher after the Bank of Japan lifted interest rates.After a flattish open, major US indices tumbled into the red. The S&P 500 finished down 0.3 percent after closing at a record high on Thursday.”This is normal consolidation or profit taking after a big 2-week rally,” said Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investment.Wall Street stocks have gained in recent sessions following benign US inflation data, strong earnings from banks and the new presidency of Donald Trump in Washington.Markets have thus far welcomed his growth-oriented agenda and largely shrugged off his threats of tariffs.Sarhan said the market was poised for a pause given the heavy calendar next week, which includes a Federal Reserve monetary policy decision and earnings from tech giants and other big companies.In Europe, both London and Frankfurt stocks hit fresh record highs before turning lower. Paris ended the day with a gain, led by luxury stocks after British fashion house Burberry showed signs of recovery.In Japan, Tokyo’s stock market dropped and the yen rallied after the Bank of Japan lifted borrowing costs to their highest level since 2008 and flagged further increases in the pipeline. Even as other central banks have raised borrowing costs in recent years — and started cutting again in 2024 — the BoJ has remained an outlier.But it concluded last March that Japan’s “lost decades” of economic stagnation and static or falling prices were over, finally lifting rates above zero.In other Asian trading, Hong Kong gained nearly two percent and Shanghai also advanced following Trump’s latest comments with regard to China.In an interview broadcast Thursday night, Trump said he would “rather not” impose tariffs on China and signaled openness at negotiating a trade deal with Beijing. “We have one very big power over China, and that’s tariffs, and they don’t want them, and I’d rather not have to use it,” Trump told Fox News. “But it’s a tremendous power over China.””Clearly these are off-the-cuff remarks but it has left the overnight market feeling like there’s a scenario where China escapes the worst of the tariff regime,” said Jim Reid, managing director at Deutsche Bank.Trump’s remarks earlier Thursday before the World Economic Forum in Davos calling for lower interest rates added to pressure on the dollar. – Key figures around 2140 GMT -New York – Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 44,424.25 (close)New York – S&P 500: DOWN 0.3 percent at 6,101.24 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.5 percent at 19,954.30 (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.7 percent at 8,502.35 (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.4 percent at 7,927.62 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.1 percent at 21,394.93 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.1 percent at 39,931.98 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.9 percent at 20,066.19 (close)Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.7 percent at 3,252.63 (close)Dollar/yen: DOWN at 155.93 yen from 156.05 yen on ThursdayEuro/dollar: UP at $1.0500 from $1.0415Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2484 from $1.2353Euro/pound: DOWN at 84.06 pence from 84.31 penceWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.1 percent at $74.66 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.3 percent at $78.50 per barrelburs-jmb/st

Tens of thousands of anti-abortion activists, joined by masked neo-Nazis, converged in Washington on Friday to hear President Donald Trump address a rally.The self-described “pro-life” movement is on a roll as it staged the 52nd annual March for Life on the National Mall, invigorated by recent victories to restrict abortion and Trump’s return to the presidency.They scored a historic win in 2022 when the conservative-dominated Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling enshrining the right to abortion access everywhere in the United States.The march was something of a victory lap for the new Republican president, who claims credit for the ruling after appointing three of the conservative justices who were behind the decision during his first term.”In my second term, we will again stand proudly for families and for life,” Trump said in a pre-taped video message broadcast to the crowd.Trump, who was touring natural disaster zones in North Carolina and California, vowed to “protect the historic gains” made by the anti-abortion movement.At least 100 members of the Patriot Front, a white supremacist group, marched in military style to the sidelines of the rally and stood in columns holding US flags, Christian symbols and banners reading “Strong families make strong nations.”Their leader Thomas Rousseau — flanked by two men with white bandanas covering their faces — told AFP in front of the Washington Monument he believed in “patriotic principles,” including the “restitution of the American family unit.””We’re here to espouse our ideas in front of a lot of people who care about issues, morality, the state of the country,” said Rousseau, 26, though he noted Patriot Front was not supported by the March for Life organization. Some rally attendees were angered by the group’s presence. “Pro life isn’t pro white,” said 36-year-old Greg Stearns, a philosophy teacher from North Carolina, who added, “I can’t stand seeing them here. It sends all the wrong messages.”- ‘Most pro-life president’ -The “March for Life” started with a rally on the National Mall, featuring speeches from high-ranking Republicans including Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson.Holding signs reading “Let’s love little lives” and “God will not be mocked,” protestors in winter clothes walked towards the Supreme Court and US Capitol.Some wore Donald Trump’s “Make American Great Again” hats but most people did not have political paraphernalia, with many attending as part of church and religious school groups.Organizers say the goal of their movement is to not only change laws, “but to change the culture to ultimately make abortion unthinkable.””This shows that the silent majority is here and loud. It’s huge that we can be here and unified,” said Reagan West, a 20-year-old business student at the evangelical Liberty University in Virginia.Many conservative states have acted since the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling to introduce curbs, and 29 percent of women aged between 18 and 44 now live in an area where abortion is mostly or entirely banned, according to the website Politifact.Polls, however, repeatedly show a clear majority of Americans support continued access to safe abortion.Trump has touted himself as the “most pro-life president ever” and in 2020 became the first sitting commander-in-chief to attend the March for Life. But he has a spotty record on the issue and, worried that a strong anti-abortion stance could be a vote loser, Trump refused to back a federal ban during his election campaign.”Praise God for President Trump. He’s not our Savior, though,” said David Makovey, who flew from California for the march.Makovey, a 27-year-old construction worker, told AFP that he supported Trump’s recent decision to pardon 23 anti-abortion activists jailed for blockading abortion clinics.On Friday, the Washington Post reported the Justice Department will scale back prosecuting demonstrators who interfere with patient access to reproductive health clinics. “A lot of people question his faith… at least President Trump is doing something about it, right?” Makovey added.

