Lima, Peru | Pacific Rim leaders are meeting in Peru at the weekend to push for continued free trade against the backdrop of rising protectionism globally.
Here is a guide to the main regional free trade pacts being discussed.
- Trans-Pacific Partnership -Led by the United States, the TPP involves 12 countries including Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Chile and Peru.
It has been described by the US as a "gold standard" for all free trade agreements because it goes beyond just cutting tariffs. It includes removing a slew of non-tariff measures and requires members to comply with a high level of regulatory standards in areas like labor law, environmental protection, intellectual property and government procurement.
The TPP notably excludes China, the main Asian power and the world's second biggest economy.
Analysts say the TPP is the economic plank of outgoing US President Barack Obama's strategic rebalance to Asia.
However, it faces uncertainty under US President-elect Donald Trump, who has said he will not support the agreement because he deems it disadvantageous to his country.
- Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership -Backed by China, the RCEP involves the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- plus their regional trading partners China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India.
It notably excludes the United States.
Compared with TPP, the RCEP also aims to cut tariff and non-tariff barriers but calls for lower and more limited regulatory standards.
It also exempts certain goods from the tariff cuts to protect local sectors and allows less developed members more time to comply.
Governments missed a deadline to conclude negotiations last year. But the RCEP has recently been under the spotlight as the fate of the TPP hangs in the balance.
- Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific -The FTAAP is a long-term goal to link Pacific Rim economies from China to Chile, including the United States.
It aims to harmonize the "noodle bowl" of regional and bilateral free trade agreements that had proliferated following the collapse of the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization talks in 2006.
Asia-Pacific policymakers say there are several pathways to realizing the FTAAP, including both the TPP and RCEP.
Analysts say that with the uncertainty over TPP, the RCEP has emerged as the main pathway toward the realization of a trans-Pacific free trade agreement.
Miami, United States | Alcoholism and drug abuse are a pressing public health crisis in the United States, and addiction should no longer be dismissed as a "character flaw," top US health officials said.
For the first time, the US surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, released a major report on substance abuse, called "Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General's Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health."
The report "aims to shift the way our society thinks about substance misuse and substance-use disorders," Murthy said.
"Substance-use disorders represent one of the most pressing public health crises of our time," he said in a statement.
"We must help everyone see that addiction is not a character flaw –- it is a chronic illness that we must approach with the same skill and compassion with which we approach heart disease, diabetes, and cancer."
Some 21 million Americans struggle with a substance-use disorder, which is higher than the number of people who have cancer, the report said.
But too few people are getting treatment -- just one in 10.
More than 66 million people admitted to binge drinking in the past month -- nearly one in four of the adult and adolescent population.
Not only does addiction break families apart, it also costs the nation dearly -- with alcohol abuse wreaking an estimated yearly economic impact of $249 billion and illicit drug use totaling $193 billion.
"For far too long, too many in our country have viewed addiction as a moral failing," said Murthy.
"This unfortunate stigma has created an added burden of shame that has made people with substance-use disorders less likely to come forward and seek help."
Prescription pain relievers are a rising concern, and about 12.5 million Americans report misusing them.
Meanwhile, overdose deaths from heroin and prescription painkillers are soaring.
Every day, 78 people in the United States die from an opioid overdose, "and those numbers have nearly quadrupled since 1999," said Kana Enomoto, principal deputy administrator in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Five decades ago, the US surgeon general released its first report on the dangers of smoking, an action credited with eventually saving millions of lives.
"I am issuing a new call to action to end the public health crisis of addiction," Murthy said, urging greater investment in research on prevention, treatment and recovery, and more policies and programs that get effective help to those in need.
"I recognize there is no single solution," he added.
"How we respond to this crisis is a moral test for America."
Miami, United States | Traces of skin, oil and grime left on your phone can reveal a lot about your lifestyle, and may some day serve as a "fingerprint" in criminal investigations, researchers said.
The study involved 39 volunteers who allowed scientists to swab their smart phones -- and right hands -- in several places.
Researchers found a bounty of chemical information left behind on the devices
These included anti-inflammatory and anti-fungal skin creams, hair loss treatments, anti-depressants and eye drops, according to the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
They also found food molecules from citrus, caffeine, herbs and spices.
Sunscreen ingredients and DEET mosquito repellant were detected months after they had last been used by the phone owners.
