The Foreign Post - FPI

Curabitur ultrices commodo magna, ac semper risus molestie vestibulum. Aenean commodo nibh non dui adipiscing rhoncus.

Website URL: http://www.themewinter.com

Ditching concrete for earth to build a cleaner future

The World

Paris (AFP) – It was used to build the Great Wall of China and Spain's mediaeval Alhambra Palace -- and now earth is back in vogue as a building material.

Climate change has spurred renewed interest in the ancient technique which sees polluting concrete swapped where possible for earth.

For centuries, mud and clay were an abundantly available way to put a roof over one's head, but earth's environmental credentials are behind its modern-day resurgence.

"A kilo of cement emits a kilo of CO2. Whereas a kilo of earth emits none," Xavier Chateau of the Navier Laboratory at the French National Centre for Scientific Research said.

"If we could reduce by 25 percent the volume of cement consumed globally it would be equivalent to negating the impact on the climate of all air transport," he estimated.

Known as rammed earth construction, the practice dates at least as far back as the Neolithic era.

It involves compacting certain soils into a mold, of sorts, to make building blocks or build up whole walls, layer by layer.

More than two billion people across some 150 countries live in buildings made of earth, according to a 2006 guide on earth building by French authors Hugo Houben and Hubert Guillaud.

Advocates say it can help reduce reliance on concrete, which accounts for about eight percent of global CO2 emissions.

Earth also has a high thermal capacity by self-regulating its humidity, is fireproof, non-toxic and can be completely recycled.

But it has downsides too, not least the cost, given the need to find builders qualified in ancient techniques.

- 'Earth concrete' hybrid -

Confronted with flooding, earth-constructed buildings need protection, as earth also has its weaknesses.

A four-storey rammed earth building crumpled in France's southeastern Rhone region in November, while a house collapsed in the nearby department of Isere on December 22, according to local press reports.

Often substances such as lime or straw can be added to the earth to stabilise it and bolster its durability.

French building material firm Saint-Gobain is experimenting with a hybrid system of "earth concrete", combining excavated earth from construction sites, steel industry waste and hemp.

But purists see it as verging on heresy, in a country due to complete a 9,000-seat concert coliseum north of Paris next year using recycled excavated earth.

"It's not the same material at all," complains architect Paul-Emmanuel Loiret, who manages La Fabrique outside Paris where blocks and bricks of compressed earth are made from construction rubble.

Urging a "complete and rapid decarbonisation" of construction, he complained that EU laws "impose on us materials 10 to 20 times more durable than those which we need."

But, said Chateau: "In Africa, in Burkina Faso or Malawi, it's become a kind of artisanal savoir-faire to stabilise raw earth with cement at the foot of the building to solve the problem of water" encroachment.

'Huge demand'

Austria has Europe's only factory to date making low-energy prefab homes using rammed earth methods.

The site, in the western village of Schlins on the Liechtenstein border, creates foundations, floors and walls using chalk, clay, chopped straw, lime or gravel.

A machine pounds the earth which is compacted into a vast casing to produce 40-metre (130-foot) long walls.

Once dried and cut to size, the blocks are sent off to be assembled.

"Given the ecological challenge and the problem of energy, huge demand is emerging for this material," said environmentalist, entrepreneur and former potter Martin Rauch, who built the factory.

Architect Sami Akkach who works with Rauch said they use earth from the surrounding area, building and excavation sites.

"It must contain clay, gravel, angular rather than round so it really sticks," Akkach said.

Rauch has several earth-constructed buildings to his name, including his home whose exterior walls include terracotta designed to act as a brake on rain and erosion, a throwback to ancient methods used in Saudi Arabia.

He says the factory boasts Europe's longest earthen wall -- at 67 metres -- and he believes the demand is there for more projects using rammed earth.

"The problem is there are not enough artisans and people are still too afraid of this natural material," he said.

He added that hopefully people will realise that "earth structures will last for centuries, if they are built correctly."

An employee of French shoemaker Weston sews a shoe at the company's factory in Limoges, on January 10, 2023 where all shoes are crafted on leather soles and produced using traditional shoe-making techniques.

Formal shoes making comeback after years of sneaker dominance

Lifestyle

Paris (AFP) – Once the preserve of nerds and stuffy young conservatives, loafers, moccasins and other formal shoes are increasingly taking over from sneakers as the first choice for fashion-conscious men.

