China sex toy makers cautiously embrace AI wave

Security in Pakistan's capital Islamabad was stepped up visibly on Sunday ahead of peace talks between the United States and Iran in the coming days.

President Donald Trump said US negotiators will be in Pakistan on Monday to resume talks on ending the war with Iran, little more than a week after face-to-face talks in Islamabad on April 11 ended without agreement.

"My Representatives are going to Islamabad, Pakistan — They will be there tomorrow evening, for Negotiations," he wrote on Truth Social.

Authorities earlier announced road closures and traffic restrictions across the city, as well as in neighbouring Rawalpindi.

AFP journalists saw armed guards and checkpoints near Islamabad's most secure hotels, including the Marriott and the Serena, where the last round of talks between US and Iranian delegations took place.

Most streets leading to the Serena Hotel were closed on Sunday, with barbed wire, barricades, heavy security and traffic diversions.

"Citizens are earnestly requested to cooperate with the security agencies," a city official posted on X.

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Turkey said on Sunday it remained "optimistic" that a two-week ceasefire between Iran and the United States that expires on Wednesday, would be extended, allowing more time for talks between the sides.

Pakistan is leading preparations for more high-level US-Iran peace talks after a first round ended without agreement last weekend, 

Turkey, alongside Egypt, has expressed strong support for the Pakistan-led initiative on prolonging negotiations and preventing a return to hostilities.

"No one wants to see a new war break out when the ceasefire expires next week. We hope ... the parties will extend the ceasefire," Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said at the closing of a three-day diplomacy forum in the southern Antalya province.

"I hope there'll be an extension. I am optimistic," he said.

Fidan said he spoke with Pakistani officials on Sunday but would not give a date when new talks could be held. 

"The continuation of negotiations is something the entire international community wants. There is significant pressure in this regard," he said. 

"Under this level of pressure, I believe the parties should not see any obstacle to extending the ceasefire in order to continue peace negotiations," added the minister. 

Fidan said unless the sides chose to pursue more confrontational measures, there was "a strong possibility that the ceasefire will be extended and negotiations will continue".

"Hopefully, a more positive scenario will emerge. With some luck, by that time, the key issues in the negotiations may already have been resolved," he added.

Despite the optimism and movement in negotiations, Iran said on Sunday a final peace deal was "far" off. 

"It is clear that the negotiations have reached a critical stage. Both sides are continuing the talks with a genuine sense of sincerity. They also have the will to keep the process going," Fidan said. 

Turkey's top diplomat also accused Israel of seeking to create a "fait accompli" in Lebanon, despite an agreed ceasefire, denouncing what he said "Israeli expansionism". 

"The ongoing Iran–United States negotiations seem to be overshadowing this situation (in Lebanon). Israel appears to be trying to take advantage of this distraction to create a fait accompli," Fidan also said.  

On Saturday, Fidan said Israel was attempting to occupy new territories using security concerns as a pretext.  

"We are talking about a fundamntalist government. We are talking abot a security problem that troubles the world," he said.

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Mahla, an interior designer in Tehran, says she has been forced to sell her valuables and gold to pay employees as Iran's internet shutdown, imposed at the start of the Middle East war, tanks her business.

The internet blackout, which was put in place soon after the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, was already the longest nationwide shutdown on record as of April 5, according to NetBlocks, which says it has now lasted more than 50 days.

Iran's highly restricted local intranet has been working throughout the war, allowing people to connect to domestic websites, but it's insufficient for normal businesses in a country already crippled by international sanctions.

Entrepreneurs like Mahla, 55, have been deprived of "proper access to artificial intelligence tools, Google or even emails", she said.

During the war and since anti-government protests in January, during which the internet was also shut down, "the situation has remained unstable," said the woman, who now only has one employee.

The restrictions are taking a toll on business owners' morale.

"Many people can no longer work. They feel exhausted, overwhelmed and hopeless," she said, angry at those "taking advantage of the situation to sell fake VPNs and scam people".

