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Washington (AFP) – Elon Musk on Tuesday hammered US President Donald Trump's proposed spending bill as a "disgusting abomination" as tensions between the pair burst into the open following the tech billionaire's White House exit.

Musk left his role as an official government employee last week, lauded by Trump for spearheading a federal spending cuts program, but disagreements between the duo have been building.

"This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination," Musk posted on X, in by far his most caustic remarks on Trump's spending plans.

"Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong."

It was not Musk's first comments on Trump's so-called "big, beautiful bill" which is set to add $3 million to US deficits over a 10-year horizon, despite deep cuts to health and food aid programs.

But Musk's previous criticism was restrained, with the ex-head of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force offering only that it undermined his cost-cutting efforts.

On Tuesday he said that the bill -- being considered by Congress -- would burden "citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt."

The escalation in rhetoric indicated bitter hostilities between the White House and Musk, who donated almost $300 million to Trump's election campaign but has recently voiced frustrations.

"The president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill, it doesn't change his opinion," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters in a rapid response to Musk's tweet.

"This is one big, beautiful bill, and he's sticking to it."

As the world's richest person bowed out of his role as Trump's cost-cutter-in-chief, their relationship appeared on an even keel as the Republican hailed his fellow billionaire's "incredible service."

Trump even insisted that Musk was "really not leaving" after a turbulent four months in which the South African born tycoon cut tens of thousands of jobs, shuttered whole agencies and slashed foreign aid.

Musk was once almost inseparable from Trump, glued to his side on Air Force One, Marine One, in the White House and at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

The right-wing magnate's DOGE led an ideologically-driven rampage through the federal government, with its young "tech bros" slashing tens of thousands of jobs.

But DOGE's achievements fell far short of Musk's original goal of saving $2 trillion dollars.

The DOGE website claims to have saved taxpayers about eight percent of the $2 trillion figure so far -- $175 billion -- and fact checkers even see that claim as dubious, given previous serious inaccuracies in its accounting.

But the non-governmental "Musk Watch DOGE Tracker" puts the verifiable figure at $16 billion -- less than one percent of the goal.

Tesla shareholders called for Musk to return to work as sales slumped and protests targeted the electric vehicle maker, while SpaceX had a series of fiery rocket failures.

Vienna (AFP) – "Here is your chief mobility officer Arnold Schwarzenegger talking to you" -- with this announcement the "Terminator" star and former governor of California surprised Vienna public transport users on Tuesday by hailing them as "climate action heroes".

The Austrian Hollywood star is in town for an annual conference he organises on climate change.

"Thank you for your commitment to a healthy planet," he says in German in the announcement, broadcast every 30 minutes over the intercom system of all public transport, according to network operator Wiener Linien.

He continues in English that "you're all real climate action heroes, helping to unite in action and terminate pollution".

Schwarzenegger, 77, launched the summit in his native Austria eight years ago to highlight the challenges of climate change.

In his opening speech on Tuesday, Schwarzenegger, who has been an outspoken critic of US President Donald Trump, held back criticism, while calling for "action that makes their (people's) lives better".

"I know that the people are sick and tired of the whining and the complaining and the doom and gloom. They want heroes... We have to win the people over," he said.

This year, former British prime minister Tony Blair is attending, as well as Austrian Prime Minister Christian Stocker and Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen.

Around 2.4 million people use the city's public transport per day, according to Wiener Linien. The Austrian capital has around two million inhabitants.

Paris (AFP) – Ukraine managed to not only humiliate the Kremlin by boasting of taking out more than a third of all Russian missile carriers in a spectacular drone attack but also to rewrite the rules of modern warfare, analysts say.

Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, Kyiv used inexpensive drones at the weekend to destroy Russian nuclear-capable bombers worth billions of dollars in an operation carried out after months of planning.

"Spider's Web" dealt a blow to Russia more than three years after its invasion of Ukraine, and the operation will now be studied closely by militaries around the world as a new strategy in asymmetric warfare.

Ukraine said it destroyed $7 billion worth of Russian aircraft parked at airbases thousands of kilometres across the border, mainly Tu-95 and Tu-22 long-range strategic bombers.

While the attacks at Belaya deep in Siberia and Olenya on the Kola Peninsula in the Arctic circle are unlikely to change to course of the war, they will limit Moscow's ability to launch long-range missile strikes against Ukraine.

