Kano, Nigeria - 

She's Nigerian, but Lebanese by origin and a football star in a conservative country's even more conservative north.

Hidaa Ghaddar is unconventional -- but her approach might be just what's needed in a city buckling under the weight of drug abuse and unemployment.

Ghaddar's athletic academy aims to keep youth off drugs in football-crazy Kano, the cultural capital of Muslim-majority northern Nigeria.

"Drug abuse and playing football don't go together. It's either you do this or that," she told AFP of her Breakthrough Football Academy, established two years ago, which also aims to develop future talent for foreign clubs.

The 27-year-old has become something of a local celebrity as the country's only woman coach of an all-male team, defying cultural norms in Kano.

She's more than qualified for the sporting aspect of her job, but her approach also aims to help Nigerian anti-drug authorities, who are facing a toxic mix of substance abuse, criminality and political violence.

Kano, the largest city in northern Nigeria, has the second highest drug use rate in the country, according to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.

High unemployment has pushed youths in the city of five million into drugs and crime, and politicians are known to take advantage of the crisis by hiring them as thugs to intimidate opponents, political researchers have documented.

Officially, the state's unemployment rate is 7.6 percent, above the national average of 5.3 percent. But the number of Kano state youths not in education, employment or training shoots up to 12.5 percent.

Another 15.8 percent of residents report being under-employed.

Police have started asking residents to report drug peddlers in their communities as part of efforts to contain the problem, alongside a new task force.

Nigeria severely lacks treatment and rehabilitation centres and drugs smuggled en route to Europe are increasingly spilling into the local market.

"Playing football itself helps these players avoid all of this," Ghaddar said.

Training sessions are accompanied by a focus on "nutrition, sleep, hydration and having a good lifestyle," Ghaddar said, from the sidelines of a sandy pitch in the centre of a horse racing track.

Several dozen spectators stood are watching the team train in the hot afternoon sun, as Ghaddar sported a black hijab and blue football boots.

- Love of football -

Born to a Lebanese family of factory owners in Kano -- the city is home to a sizeable Lebanesecommunity, mostly engaged in construction, trade and confectionery -- Ghaddar started playing football at the age of five.

She was gripped by a love of football at 16 when she moved to Lebanon for her university studies.

Ghaddar's dreams of becoming a star on the pitch were cut short by four successive knee injuries and five surgeries, which forced her to abandon her playing career at the age of 18.

But she returned to Nigeria to give young players the footballing opportunity she missed.

"I lived for 16 years here in Kano and it felt like home," Ghaddar said.

Initially, she had doubts her plan for an academy would work, considering there were no women footballers of note in the city, where cultural norms steer most women away from sport.

But she opened the academy with six students and soon it increased to 63.

"I was scared of everything... me being a female wearing a hijab, coming to the race course, training here on sand in front of men," Ghaddar said with a smile.

She provides the players with soccer kits and allowances in an effort to help them concentrate on football.

The players are also enrolled in secondary schools and twice-a-week English classes to help their academic growth.

Those not interested in university are employed in her family-owned confectionary and soda factories while they also focus on football.

"The boys are family to me, I feel all the positive emotions when I'm with them," Ghaddar said.

Ali Mustapha Ahmad Musa is one of Ghaddar's students who aspires to become an international football player.

"We pray and train to achieve our highest dream of joining foreign clubs in Europe or elsewhere," the 15-year old said after a training session.

That's also Ghaddar's hope.

"My dream is to see one of my players playing abroad," Ghaddar said.

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Jinja, Uganda- Giggles and songs ripple across a field in rural eastern Uganda where elderly women swing cricket bats as a way to reshape what ageing, health and sports can look like in later life.

The so-called "cricket grannies" are bound together by a growing love of a game they initially knew nothing about but is now helping them manage age-related health conditions, stress and loneliness.

Clad in floor-length dresses and mostly barefoot, the women, aged 50 to 90, gather weekly at a playground in Jinja district, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the capital, Kampala.

Each swing draws cheers from teammates as the women turn Saturday morning practice into a lively spectacle.

"With the exercises I've been doing, my legs used to hurt, but they no longer do," Jennifer Waibi Nanyonga, 72, told AFP.

"I spent the whole of last year without seeing a doctor for my back, yet it had previously been paining me," added the grandmother of 29.

The initiative began in 2025 with just 10 grandmothers in the remote village of Kivubuka and has since grown more than tenfold.