Romain Costa, a 32-year-old Parisian architect, is spoiled for choice as he considered the footwear options in his Montmartre apartment: sturdy-soled black loafers, funky-coloured brogues, leather or suede, with or without tassels...

He finally opts for a tricolor pair, that he matches with baggy jeans and an expansive black sweater, before hopping on his bike and heading off to work.

For him, sneakers were what he wore as a teenage skater.

"I like having adult shoes. At work, it's reassuring for clients. It makes me look more serious," he told AFP.

"And they age better than sneakers," he added.

Loafing plans

The trainer boom of the last decade is still going strong, but there are signs of a slowdown.

Data from industry website Business of Fashion showed 45 percent of well-heeled American and British men were planning to buy dress shoes in 2023, compared with around a third who were opting for sneakers.

And formal styles are all over red carpets and catwalks sported by trendsetters like rapper ASAP Rocky and US actor-director Donald Glover.

French designer Simon Porte Jacquemus -- so hot right now, as the fashionistas say -- wore black loafers and dressed his models in them for his last show in December, despite his high-profile sneaker collaboration with Nike.

Some are still struggling to get over the old connotations.

"There are never loafers at a Hermes show," said Pierre Hardy, who heads up shoe design at the French label. "It was really the preppie, right-wing, reactionary shoe."

They might not strike the right vibe for the catwalk, but Hermes still produces and sells loafers, and Hardy understands why sales have been spiking.

"After the lockdowns, people grew tired of everything being cosy. Now we have permission to go out and we want elegant, chic things," he said.

Mix and match

The same is happening across the water in Britain, where upmarket department store Browns has "definitely noticed a shift from fashionable sneaker styles to more formal footwear," according to its menswear manager Thom Scherdel.

"As we see less and less sneakers go down the runway, customers are taking note, with lots of people looking to mix and match casual and sartorial pieces in their wardrobe," he told AFP.

That marks one big change from the past: wearing formal shoes not just with suits, but with sportswear, overalls -- even shorts.

"There is a return of formal tailoring, but now with a comfort side, because people got used to jogging bottoms and we don't want to go back to tight-fitting clothes," said Hugues Fauchard of Uniforme, a young label that worked with shoemaker Weston on new versions of its classic loafer.

"The other important thing is that trainers fall apart quickly -- they're not durable and hard to repair," he said, pointing out that Weston offers lifetime repairs.

"We have to stop with these throw-away clothes."

It is perhaps an inevitable part of the fashion cycle, as new sneaker drops became ubiquitous and resale prices ridiculous (a pair of Nikes co-designed and worn by Kanye West sold for $1.8 million in 2021).

"Trainers were for all situations, all ages, and they put in the shade other shoes that gave more of a solid footing to men," fashion historian Olivier Saillard told AFP.

"But with every fashion, there is a boomerang effect."

Models present creations during the Menswear Ready-to-wear Fall-Winter 2023-2024 collection show for Hermes at Paris fashion week.

The women who dress men

Lifestyle

Paris (AFP) – Women are increasingly making their mark in men's fashion, breaking through the "fabric ceiling" that has seen the industry dominated by men, and attracted by a sector where some of the most radical changes are taking place.

Fashion has long been an industry focused predominantly on women but run by men, with a 2019 study by PriceWaterhouseCooper showing just 12.5 percent of fashion houses had female bosses.

While change is slow at the top, the latest men's fashion week in Paris that wrapped up on Sunday highlighted the number of exciting women designers choosing to focus on menswear.

Grace Wales Bonner's opening night show in a Place Vendome hotel -- her first physical event in Paris -- was one of the hottest tickets.

Known for literary references and highlighting black and minority artists, it was clear why she is considered a frontrunner to replace the late Virgil Abloh at Louis Vuitton.

"I went into menswear because I thought there's a lot more room for expression," she told AFP.

"It feels like it's not overdeveloped -- (menswear) can be quite conservative at times."

It was well-received, with Bloomingdale's men's director Justin Berkowitz praising her "sharp tailoring... with charming details for a spot-on, personal collection".

Bode, meanwhile, returned to Paris for the first time since the pandemic, with a vintage collection inspired by rural America and her mother's family.

Known for handcrafted clothes, often made from recycled materials, she was named menswear designer of the year at the CFDA Awards in 2022.

'Fewer cliches'

There were also shows from France's Marine Serre, who has disrupted the industry with her determined adherence to sustainability, and Britain's Bianca Saunders, who told AFP she was attracted to menswear because it offered "a different canvas where I could be very explorative".

