AFP USA

Years of negotiations culminated early Wednesday with countries agreeing the text of a landmark accord on how to tackle future pandemics, aimed at avoiding a repeat of the mistakes made during the Covid-19 crisis.After more than three years of talks and one last marathon session, weary delegates at the World Health Organization’s headquarters sealed the deal at around 2:00 am (0000 GMT) Wednesday.”Tonight marks a significant milestone in our shared journey towards a safer world,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.”The nations of the world made history in Geneva today.”Five years after Covid-19 killed millions of people and devastated economies, a growing sense of urgency hung over the talks, with new health threats lurking, ranging from H5N1 bird flu to measles, mpox and Ebola.The final stretch of negotiations also took place with cuts to US foreign aid spending and threatened tariffs on pharmaceuticals casting a shadow over the talks.- ‘It’s adopted’ -Right until the last minute, disagreement had lingered over a few thorny issues.Negotiators stumbled over the agreement’s Article 11, which deals with transferring technology for pandemic health products towards developing nations.During the Covid-19 pandemic, poorer states accused rich countries of hoarding vaccines and tests.Countries with large pharmaceutical industries have strenuously opposed the idea of mandatory tech transfers, insisting they must be voluntary.But it appeared the obstacle could be overcome by adding that any transfer needed to be “mutually agreed”.The core the agreement is a proposed Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing System (PABS), aimed at allowing the swift sharing of pathogen data with pharmaceutical companies, enabling them to quickly start working on pandemic-fighting products.In the end, the 32-page agreement was entirely highlighted in green, indicating it had been fully approved by WHO member states.”It’s adopted,” negotiations co-chair Anne-Claire Amprou announced, to thundering applause.”In drafting this historic agreement, the countries of the world have demonstrated their shared commitment to preventing and protecting everyone, everywhere, from future pandemic threats.”The finalised text will now be presented for sign-off at the WHO’s annual assembly next month.- ‘More equity’ -As intense talks in corridors and closed rooms drew towards an end late on Tuesday, Tedros joined the negotiations, telling reporters he thought the current draft was “balanced”, and that a deal would bring “more equity”.While taking measures to coordinate pandemic prevention, preparedness and response could be costly, “the cost of inaction is much bigger”, he insisted.”Virus is the worst enemy. (It) could be worse than a war.”The United States, which has thrown the global health system into crisis by slashing foreign aid spending, was not present.US President Donald Trump ordered a withdrawal from the United Nations’ health agency and from the pandemic agreement talks after taking office in January.However, the US absence, and Trump’s threat to slap steep tariffs on pharmaceutical products, still hung over the talks, making manufacturers and governments more jittery.But in the end, countries reached consensus.Many saw the approval of the text as a victory for global cooperation.”At a time when multilateralism is under threat, WHO member states have joined together to say that we will defeat the next pandemic threat in the only way possible: by working together,” said former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark, co-chair of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response.As the congratulatory speeches continued on towards daybreak, Eswatini’s representative stressed that “whilst we celebrate this moment, we need not rest on our laurels”.”The real work begins now.”

US President Donald Trump ordered a probe Tuesday that may result in tariffs on critical minerals, rare-earth metals and associated products such as smartphones, in an escalation of his dispute with global trade partners.Trump has upended markets in recent weeks with his sweeping on-off levies, and this investigation could see him impose further tariffs if it shows that imports of critical minerals and their derivatives endanger US national security.China dominates global supply chains for rare metals.Without naming any other countries, the order says that the United States is dependent on foreign sources that “are at risk of serious, sustained, and long-term supply chain shocks.”It states that this dependence “raises the potential for risks to national security, defense readiness, price stability, and economic prosperity and resilience.”The imports targeted include so-called critical minerals like cobalt, lithium and nickel, rare-earth elements, as well as products that partly require these resources, such as electric vehicles and batteries.The order states that critical minerals and their derivatives are essential for US military and energy infrastructure, noting their use in jet engines, missile guidance systems and advanced computing, among others.The Department of Commerce will have up to 180 days to deliver its report to Trump, the order says, adding that any recommendations for action should consider the imposition of tariffs.It follows a similar “national security” investigation that Trump ordered Monday into pharmaceutical imports, and another on semiconductors and chip-making equipment.The process is based on a 1962 law that was seldom used before Trump, during his first 2017-2021 term, called on it to justify imposing taxes on steel and aluminum imports. The US president again resorted to this law, known as Section 232, to reintroduce in mid-March tariffs of 25 percent on steel and aluminum, and on automobiles. Trump has slapped new tariffs on friend and foe since returning to the presidency this year in a wide-ranging but often chaotic attempt to reorder the world economy by using levies to force manufacturers to relocate to the United States. 