The programme was initially aimed at children, but when cricket coach Aaron Kusasira realised their caregivers had little knowledge of the game and often kept them from joining, he decided to involve the elderly women, too.

"We come here, we jog, we move around, we do some stretches," Kusasira, 26, said.

They "unknowingly have to run because they have to compete," he added.

Physical inactivity is a leading risk factor for deaths from noncommunicable diseases and, according the World Health Organization, it is more common among women globally.

International health data estimates that sedentary lifestyles are costing public health systems roughly US$27 billion per year, and will continue to rise if activity levels are not improved.

- Fresh start -

Beyond physical activity, cricket has also fostered a sense of community among the Ugandan grannies.

"When at home, you have no company and spend your time buried in your thoughts," said an elderly woman who only gave her first name, Patriciah.

For others, the weekly meetings have proved cathartic.

"When I arrive here and see my friends, we get together and talk about our problems, we counsel each other," said Jennifer Waibi Nanyonga.

"By the time we return home, everyone is lighter and with a fresh start," she added.

For coach Kusasira, training the women has been a win-win, giving him the opportunity to coach children in the area without opposition.

"From the kids to the elders, provided I see the smiles... it's enough. I know that is a day well spent," he said.

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© Agence France-Presse

Rapolas Micevicius' life was flipped upside-down in 2021 when a freak kitesurfing accident shattered his left leg, leaving doctors no choice but to amputate the lower half.

Now less than five years later, the Lithuanian is competing at the Milan-Cortina Paralympics in the men's snowboarding and living his dream of being a professional athlete in the winter and a kitesurf instructor in the summer.

After his accident, Micevicius learnt to adjust to living with a prosthetic limb and quit his comfortable job in Vilnius to roam the rugged mountains of Italy and hone his snowboarding skills.

"I quit my office job to do this (snowboarding) because we don't have mountains in Lithuania," 35-year-old Micevicius told AFP on Sunday after he missed out on a semi-final spot in the men's snowboard cross event.

"We live in Italy, but there's a lot of training camps, so I'm barely home, even though my girlfriend is also in Italy with our dog, she sometimes travels around with me, but mainly we're on the road."

And that gamble has paid off, with Micevicius becoming the first Lithuanian to qualify for a Winter Paralympics since 1994.

He explained that three years ago, he set himself "this goal to be in Paralympics".

If he has achieved that, he still hoped for more after coming into the Games on the back of a fine season, which garnered him many of the yellow-clad supporters cheering him on from the sidelines of the San Zan course in Cortina.

"During the year I had really good results, so I had confidence that I can actually go far, not as far as this (quarter-finals), but way further, maybe even big finals or something," he said.

"I need to go back three years ago where my initial goal was, because, you know, you can chew sometimes bigger than what you can chew, so I think that's the case, but it is what it is."

Micevicius still has the men's snowboard banked slalom to look forward to but admitted next Saturday's event is "not (his) strong suit".

Until then he said his aim is to "chill, relax, be with the family, friends, analyse what happened, maybe not too early, but take a couple of days off".

However, Micevicius already has one eye on his next "big goal": the 2030 Winter Paralympics, which will take place in the French Alps.

- 'Good vibes' -

When the weather turns and snowboarding is no longer a possibility, Micevicius returns to his native Lithuania to teach at the kitesurfing school he founded last year.

"It's an open kite school, we train kids, adults, everyone from around the country, some foreigners come over too," Micevicius said.

"I love seeing people enjoying the sport, it gives a lot of good vibes."

Micevicius added that one of the main pleasures he takes from his work is seeing "how people change" when they do something outside of their norm.

"They get confidence, they accomplish new things while kitesurfing," he said.

Asked which he prefers between wintering in Italy with his snowboard or summering at Lithuania's Curonian Lagoon, Micevicius refused to be drawn.

"Both seasons, I love it," he said.

"It's different, this is sport, professional, so, you know, healthy lifestyle. Lithuania for me is a little bit more relaxed."

He added he planned to spend a bit more time in his home country as he is in the process of building a home near his kitesurfing school for himself, his girlfriend and their poodle, D'Artagnan.

"We see our future there, and during the summer, I mean, I'm an athlete from winter, so I need something to be busy with during the summers," Micevicius said.

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San José, United States - 

Black Eyed Peas star will.i.am is putting artificial intelligence agents to work in three-wheel vehicles tailored for modern urban life.