Wales Bonner, Bode, Serre and Saunders are all in their early thirties, but more experienced designers like Gabriela Hearst and Isabel Marant have also launched menswear lines in recent years as the sector hots up.

"Men chase an ideal -- today I want to feel like Marlon Brando so I throw on a leather jacket," said Hermes shoe designer Pierre Hardy, a longtime collaborator of Veronique Nichanian, who has headed menswear at the label for 35 years.

"Women come with fewer cliches, with an external and more neutral perspective," he told AFP.

"They have an eye that is more centred on reality, with a bit of distance and less fantasy," agreed Alice Feillard, menswear buying director at Paris department store Galeries Lafayette.

A new crop is hot on their heels -- among them France's Jeanne Friot, who presented a flamboyant, bright-red collection as part of a newcomer's showcase in Paris.

"As a woman designer and a lesbian, I have a different perspective on men and fashion," said Friot, whose most popular piece is an upcycled pair of jeans made from feathers.

"Men need to have more options in their wardrobe than just black, white and grey -- why not some pieces that are more feminine and fun," she said.

German artist Mario Klingemann is a standout practioner of AI art, experts say

Clickbait or creativity? The art world wrestles with AI

Innovations

Online tools that can create wonderful, absurd and sometimes horrifying images using artificial intelligence (AI) have exploded in popularity, sparking soul-searching over the nature of art.

Tech companies tout their inventions as a liberating force of art for all, but purists argue that the artist is still the central cog in the machine.

Art historian and AI expert Emily L. Spratt, whose forthcoming book tackles the ethics and regulation of AI art, told AFP that the art world has not yet found a response to the potentially transformative technology.

Punch a few keywords into an AI art tool -- something like "Brad Pitt in a rowing boat in space in the style of Mondrian" -- and seconds later boldly coloured line drawings will emerge of the Hollywood star, paddling in the stars.

There are plenty of fans of tools like Midjourney, Stable Diffusion and DALL-E 2 who have proclaimed this as the democratisation of art.

But Spratt reckons such tools are more about "entertainment and clickbait" than art.

"It is a way to foster engagement with platforms, which is of course going to help these companies," she said.

"The idea that it is solely a tool of empowerment or that it will democratise the space is overly simplistic -- it's naive."

Rather, she sees the boundary between AI and other technology becoming blurred, pointing to the image manipulation programs already widely used.

"I see the future of AI as being part of the omnipresent background architecture for all digital image-making processes," she said.

"It will be hard to avoid it because it seeps into all of our digital interactions, often unbeknownst to us, especially when we create, edit, or search images."

Beyond the simple online tools that anyone can use, there are plenty of artists labouring over their own algorithms with bespoke datasets.

These works sell for tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands.

A standout practitioner, said Spratt, is German artist Mario Klingemann whose "Hyperdimensional Attraction Series, Bestiary" is a high point of the genre.

"It is a video of seemingly organic forms that morph from one physical entity to another and momentarily appear as recognisable animals," she said.

"Honestly, it's a bit unnerving but it works well as a commentary on the dividing lines between the material and immaterial and the limits of generative AI to replicate the natural world."

She said his art is constantly asking questions about AI as a medium, and more widely about the nature of creativity.

Until relatively recently, there was very little buzz around AI outside of video installations, largely because there was no bank of digital images with clear labels.

Without the source material, there could be no AI art as we know it today.

That changed a decade ago when several projects began to supply huge quantities of digital images, sparking an explosion in creativity.

A French collective called Obvious sold a work for more than $400,000 in 2018 after keenly embracing the idea that the AI "created" the work.

That sale became hugely controversial after it emerged that they had used an algorithm written by artist and programmer Robbie Barrat.

"The reason that the Obvious artwork sold, especially at that price, was largely because it was advertised as the first AI artwork to be offered at a major auction house," said Spratt.

"It was really the art market experimenting with the offering of an AI artwork in step with long-established approaches to the sale of fine art."

At that moment, she said, there was huge interest in bringing together the tech sector and the art world.

But the tech industry has since been hit by a dramatic economic slump and investment and interest have waned.

Major auction houses like Christie's and Sotheby's have since worked hard to create separate platforms for selling AI art.

"It's like they don't want to sully fine art with these new digital explorations," Spratt said.