Yohann Michel, a researcher at the French university Lyon-3, said the loss of the aircraft was "a serious blow to Russian offensive capabilities".

"The main impact could be felt in several weeks' time with a reduction in the number of sorties by the rest of the fleet" due to difficulties in finding spare parts for the Soviet-era planes, which are no longer in production, he told AFP.

Maxim Starchak, a fellow at the Centre for International and Defence Policy at Queen's University in Canada, said it would take Russia a long time to replace the lost aircraft.

"Russia is extremely slow and inefficient in developing new aircraft for its nuclear forces," he told AFP.

The drones, launched from trucks in the immediate vicinity of air bases deep inside Russia, destroyed or damaged aircraft parked in the open.

Congratulating Ukraine's security service chief Vasyl Malyuk, President Volodymyr Zelensky said it had taken 18 months of preparation for the 117 drones to be concealed inside trucks close to the airbases, and that all the Ukrainian agents had safely left Russia.

Michael Shurkin, a former CIA officer, said Ukraine's operation was likely to have struck fear into militaries across the world, adding that potential targets for such drone attacks could include refineries, ballistic missile silos or military bases.

"This technology is akin to stealth technology: The threat is difficult to detect both because it emerges near the target and is too small and too low to be picked up by sensors designed to catch aircraft or missiles," said Shurkin, director of global programs for the consultancy 14 North Strategies.

Ukrainian military analyst Oleksii Kopytko said anyone delivering a pizza or driving a horse-drawn cart could present a danger. "The organisers and main perpetrators are essentially untraceable," he said.

A French arms manufacturing executive said Ukraine could even have trained AI algorithms to recognise aircraft or guide the drones in case of jamming.

"New tools are forcing us to completely rethink defence systems and how they are produced," said the executive, who asked not to be named.

"It opens up possibilities that we hadn't even imagined."

Zelensky "just proved that he and Ukraine are more than able to pull aces out of their combat fatigue sleeves," said Timothy Ash, an emerging market economist focused on Russia.

The attacks exposed Russia's air base vulnerabilities, in a massive morale boost for Kyiv after months on the backfoot in the conflict.

"The protection of military air bases does not meet security requirements," said Starchak. "The dispersal of military aircraft across different airfields did not help either."

Russia's vast size is also a disadvantage here.

"Usually, the vastness of Russia's territory is an advantage; you can hide your bombers thousands of kilometres away where they would be safe," said Michel.

"The problem is that this means you have to monitor thousands of square kilometres, which is simply impossible."

The attacks dealt a blow to Moscow's nuclear triad of ground, sea and air-launched missiles, said Starchak.

If it was possible to target an airbase it is also possible to hit bases hosting nuclear submarines, Starchak said.

"An attack on long-range aircraft bases is a potential threat to the entire nuclear triad, which can be easily hit, thereby weakening it to the point that it cannot respond with a nuclear strike."

John Herbst, senior director of the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center, said that Ukraine's operation gave US President Donald Trump leverage against Russia's Vladimir Putin in search of a settlement.

"It is a strong counter to the dubious 'common wisdom' that the war is moving inevitably in Moscow's favour," wrote the former US ambassador to Ukraine

Mexico City (AFP) – Judges close to the ruling party were set to dominate Mexico's Supreme Court after an unprecedented vote to elect the judiciary, with results rolling in Tuesday.

The vote comes after a contentious overhaul made Mexico the first country in the world to select all their judges via the ballot box.

The enormous democratic exercise asked voters to choose more than 880 federal judges as well as fill hundreds of local and magistrate positions.

Despite confusion and low turnout -- with only about 13 percent of eligible voters participating -- President Claudia Sheinbaum declared the election a success.

Her opponents, however, branded it a "farce" and warned the process would consolidate the ruling party's power.

Sheinbaum's Morena party already dominates both houses of Congress.

With 87 percent of ballots counted by late Monday night, judges aligned with the Morena party looked to be ahead in the Supreme Court race.

But preliminary results also showed Hugo Aguilar, a member of the Mixtec Indigenous group and former advisor to the Zapatista guerrilla movement, on track to head the top court.