The musician turned tech entrepreneur demonstrated a so-called autocycle called Trinity at Nvidia's annual developers conference that ends Thursday in the heart of Silicon Valley.

"I'm an artistic creator because of tech," will.i.am told AFP.

"Creating with musical teams is great, but hopping into a different realm and being hyper creative with full-stack developers, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, world builders -- that is the ultimate level of creativity."

His Trinity startup is named for an alignment of human, vehicle and agentic AI.

The single-passenger electric vehicle, which shares its name with the startup, lets a human do the driving but is infused with an AI agent that acts as a virtual assistant for conversation-based collaborations on the move, he will.i.am said.

"When a human has an agent of their own, a company has a super employee," he said of brainstorming and delegating tasks to Trinity AI agents conversationally while commuting.

"Their vehicle that got them to work is a part of their tool set; and it's working in the parking lot while they work," he added, referring to Trinity as "brains on wheels."

The vehicle, designed to accelerate quickly from zero to 60 mph (96 kmh), uses an Nvidia graphics processor to power built-in AI that can interpret and reason about the world around it, according to the startup.

The vehicles are to be made in a Los Angeles facility that will also serve as a school for robotics and agentic AI systems.

"I was ambitious, audacious and a little bit of naive," will.i.am said of pursuing the project.

"That's a good combination, because if you don't have that little bit of naive and everything is skeptical, you probably wouldn't take crazy risks."

An initial production of run of 500 units is planned, with an aim to begin deliveries in August of next year, and to keep the vehicle's price at less than $30,000.

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Dakar, Senegal- With exhilarating charisma, stage energy and impassioned lyrics, Senegalese musician Sahad has created a unique body of work from a kaleidoscope of influences, culminating in his new pan-African album.

At the heart of Sahad Sarr's ingenuity lies a quest for independence, his pride in being African and a deep connection to Senegal, where he leads a number of projects meant to show young people that it is possible to dream big in the country.

A songwriter, guitarist, singer and founder of his eponymous band SAHAD, the musician has been called the "Senegalese James Brown".

Even if some say there is a touch of Nigerian Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti in his trance-like rhythms or a hint of Mali music legend Ali Farka Toure, Sahad's sound is unique.

In his ten years of work, he has become a leading figure in Senegal's alternative music scene, demonstrating that not all of the country's hits have to be in its homegrown Mbalax style.

"The major record labels in Africa, Europe and the United States always have trouble defining my music", Sahad, 37, told AFP.

"I make jazz fusion mixed with Afrobeat, funk, and traditional rhythms from Senegal, Mali and the Serer people", he said, referring to the ethnic community from which he hails.

He says his music is influenced by Miles Davis, John Coltrane and James Brown, explaining that he considers his style "kaleidoscopic".

In recent years he has performed with his band around the world and will represent Senegal at the international jazz music event "jazzahead!" in Bremen, Germany in April.

His latest album "African West Station" is a remarkable work of "musical pan-Africanism", the culmination of four years of research into the archives of post-independence west African music from the 1960s to '80s.

- West African imagination -

"It was important to make an album that recounts the history of all these socio-cultural and political movements, these struggles that have brought us to where we are today", Sahad told AFP.

He emphasised that he wanted "to create a fusion to showcase west African collective imagination" with sounds from Guinea, Mali, Nigeria and Ghana.

The album is meant as a "decolonial plea and a project for unity, where music plays an essential role because it transcends borders."

At the end of January Sahad and his band, who are from Congo, Ivory Coast, Benin and Senegal, delivered a high-energy show at the Institut Francais in Dakar.

As a passionate bandleader, Sahad was not just on vocals but also guitar and percussion.

In "Ya Bon" he criticised current and past African heads of state who he says have maintained a "servile relationship with the coloniser".

In "We Can Do" he aims to inspire youth to build connections, and in his galvanising "Ndakaaru" he celebrates the city of Dakar.

- 'New generation' -

A few days after the concert AFP met with Sahad at his home studio in Dakar.

"There's a new generation in Africa, of which I'm a part, that's demanding a certain freedom, identity, and authenticity, and that also wants to rethink the image portrayed of Africa and Africans," he said.

In the album "we advocate for a youth free from hang-ups, a cultural reappropriation, a new relationship with the world" he said.