And critics are yet to catch up with the field and really express what is good, bad or indifferent, she reckoned.

"Unfortunately, the AI art discourse is not there yet, but I think it is on its way, and it should come from the field of art history," she insisted.

This picture taken on January 26, 2023 shows accountant Lee Dae-hee drinking an iced Americano during an interview with AFP on a street in Seoul. K-pop stars BTS drink it. It appears in K-dramas. Fans are so dedicated to consuming it year-round they've coined a new South Korean proverb: "even if I freeze to death, iced Americano!"

Coffee so cold it's hot: South Korea's love of iced Americano

Lifestyle

Seoul (AFP) – K-pop stars BTS drink it. It appears in K-dramas. Fans are so dedicated to consuming it year-round they've coined a new South Korean proverb: "Even if I freeze to death, iced Americano!"

The humble coffee -- shots of espresso served over ice, topped up with water -- has become South Korea's unofficial national drink, outselling its hot counterpart even during the depths of winter, Starbucks data shows.

Office worker Lee Ju-eun, clad in an ankle-length puffer jacket, shivered on the pavement in downtown Seoul as she clutched her iced coffee during a polar Vortex cold snap in January, when temperatures hit minus 17 degrees Celsius (1.4 degrees Fahrenheit).

"I only drink this. Iced Americano is easier to drink and also tastier, so I enjoy drinking it even in winter," she told AFP, gingerly holding the edge of her frozen plastic cup.

"I'm cold but it's okay. I can endure it," she said.

Accountant Lee Dae-hee told AFP he drank iced Americanos exclusively because it was a faster and more efficient caffeine hit, essential in South Korea's hard-driving "ppalli-ppalli" -- hurry-hurry -- work culture.

"I quickly drink iced Americano to wake up and work," Lee said as he tried to shield his large cup of coffee from the driving snow while rushing back to his office after lunch.

"It doesn't make me cold because I go straight to the office and I don't spend much time outside," he said.

'Ah-Ah'

South Koreans take their coffee seriously.

The average South Korean drinks 353 cups per year, more than double the global average, according to a 2019 study by the Hyundai Research Institute.

Coffee culture has even spawned its own language.

Iced Americano is known as "Ah-Ah" and its die-hard drinkers are known as "Eoljuka", a contraction of a new proverb proclaiming they'd freeze to death for their drink.

The trend has been noticed by corporate coffee giant Starbucks Korea, which ran an "ice challenge" promotion where "Eoljuka" got a free size upgrade when they ordered in late January's sub-zero temperatures.

Iced drinks accounted for 76 percent of total sales at Starbucks stores in South Korea in 2022, the company said. Even during January's cold snap they sold more iced Americanos -- 54 percent -- than hot ones.

"People's tendency of consuming goods, food and beverages regardless of the weather seem to have become a new trend," Park Han-jo from Starbucks Korea told AFP.

Independent coffee shops said their data showed the same thing. Kim Bum-soo, who owns a cafe in downtown Seoul, said around half his coffee sales were iced Americanos, all year round.

"It does seem that Koreans prefer cold drinks," Kim told AFP, adding that foreign tourists, especially Chinese, tended to order warm tea even in summer.

Consuming cold water and iced beverages is forbidden in traditional Chinese medicine. However, "Koreans just drink whatever they want, regardless of whether it's cold or hot outside," Kim said.

- Cold noodles -

One reason Seoul office workers love iced Americanos could be that their workspaces are too hot and stuffy, cafe owner Kim said.

Self-confessed "Eoljukah" Jeong Jae-won, 30, agreed.

"It's warm inside the office so I'm going to drink it there," she said.

It's not just office workers who love the beverage. K-Pop megastar Suga of BTS is frequently photographed with an iced Americano in hand, despite telling fans he was trying to cut back on caffeine.

Foreign K-pop fans have discussed at length in online forums NCT Dream's Jaemin's preferred version of "Ah-Ah": eight shots of espresso served over ice.

South Korea's "Ah-Ah" addiction could be linked to its cuisine, said Jang Jun-woo, a food columnist who runs a tapas wine bar.

Food such as the cold noodle dish naengmyun, which is served with ice cubes in the broth, is an integral part of local tradition but rarely seen elsewhere.

"Even in Japan people don't actually put ice in their cold udon noodles," Jang told AFP.

"The degree of cold food culture is more extreme in Korea and that may explain the popularity and prevalence of iced coffee here."