"By analyzing the molecules they've left behind on their phones, we could tell if a person is likely female, uses high-end cosmetics, dyes her hair, drinks coffee, prefers beer over wine, likes spicy food, is being treated for depression, wears sunscreen and bug spray -- and therefore likely spends a lot of time outdoors -- all kinds of things," said study co-author Amina Bouslimani of the University of California, San Diego.
"This is the kind of information that could help an investigator narrow down the search for an object's owner."
Other applications could include criminal profiling, airport screening, medication adherence monitoring, and environmental exposure studies.
"You can imagine a scenario where a crime scene investigator comes across a personal object -- like a phone, pen or key -- without fingerprints or DNA, or with prints or DNA not found in the database," said senior author Pieter Dorrestein, of the San Diego School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
"They would have nothing to go on to determine who that belongs to. So we thought -- what if we take advantage of left-behind skin chemistry to tell us what kind of lifestyle this person has?"
The study was considered a "proof of concept" exercise, and more work is needed to refine the techniques for widespread use.
For now, the approach can only provide a general profile of person's lifestyle, not a one-to-one match.
Do you lose hair in the shower everyday? Does your hairbrush have more hair than your head does? Is your hairline receding? Does your hair grow in patches?
Alba, Italy | "It is not a job. It's a passion, a real sickness!"
It is the early hours of the morning and Giovanni Sacchetto is explaining why chilly autumn nights find him trailing by moonlight through the woods around Alba in the Piedmont region of northern Italy.
Sacchetto, 64, and his beloved companion Dora, a sprightly Lagotto Romagnolo gundog, are on the hunt for white truffles, the hard-to-find fungi famed amongst foodies for their earthy scent, and their equally heady prices.
"I can go to bed at 11:00 pm and be up again at 3:00 am, ready to go out again," Sacchetto says. "It is not for the money. It is a sickness you have inside.
"A truffle is a strange thing. And it's lovely, because it's so strange. You never know where you might find one. Never."
Now nine, Dora has been Sacchetto's constant companion since she was an eager young puppy learning how to use her sensitive nose to sniff out truffles buried beneath the forest floor.
"I'm not saying it is better than a wife, but for a truffle hunter his dog is something... indescribable," Sacchetto says with a smile.
- Part of humanity's heritage -The Romagnolo breed is known for its acute sense of smell but individual dogs still have to be trained, starting with pieces of gorgonzola, the whiffy Italian blue cheese, buried under ground, before graduating to actual truffles.
Now when Dora locates a truffle, she wags her tail excitedly over the spot where a valuable tuber awaits -- usually buried between 10-30 cm (4-12 inches) below the surface.
For her it is a game -- her efforts rewarded with a treat in the form of a biscuit or a little piece of dry bread.
Sacchetto was 14 when he first went truffle hunting, with his grandfather. At the time, it was about putting food on the table, he recalls.
Now it is more of a hobby, but secret spots are still jealously guarded. "I've been doing this for 50 years, I know all the plants, all the paths."
At one time, truffles were more plentiful but the cutting of some trees and the effects of pollution on others has reduced the autumnal bounty, he says.
Fears the delicate ecosystem that produces the white truffles could be at risk has triggered a crowdfunding initiative aimed at raising 50,000 euros to ensure better management of the local woodlands.
Antonio Degiacomi, president of the National Centre for the Study of Truffles, says wooded areas around Alba have been neglected, with faster growing species threatening to crowd out truffle-friendly trees like oaks and lime trees.
"There is not an imminent threat but we have to be pro-active," he says.
Helpful measures include thinning denser woodland and planting new trees but coordinating action is complicated, notably because the hunters who know where truffles are produced often do not own the land on which they forage.
- 'Like fine wine' -Tracking down edible fungi is an Italian obsession with some 200,000 active enthusiasts nationwide, of whom 4,000 are based in Piedmont.
The country is so proud of its truffle culture that it has asked for it be enshrined on a list of humanity's intangible heritage maintained by the UN's culture body, UNESCO.
Alba is already well known in gastronomic circles as home to some of Italy's most famous red wines and it has been hosting an annual white truffle fair since before World War II, drawing in thousands of gourmet pilgrims for nearly two months of tasting, buying and selling.
This year's festivities conclude on November 27 and prices are averaging 3,000-4,000 euros ($3,300-$4,400) per kilo.