Two US military planes carrying dozens of expelled migrants arrived in Guatemala on Friday, authorities said, without specifying whether they were part of the deportation operation launched by President Donald Trump.A total of 79 Guatemalans — 48 men and 31 women — were on a first flight that landed at around midnight, the Central American country’s migration institute said.The second, with an unspecified number of migrants on board, arrived Friday morning.The White House announced late Thursday that “538 illegal immigrant criminals” had been arrested and hundreds deported by military aircraft, saying that “the largest massive deportation operation in history is well underway.”The Guatemalan government did not confirm whether any of those migrants were among the deportees that arrived Friday.”These are flights that took place after Trump took office,” an official in the Guatemalan vice president’s office told AFP.A Pentagon source told AFP that “overnight, two DOD (Department of Defense) aircraft conducted repatriation flights from the US to Guatemala.”Early Friday the White House posted an image on X of men in shackles being marched into a military aircraft, with the caption: “Deportation flights have begun.”And Trump told reporters that the flights were to get “the bad, hard criminals out.””Murderers, people that have been as bad as you get. As bad as anybody you’ve seen,”  he said.Deportation flights were carried out regularly under Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden, whose administration removed some 270,000 people in fiscal year 2023 — more than any year of Trump’s first presidency.Friday’s deportees were taken to a reception center at an air force base in Guatemala’s capital, away from the media.Trump promised a crackdown on illegal immigration during the election campaign and began his second term with a flurry of executive actions aimed at overhauling entry to the United States. On his first day in office he signed orders declaring a “national emergency” at the southern border and announced the deployment of more troops to the area while vowing to deport “criminal aliens.”His administration said it would also reinstate a “Remain in Mexico” policy under which people who apply to enter the United States from Mexico must remain there until their application has been decided.The White House has also halted an asylum program for people fleeing authoritarian regimes in Central and South America, leaving thousands of people stranded on the Mexican side of the border.

The top prosecutor in Los Angeles said Friday that his office will not bring charges against goth rocker Marilyn Manson, who has been accused of sexual assault and domestic violence.Following “a comprehensive four-year investigation,” prosecutors determined that “allegations of domestic violence fall outside of the statute of limitations,” said a statement from Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman.”And we cannot prove charges of sexual assault beyond a reasonable doubt,” it added. Manson has faced allegations from multiple women, including his ex-fiancee, the actress Evan Rachel Wood, and Esme Bianco, who featured in “Game of Thrones.”Manson, whose real name is Brian Warner, has denied wrongdoing.He filed court proceedings in 2022 against Wood for conspiracy, fraud and defamation after she accused him of raping her, but later dropped the civil suit.The 56-year-old musician has long cultivated a controversial image with his ghostly make-up and stage name evoking serial killer Charles Manson, one of the most notorious criminals in US history. “While we are unable to bring charges in this matter, we recognize that the strong advocacy of the women involved has helped bring greater awareness to the challenges faced by survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault,” Hochman’s office said in a statement. Manson is currently on a global tour. Hours after the prosecutor’s statement was released, he announced on Instagram that the tour would include shows in the United States.