Joe Biden, in his first major speech since leaving the White House, railed Tuesday against his successor Donald Trump’s frenetic government overhaul, claiming the “hatchet” effort put Americans’ retirement benefits at risk.”Fewer than 100 days, this administration has done so much damage, and so much destruction — it’s kind of breathtaking it could happen that soon,” Biden told a conference of disability advocates in Chicago.”They’ve taken a hatchet to the Social Security administration, pushing 7,000 employees out the door,” said the former president, referring to the national agency which pays out retirement and disability benefits.Wearing a blue suit and tie, and standing in front of American flags, the 82-year-old Democrat spoke for around a half-hour, displaying at times the signs of aging that prompted him to abandon his re-election campaign last year.He stumbled over some sentences as he read from a teleprompter and struggled to get through winding off-the-cuff anecdotes, cutting himself off with a favorite phrase, “anyways.”President Trump, in a jab at Biden, posted a short video on social media of one of the rambling anecdotes, without comment.Biden’s choice of topic, Social Security, aimed to ramp up pressure on Trump over his rampaging government overhaul efforts.He highlighted staff reductions at the agency that Trump and his billionaire aide Elon Musk have pushed as part of their “Department of Government Efficiency,” saying the Social Security “website is crashing” and hindering retirees from getting their benefits.The program, which more than 65 million Americans rely on, is colloquially known in Washington as the “third rail of politics” for its sensitivity to voters.Many Americans “literally count on social security to buy food, just to get by,” Biden said, and “many of these beneficiaries, it’s their only income. If it were cut or taken away, it would be devastating, devastating for millions of people.”He bashed Trump’s commerce secretary, former hedge fund manager Howard Lutnick, over a recent remark in which he said “fraudsters” would complain about a missing check, but not his mother-in-law.Biden scoffed at that characterization, saying “what about the 94-year-old mother living all by herself — who doesn’t have a billionaire in the family?”

Hankering for a chiseled jawline, a male TikTok influencer strikes his cheekbones with a hammer — highlighting the rise of “looksmaxxing,” an online trend pushing unproven and sometimes dangerous techniques to boost sexual appeal.Looksmaxxing influencers — part of an online ecosystem dubbed the “manosphere” — have surged in popularity across social media, capitalizing on the insecurities of young men eager to boost their physical attractiveness to women.In posts across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, they promote pseudoscientific methods to achieve everything from pouty lips to chin extensions and almond-shaped “hunter eyes,” often while monetizing their popularity by endorsing a range of consumer products.In more extreme cases, these influencers advocate taking steroids, undergoing plastic surgery and even “leg-lengthening” procedures to become more attractive.While women may pay regular visits to aestheticians or buy new beauty products, spurring a global beauty retail market worth hundreds of billions of dollars, the manosphere at times promotes a DIY approach that draws on the nearest toolbox. “Babe, what’s taking you so long in the bathroom?” reads the caption flashing across a viral TikTok video of a man seen hitting his cheeks with the sharp edge of a hammer, in what he calls his “skincare routine.”Underneath the video are dozens of comments warning that “bone smashing,” also known as the hammer technique, was “dangerous” while others hailed it as a legitimate way to achieve an angular jawline.In other videos, British influencer Oscar Patel promoted “mewing,” an unproven technique that involves pressing the tongue into the roof of the mouth for improving jaw and facial structure.Without offering evidence, he told his nearly 188,000 TikTok followers that such tricks would turn them into a “PSL god,” an internet slang for exceptionally attractive men, short for Perfectly Symmetrical Looks.- ‘Toxic combination’ -In another video, US-based TikToker Dillon Latham misleadingly told his 1.7 million followers to whiten their teeth by applying hydrogen peroxide to their teeth with a Q tip.Some dentists warn that regularly using store-bought peroxide could damage tooth enamel and gums.The looksmaxxing trend is fueling “an industry of influencers who promote ‘perfect bodies and perfect faces’, often to feather their own nest,” Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan, an analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, told AFP.”Among men, this is mixed with the misogyny of the manosphere, which often blames women for male insecurities, creating a toxic combination,” he added.Many looksmaxxing influencers appear to have a financial