The constitutional law specialist was leading over Lenia Batres, a Morena party member and appointee of former president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Lopez Obrador initiated the judicial reform after repeatedly clashing with the courts as they blocked several of his flagship initiatives.

Mexico's Congress, dominated by Morena party lawmakers, fast-tracked the overhaul during the leftist leader's final months in office, despite critics' concerns that it would undermine checks and balances and leave judges more vulnerable to criminal influence.

The majority of Mexico's Supreme Court justices quit over the reform and declined to stand for election.

Sheinbaum, Lopez Obrador's successor, has championed the overhaul as much-needed to clean up a judiciary mired in corruption.

On Monday, she downplayed the low turnout, arguing that 13 million Mexicans casting ballots was more representative than the previous process, which saw senators select Supreme Court justices from a shortlist prepared by the president.

"Mexico is the most democratic country in the world," she said.

Sheinbaum also pushed back at claims that she would end up controlling the judiciary.

"Now the judges, magistrates and justices answer to the people," she said.

Results are expected to roll in through June 10.

The leader of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Alejandro Moreno, denounced the vote as a "farce" and called it a "dark day for democracy."

The elections showed Sheinbaum's Morena party was "willing to do anything to concentrate power. They weaken the justice system, trample on institutions, and block the way to democratic debate," he said.

Hundreds of opponents of the reforms marched through the capital waving flags and banners with slogans including: "Hands off our democracy" and "No to electoral fraud."

The elections will send the judiciary "to its grave," said Ismael Novela, a 58-year-old company worker.

"It was the last counterweight we had against the totalitarianism of the executive branch."

But many voters were mystified by the sheer complexity of the process, with a long list of largely unknown candidates vying for around 2,600 judicial positions.

"They put forward X person but we do not know their trajectory, their dedication, what they have done, and... who is behind them, or if they are alone," said Gerardo Ramirez, a 63-year-old newsstand worker in Mexico City.

In the western state of Jalisco, 63-year-old housewife Maria Estrada said she used her "intuition" because she did not know the candidates.

Arturo Giesemann, a 57-year-old retiree in Mexico City, said his main reason for voting was "the disgust I have with the current judiciary because of its corruption."

Opponents warned that elected judges could be more vulnerable to pressure from criminals, in a country where powerful drug cartels regularly use bribery and intimidation to influence officials.

Rights group Defensorxs identified around 20 candidates it considered "high risk," including Silvia Delgado, a former lawyer for Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

Another aspiring judge, in Durango state, spent almost six years in prison in the United States for drug crimes, despite an official requirement for a clean criminal record.

Candidates were also supposed to have a law degree, experience in legal affairs and what is termed "a good reputation."

Another election for the remainder of Mexico's judicial positions will be held in 2027.

Workers' rights around the world are "in free fall", with widespread attempts to hamstring collective bargaining and attacks on trade union representatives, the world's largest trade union organisation said Monday. Europe and the Americas clocked up the worst results in the last ten years.

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) found a "profound deterioration" in workers' rights in its annual rights index published on Monday, based on 97 indicators laid out by the United Nations and international treaties.

Workers' rights, which the report measured in 151 countries, particularly declined in Europe and the Americas – with the worst results for the two regions since the index was launched in 2014.

In total, 87 percent of countries violated the right to strike and 80 percent violated the right to collective bargaining, the ITUC said.

"The right to collective bargaining was restricted in 80 percent of countries (121)," the ITUC said.

In France, for example, "nearly four in every 10 collective agreements were imposed unilaterally by employers, without union representation".

The report also said outlined "persecution" against union leaders.

"In France, more than 1,000 union leaders and members of the Confederation generale du travail (CGT) were facing criminal charges and disciplinary measures for their roles in mass protests against pension reforms," it said.

The ITUC gives each country a maximum score of one and a minimum score of five for their respect for workers' rights, such as the right to strike, demonstrate and participate in negotiations.

Only seven countries – including Germany, Sweden and Norway – were awarded the maximum score, compared to 18 a decade ago. Italy and Argentina saw their scores drop in 2025.

"If this pace of decline continues, in ten years there will be no country left in the world with the highest rating for its respect for workers' rights," ITUC head Luc Triangle said in a statement.

In 2025, Europe experienced the sharpest decline of any region in the world over the past 10 years.