Even before the blackout, access in Iran was heavily filtered, with many social media platforms blocked, requiring the use of VPN software to bypass restrictions.

Mahdi, a 49-year-old accountant in Tehran, said the job situation that was already bad had only gotten worse.

"To find work, you need internet access, but it's not working. And the job postings on websites aren't being updated," he said.

- Millions a day -

Key economic indicators are not always available in a country where all communication is tightly controlled.

But the internet shutdown has clearly "inflicted considerable damage on the digital economy", the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said this week on X.

Telecommunications Minister Sattar Hashemi estimated the losses at $35 million per day.

These figures were backed up by fact-checking website Fact Nameh, which published excerpts from an April 13 speech by Afshin Kolahi, head of IT and energy company Rahnama.

The chief executive estimated a direct impact of $30 to $40 million per day from the blackout.

"We are losing the equivalent of two medium-sized power plants per day, and it's our fault," he said.

Entrepreneurs abroad who have staff in Iran are also feeling the impact. 

Maryam, 38, owner of a Paris-based online company that employs three people in Tehran, said her orders have fallen.

"In the last two months, we've only received 10 orders, just four of which came after the ceasefire," she said, adding the business would usually get three or four orders a day.

"We have a .com website as well as Telegram, WhatsApp, and Instagram, and none of these services are easily accessible," she added.

"I can't even communicate with my employees because I don't want to use Iranian internal applications for security reasons. I've practically lost contact with the people I work with since the first week of the war."

From time to time, rumours circulate about a partial, or even complete, return of the internet.

But even after the wave of protests in January, it was only partially restored before being completely cut off again with the outbreak of the war.

Hope is fading that the internet will be restored, even as diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran carry on. 

Amir, 40, said he didn't believe the internet would ever return to the country, his anger at the Islamic republic's leaders growing by the day.

"Even today, they announced that conditions were not favourable for restoring the connection," he told AFP on Friday.

But "they never say it's our right, only that (the outage) is bad for the economy!"

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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed Sunday to bring perpetrators of recent arson attacks on Jewish sites in London to justice as Britain's chief rabbi said "a sustained campaign of violence and intimidation" against Jews was accelerating.

Starmer said he was "appalled" by a spate of recent arson attacks in northwest London, the latest of which came on Saturday night, after a similar incident late on Friday.

"This is abhorrent and it will not be tolerated. Attacks on our Jewish community are attacks on Britain," the prime minister said in a post on X.

"We will not rest in the pursuit of perpetrators."

Counter-terror officers from London's Metropolitan Police are investigating multiple arson or attempted arson attacks against Jewish properties in Britain's capital in the past month.

Officers have stepped up patrols in areas with large Jewish populations, amid an upsurge in antisemitic incidents in Britain.

In the latest incident, a fire caused minor smoke damage to a room at Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow on Saturday night, said the Community Security Trust (CST), which provides safety advice to Jewish groups. No injuries were reported.

A property formerly used by the charity Jewish Futures was targeted in nearby Hendon on Friday night.

"A sustained campaign of violence and intimidation against the Jewish community of the UK is gathering momentum," the chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, said in a post on X.

"Thank God, no lives have been lost, but we cannot, and must not, wait for that to change before we understand just how dangerous this moment is for all of our society," he added.

- Counter-terror police investigating -

In a statement, London's Metropolitan Police said that officers on patrol noticed damage to the window of the Kenton synagogue on Saturday night.

"On further inspection they saw smoke inside a room and evidence that a bottle with some sort of accelerant had been thrown through the window."

A police statement added that, as with the other recent events, counter-terror officers were leading the investigation.

On Wednesday, police arrested two people over an arson attack on a synagogue in nearby Finchley.

In late March, four Jewish community ambulances were torched in Golders Green, also in north London.

A little-known group, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI), with links to Iran, has claimed responsibility for many of the attacks, according to SITE Intelligence Group.

The group previously claimed similar attacks in Belgium and the Netherlands.