North Korean leader Kim's daughter: What do we know?

The World

Seoul, South Korea- It wasn't the nuclear missiles, ranks of goose-stepping soldiers or medal-bedecked generals that captivated most attention at North Korea's recent military parade: it was a 10-year-old girl.

Alongside the country's leader Kim Jong Un, the girl -- likely Kim's second child Ju Ae -- inspected a guard of honour in the most recent of a slew of high-profile appearances that have sparked fervent speculation she has been anointed his heir.

AFP takes a look at what we know:

Who is she?

For years, North Korean state media never mentioned Kim's children, although Seoul's spy agency has said he has three with his wife. They are believed to be aged around 13, 10 and six.

The only previous confirmation of their existence had come from former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who claimed he met a baby daughter of Kim's called Ju Ae during a 2013 visit to North Korea.

But three months ago, at the launch of his most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile, Kim turned up with his "beloved" daughter in tow.

Although North Korea has never officially identified her by name, Seoul's spy agency and analysts believe the girl is Ju Ae, Kim's second child.

Is she Kim's heir?

It certainly looks that way, experts say.

State media has called her Kim's "beloved" and "respected" daughter, and she has been shown walking hand-in-hand with her father -- as her mother trailed behind them.

This indicates North Korea has started building a "personality cult" around Ju Ae, said Cheong Seong-chang, a researcher at South Korea's Sejong Institute.

It "signals that she has been designated as the de facto successor even though she doesn't hold the official 'successor' status yet", he said.

In state media images, Ju Ae has been placed in the middle, next to her father and surrounded by the country's top brass.

"It suggests that Kim Ju Ae will become the supreme commander of the military in the future," Cheong added.

Will North Korea accept a woman leader?

When it comes to women assuming political leadership roles, North Korea's glass ceiling has been bulletproof, says Bronwen Dalton, head of the department of management at the University of Technology Sydney's business school.

But change is afoot, she said, and North Korea's leadership is trying to "maintain its legitimacy by creating a new version of womanhood" that reflects social changes in the country over recent decades.

Younger generations have "grown up buying and selling in markets, using mobile phones and accessing foreign media content", which has forced North Korea to recalibrate its version of an ideal woman.

North Korea's current leadership, although predominantly male, does have some high-profile women, including foreign minister Choe Son-hui and Kim's younger sister Kim Yo Jong as a regime spokeswoman.

Kim Jong Un is "presiding over a propaganda apparatus forging a new narrative on the place of women", Dalton told AFP.

But crucially, the most important role of all North Korean women remains "devotion to their 'father' Kim Jong Un", which Ju Ae embodies perfectly, she added.

So she'll definitely be in charge one day?

Not necessarily, experts say.

"Perhaps more than any other country, relying on family ties and being in the proximity of power is precarious," Dalton said, pointing to a "revolving door" of family members who have been exiled from North Korea or killed.

"Women are not immune," she added.

A female leader remains "impossible" in North Korea for now, An Chan-il, a defector turned researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies, told AFP.

"No one would welcome the idea if Kim Jong Un disappeared right away and Ju Ae had to succeed him," he said.

But her gradual introduction to the public over the next decade or two, coupled with "ideological education", should help, he said.

"The North Koreans seldom question who becomes the ruler."

What about Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal?

While North Korea is not a monarchy, Kim Jong Un is the third generation of his family to rule the country, after his father and grandfather, founding leader Kim Il Sung.

For the Kims, one of the most important elements of regime preservation has been their nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

"Celebrations of North Korea's nuclear-capable missile build-up may seem like strange occasions to project a child-friendly image," but they are effective domestic propaganda, Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, told AFP.

"Kim is portraying Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal as a multigenerational asset to national security while proclaiming the military's complete loyalty to his political dynasty."

sh/ceb/axn

Philadelphia Eagles fans react as they watch their team play in Super Bowl LVII at Tinsel Takes Flight, a pop-up bar in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on February 12, 2023.

Super Bowl 2023 ad pageant: Beer is in, crypto is out

Lifestyle

New York (AFP) – After a starring role in last year's Super Bowl broadcast, cryptocurrency firms are expected to sit out the 2023 game.

But the annual advertising extravaganza -- a kind of competition among marketers that runs parallel to the American football championship -- features an array of beer and car companies, along with other familiar brands like M&M's candies, which has been teasing its spot since last month.