incentive, frequently leveraging their popularity to promote products ranging from skin cleansers to pheromone perfumes, and even Chinese knock-off watches.Looksmaxxing is rooted in “incel” — or involuntarily celibate — communities, an internet subculture rife with misogyny, with men tending to blame women and feminism for their romantic failings.”The incel ideology is being rebranded to looksmaxxing on TikTok,” Anda Solea, a researcher at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Portsmouth, told AFP.In a study, Solea found that incel-inspired accounts on TikTok were circumventing a ban on hateful language with a focus on looksmaxxing and more palatable words about self-improvement.”There are a lot of pressures on men –- we want to protect women from gender-based violence but we should also be careful about young men and boys,” Solea said.- ‘Deeply damaging’ -Other related maxxing trends have also gained traction, including “gymmaxxing,” which focuses on building muscle, and “moneymaxxing,” which centers on improving financial status — all with the ultimate goal of increasing sexual desirability.Looksmaxxing influencers –- many of whom idolize male models such as Australian Jordan Barrett and American Sean O’Pry — have amassed massive followings as algorithms propel their content to millions.These algorithms can lead to real-world harm, experts warn. The danger was dramatized in the recent Netflix hit “Adolescence,” which follows the case of a 13-year-old boy accused of killing a classmate after consuming misogynistic content online.The fictional crime drama references the popular but unfounded “80/20” theory that claims 80 percent of women are attracted to 20 percent of men.In a study last year, researchers at Dublin City University created fake accounts registered as teenage boys. They reported that their TikTok and YouTube feeds were “bombarded” with male supremacy and misogynistic content.”More widely, this does feed into toxic beauty standards which affect men as well as women,” said Venkataramakrishnan, from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.”The idea that if you don’t look like a Hollywood star, you might as well give up trying for a relationship is deeply damaging.”

President Donald Trump escalated his war against elite US universities Tuesday with a threat to strip Harvard’s tax-exempt status if the country’s most famous educational establishment refuses to submit to wide-ranging government oversight.Harvard stands out for defying Trump, in contrast to several other universities and a string of powerful law firms that have folded under intense pressure from the White House in its crackdown on American institutions.Its president, Alan Garber, said the school would not “negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights.”Tuesday’s threat of a major tax bill comes a day after the freezing of $2.2 billion in federal funding.The impacts are already being felt on a campus that has produced 162 Nobel prize winners and whose alumni range from Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg to eight US presidents.The university said one faculty member had just been told to halt her tuberculosis research because of “the broader funding freeze.”But the mood was defiant.”I love it. I think it’s amazing. I think more schools across the country need to. It shows that you’re not going to bow down, you’re not going to let free speech be taken,” student Darious Hanson told AFP.- Anti-Semitism -Trump posted on social media that non-profit Harvard “should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity” if it does not submit to his demands for the university to change the way it runs itself, including selection of students and authority for professors.Trump and his White House team have justified their pressure campaign on universities as a reaction to what they say is uncontrolled anti-Semitism and support for the Palestinian militant group Hamas.Trump “wants to see Harvard apologize. And Harvard should apologize,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told journalists.The anti-Semitism allegations are based on controversy at protests against Israel’s war in Gaza that swept across campuses last year.Columbia University in New York — an epicenter of the protests — stood down last month and agreed to oversight of its Middle Eastern department after being threatened with a loss of $400 million in federal funds.The White House has also strong-armed dozens of universities and colleges with threats to remove federal funding over their policies meant to encourage racial diversity among students and staff.The White House has cited similarly ideological goals in its unprecedented crackdown on law firms, pressuring them to volunteer hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of legal work to support issues that Trump supports.