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Tens of thousands of people attended a giant open-air mass by Pope Leo XIV outside the Angolan capital Sunday, where he delivered a message of hope to the resource-rich country marked by poverty and inequality.

Leo flew to Portuguese-speaking Angola on Saturday, the third leg of a whirlwind four-nation African tour on which he has condemned corruption and the plunder of the continent's resources -- and had a high-profile spat with US President Donald Trump.

Around 100,000 people attended the pontiff's first mass in Angola at Kilamba, around 30 kilometres (19 miles) from Luanda, the Vatican said, citing local authorities.

The pope encouraged the crowd "to look to the future with hope" in a "new beginning" for the nation still scarred by a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002.

It was possible "to build a country where old divisions are overcome forever, where hatred and violence disappear, where the wound of corruption is healed by a new culture of justice and sharing", Leo said.

After arriving on Saturday from Cameroon, Leo went straight into an event with Angolan President Joao Lourenco and other officials, where he spoke out against the "suffering" caused by poverty and the rampant exploitation of natural resources -- continuing the assertive tone of his 11-day tour.

- 'Call leaders to account' -

Angola is one of Africa's top oil producers and is rich in resources such as diamonds.

However, economic disparities in the country are stark, and around a third of the population of 36.6 million people live in poverty, according to the World Bank.

The population is largely young, with an average age of 23, according to official statistics.

Patricio Musanga, 32, said he attended the mass looking for encouragement for young people, with a lack of work making many seek better opportunities in Western countries.

"We are very rich in natural resources but... there is a glaring inequality between those who live well and the others," said Musanga, wearing a white cap and a T-shirt showing the pope's image.

"The pope must call our leaders to account... I believe that at least he will be listened to by the authorities," he said, also calling for "national reconciliation".

"There's a concentration of wealth in the hands of very few, and of course the war just aggravated the situation," said Father Pedro Chingandu, a Catholic priest who had come from the eastern province of Moxico.

"We need real democracy and the redistribution of wealth and justice," Chingandu told AFP.

- Slave-route shrine -

After Kilamba, the pope is to travel 110 kilometres by helicopter to the town of Muxima, Angola's most venerated pilgrimage site, where a 300-year-old church overlooks a river that was once a major slave trading route.

The church, with a statue of the Virgin Mary known affectionately as "Mama Muxima", draws roughly two million pilgrims a year.

It was built by Angola's Portuguese colonial settlers to baptise slaves before they were transported down the Kwanza River to the Atlantic and on to the Americas, according to religious leaders.

The government has embarked on a massive multi-million-euro project to build a basilica in the town, which has drawn some criticism about the government's spending priorities.

Poverty was partly blamed for a three-day looting spree in Luanda and other centres in July last year, when around 30 people were killed in what critics said was a heavy-handed police response.

Analysts said the unrest signalled dissatisfaction with Lourenco's socialist MPLA party, which has held power since independence in 1975.

- Regrets Trump spat -

Leo started his African tour in Algeria on Monday, then headed to Cameroon.

He told journalists on the flight to Angola he regretted that a war of words with Trump -- who labelled him "weak" after he called for an end to the Middle East war -- had overshadowed some of the trip.

It is "not in my interest at all" to debate the US leader, said the first American pontiff.

From Angola, Leo will travel to Equatorial Guinea, the final stop of an 18,000-kilometre journey across the continent.

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Austrian police have found rat poison in a baby food jar in a probe that has seen the company HiPP recall the line over suspected tampering, with the firm stating on Sunday its production process was not to blame.

The HiPP brand's German base announced the recall at SPAR supermarkets in Austria late Friday over the possibility that "a hazardous substance" was introduced into its "carrot with potato" puree through tampering.

As part of ongoing investigations in Germany, police have seized jars in Austria, as well as the Czech Republic and Slovakia, police in Austria's eastern Burgenland province said in a statement late Saturday.

"A sample of the seized product was examined on Saturday afternoon and tested positive for rat poison," they said.