For Swiss enthusiast Marie-Claude, it is a price worth paying.
"Just the scent is something unique," she said. "Personally I like it best with something really simple, just on some pasta or a risotto."
Matteo Baronetto, head chef at the Michelin-starred "Del Cambio" restaurant in nearby Turin, concurs.
"The thing that is very specific to the Alba truffle is the incomparable lightness of its aroma, and its elegance," he says as he assembles a salad of seasonal vegetables speckled by ultra-fine shavings of the local delicacy.
"It is such a pure product of nature that us chefs have to be at the service of the truffle, and not the other way round."
Harvested from September 21 until the end of January, truffles need both rain and cold to thrive, according to Sacchetto.
"The colder it is, the better the truffle," he says, adding that no two are exactly alike.
"The truffle is like wine, each zone has its own smell and those from Alba are the most perfumed."
Tokyo, Japan | Toyota said it will start selling a mug-sized robot called Kirobo Mini as a chatty companion for its human owners.
The 10 centimetre (four inch) tall robot will go on sale next year in Japan for 39,800 yen ($400) after a bigger version of the doe-eyed Kirobo -- roughly the size of a chihuahua -- became the first android to converse with an astronaut in space.
Toyota is usually associated with cars, but it has been investing millions in robotics and Kirobo is its first commercial foray into the sector.
The world's biggest automaker said the robot -- which can carry on simple conversations and respond to emotions -- could help it develop vehicle technology.
"We want to address growing issues in society where people have no one to talk to," said Moritaka Yoshida, a senior managing officer at Toyota.
Kirobo Mini is being showcased at Asia's largest electronics fair, the IT & Electronics Comprehensive Exhibition (CEATEC), which is being held in Tokyo this week.
Kirobo became the world's first robot astronaut after it was flown to the International Space Station in 2013 as a conversation partner for Japanese commander Koichi Wakata.
It was part of a longer-term project to see how a robot could act as a companion for isolated people, particularly to see if it can develop conversational skills.
Japan faces the twin threats of an ageing demographic -- with people over 65 expected to account for nearly 40 percent of the populationby 2060 --- and a dwindling birthrate.
It has also struggled with the problems of social isolation, most notably the phenomenon of "hikikomori" where people, often teens and young adults, refuse to leave the house or engage socially, instead opting to play video games or remain in their rooms.
There are a number of Japanese firms selling commercialised robots, including mobile carrier SoftBank which started selling its talking humanoid Pepper last year.
Paris, France | If the idea of an "It girl influencer" sitting in a "frow" watching a "gender fluid" collection available in "see now, buy now" has you scratching your head, then you need our essential guide to fashion jargon.
Here are a few basic terms to help you understand what is going on at Paris fashion week:
Fashion week Be careful. Fashion week is not just an ordinary week of seven days. A fashion week can be five days (in London), or six (in Milan) or eight (in New York) or nine or 10 (Paris). Please adjust your calendars accordingly. Never forget fashion works on another time plane.
Gender fluid Which gender are you this season?
The strongest meta-trend in contemporary fashion is towards a more and more androgynous look, demolishing the boundaries between men's and women's style.
Uber-cool French label Vetements, which puts men and women in thigh high boots, dresses and XL bomber jackets, has brought the look to the street with a bang.
"There is no gender anymore," its commercial boss Guram Gvasalia told AFP. "Men and women can now choose what they want to be."
With former Kardashian consort Caitlyn Jenner now the face of H& M Sport, transgender models are ever-present this week in Paris. Often even close up it is hard to tell who is who.
Men and women now walk together on the catwalk for Gucci and Burberry as well as for Koche, Vivienne Westwood and Andrea Crews.
Frow This is the front row, the place where you will find Kim Kardashian at Balmain, Salma Hayek at Saint Laurent, Rihanna at Dior, and AFP of course always.
It is also where you will find "It girls" and boys, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, top buyers, and the brand's most in-favour celebrity fans, cheerleaders and bloggers, who now like to be known as "influencers".
Behind them is everyone else, a fair proportion of who will be seething with envy and resentment for not being on the "frow". We shall not speak of those relegated to the dark oblivion of the "standing".
'See now, buy now 'This -- oddly for a fashion term -- means exactly what it says. You see a fashion show and you can buy the clothes straight away, not having to wait six months for them to appear in the shops as has traditionally been the case.