- Harvard defiant -Harvard, the oldest and wealthiest university in the United States, is now the most prominent institution to resist Trump’s ever-growing bid for control.The Trump administration is demanding that a wide range of Harvard departments come under outside supervision for potential anti-Semitism. It also seeks to require “viewpoint diversity” in student admissions and choice of professors.Garber’s insistence that Harvard cannot “allow itself to be taken over by the federal government” sets up a likely long-running, high-profile fight.Hard-line presidential advisors such as Stephen Miller depict universities as bastions of anti-conservative forces that need to be brought to heel — a message that resonates strongly with Trump’s hard-right anti-elite base.For Trump’s opponents, the Harvard refusal to bend marks a chance to draw a line in the sand against an authoritarian takeover.”Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions — rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom,” former president Barack Obama wrote on X. “Let’s hope other institutions follow suit.”Dozens of universities and other stakeholders are separately battling the Trump administration in court over broad research funding cuts that have led to staff layoffs and created deep uncertainty among US academics.

US aviation giant Boeing, fresh off a crippling labor dispute and quality control crisis, has now found itself drawn into the escalating trade conflict between Washington and Beijing.The largest US exporter, Boeing has been caught in the crossfire after President Donald Trump imposed new tariffs of up to 145 percent on many Chinese products, sparking retaliatory 125 percent levies from Beijing.The duties more than double the cost of aircraft and spare parts manufactured in the United States.On Tuesday, Trump accused China of reneging on a “big Boeing deal,” following a Bloomberg news report that Beijing ordered airlines not to take further deliveries of the company’s jets.The report also said that Beijing requested Chinese carriers to pause purchases of aircraft-related equipment and parts from US firms.Boeing has declined to comment on the matter.Last week, Bloomberg reported that China’s Juneyao Airlines was delaying delivery of a Boeing widebody aircraft as the growing trade conflict drives up costs of big-ticket products.- ‘Not surprised’-Boeing’s website shows its order book at the end of March contained 130 aircraft due to Chinese customers, including airlines and leasing companies.But as some buyers prefer to remain anonymous, the true figure could be higher.Bank of America (BofA) analysts note that Boeing is scheduled to deliver 29 aircraft this year to identified Chinese companies, but added that a large portion of unidentified customers who bought aircraft are actually Chinese.”China represents about 20 percent of the market for large civil jets over the next 20 years,” BofA Securities said in a note.It added that the US administration cannot ignore Boeing when it considers trade balances.”Boeing is the US’s largest exporter, as such, we are not surprised by China’s move; however, we do see this as unsustainable,” BofA Securities said.Boeing’s main competitor Airbus cannot be China’s only supplier of large commercial jets given its capacity constraints, it said.The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) is also “highly dependent on US suppliers,” the analysts said.If China stopped buying aircraft components from the United States, COMAC’s C919 program — a competitor to Boeing’s 737 or Airbus’s A320 — would be halted, they said.A delivery blockage would affect the United States’ trade balance further as well.Boeing’s production slowed significantly after quality issues that emerged with an in-flight incident in January 2024, and two factories were subsequently paralysed by a strike in the fall.According to US official data, commercial aircraft exports reached $4.2 billion in August last year but dropped to $2.6 billion in September. They slipped further in October and November.In December, when Boeing deliveries gradually resumed, the amount rose to $3.1 billion.- Airline customers -Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg previously stressed that the company supports 1.8 million jobs in the United States.A delivery freeze would have direct consequences for the group, which traditionally receives 60 percent of the price upon delivery.With its difficulties of 2024, Boeing is already dipping heavily into cash flow that has been depleted by the Covid-19 pandemic and other issues.Besides concerns surrounding Beijing, Boeing will likely be squeezed by higher duties too.Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, said on Tuesday his company might postpone delivery of 25 Boeing jets expected from August if they cost more customs duties.Ryanair, a major Boeing customer, notably placed an order in May 2023 for 300 737 MAX 10s, including 150 firm orders, for a list price estimated at over $40 billion.Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Air Lines, said last week that he does not intend to pay customs duties on the Airbus aircraft he expects this year.