HiPP said on Sunday that its "production, quality, and control processes are fully intact" and the incident "is in no way related to product quality or production".

"According to the current state of knowledge, as officially confirmed by the authorities, the case concerns only clearly defined sales channels," a HiPP spokesman told AFP.

"Products and distribution channels in Germany or other European countries that are not part of the investigation are not affected," he added.

- Consumer warning -

Austria's agency for food protection said on Saturday that rat poison may have been introduced as part of an extortion scheme.

Customers were asked not to consume the product, which can be identified by a white label with a red circle on the bottom of the jar, and instead return it to the store of purchase.

Czech police on Sunday on X also warned consumers.

The scare is the latest to hit the baby food market.

Since December, several manufacturers -- including European giants such as Nestle, Danone and Lactalis -- have issued recalls of infant formula in more than 60 countries that could be contaminated with the toxin cereulide.

Several infants who consumed powdered milk containing cereulide -- which can cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea -- have died, according to French authorities.

French prosecutors said in March the death of one baby in January "does not appear to be linked" to the infant's consumption of contaminated formula.

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A humanoid robot competing against flesh-and-blood runners broke the world record at a Beijing half marathon on Sunday, showcasing the rapid technological advancement achieved by Chinese makers.

Spectators lined the roads in Yizhuang in the capital's south to watch the machines and their human rivals race, each group in a separate lane to avoid accidents or collisions.

Some of the robots were highly agile, moving like famous runners such as Usain Bolt, while others had more basic capabilities.

The winning humanoid, equipped with an autonomous navigation system and running for Chinese smartphone maker Honor, completed the roughly 21-kilometre (13-mile) course in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, at an average speed of about 25 kilometres per hour, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

That was far faster than the top human in Sunday's race, while also surpassing the current men's world record of 57:20 held by Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo.

The result represented spectacular progress from last year, when robot-runners fell repeatedly and the best took more than two hours and 40 minutes to finish.

The number of humanoid entries jumped from around 20 last year to more than 100, according to organisers, a sign of the sector's growing popularity.

- 'Pretty cool' -

Han Chenyu, a 25-year-old student who watched the race from behind a safety barrier, barely had time to take out her phone and snap a picture of the leading robot as it whizzed past.

She told AFP she was enthusiastic about such leaps in technology and thought the event was "pretty cool".

But, she added, "as someone who works for a living, I'm a little worried about it sometimes. I feel like technology is advancing so fast that it might start affecting people's jobs", particularly with artificial intelligence growing increasingly sophisticated.

Humanoid robots have become a common sight in China in recent years, in the media as well as in public spaces.

Xie Lei, 41, who watched Sunday's race with his family, said robots could "become part of our daily lives" within several years, potentially used for "things like housework, elderly companionship or basic caregiving" or "dangerous jobs, even firefighting".

The humanoid half marathon aims to encourage innovation and popularise the technologies used in creating and operating such machines.

In a sign of the industry's strength, investment in robotics and so-called embodied AI amounted to 73.5 billion yuan ($10.8 billion) in China in 2025, according to a study by a government agency.

"For thousands of years, humans have been at the top on planet Earth. But now, look at robots. Just in terms of autonomous navigation, at least in this specific sport event, they're already starting to surpass us," Xie said.

"On one hand, it does make you feel a little bit sad for humanity. But at the same time, technology, especially in recent years, has given us so much imagination."

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The latest developments in the Middle East war:

- Lebanon reopens bridge -

Lebanon's military said it has reopened a road and bridge damaged by Israeli strikes in the country's south, as a fragile 10-day truce holds between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

In a statement, the military said it "fully reopened" a road linking the city of Nabatieh with the Khardali area, and had "partially reopened the Burj Rahal-Tyre bridge".

- War spurs UK towards Europe -

Britain's government is set to announce legislation next month to move the country closer to the European Union, as the Iran war sours the UK's so-called special relationship with the United States.