The ITUC also said trade unionists or workers were killed in five countries in 2025: South Africa, Cameroon, Colombia, Guatemala and Peru.

And Nigeria joined the list of the 10 worst countries for workers' rights for the first time.

Only a handful of countries saw an improvement in workers' rights.

Reforms strengthened trade union rights in Australia, while in Mexico, labour law changes improved access to justice for workers.

(with AFP)

Rule

Each participant is free to write creatively about any topic related to the digits of Pi (3.1415926535...) as long as the content follows the sequence of the digits.

Start each section with the corresponding digit of Pi (e.g., 3, 1, 4, 1, 5, etc.) and ensure the content reflects or relates to that digit in some way.

This post will be done when someone finally figures out the last digit of Pi!

Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Rescuers said the Israeli military killed at least 15 people on Tuesday in southern Gaza near a US-backed aid centre, with the army reporting it had fired on "suspects who advanced toward the troops".

The shooting was similar to one Sunday morning in which rescuers said scores of people were killed and wounded at the same location, with witnesses saying they had been on their way to collect aid.

"At least 15 people were killed and dozens wounded... when Israeli forces opened fire with tanks and drones on thousands of civilians who had gathered since dawn near the Al-Alam roundabout in the Al-Mawasi area, northwest of Rafah," said civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal.

The roundabout is about a kilometre from an aid centre run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a recently formed group that Israel has cooperated with to implement a new aid distribution mechanism in the territory.

The military said a crowd was moving towards the aid centre when troops saw them "deviating from the designated access routes".

"The troops carried out warning fire, and after the suspects failed to retreat, additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects who advanced toward the troops," it said, adding it was "aware of reports regarding casualties" and was looking into the details.

Rania al-Astal, 30, said she had gone with her husband to try to get food.

"The shooting began intermittently around 5:00 am. Every time people approached Al-Alam roundabout, they were fired upon," she told AFP.

"But people didn't care and rushed forward all at once -- that's when the army began firing heavily."

Mohammed al-Shaer, 44, who was also at the scene, said the crowd had just set off towards the aid centre when "suddenly, the Israeli army fired shots into the air, then began shooting directly at the people".

"A helicopter and quadcopters (drones) started firing at the crowd to prevent them from approaching the tank barrier. There were injuries and deaths," he told AFP.

"I didn't reach the centre, and we didn't get any food."

The army said it was "not preventing the arrival of Gazan civilians to the humanitarian aid distribution sites".

GHF said the operations at its site went ahead safely on Tuesday, but added it was aware the military "is investigating whether a number of civilians were injured after moving beyond the designated safe corridor and into a closed military zone".

"This was an area well beyond our secure distribution site and operations area," it added, advising "all civilians to remain in the safe corridor when travelling to our distribution sites".

Sunday's shooting also took place at the Al-Alam roundabout as people gathered before heading to the aid centre, rescuers and witnesses said, with the civil defence reporting 31 people killed and 176 wounded.

Afterwards, the army denied firing at people "while they were near or within" the aid site. But a military source acknowledged "warning shots were fired towards several suspects" about a kilometre away.

UN chief Antonio Guterres called for an independent investigation into that shooting, calling it "unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food".

The Israeli army said Tuesday that three of its soldiers had been killed in the territory's north, bringing the number of Israeli troops killed in the Palestinian territory since the start of the conflict to 424.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 4,201 people have been killed in the territory since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 54,470, mostly civilians.

Paris (AFP) – The OECD slashed its annual global growth forecast on Tuesday, warning that US President Donald Trump's tariffs blitz will stifle the world economy -- hitting the United States especially hard.

After 3.3 percent growth last year, the world economy is now expected to expand by a "modest" 2.9 percent in 2025 and 2026, the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

In its previous report in March, the OECD had forecast growth of 3.1 percent for 2025 and 3.0 percent for 2026.

Since then, Trump has launched a wave of tariffs that has rattled financial markets.

"The global outlook is becoming increasingly challenging," said the OECD, an economic policy group of 38 mostly wealthy countries.

It said "substantial increases" in trade barriers, tighter financial conditions, weaker business and consumer confidence, and heightened policy uncertainty will all have "marked adverse effects on growth" if they persist.