Nvidia on Tuesday notified regulators that it expects a $5.5 billion hit this quarter due to a new US licensing requirement on the primary chip it can legally sell in China.US officials last week told Nvidia it must obtain licenses to export its H20 chips to China because of concerns they may be used in supercomputers there, the Silicon Valley company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.Shares of Nvidia, which have seen high volatility since US President Donald Trump made a major tariffs announcement on April 2, were down more than six percent in after-market trades.The new licensing rule applies to Nvidia GPUs (graphics processing units) with bandwidth similar to that of the H20.The United States had already restricted exports to China of Nvidia’s most sophisticated GPUs, tailored for powering top-end artificial intelligence models.Nvidia was told the licensing requirement on H20 chips would last indefinitely, it said in the filing.Nvidia’s current fiscal quarter ends on April 27.”First quarter results are expected to include up to approximately $5.5 billion of charges associated with H20 products for inventory, purchase commitments, and related reserves,” Nvidia said in the filing.Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has said publicly that the AI chip powerhouse will balance legal compliance and technological advances under Trump, and that nothing will stop the global advancement of artificial intelligence.”We’ll continue to do that and we’ll be able to do that just fine,” the Taiwan-born entrepreneur told reporters late last year.Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden restricted Nvidia from selling some of its top AI chips to China, which the United States sees as a strategic competitor in technology.Global markets have been on a roller coaster since Trump’s April 2 announcement, declining sharply before partially recovering with his 90-day pause on the steepest tariff rates last week.Trump warned Sunday that no country would be getting “off the hook” on tariffs despite a 90-day reprieve on some levies, while also downplaying exemptions for Chinese technology.Most nations will now face a baseline 10 percent tariff for the near-three-month period — except China, which launched a tit-for-tat escalation.China has sought to present itself as a stable alternative to an erratic Washington, courting countries spooked by the global economic storm.

US President Donald Trump’s showdown with the judicial system came into the spotlight Tuesday as a judge grilled his administration over its failure to return a migrant wrongly deported to El Salvador.The Trump administration previously admitted that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was living in the eastern state of Maryland and married to a US citizen, was deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador due to an “administrative error.”A judge has ordered Trump to “facilitate” his return, an order upheld by the Supreme Court, but his government has yet to request El Salvador return Abrego Garcia.Trump has alleged that Abrego Garcia is “an MS-13 Gang Member and Foreign Terrorist from El Salvador,” while Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that he was “engaged in human trafficking.”But Abrego Garcia’s family has continued to proclaim his innocence, and Judge Paula Xinis — before whom the Tuesday hearing was held — has said she had seen no evidence Abrego Garcia was a gang member.During the high-stakes hearing — widely seen as a test of the judiciary’s ability to tame Trump’s White House — Xinis slammed the administration for sharing “nothing” on its plans for Abrego Garcia’s return. “There’s so much daylight between what you’re actually saying and where this case is,” Xinis said, adding she would set in motion a process to discover if officials acted against court orders.If so, it would mark a tipping point for the Trump administration, which has for months flirted with open defiance of the judiciary following court setbacks to its right-wing agenda. Dozens of protestors carrying signs reading “Defend democracy” and “Bring Abrego Garcia home” gathered outside the courthouse in Maryland on Tuesday.They were joined by Abreago Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, who urged Trump and his ally, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, to “stop playing political games with my husband.”Hoping to heap political pressure on Trump, Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen said he will travel to El Salvador on Wednesday to check on Abrego Garcia’s condition and discuss his return.”He shouldn’t have to spend another second away from his family,” Van Hollen, a Democrat, said on X.