He added that he has often been offended by "people who have cliches about African music, who expect Africa to produce a certain type of sound" via instruments such as the kora or percussion.

Thus in 2021 he created his independent label "Stereo Africa 432", which produces music for his own band as well as other emerging Senegalese artists.

He is additionally the founder of the major "Stereo Africa" festival in Dakar, dedicated to contemporary music from the continent and its diaspora, which also provides training to youth in the music industry.

Moka Kamara, cultural journalist at Senegalese newspaper Le Soleil told AFP that there was a palpable revival in the country "with the introduction of a reinvented reggae, a reinvented folk, all of which is thanks to Sahad".

Sahad also founded an eco-village meant to fight climate change, poverty and a rural exodus, in Kamyaak, in western Senegal, where he spends half of his time.

It's a place "for meditation, for reclaiming our culture and our multiple identities" said Sahad, who has been following a Sufi spiritual path for 20 years.

"We sense a wave of revolutions taking place in Africa and a break with this post-colonial trauma, but it cannot happen if we don't arm ourselves with knowledge, understanding and the responsibility of offering something", he said.

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© Agence France-Presse

Former fighter pilot Rumen Radev has vowed to lead Bulgaria out of a drawn-out political crisis if he wins a snap election next Sunday.

Many voters see Radev -- who was Bulgaria's president until earlier this year -- as a providential man who can give the Balkan nation plagued by corruption a fresh start after seven general elections in five years.

The 62-year-old presents himself as a defender of the poor of the EU's poorest country as he walks a tightrope on European issues.

He has hailed the benefits Bulgaria has reaped from EU membership while calling for dialogue with Russia as its invasion of Ukraine remains deadlocked after more than four years of fighting.

"Bulgaria is in a unique position, because we are the only EU member state that is both Slavic and Eastern Orthodox. That should be used," he said recently.

- Role with Russia -

"And we really can be a very important link in this whole process, which I am sure will sooner or later begin, to restore relations with Russia," Radev added.

Last year he called for a referendum on Bulgaria entering the eurozone, saying it was not ready to join.

But he failed and Bulgaria adopted the single European currency on January 1.

Radev has also slammed military aid to Ukraine and the EU trying to turn its back on Russian oil and gas.

"Geographically, economically, in terms of resources and as a market, we need to rebuild those relations," he insisted.

- Raised fist -

For sociologist Parvan Simeonov, Radev is hard to figure out like many leaders in the region who, "depending on the visiting delegation, choose whether or not to fly the Ukrainian flag in the background."

Radev insists he embodies distrust of the country's elites and oligarchs, denying any links to them.

A graduate of the elite US Air War College, he later served as the head of the Bulgarian Air Force.

But he moved into politics in 2016 and later won a presidential election to the mostly ceremonial post.

Born on June 18, 1963 in the southeastern Soviet-era new town of Dimitrovgrad, the austere and reserved man does not have the polish of seasoned communicators.

When he vows to regulate public tenders through artificial intelligence or to reform the much‑criticised judicial system, he sometimes gives the impression of reciting a memorised text.

But he won over many liberal pro-European voters when he openly supported protesters at 2020 rallies against corruption.

Radev walked out of the presidential palace with his fist raised to join the protests that ultimately toppled conservative prime minister Boyko Borisov a year later.

Radev was re‑elected head of state in 2021 with two-thirds of the vote.

- Modest lifestyle -

Late last year he once again backed anti-corruption protesters and when the last government resigned in December, he stepped down as president to plunge into the election campaign, betting on his popularity.

Simeonov said Radev's status as "the most popular leader" in the polls would put him in a decent position to negotiate a coalition after the election, leaving out discredited parties.

Radev's centre-left movement, Progressive Bulgaria, brings together a plethora of figures including military officers, former socialist officials and athletes, and the union leader of the country's main arms manufacturer, which has boomed supplying Ukraine's army.

Radev is campaigning on combatting social inequalities and promoting budgetary discipline without calling for radical change, said Simeonov.

His promises of a return to stability appeals to voters tired of facing the eighth parliamentary election in five years.

Married with two children and intensely patriotic, Radev also woos voters with a modest lifestyle and his defence of family values.

A recent campaign video shot in a village shop went viral showing Radev soothing the grocer upset with rising prices and Bulgaria's eurozone entry.