This year's slate of commercials revives the cult hit "Breaking Bad," whose cast reunites to pitch PopCorners chips, as well as a collaboration between General Motors and Netflix that shows an electric car navigating "Squid Games" and other settings from streaming hits.

The spots garner top dollar, typically $6 or $7 million for 30 seconds of air time. That's roughly 10 times the cost of an ad during the 2022 World Cup match between the United States and Britain.

Last year's game generated $578 million in advertising revenues for NBC, up $143.8 million from the prior year's telecast, according to Kantar, a data analytics and brand consultancy.

This year's game is being telecast by Fox Sports.

"It's a lot of money for a media spot," said Derek Rucker, a marketing professor at Northwestern University. But "where else can you get 100 million people to see an ad at the same time?"

The ads have become such as big component of the game in the United States that among "a massive number of people, you have consumers who actively watch and discuss the commercials" at gatherings, Rucker said.

Keeping it light

Held each year in the dead of winter, "Super Bowl Sunday" marks an occasion for families and friends to gather for several hours of competition, revelry and entertainment.

This year's game will be between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles. As always, the show includes A-list half-time entertainment, this time headlined by Rihanna.

Over-the-top ads are an old tradition and include such epochal spots as Ridley Scott's minute-long commercial for Apple in 1984 announcing the Macintosh computer.

The spot, which features a female athlete smashing a screen showing a "Big Brother" figure, riffs on the famous novel by George Orwell, concluding with a vow that the computer's arrival will show "why 1984 won't be like '1984.'"

This year's most anticipated commercial may be for M&M's, which began tiptoeing into the US cultural wars a few weeks ago.

On January 24, M&M's, which is owned by Mars, announced it was freezing a publicity drive featuring cartoon mascots of the colored candies after the campaign was criticized as "woke" by US conservatives because of stylistic changes, such as the introduction of a purple character, a color associated with the LGBTQ community.

M&M's announced an "indefinite pause" of the "spokescandies" and unveiled a new brand ambassador -- the popular comedian Maya Rudolph -- in a shift that was timed perfectly for grabbing public attention ahead of a splashy Super Bowl ad.

Andrew Frank, an analyst at Gartner, does not expect politically controversial ads this year, predicting brands will navigate carefully in a divided country where strident messages can backfire.

"The antidote to backlash is humor, keeping it light," Frank said. "I think they would like to deescalate all of the toxicity around culture wars and things like that."

Beer bash

Last year's game featured several prominent spots on the emerging cryptocurrency market, led by the then-titan FTX and its founder Samuel Bankman-Fried.

Since then, FTX has collapsed and Bankman-Fried has been indicted for fraud.

The fall of FTX and Bankman-Fried has created "an appropriate time for them to take a pause," Frank said.

Countering that loss of advertising, broadcaster Fox can count on revenues from a wider range of beer companies following the expiration of a longstanding exclusivity deal with Anheuser-Busch, the owner of the Budweiser brand.

Frank expects most spots will go after "leisure spending with lighthearted messages of escapist entertainment," he said.

The aim is to "impart a sense that everything is okay and that you don't need to be so frugal about your discretionary spending."

After miraculous comeback, damselfly in distress again

Good Health

Paris, France -

When the damselfly reappeared in France in 2009 after a 133-year absence, it was considered a small miracle.

But the dragonfly's smaller cousin hasn't been seen in four years, sparking fresh fears it may be gone for good -- a worrying indicator of the health of the world's precious wetlands in which it breeds.

Damselflies face menaces on multiple fronts. In Asia, the wetlands and jungles in which they live are often cleared for crops like palm oil. In Latin America their habitats are razed to build houses and offices.

In Europe and North America, pesticides, pollutants and climate change have posed the biggest threat.

So when the Nehalennia speciosa damselfly was spotted in wetlands in the Jura region of eastern France for the first time since 1876, scientists were overjoyed -- calling the rediscovery an "ecological scoop".

But that comeback was probably only a "remission from the collapse that our biodiversity is suffering," said naturalist Francois Dehondt.

The last confirmed sighting was in 2019, when a severe drought gripped the Jura, and experts fear there might not be a second comeback.

"The water source that shelters the insect was reduced to nothing" by drought, Dehondt wrote in France's Le Monde newspaper in December.

In 2020, water levels remained low. The following year, some water returned to the bogs of the Jura where a dozen or so damselflies had been spotted in 2009.

And then last year -- the hottest on record in France -- the region was once again parched.