The OECD holds a ministerial meeting in Paris on Tuesday and Wednesday, with US and EU trade negotiators expected to hold talks on the sidelines of the gathering after Trump threatened to hit the European Union with 50-percent tariffs.

The Group of Seven advanced economies is also holding a meeting focused on trade.

"For everyone, including the United States, the best option is that countries sit down and get an agreement," OECD chief economist Alvaro Pereira said in an interview with AFP.

"Avoiding further trade fragmentation is absolutely key in the next few months and years," Pereira said.

Trump imposed in April a baseline tariff of 10 percent on imports from around the world.

He unveiled higher tariffs on dozens of countries but has paused them until July to allow time for negotiations.

The US president has also imposed 25 percent tariffs on cars and now plans to raise those on steel and aluminium to 50 percent on Wednesday.

In the OECD report, Pereira warned that "weakened economic prospects will be felt around the world, with almost no exception".

He added that "lower growth and less trade will hit incomes and slow job growth".

The outlook is particularly gloomy for the United States.

The US economy is now expected to grow by just 1.6 percent this year, down from 2.2 percent in the previous outlook, and slow further to 1.5 percent in 2026, the OECD said.

"This reflects the substantial increase in the effective tariff rate on imports and retaliation from some trading partners," the OECD said.

The effective tariff rate on US merchandise imports has gone from two percent in 2024 to 15.4 percent, the highest since 1938, the OECD said.

The OECD also blamed "high economic policy uncertainty, a significant slowdown in net immigration, and a sizeable reduction in the federal workforce".

While annual inflation is expected to "moderate" among the Group of 20 economies to 3.6 percent in 2025 and 3.2 percent in 2026, the United States is "an important exception".

US inflation is expected to accelerate to just under four percent by the end of the year, two-times higher than the Federal Reserve's target for consumer price increases.

The OECD slightly reduced its growth forecast for China -- which was hit with triple-digit tariffs that have been temporarily lowered -- from 4.8 to 4.7 percent this year.

Another country with a sizeable downgrade is Japan: the OECD cut the country's growth forecast from 1.1 percent to 0.7 percent.

The outlook for the eurozone economy, however, remains intact with one percent growth.

"There is the risk that protectionism and trade policy uncertainty will increase even further and that additional trade barriers might be introduced," Pereira wrote.

"According to our simulations, additional tariffs would further reduce global growth prospects and fuel inflation, dampening global growth even more," he said.

Guna Yala Archipelago (Panama) (AFP) – Streets once filled with children's laughter have fallen silent on a Panamanian island where almost all residents left a year ago due to the threat of the sea swallowing their homes.

The evacuation of around 1,200 members of the Indigenous Guna community to a new life on the mainland was one of the first planned migrations in Latin America due to climate change.

The exodus from Gardi Sugdub in the Caribbean left those who remained with a sense of sadness, said Delfino Davies, who has a small museum on the island with spears, jars and animal bones.

"There are no friends left or children playing," he told AFP.

Gardi Sugdub now has the silence of a "dead island," he said.

Dusty desks and empty classrooms are all that remain of a school that once bustled with children.

Many of the island's wooden houses are padlocked.

"There's no one here. Sometimes I get sad when I'm here alone," Mayka Tejada, 47, said in the small store where she sells bananas, pumpkins, clothes, toys and notebooks.

Like Davies and about 100 others, she decided to stay.

But her mother and two children, aged 16 and 22, moved to one of the 300 houses built by the Panamanian government in a new neighborhood called Isber Yala on the mainland, a 15-minute boat ride away.

Gardi Sugdub, the size of around five football fields, is one of 49 inhabited islands in the Guna Yala archipelago -- also known as San Blas -- which scientists warn is in danger of disappearing by the end of the century.

Sitting in a hammock in her earthen-floor house filled with the aroma of medicinal herbs, 62-year-old Luciana Perez said she had no intention of leaving.

"I was born in Gardi and I'll die here. Nothing is sinking. Scientists don't know, only God," she said.

Perez said that she was not afraid because since she was a child she had seen big waves and rising waters flooding houses at times.

Steven Paton, a scientist at the Panama-based Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, said climate change meant that sea levels were expected to rise by up to 80 centimeters.

"Most of the Guna Yala islands are about 50 centimeters above sea level," he told AFP. "They'll be underwater."