US immigration officers swooped on a New Jersey seafood business, detaining undocumented migrants, officials said Friday, as President Donald Trump deployed troops to the Mexican border.Trump has pledged a crackdown on migrants with the White House reporting that agents arrested 538 undocumented people nationwide Thursday, with hundreds removed from the country on military aircraft.”The largest massive deportation operation in history is well underway,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt wrote on X.Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said that in a night-time operation in his city, a US Army veteran was among those detained at Ocean Seafood Depot, marking a resumption of workplace raids that were suspended under former president Joe Biden.”Some ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents raided a business in our city without a warrant,” Baraka told a briefing.”The problem with this is that none of these people were rapists or murderers or criminals — the problem is that ICE went in without a warrant.”Newark, New Jersey, like other major cities including New York, is a so-called “sanctuary city” meaning local officials and law enforcement do not typically cooperate with federal immigration agents.- ‘People are scared’ -Trump has threatened to curb federal funding for cities that uphold sanctuary policies.Immigration enforcement agents used raids on businesses and workplaces during Trump’s first term, and he has vowed to resume them, and to conduct operations at schools, churches and hospitals — also off-limits under Biden.”They caught three guys… everybody is afraid, I don’t know if this is normal. They were from Ecuador I think,” a witness to the Newark raid who declined to be named told NBC News.Baraka said he was “appalled, upset, angry that this would happen here, in this state, in this country — that this would be allowed.”Last year under Biden there were 270,000 deportations in total, which was a 10-year high alongside 113,400 arrests.On his first day in office, Trump signed orders declaring a “national emergency” at the southern border and announced the deployment of more troops to the area, vowing to deport “criminal aliens.”Active service troops began arriving on the US-Mexico border Friday, with soldiers working to build structures and barracks.There are an estimated 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States, according to the Department of Homeland Security statistics.Amy Torres, executive director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, said “people are scared.””We knew this was going to happen, and what we learned from folks that stayed behind was that ICE walked in like it was their empire’s own conquered land,” she said.”They were heavily armed, there was no prior announcement. They were blocking off entrances and exits.”

Move over President Trump — the newest stars in Washington are two giant pandas who made their public debut on Friday in front of hundreds of adoring fans.Bao Li and Qing Bao rambled around their enclosure, played in the snow and munched on bamboo at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in the US capital.The pair, who arrived from China in October, have been in quarantine while their home was renovated with new climbing structures, water features and rock zones.Bao Li and Qing Bao — both three years old — are part of a 10-year agreement with China, after the previous pandas in Washington returned home in 2023.Their arrival is the latest chapter of so-called “panda diplomacy,” in which China’s black-and-white bears are sent across the globe as soft-power ambassadors.After Washington lost its last pandas, the lack of immediate replacements was viewed by many as a symbol of heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing.- ‘Won our hearts’ -Zoo officials said the two new residents have settled in well with Bao Li, a male, happy to eat anything, though female Qing Bao is pickier.”For over 50 years, giant pandas have been an integral part of the fabric and culture of Washington,” zoo director Brandie Smith said.”Bao Li and Qing Bao have won our hearts, and we’re excited to welcome panda fans back to the zoo.”Bao Li’s name translates as “active and vital power” while Qing Bao means “green” and “treasure.”They were flown from Chengdu to Dulles airport in Virginia aboard a FedEx cargo plane decorated with giant panda images.Under the zoo’s agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association, the pandas will remain in the United States for a decade for an annual fee of $1 million.The pandas are too young to breed, but will reach sexual maturity between ages four and seven. Any cub would leave for China when young to join in the country’s breeding program.Thanks to conservation efforts, the giant panda was downgraded last year from “endangered” to “vulnerable” on the global list of species at risk of extinction.The new pandas are among just a few that remain in the United States, including a pair that arrived at San Diego’s zoo last summer.The Washington zoo relaunched its popular giant panda cam, with 40 cameras streaming images throughout the day.It is also selling panda-themed merchandise ranging from M&M candy to hoodies, pillows and notepads under the slogan “Pandas Are Here.”The first pandas were sent to Washington as a gift in 1972, following US president Richard Nixon’s historic visit to the Communist nation.