Damselflies were nowhere to be seen.

- 'Warning lights' -

With a slender green-blue body that resembles bamboo and delicate translucent wings, the Nehalennia speciosa might look like a dragonfly to the untrained eye.

But at about 25 millimetres (less than an inch) long, Europe's smallest damselflies don't fly as well and often need to be shaken from bushes to be seen, making them very hard to detect.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said 16 percent of all 6,016 dragonfly and damselfly species globally risk extinction. In France, the damselfly is classified as "critically endangered".

France's Office for Insects and their Environment (OPIE), which is in charge of monitoring damselflies, suspects the subspecies has disappeared again.

"Given the state of environmental degradation and drought that we have seen for years, (the likelihood of seeing a damselfly in the Jura) is really very compromised," OPIE's Xavier Houard told AFP.

"The warning lights are red. But it's too soon to be completely certain," he added.

The agency will only confirm a "proven disappearance" of a species after 25 years of "non-observation" during which thorough searches are carried out.

And Houard has not lost hope just yet.

"The species has already demonstrated its ability to pass under the radar of observers" for over a century, he said.

- World Wetlands Day -

The demise of France's damselflies further underpins how vulnerable the country's wetlands are -- a reality across Europe and indeed the world.

"Globally, these ecosystems are disappearing three times faster than forests," IUCN director general Bruno Oberle said in 2021 when the organisation updated its Red List of Threatened Species.

Since 1900 an estimated 64 percent of the world's wetlands -- which include lakes, rivers, marshes, lagoons and peat bogs -- have disappeared, according to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands treaty.

Wetlands are crucial for the planet's health. They store 25 percent of the world's carbon and provide clean water and food. Up to 40 percent of the world's species live and breed in wetlands, according to the United Nations.

Yet a quarter are in danger of extinction.

The UN -- which marks World Wetlands Day on Thursday -- said there is an "urgent need" to restore 50 percent of destroyed wetlands by 2030.

In the meantime, France's scientists continue to scour for the elusive damselfly, whose very presence is "a wonderful indicator... of the health of wetlands", according to Houard.

Their disappearance would be nothing short of an "alarm bell", he added.

dep/ico/jv/mh/fg

French scientists work on a cancer vaccine, one of several in development that raises hopes of coming breakthroughs

From vaccines to AI: New weapons in the fight against cancer

Good Health

Paris (AFP) – Could humanity finally be gaining the upper hand in our age-old fight against cancer?

Recent scientific and medical advances have added several new weapons to our arsenal, including personalised gene therapy, artificial intelligence screening, simple blood tests -- and potentially soon vaccines.

Cancer accounted for nearly 10 million deaths -- almost one in six of the global total -- in 2020, according to the World Health Organization.

Ahead of World Cancer Day on Saturday, here are some of the promising recent developments in diagnosing and treating the disease.

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy drugs, which stimulate the immune system to track down and kill cancerous cells, have been one the biggest advances in cancer treatment over the last decade.

With fewer severe side effects than chemotherapy, immunotherapy has had a profound effect on the treatment of several types of cancer.

Before 2010, the survival rate for people with severe cases of the skin cancer melanoma was very low. But thanks to immunotherapy drugs, some patients can now live for 10 years or more.

However not all tumours respond to immunotherapy, which has its own side effects.

"We are only at the beginning of immunotherapy," said Bruno Quesnel, research director at France's National Cancer Institute.

Pierre Saintigny, an oncologist at France's Leon Berard cancer centre, said that different kinds of immunotherapy treatments will need to be combined "as intelligently as possible."

"With immunotherapy, we have moved up a level in cancer treatment, but steps still need to be taken for all the patients who do not benefit from it," he added.

CAR-T therapy

CAR-T therapy involves taking the T-cells from the blood of an individual patient and modifying them in a laboratory.

Then the T-cells, which are part of the immune system, are injected back into the patient, newly trained to target cancerous cells.

Another technique called Allogeneic CAR-T involves getting the cells from a different, healthy person.

So far, CAR-T therapies have mainly been effective against some kinds of leukaemia, and the process remains very expensive.

Artificial intelligence

Computer programmes using artificial intelligence (AI) have been shown to identify brain and breast cancer from routine scans with more accuracy than humans.

With AI research booming across a range of fields, it is expected to play an increasing role in other ways to diagnose cancer.