Ana Toni, CEO of the United Nations' COP30 climate conference, told AFP that the mass evacuation "shows the reality we already have to face on the planet."

The arrival of the rainy season has left puddles dotting the dirt roads of Gardi Sugdub.

In contrast, in the new settlement of Isber Yala -- "land of loquats" in the Guna language -- the streets are paved and have sidewalks.

The nearly 50-square-meter (500-square-feet) concrete houses have flushing toilets and there is a plot of land to grow vegetables.

On Gardi Sugdub "we lived crowded together, and I had to go fetch water from the river in a small boat," said Magdalena Martinez, a 75-year-old retired teacher.

In Isber Yala, water is available for an hour in the morning, she said.

"I can fill the buckets. And I have electricity 24 hours a day," said Martinez, who lives with her granddaughter in the new neighborhood.

Tejada's children also have no regrets about leaving the island, she said.

"I miss them, but they're happy there. They have a place to play football and walk around," Tejada said.

While the island's school relocated to Isber Yala, its dilapidated clinic remained in Gardi Sugdub.

"Before, people came on foot. Now, they have to travel by land and sea to get here. There are fewer visitors," said 46-year-old doctor John Smith.

Some of the islanders divide their time between the two communities, while others visit occasionally to check on their homes.

This week, there will be more activity than normal: seven jars of chicha -- a fermented corn drink -- are ready for Isber Yala's first anniversary.

Martinez is looking forward to the celebration, even though it will be bittersweet.

Although she may not see it herself, "the islands will disappear because the sea will reclaim its territory," she said.

Foúrnoi (Greece) (AFP) – As a reddish dawn broke over the tiny, coral-rich Greek archipelago of Fournoi, Manolis Mytikas's wooden fishing boat slowly glided home, his nets almost empty.

The modest catch nevertheless quickly drew several islanders in search of fresh fish, a rarity in past years in this island chain in the northeastern Aegean Sea, which has fewer than 1,500 inhabitants in total.

"Today, there were two of us heading out to sea, and we caught some fish by chance," said the 76-year-old fisherman, his skin deeply tanned by the Mediterranean sun.

"Yesterday, we earned 30 euros ($34). The day before yesterday, not a penny. Sometimes, we don't even have enough to eat," he told AFP.

But things could be looking up for this small corner of the Aegean Sea.

Last month, the Greek government banned bottom trawling in the waters around the archipelago, to protect a recent discovery of exceptionally rich coral reefs.

Greece is also outlawing bottom trawling in national marine parks by 2026 and in all protected marine areas by 2030, the first country in Europe to take such a step.

Fishing is generally allowed in protected marine areas worldwide, often even by trawlers, which scrape the seabed with a huge funnel-shaped net.

"Finally!" Mytikas exclaimed when told of the ban. "They've ravaged the sea. They plough the seabed and destroy everything."

At the island port, his colleague Vaggelis Markakis, 58, compared trawlers to "bulldozers".

"If we stop them from coming here, our sea will come back to life," Mytikas said. "The sea will be filled with fish again."

Research conducted in this archipelago by the conservation groups Under the Pole, which organises diving expeditions in extreme environments, and Archipelagos, in collaboration with European scientific institutions, has highlighted the existence of major underwater animal populations.

At depths between 60 and 150 meters (around 200 to 500 feet), scientists have documented over 300 species living on the seabed under minimal light.

"What we discovered is beyond imagination -- vast coral reefs dating back thousands of years, still intact," gushed Anastasia Miliou, scientific director of Archipelagos.

The sea floor-dwelling species discovered include vibrantly red gorgonians (Paramuricea clavata) and black corals (Antipathella subpinnata).

"When these organisms occur at high densities, they form true underwater forests," said Lorenzo Bramanti, a researcher at the CNRS Laboratory of Ecogeochemistry of Benthic Environments.

But these habitats are extremely sensitive.

"A single trawl pass is enough to raze them," warned Stelios Katsanevakis, professor of oceanography at the University of the Aegean.

And the damage can be potentially irreversible, added Bramanti.

"Once destroyed, these forests may take decades or even centuries to recover," said the marine scientist, who has worked on corals in the Mediterranean, Caribbean and Pacific.

"No one doubts that cutting down a forest is an ecological disaster. The same is true for animal forests," Bramanti said.