President Donald Trump's unpredictability and stream of insults towards America's historic ally is adding impetus to Prime Minister Keir Starmer's bid to deepen ties with the 27-nation bloc, a decade after Britons narrowly voted to leave the EU.

- Israeli soldier killed -

Israel's military said a soldier died during combat in southern Lebanon, where fighting has not stopped despite a temporary ceasefire.

It was the second death of a soldier announced by Israel since the start of the truce on Friday.

The total Israeli army death toll in the six-week war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon is now 15, according to an AFP tally based on military figures.

- Hormuz closed -

The strategic Strait of Hormuz remained closed on Sunday, a day after Iran's central military command announced a new closure in response to a US blockade of Iranian ports.

On Friday, Iran had declared the strait -- where around a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas usually transits -- open after the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire announcement.

But Trump insisted the US naval blockade against Iran would continue until a deal to end the wider war was concluded, leading Tehran to again close the strait -- a measure Trump called "blackmail".

- Iran says deal is 'far' off -

Progress had been made in negotiations with the United States to end the war, Iran's parliamentary speaker said late Saturday, but the two sides remain far from an agreement.

"We are still far from the final discussion," Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, one of Iran's negotiators, said in a televised address. "We made progress in the negotiations, but there are many gaps and some fundamental points remain."

- Iran's death toll -

Iran's state-run Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs was quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying the war with the United States and Israel had left 3,468 people dead in the country.

- UN chief condemns peacekeeper death -

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned an attack on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon that left a French soldier dead and three wounded.

France blamed the attack on Hezbollah and Guterres said, in a statement issued by his spokesman, that an initial assessment by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was that it was carried out by the Iran-backed group.

Hezbollah has denied accusations that it was involved.

- Israel hits Lebanon -

The Israeli military said Saturday its air force had eliminated a "terrorist cell" operating near its troops in southern Lebanon, despite the ceasefire there.

Israeli forces also carried out demolitions in Lebanese towns near the border, including Bint Jbeil, the scene of intense fighting with Hezbollah prior to the ceasefire, Lebanese state media reported.

- Iran navy warning -

"We warn that no ship, of any kind, should leave its anchorage in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman," Iran's Revolutionary Guards navy said in a statement on its official Sepah News website.

"Any attempt to approach the Strait of Hormuz will be considered cooperation with the enemy, and the offending vessel will be targeted."

- No one-sided truce -

Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said Saturday the 10-day truce with Israel cannot be one-sided, vowing that his fighters would respond to Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

"Because we do not trust this enemy, the resistance fighters will remain in the field with their hands on the trigger, and they will respond to violations accordingly," Qassem said in a statement read out on TV.

"There is no ceasefire from the side of the resistance only, it must be from both sides."

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday condemned the easing of sanctions on Russian oil after the United States extended a waiver meant to soften surging energy prices driven by the Middle East war.

"Every dollar paid for Russian oil is money for the war" and the billions of dollars involved are used for devastating strikes on Ukraine, Zelensky said in a post on X.

He did not mention the United States, but President Donald Trump's administration on Friday issued a month-long sanctions waiver allowing the sale of Russian oil and petroleum products that are at sea.

The action was intended to bring down soaring energy prices. But the US Treasury Department extension came two days after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that Washington would not renew the waiver.

Zelensky said there were more than 110 tankers carrying Russian oil in breach of international sanctions currently at sea, carrying more than 12 million tonnes of crude "which, due to the easing of sanctions, can once again be sold without consequences.

"That is $10 billion -- a resource that is directly converted into new strikes against Ukraine," Zelensky said.

The Ukraine leader said that in the past week alone, Russia had launched more than 2,360 attack drones, more than 1,320 guided aerial bombs "and nearly 60 missiles of various types at our cities and communities".

A 16-year-old boy was killed and four people wounded in one overnight attack on the northern city of Chernihiv, the head of the local administration said Sunday.

Zelensky said: "It is important that Russian tankers are stopped, not allowed to deliver oil to ports. The aggressor’s oil exports must decrease, and Ukraine’s long-range sanctions continue to work toward that goal."