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© Agence France-Presse

In a community centre in eastern China, Shu Fangqiang shrugged off his jacket and stepped onto a scale, one of hundreds of locals signing up for an unusual weight loss programme -- "Trade Fat for Beef".

The rules are straightforward: for every half kilogram he loses, Shu will receive the same weight in boneless beef, or 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds) of beef on the bone.

The programme is one of many springing up across China, backed by local authorities anxious to tackle rising obesity rates, which are fast becoming a pressing public health issue.

Participants who are already keen to lose weight say the initiative is an added bonus.

"Even without the beef, I wanted to lose weight for my health," said Shu, whose body mass index (BMI) of 30 is classified as obese.

More than a third of Chinese adults were overweight in 2022, and around 8.3 percent were obese, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), compared with the United States, where 72.4 percent of adults are overweight and 42 percent are obese.

However, the number of obese people in China has tripled between 2004 and 2018, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

If current trends continue, the share of overweight and obese Chinese adults could reach 70.5 percent by 2030, the National Health Commission (NHC) says, whose obesity criteria is stricter than the WHO's.

"This opportunity just came at the right time, so I signed up," Shu said.

Participants of the campaign in the city of Wuxi were weighed once in March, and will return in January 2027 for a second and final weigh-in .

They will then be rewarded with expensive cuts like oxtail if they lose more weight -- though the total amount of free meat available is capped at 10 kilograms (22 pounds).

Organisers say more than 1,000 people have registered since the Wuxi campaign started in March -- with thousands more turned away for not meeting local community residence requirements.

Queues for weigh-ins reached up to a dozen people at a time in both the men and women's sections, an AFP journalist saw.

At the front of the queues, participants stepped on weighing scales which displayed their height, weight and BMI.

Staff members then measured their waists, logged their data on a form and used an encouraging stamp to mark it and to cheer participants on.

An on-site doctor offered personalised medical advice.

- 'Flab for potatoes' -

Similar grassroots initiatives have also surfaced in other localities across the country, with many shared widely on social media.

In the southwestern province of Yunnan, slimmers can take part in the "Flab for Potatoes" programme and if they shrink their waistlines considerably, can upgrade to chicken.

Countrywide, popular supermarket chain Yonghui has invited customers to register their losses over 10 days by weighing themselves in-store.

They can then trade every 1.5 kilograms lost for half a kilogram of beef, crayfish or kiwi.

When AFP visited the Wuxi community centre, banners at the weigh-in urged participants to slim down steadily rather than quickly, and to aim for health over thinness.

Organisers also posted warnings against weight-loss drugs, self-induced vomiting and extreme fasting, with doctors on hand to offer guidance.

Participant Shu told AFP he wanted to lose 20 kilograms.

"Being obese affects your mental state, your work performance and your overall well-being," he said.

"Sometimes when I'm heavier, I don't sleep well at night."

As of 2021, there were 402 million overweight or obese adults over 25 in China -- the world's largest population, according to a study published in The Lancet medical journal.

Another study, published in The Lancet in 2021, attributed the problem to rapid urbanisation and a shift toward processed, high-sugar and high-fat foods, as well as increasingly sedentary lifestyles.

- 'Hard to resist' -

In Wuxi, 44-year-old Zheng Haihua said she was signing up to encourage her to "move more and eat less", and to commit to exercising.

"The biggest challenge for me is... controlling my appetite, because when you see delicious food, it's hard to resist," Zheng laughed.

Local physician Wu Changyan sympathised, adding "there's life pressure, and the convenience of modern life makes it easy to eat more and eat too much."

The NHC and other authorities have launched national initiatives in an effort to counter the trend, concerned about links with chronic disease and increased healthcare costs.

Local efforts like the Wuxi one are "a fun way to get people motivated", Wu told AFP.

But Li Sheyu, a clinical professor at Sichuan University's West China Hospital, said the campaigns might have limited impact.

"I would not consider it a gamechanger in the big picture," he said, noting they were essentially just a traditional incentive method for weight loss.

"But (they are) a good example of disseminating weight-loss ideas to the public."

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In a handwritten note on a sketch of an evening dress for her official visit to India and Pakistan in 1961, Queen Elizabeth II specified it should be sewn in "yellow satin", a colour symbolising health and prosperity in the region.

The sketch is one of about 300 items on display, some for the first time, at the exhibition "Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style", which opens Friday at Buckingham Palace.