By banning bottom trawling around Fournoi, Bramanti hopes Greece will set an example for other Mediterranean countries, he said.

"We must act quickly, because these are among the last ecosystems still untouched by climate change," given that they are located at depths greater than 70 meters, he said.

"And we risk losing them before we even truly understand them."

But the measure has left industrial fishing professionals fuming.

There are around 220 bottom trawlers in Greece, and sector representatives complain restrictions on their activity are excessive.

"We were not invited to any kind of discussion on this matter," said Kostas Daoultzis, head of the trawler cooperative at the northern port of Nea Michaniona, one of the country's main fish markets.

Daoultzis said the decisions were "based on reports from volunteer organisations... lacking scientific backing".

He said trawlers already avoid coral areas, which can damage their equipment.

Fournoi fishermen counter that trawlers do fish in their waters, but turn off their tracking systems to avoid detection.

Under pressure globally, trawling is likely to be on the agenda at a United Nations Ocean Conference next week in the French city of Nice.

Daoultzis said he fears for the survival of his profession.

"Our fishing spaces keep shrinking. Our activity is under threat, and consumers will suffer -- fish prices will skyrocket," he warned.

Cairo (AFP) – In the heart of Cairo, a small cinema has for over a decade offered a unique space for independent film in a country whose industry is largely dominated by commercial considerations.

Zawya, meaning "perspective" in Arabic, has weathered the storm of Egypt's economic upheavals, championing a more artistic approach from the historical heart of the country's golden age of cinema.

Zawya was born in the post-revolutionary artistic fervour of the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime president Hosni Mubarak.

"There was this energy where people wanted to produce and create, not just in cinema, but in all the arts, you could feel it," said Zawya founder Youssef Shazli.

In the time since, it has escaped a wave of closures -- some forced -- of art centres across the capital.

Egypt had long been known as the Hollywood of the Arab world, but in the decades since its mid-century heyday, the domestic industry has largely been restricted to crowd-pleasing blockbusters.

"It's often said that we're lucky to have a large film industry, with infrastructure already in place," said filmmaker Maged Nader.

"But the truth is this industry operates solely on a commercial logic," leaving little room for independent filmmakers, he added.

Yet Zawya has survived in its niche, in part due to the relative financial stability afforded to it by its parent company Misr International Films.

Founded in 1972 by Egyptian cinematic giant Youssef Chahine -- Shazli's great uncle -- the company continues to produce and distribute films.

For Shazli, Zawya is "a cinema for films that don't fit into traditional theatres".

But for young cinephiles like 24-year-old actress Lujain, "it feels like home," she told AFP as she joined a winding queue into the larger of Zawya's two theatres.

Since 2014, Zawya's year-round programming -- including both local and international short films, documentaries and feature films -- has secured the loyalty of a small but passionate scene.

Its annual short film festival, held every spring, has become a vital space for up-and-coming directors trying to break through a system that leaves little room for experimentation.

"I didn't even consider myself a filmmaker until Zawya screened my short," said Michael Samuel, 24, who works in advertising but says the cinema rekindled his artistic ambition.

For many, that validation keeps them going.

"Zawya has encouraged more people to produce these films because they finally have somewhere to be seen," said the cinema's manager, Mohamed Said.

When Mostafa Gerbeii, a self-taught filmmaker, was looking for a set for his first film shoot, he also turned to the cinema.

Without a studio or a budget, Zawya "just lent us their hall for free for a whole day", he said, saving the young director 100,000 Egyptian pounds (around $2,000) to rent a location.

The light of its marquee spilling onto downtown Cairo's Emad al-Din Street, Zawya is the 21st-century heir to a long artistic tradition that still lingers, though often hidden away in corners of the district's broad avenues.

"It's a unique neighbourhood with an equally unique flavour of artistic and intellectual life," said Chihab El Khachab, a professor at the University of Oxford and author of the book "Making Film in Egypt".

Starting in the late 19th century, the area was home to the city's biggest theatres and cabarets, launching the careers of the Arab world's most celebrated singers and actors.

Today, its arteries flowing out of Tahrir square -- the heart of the 2011 uprising -- the neighbourhood is home to new-age coworking spaces and galleries, side by side with century-old theatres and bars.