- ‘Alive and secure’ -Trump and his administration have repeatedly clashed with the courts since he returned to office in January, criticizing rulings that curb the president’s policies and power and attacking judges who issued them.”No District Court Judge, or any Judge, can assume the duties of the President of the United States. Only Crime and Chaos would result,” Trump said on Truth Social last month.Government attorneys last week rejected Xinis’s order to provide an update on Abrego Garcia’s status by Friday, saying that “foreign affairs cannot operate on judicial timelines.”The Trump administration has since partially complied with the judge’s directives, providing a statement from a State Department official saying that Abrego Garcia is “alive and secure” in the Salvadoran prison.The Department of Homeland Security said in a court filing Tuesday that it would take Abrego Garcia into custody and deport him again if he returned to the United States.But El Salvador’s Bukele on Monday, sitting next to Trump at the White House, rejected calls to repatriate Abrego Garcia, saying: “I don’t have the power to return him to the United States.”The case represents the only time the administration has acknowledged wrongly deporting anyone, though the Justice Department subsequently fired the lawyer who made that concession, saying he had failed to vigorously defend the government position.

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday aiming to lower crippling drug prices by giving states more leeway to bargain-hunt abroad and improving the process for price negotiations.Americans face the highest prescription drug prices in the world, leaving many people to pay partially out of their own pockets despite already exorbitant insurance premiums.”This (order) will provide meaningful relief to seniors and low income individuals who depend on insulin and many, many more,” a White House official told reporters.”Furthermore, it will foster a more competitive prescription drug market to ensure the prices being charged to patients and the government are more aligned with the value they provide, rather than some quirk in the way that the government pays for them.”The order directs the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, to allow more states to import medicines directly from countries with lower prices.The administration of Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden approved Florida’s application to import from Canada last year but no other states were given the green light for their own deals. The order also tweaks the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed under Biden, which allowed the Medicare health insurance plan for seniors to negotiate the prices of certain drugs for the first time.The aim of the changes is to eliminate the difference between price negotiation rules for pills and those for injectable drugs — a disparity that critics argue could harm investment in the orally-administered products.Under the IRA, Medicare could negotiate on prices for “small molecule” drugs that patients swallow, such as ibuprofen, nine years after FDA approval.”Large molecule” biologics such as gene-based therapies and hormonal regulators could only be subject to negotiations after 13 years.The order did not specify how the disparity would be addressed.Officials said the edict also did not make use of a “most favored nation” status that would force pharmaceutical companies to offer their lowest prices in America.Biden’s IRA reforms led to the costs of 10 key medicines being cut in landmark negotiations with pharmaceutical firms.Days before leaving office, the Democrat announced a further 15 drugs for which the government would negotiate lower prices with pharmaceutical companies, with the resulting prices taking effect in 2027.

Nvidia on Tuesday notified regulators that it expects a $5.5 billion hit this quarter due to a new US licensing requirement on the primary chip it can legally sell in China.US officials last week told Nvidia it must obtain licenses to export its H20 chips to China because of concerns they may be used in supercomputers there, the Silicon Valley company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.Shares of Nvidia, which have already seen high volatility since Trump’s April 2 tariffs announcement, were down over six percent in after-market trades.The new licensing rule applies to Nvidia GPUs (graphics processing units) with bandwidth similar to that of the H20.The United States had already barred exports to China of Nvidia’s most sophisticated GPUs, tailored for powering top-end artificial intelligence models.Nvidia was told the licensing requirement on H20 chips will last indefinitely, it said in the filing.Nvidia’s current fiscal quarter ends on April 27.”First quarter results are expected to include up to approximately $5.5 billion of charges associated with H20 products for inventory, purchase commitments, and related reserves,” Nvidia said in the filing.