This unprecedented survey of the late UK monarch's wardrobe throughout her life (1926-2022) reveals the important diplomatic role she attached to her outfits.

The display in the King's Gallery at the London palace features sheath dresses sparkling with sequins and swirling outfits in vibrant colours from the 1960s.

There are also spectacular draped evening dresses straight from the atelier of Cristobal Balenciaga, maternity outfits and the military uniforms the princess wore during World War II.

In a section called "the finishing touch", the queen's signature colourful hats are pinned up on a wall opposite the coordinating outfits.

Tickets for the spectacular exhibition, which runs to October, have already sold out for April.

Highlights include Elizabeth's wedding dress dating from 1947 and the ornate embroidered gown she wore for her coronation, both created by British designer Norman Hartnell.

- Political aims -

"We wanted to pay tribute not only to her style but also to British fashion and designers," stressed Caroline de Guitaut, the curator, who chose the outfits on display from an archive of some 4,000 items.

A key attribute of the royal's wardrobe was its political aims, the exhibition reveals, with fashion choices also playing a diplomatic role.

The coronation gown illustrates this, perfectly decorated with the national emblems of the nations of the United Kingdom: the English rose, the Welsh leek and the Scottish thistle, as well as flowers symbolising the Commonwealth countries.

This diplomatic dimension was a recurring theme of Elizabeth's wardrobe through her record-breaking 70-year reign.

In 1954, while travelling in Australia, she wore a yellow stole delicately embroidered with the golden wattle, the national floral emblem.

And in 1961, on a visit to Pakistan, she dined with President Mohammad Ayub Khan wearing a satin dress in the colours of the national flag of the country, a former British colony.

"She was the undisputed queen of sartorial diplomacy," said de Guitaut.

The monarch's aim was always the same: "to show respect for the country she was visiting", the curator said, since her visits were made on government advice largely to countries with whom Britain hoped to build stronger ties.

- 'Eye for everything' -

This broke with the ancient tradition of royal clothing as a way to display wealth and power, historian Lisa Hackett told AFP.

Now confined to ceremonial roles, monarchs "no longer use their clothing to display their power" but instead want to convey respect and courtesy, said the academic from the University of New England in Australia.

These were dress codes that Elizabeth mastered to perfection.

"She was educated from an early age about her role and her wardrobe," Hackett said.

Elizabeth was also very involved in the design of her outfits.

"She decided what she wanted to wear, chose her designers, and even selected her suppliers," said de Guitaut.

Her handwritten note on the dress sketch for the trip to India and Pakistan was not exceptional: the exhibition shows that she added comments on several occasions.

"She had an eye for everything. I think it's fair to say she had almost complete mastery of her style," said the curator.

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Hopes of making downtown Seoul dazzle more than Times Square have hit a setback with new guidelines to dim the digital billboards that light up the South Korean capital after a barrage of complaints.

The number of these sometimes huge electronic screens -- often curved and showing waving K-pop stars or leaping dolphins in 3D -- has soared, driving buzz on social media.

But not all locals are happy, particularly nighttime motorists bothered by the glare, with thousands of complaints in recent years prompting new recommendations from Wednesday to tone down the imposing installations.

The surge in digital billboards follows the designation of several areas as free advertising zones and a project to transform Seoul's central Gwanghwamun Square by 2033 into a "media gallery" to surpass Times Square in New York.

One billboard in Gwanghwamun Square is the size of four basketball courts and its 6K ultra-high resolution display is split across two sides of the building, creating a wrap-around effect.

The symbolic heart of the city has four large digital screens, bustling shopping area Myeong-dong has three and glitzy Gangnam -- synonymous with South Korea's economic and cultural strength -- boasts 17.

The colours "are so vivid that it feels like they are spreading out like waves," passerby Kim Hee-soo, 23, an art student, told AFP on Wednesday evening.

"I didn't realise it before, but the glass facades of the buildings also feel vibrant."

"Gwanghwamun Square will be reborn as a new media gallery that people around the world can enjoy," district mayor Chung Moon-heon said last year as he announced the project -- which boasts the slogan "Beyond your imagination, beyond Times Square".

- Repetitive flashes -

But the new guidelines recommend a maximum of 7,000 candelas -- a measure of luminous intensity -- during the day, half the level detected on some screens, reducing to 350-500 candelas at night.

The city also advises minimising high-brightness white backgrounds, using gradual instead of abrupt transitions in brightness, and avoiding repetitive flashing and intense strobe effects.