Yet even as it withstands the hegemony of mall multiplexes, Zawya cannot escape Egypt's pervasive censorship laws. Like every cinema in Egypt, each film must pass through a state censors before screening.

"Over time, you learn to predict what will slide and what won't," Shazli said.

But even the censors' scissors have failed to cut off the stream of ambition among burgeoning filmmakers.

"Around Zawya, there's a lot of talent -- in every corner," Shazli said.

"But what I wonder is: are there as many opportunities as there is talent? That's the real issue we need to address."

Yangon (AFP) – Mastering control of the rising and falling rattan chinlone ball teaches patience, says a veteran of the traditional Myanmar sport -- a quality dearly needed in the long-suffering nation.

"Once you get into playing the game you forget everything," says 74-year-old Win Tint.

"You concentrate only on your touch and you concentrate only on your style."

Chinlone is Myanmar's national game and dates back centuries. Branded a blend of sport and art, it is often played to music and is typically practised differently by men and women.

Male teams in skimpy shorts stand in a circle using stylised strokes of their feet, knees and heads to pass the ball in a game of "keepy-uppy", with a scoring system impenetrable to outsiders.

Women play solo like circus performers -- kicking the ball tens of thousands of times per session while walking tightropes, twirling umbrellas and perching on chairs balanced atop beer bottles.

Teen prodigy Phyu Sin Phyo hones her skills at the court in Yangon, toe-bouncing a burning ball while spinning a hula-hoop -- also on fire.

"I play even when I am sick," says the 16-year-old. "It is important to be patient to become a good chinlone player."

But play has plunged in recent years, with the Covid-19 pandemic followed by the 2021 military coup and subsequent civil war.

Poverty rates are shooting up and craftsmen face increasing problems sourcing materials to make balls.

But the rising and falling rhythm of the game offers its practitioners a respite.

"When you hear the sound of kicking the ball it's like music," Win Tint, vice-chairman of the Myanmar Chinlone Federation, told AFP.

"So when you play chinlone, you feel like dancing."

Different versions of the hands-free sport known as "caneball" are widely played across Southeast Asia.

In Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia players kick and head the ball over a net in the volleyball-style "sepak takraw".

In Laos it is known as "kataw" while Filipinos play "sipa" -- meaning kick.

In China, people kicking around weighted shuttlecocks in parks is a common sight.

Myanmar's iteration dates back 1,500 years, according to popular belief.

Some cite a French archaeologist's discovery of a replica silver chinlone ball at a pagoda built in the Pyu era of 200 BC to 900 AD.

It was initially practised as a casual pastime, a fitness activity and for royal entertainment.

But in 1953 the game was given rules and a scoring system, as part of an effort to codify Myanmar's national culture after independence from Britain.

"No one else will preserve Myanmar's traditional heritage unless the Myanmar people do it," said player Min Naing, 42.

Despite the conflict, players still gather under motorway overpasses, around street lamps blighted with wartime blackouts and on dedicated chinlone courts -- often ramshackle open-sided metal sheds with concrete floors.

"For a chinlone man, the day he plays is always a happy day. I am happy, and I sleep well at night," says Min Naing.

"On the days I don't play it, I feel I am missing something."

But Win Tint is concerned that participation rates are falling.

"I worry about this sport disappearing," says master chinlone ball maker Pe Thein, toiling in a sweltering workshop in Hinthada, 110 kilometres (70 miles) northwest of Yangon.

"That's the reason we are passing it on through our handiwork."

Cross-legged men shave cane into strips, curve them with a hand crank and deftly weave them into a melon-sized ball with pentagonal holes, boiled in a vat of water to seal its strength.

"We check our chinlone's quality as if we're checking diamonds or gemstones," adds the 64-year-old Pe Thein.

"As we respect the chinlone, it respects us back."

Each ball takes around two hours to make and earns business-owner Maung Kaw $2.40 apiece.

But supplies of the best-quality rattan he covets from nearby Rakhine are dwindling.

There is fierce fighting in the state between the military and opposition groups that now control almost all of it.

Farmers are too fearful to plunge into the jungle battleground to cut cane, says Maung Kaw, endangering his profession.

"It should not be that we have players but no chinlone makers," says the 72-year-old.

"I want to work as well as I can for as long as I can."