"Thanks to artificial intelligence, we will be able to identify which patients can benefit from shorter treatment," said Fabrice Andre, an oncologist France's Gustave Roussy cancer institute.

"With immunotherapy, we have moved up a level in cancer treatment, but steps still need to be taken for all the patients who do not benefit from it," he added.

CAR-T therapy

CAR-T therapy involves taking the T-cells from the blood of an individual patient and modifying them in a laboratory.

Then the T-cells, which are part of the immune system, are injected back into the patient, newly trained to target cancerous cells.

Another technique called Allogeneic CAR-T involves getting the cells from a different, healthy person.

So far, CAR-T therapies have mainly been effective against some kinds of leukaemia, and the process remains very expensive.

Artificial intelligence

Computer programmes using artificial intelligence (AI) have been shown to identify brain and breast cancer from routine scans with more accuracy than humans.

With AI research booming across a range of fields, it is expected to play an increasing role in other ways to diagnose cancer.

"Thanks to artificial intelligence, we will be able to identify which patients can benefit from shorter treatment," said Fabrice Andre, an oncologist France's Gustave Roussy cancer institute.

Anitta, the Brazilian superstar making a splash at the Grammys

Real People

Los Angeles (AFP) – There is no clear frontrunner for this year's prestigious Grammy for Best New Artist, but Brazil's Anitta definitely has a strong chance to win -- which would be the perfect way to cap her banner year.

It's been nearly 60 years since a Brazilian was nominated in the category, when Astrud Gilberto immortalized the classic "The Girl From Ipanema."

But while Gilberto -- the ex-wife of fellow bossa nova pioneer Joao Gilberto -- won Record of the Year with Stan Getz for that hit, the prize for Best New Artist eluded her when she lost out to The Beatles.

Now Anitta hopes to snag the award at this Sunday's ceremony, bringing the moment full circle.

The 29-year-old added a twist to the Brazilian classic with "Girl from Rio," one of the hits from her fifth studio album, "Versions of Me."

"As a Brazilian woman and a Latina, this nomination means so much to me, and fills me with pride," she told AFP in an interview. "I'm really excited."

Over the past year, Anitta grew into a global phenomenon thanks to her smash "Envolver."

Streamed more than 100 million times in just its first few weeks, the song set a global record for Spotify plays, while going viral on TikTok with a hip-shaking dance craze.

These days, "nothing makes me lose sleep over my career," Anitta says. "I've already accomplished so much more than I ever could have dreamed of."

- Brazilian flavor -

Born Larissa de Macedo Machado, the artist constructed her career block by block, conquering her native Brazil before breaking into the international market.

She has collaborated with superstars including Cardi B, Snoop Dogg, Missy Elliott, Maluma, J Balvin, Ozuna and Becky G.

Anitta -- who studied English and Spanish as well as French and Italian -- is a social media master and explosive stage performer with legions of fans.

Last spring, she made waves at Coachella, one of the premier US music festivals.

Now she is competing against an eclectic crop of Best New Artist nominees including Omar Apollo, Maneskin and Samara Joy for one of the Recording Academy's top Grammys.

With more than a decade in the music business under her belt, Anitta is far from a novelty. But one of the main criteria for Best New Artist is making a breakthrough into the public consciousness, primarily in the US market.

And for Anitta, that breakthrough has practically been a new beginning.

The artist raised in a lower-middle class neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro says she's betting on internationalizing her sound while maintaining a Brazilian flavor.

"My biggest challenge in my international career is communicating with a global audience while also maintaining my essence, my origins and my references," she says.

Anitta also says she's been trying to take a moment to slow down after spending countless hours on planes to manage a relentless touring schedule that sees her ping-ponging between continents.

"Today I'm taking on my career with more lightness, being kind to myself and my health," she says.

"I've been spending more time with my family and on self-care, so I've ended up slowing down a bit."

Even so, this year began with a series of shows in Brazil entitled "Anitta's Rehearsals" -- a warm-up of sorts for carnival, the country's biggest party of the year.

"These performances were super-dynamic, with lots of energy and lasting up to four hours," Anitta explained.

Asked what's in the pipeline, the superstar maintained an air of mystery: "I can't reveal it."

Page 19 of 62

The Foreign Post is the newspaper of the International Community in the Philippines, published for foreign residents, Internationally-oriented Filipinos, and visitors to the country. It is written and edited to inform, to entertain, occasionally to educate, to provide a forum for international thinkers.