While the guidelines were drawn up before the Iran war -- which has prompted the government to seek to reduce energy use -- authorities hope they will also cut the installations' electricity consumption by 15 percent.

The recommendations are "a reasonable improvement that adjusts brightness beyond what is necessary to consider the readability of advertisements and reduce visual fatigue for citizens, while also enhancing energy efficiency," said Choi In-gyu, a local official.

Oh Se-min, 68, a retiree from a construction company, told AFP that he was not personally bothered by the billboards, but that safety comes first.

"If drivers say they experience (glare), then it should definitely be addressed to prevent accidents," he said.

But Lee Youn-kyu, 55, who works in the shipping industry, wasn't convinced, saying that Seoul's billboards were less extreme than other global cities.

"We also can't ignore the overall convenience for pedestrians and the aesthetic value these lights add," Lee told AFP.

"I think it's important to find a good balance between all of these factors."

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© Agence France-Presse

New Delhi, India - 

Once the grand residences of Mughal-era nobility, the Indian capital's haveli homes now stand at a fragile crossroads -- a handful lovingly restored but many more sliding quietly into ruin.

Across Old Delhi -- the 17th‑century walled city founded as the Mughal capital Shahjahanabad -- cracked facades, shuttered gateways and sagging balconies tell the story of a heritage under siege from neglect, inheritance battles and relentless urban pressure.

Only a few restored pockets provide a glimpse of what once was -- airy courtyards, carved sandstone pillars and homes built around a deeply social way of life.

Inside one restored mansion that now houses a cultural centre, sunlight filters through stained glass onto carved sandstone arches, the air infused with freshly polished wood and rosewater.

Musicians tune their instruments in a frescoed courtyard, where nobles may once have entertained guests, offering a rare peek into Old Delhi's rich architectural past.

But outside in the narrow lanes of Old Delhi's Chandni Chowk district, the contrast is stark.

Many havelis are abandoned or on the verge of collapsing, their carved facades fading beneath peeling paint.

The contrast reflects two futures -- one of careful restoration and the other of gradual decay.

- 'Who will pay?' -

The Kathika Cultural Centre's founder Atul Khanna said his initiative hoped to create an immersive cultural space inside a restored structure.

But he admitted that conservation in Old Delhi remains a huge challenge.

Many havelis are split among multiple heirs, with no single stakeholder willing or able to invest in costly upkeep.

"When there are multiple ownerships, that becomes a challenge," he said.

"If the haveli is decaying, who is going to spend the money?"

Khanna also blamed bureaucratic hurdles for discouraging restoration.

"There should be some kind of a single window for anyone who is working with heritage," he said, arguing that easing red tape would be more effective than offering subsidies for restoration.

Another prominent restoration is the 18th century Haveli Dharampura, now converted into a heritage hotel.

"Restoration in Old Delhi is still isolated unless there is sustained support and awareness," said Vidyun Goel, whose family owns the property.

Residents say family disputes and the push to convert properties into shops or apartments have led to rapid decline.

In nearby Roshanpura, only a scattering of old homes still stand. Among them, the century-old Mathur ki Haveli is a rare example of a lived-in heritage home.

- Showpiece projects -

"We are in love with this house," said Ashok Mathur, a fourth‑generation resident who continues to live in the ancestral property despite mounting challenges.

Wooden ceilings are deteriorating, floors are wearing thin and doors require constant repair, he said, walking through rooms that bear only traces of intricate craftsmanship.

Still, he said he has never considered leaving -- although he can only imagine the social world that once defined haveli life.

"There is no community left," Mathur, 56, said. "We are living in a cocoon."

Conservationist K. T. Ravindran said that while Old Delhi is economically vibrant, its havelis suffer from unclear titles and multiple claimants.

"Often buildings that look intact from outside conceal deeper damage," he said, noting that the condition was worse in the inner lanes hidden from public view.

Ravindran said revival was still possible, but only through neighbourhood‑level regeneration rather than isolated showpiece projects.

Oral historian Sohail Hashmi said each haveli once formed part of "a larger social ecosystem of neighbourhoods, crafts and traditions", with architecture and community deeply intertwined.

As Khanna put it, the loss goes beyond architecture.

"When you lose a haveli, you are not only losing the structure," he said.

"Every element in it is a piece of art."

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© Agence France-Presse