Big high-street, mostly US-focused brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Tom Ford and Burberry are adopting the practice, but most of Europe's younger and innovative creators regard it as the work of the devil.
They argue that it favours brands with their own stores, narrows choice and will be hugely wasteful, with pre-made clothes the public don't like heading straight for landfill.
Capsule collection This is a one-off collection made between seasons or to sate fans who are clamouring to buy something after a fashion show. Not to be confused with a "resort collection" which is a collection of clothes you take with you when you winter in Monte Carlo, Dubai or Palm Springs.
Effortless The term is generally used to describe people who dress like a Parisian. Those very annoying people who, with seemingly no effort at all, always look "effortlessly" stylish. Think Charlotte Gainsbourg. They don't have to be conventionally beautiful but they always looks good.
Ironically, one of the most expert current purveyors of this look is actually the British designer Clare Waight Keller at Chloe.
New York, United States | Musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra went on strike moments before donors opened a black-tie gala, in the latest labor unrest in the tight-belted US classical music world.
With dramatic timing, the musicians' union voted to strike as guests arrived for an annual opening night gala to support the institution, traditionally considered one of the big five orchestras in the United States.
The musicians held up picket signs at the door rather than play at the gala, where they would have performed a selection under its star conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin, a Canadian recently named as music director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
The musicians' union in a statement said that the performers were not "greedy" but wanted to end a "downward spiral" and attract top talent who could instead go to other orchestras.
"We make no apology for wanting to be well compensated when we have devoted countless hours of hard work to achieving a level of musicianship which has placed us at the very top of our profession," the union said in a statement.
The musicians said that they reluctantly accepted multiple wage cuts even though the orchestra came out of bankruptcy more than four years ago.
The management said it offered a package that included annual pay increases of two percent for the next three years off annual base pay of $127,608.
Orchestra president Allison Vulgamore said in a statement that the strike was "naturally disappointing" but said the institution was making progress and hoped for a deal soon with the union.
US classical music institutions, which rely heavily on donors in contrast to European counterparts which enjoy substantial public funding, have struggled to stabilize their finances since the 2008 financial crisis.
The Minnesota Orchestra and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in recent years have both locked out their musicians amid contract disputes.
The Philadelphia Orchestra is among the most internationally minded US classical institutions, in 1973 becoming the first US orchestra to perform in China.
It went on another extensive tour in May of China and Japan and next year plans to be the first Western orchestra to perform in Mongolia.
San Francisco, United States | US internet giant Google challenged heavyweight rivals including Apple and Amazon with an array of new gadgets aimed at digital lifestyles. Coming products to watch for:
- Smartphone 'Made by Google' -Pixel is the first smartphone designed by Google, with the Silicon Valley powerhouse dictating the hardware, software and services the way Apple does with its iPhones.
The Google-branded smartphone takes aim at flagship models by Apple, Samsung and others in the fiercely competitive market.
Pixel, which comes in five and 5.5-inch (12.7 and 14-centimeter) screen sizes, boasts a fingerprint reader, a camera billed as the best in any smartphone, unlimited online storage for photos and videos, and quick charging combined with long battery life.
Pixel is powered by the latest version of the Android mobile operating system, Nougat, and Google promised to keep the software automatically updated.
Pixel also features Virtual Assistant artificial intelligence to enable users to manage tasks and get information in natural conversation format.
Pixel's starting price of $649 in the United States is the same as that of Apple's newest iPhone.
Preorders for Pixel began Tuesday in Australia, Britain, Canada, Germany and the United States. Pixel will be available for order in India on October 13.
- Cyber concierge -Google Home is a flower vase-sized speaker infused with machine smarts and voice controls to act as a cyber concierge for getting information and managing tasks about the house or flat.
Home listens for commands or queries even while playing music, and can control other smart devices in range. Google Home will be available in shops in November, but could be pre-ordered beginning Tuesday.
The device's price in the United States is $129. That's $50 less than Amazon Echo, a rival that has been popular with consumers here since it was launched by the online retail titan.
- Spreading machine smarts -Google Assistant is an improved version of virtual helper software the internet company previously called Google Now.
It competes with Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa, and Microsoft's Cortana, tapping into the vast trove of knowledge amassed by the world's leading online search engine.