- Democrats slam 'shameful' move -

Zelensky has a delicate relationship with Trump, who had a memorable blow-up with him in the Oval Office last year.

Ukraine needs US backing to fight off Russia, but has faced pressure from the Trump administration to sign off on a deal to end the more than four-year-old war triggered by Moscow's invasion.

The US sanctions waiver allows for the purchase of Russian oil and petroleum products that have been loaded onto any vessel as of Friday, through 12:01 am (0401 GMT) on May 16.

It extends an earlier easing of sanctions that expired on April 11.

Trump is keen to contain surging petrol prices ahead of key midterm elections this year.

Several top Democrats slammed the new sanctions relief however.

"This decision is shameful and a 180-degree reversal from Secretary Bessent, just two days after he pledged not to extend sanctions relief for Russia," said Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren in a statement.

"Make no mistake, Putin has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of President Trump's war against Iran, as Russia saw oil revenues nearly double in March."

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Tens of thousands gathered outside Angola's capital Luanda for a giant open-air Sunday mass led by Pope Leo XIV on the second day of his visit to the resource-rich country marked by deep poverty.

Leo flew to Portuguese-speaking Angola on Saturday to start the third leg of a four-nation African tour.

He went immediately into a meeting with President Joao Lourenco and other officials, where he spoke out against oppression and the "suffering" caused by poverty and the rampant exploitation of natural resources.

The remarks continued a theme of his 11-day tour during which he has delivered pointed warnings against corruption and the plunder of the continent's natural wealth.

Multitudes -- many seeking a message of hope in difficult circumstances -- turned out to join Leo for the Sunday mass at Kilamba on the outskirts of the capital.

Patricio Musanga, 32, said he was looking for encouragement for young people in Angola, where a lack of work made many seek better opportunities in Western countries.

"He needs to give us hope, to help us understand that from here we can live better than abroad," he told journalists.

"We are very rich in natural resources but ... there is a glaring inequality between those who live well and the others," said Musanga, wearing a cap and a T-shirt showing the Pope's image.

Even though Angola is one of Africa's top producers of crude oil and is also rich in resources like diamonds, around a third of its population of 36.6 million people live in poverty, according to the World Bank.

"There's a concentration of wealth in the hands of very few, and of course the war just aggravated the situation," said Father Pedro Chingandu, who had come from the eastern province of Moxico to attend the mass.

Angola is still scarred by a civil war that erupted after independence from Portugal in 1975 and ended in 2002.

"We need real democracy and the redistribution of wealth and justice," Chingandu told AFP.

- Slave-route shrine -

After Kilamba, the pope is to travel 110 kilometres (70 miles) by helicopter to the town of Muxima, Angola's most venerated pilgrimage site, where a 300-year-old church overlooks a river that was once a major slave trading route.

The church, with a statue of the Virgin Mary known affectionately as "Mama Muxima", draws roughly two million pilgrims a year and large crowds are expected to meet the pope.

Angola's Portuguese colonial settlers built the church to baptise slaves before they were transported down the Kwanza River to the Atlantic and on to the Americas.

The government has embarked on a massive multi-million-euro project to build a basilica, houses and public services in the town, which has drawn some criticism about the government's spending priorities.

Poverty was partly blamed for a three-day looting spree in Luanda and other towns in July last year when around 30 people were killed in what critics said was a heavy-handed police response.

Analysts said the unrest signalled dissatisfaction with Lourenco's socialist MPLA party, which has held power since independence in 1975.

- Regrets Trump spat -

Leo, who was elected a year ago, started his African tour in Algeria on Monday and then headed to Cameroon.

He told journalists on the flight to Angola he regretted that a war of words with US President Donald Trump -- who has called him "weak" after he called for an end to the Middle East war -- had overshadowed much of the trip.

It is "not in my interest at all" to debate the US leader, Leo said.

From Angola, he will travel to Equatorial Guinea, the final stop of a whirlwind 18,000-kilometre journey across the continent. 

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