Google outlined plans to infuse a growing array of devices and services with Assistant smarts, letting people get answers or manage matters in conversational styles, as though speaking with a human aide.
Google laid out a vision of becoming a leading player in artificial intelligence, with Assistant being infused into many devices and services allowing opportunities to have them work together.
Google already built Assistant smarts into a new Allo smartphone messaging app released last month, and put the software at the heart of Pixel and Google Home.
- Cardboard grows up -Daydream View virtual reality headgear came as an answer to Facebook-owned Oculus, and a direct challenge to Samsung Gear VR.
Smartphones compatible with Google's Daydream software platform can be slipped into play in View headgear to act as screens for virtual reality experiences.
View is made of cloth, a step up from the actual cardboard from which its predecessor at Google was playfully constructed.
Purportedly inspired by casual clothing, View material makes it lighter and potentially more comfortable than devices already on the market.
View comes with a controller and was billed as making virtual reality "accessible" at a price of $79 in the United States, where it will arrive in November. View will also be available in Australia, Britain, Canada and Germany.
In comparison, Samsung Gear VR headgear is priced at $100. Oculus Rift virtual reality head gear has a $599 price tag and must be connected to high-performance computers.
- Streaming 4K video -Chromecast Ultra is an improved version of medallion-sized Chromecast devices that plug into TV monitors for viewing online streaming videos.
Google said it has sold more than 30 million Chromecast devices since they debuted three years ago.
The new generation Chromecast promised more reliable viewing and image quality ramped all the way up to ultra-high definition 4K video.
Chromecast Ultra was priced at $69 and will be available in November in the United States and 15 other countries.
- Wifi all over -Google Wifi promises to make sure people can connect to the internet from anywhere in a home. Disk-sized Wifi modules can be placed in various spots in homes, acting as an internet-linked mesh of sorts so getting online is uniformly easy.
Wifi software lets people easily manage congestion on home networks, or even selectively cut off children's gadgets from the internet when they should be at a meal or in bed.
Google will begin taking pre-orders for Wifi in November, advertising the price as $129 for a single unit or $299 for a pack of three modules.
Edinburgh, United Kingdom | The first biography of Adolf Hitler which presented him as "Germany's saviour" and compared him to Jesus may have been written by the future dictator himself, a Scottish historian has claimed.
"Adolf Hitler: Sein Leben und seine Reden (Adolf Hitler: His Life and his Speeches)" was the first major profile of Hitler and appeared in 1923, authored by Victor von Koerber.
Historian Thomas Weber, from Aberdeen University, has unearthed documents in a South African archive which indicates the book was "almost certainly" written by Hitler himself as a "shameless but clever act of self-promotion".
"The book, which also includes a collection of Hitler’s speeches, makes some outlandish claims arguing that it should become 'the new bible of today' and uses terms such as 'holy' and 'deliverance', comparing Hitler to Jesus and likening his moment of politicalisation to Jesus' resurrection," Weber said.
"To find it was actually written by Hitler himself...demonstrates that he was a conniving political operator with a masterful understanding of political processes and narratives long before he drafted what is regarded as his first autobiography, 'Mein Kampf'."
Weber, a professor of history and international affairs and a visiting scholar at Harvard University, said he found the evidence while reviewing von Koerber's papers at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg for his new book about how Hitler became a Nazi.
The historian believes von Koerber was selected to front the biography due to his aristocratic lineage and reputation as a war hero.
"I found a signed testimony given under oath by the wife of the book's publisher stating that Victor von Koerber had not written the book and that Hitler had asked General Ludendorff (an ally in the failed putsch of 1923) if he could find a conservative writer without any connection to the Nazi party to put his name to it," he said.
"I also found a statement by Koerber as well as a letter he wrote to a man with whom he had been incarcerated in a concentration camp that gave details about Hitler's authorship of the book.
"Subsequently, in Germany, I found a document from 1938 in which von Koerber alludes to Hitler writing the book, stating that it was written 'on the initiative of and with the active participation of Adolf Hitler'."
The book also contains the first reference to Hitler's "political awakening" in a military hospital which "would later be repeated in almost identical language in Mein Kampf".
Weber said: "Taken together, the pieces of evidence now available to us build a compelling picture that this was indeed an autobiography written to boost Hitler's profile as the 'German saviour' and that even at this early stage of his career he was an astute and manipulative political operator."
