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He is, according to President Donald Trump, a "top person" in the Iranian system who is "most respected" and is in an unenviable position.

But who is the senior figure talking with the United States on the future of Iran after over three weeks of the Israeli-US war against the Islamic republic? 

The individual, said Trump, is not supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei who succeeded his father, Ali Khamenei, after the killing of the ex-number one at the start of the war on February 28.

After the killing of national security chief Ali Larijani in an Israeli strike last week, attention has focused on parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has survived the war so far. 

But Trump gave no names, saying: "I don't want him to be killed."

Here are five possible figures.

- Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf

Ghalibaf has been pinpointed by several analysts as the de-facto wartime leader of Iran following the killings of Khamenei and Larijani and the failure of Mojtaba Khamenei to make any public appearance.

During three decades at the centre of the Iranian system he has held posts straddling civilian and military life, as commander of the aerospace forces of the Revolutionary Guards, Tehran police chief, Tehran mayor and now parliament speaker.

Regarded as deeply ambitious, he stood for president on three occasions but was never successful. After a report in Israeli media said he was the interlocutor of the US, he posted on X that "no negotiations have been held with the US" and denounced "fakenews".

- President Masoud Pezeshkian

President since 2024 after an election held following the death of former president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, Pezeshkian is seen as belonging to the more moderate wing of politics in the Islamic republic.

However his position as president in no way makes him Iran's number one, with the supreme leader having the final say on all key matters, although how the power structures work in the post-Ali Khamenei era remains unclear.

Seeking to promote himself as an ordinary man of the people, Pezeshkian took to the streets earlier this month for a mass pro-government rally in favour of the Palestinian cause, taking selfies with well-wishers. Larijani also took part in the same event, only to be killed days later.

- Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi

A veteran diplomat, Araghchi has held the post since 2024 following the death of former foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian in the same helicopter crash that killed Raisi.

He acted as Iran's representative in talks last month with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Oman that were mediated by the Gulf sultanate and failed to stop the march to war.

The New York Times said Tuesday, citing US and Iranian officials, that Araghchi and Witkoff had "direct communication" in recent days which according to Iranian officials amounted to "essentially probes on how to de-escalate the conflict".

Araghchi, who holds a doctorate in political thought from the University of Kent in England, has vigorously defended Iran's position in TV interviews including with American media. But his position as foreign minister seems unlikely to equate to that of a "top person".

- Revolutionary Guards Commander-in-Chief Ahmad Vahidi  

A former interior and defence minister, Vahidi is the third commander-in-chief of Iran's ideological army in less than a year after his predecessor Mohammad Pakpour was killed on the first day of the war and Hossein Salami was killed during Israel's 12-day war against Iran in June 2025.

Possibly for this reason, Vahidi has kept a very low profile in this war, making no public appearance.

Only one statement has been issued in his name as commander on March 19, expressing his condolences for the killing of the commander of the Guards' Basij militia, Gholamreza Soleimani, in an airstrike.

- Quds force commander Esmail Ghaani

An extremely shadowy figure, Ghaani became commander of the force responsible for the external operations of the Revolutionary Guards after the killing of Qassem Soleimani in a US strike in Iraq in 2020.

Ghaani was reportedly killed in the June 2025 war but then later re-emerged in public. Intense speculation has since surrounded his whereabouts and standing, amid reports he has come under pressure due to alleged intelligence lapses including the 2024 killing in Lebanon by Israel of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

On March 20, Iranian state media issued the first, and so far only, message in Ghaani's name of the war, predicting that Iran would "soon witness the shameful defeat" of its enemies in the war.

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At an archaeological site in southern Lebanon's Tyre, small signs bearing a blue and white emblem provide a symbolic shield, meant to protect the ancient ruins from bombardment.

One of the oldest cities on the Mediterranean coast, Tyre is located around 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the Israeli border, and has been the target of several strikes since Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war by Hezbollah's March 2 rocket attack on Israel.

The Al-Bass site is centred on a necropolis that dates back three millennia to Tyre's time as a major Phoenician city and was still in use until the Arab conquests of the 7h Century.

An organisation linked to UNESCO, the United Nations' cultural heritage agency, launched the signs initiative near the site, part of a push that covers more than 30 locations across the country. 

It is a reminder that the 1954 Hague Convention obliges warring parties to protect cultural property.

On March 6, an Israeli strike hit just a few metres away, killing eight people according to Lebanon's health ministry.

The target, a family home, is now a pile of rubble.

"They were our neighbours... They thought that being close to an archaeological site protected them, that because this is a World Heritage site it would not be struck," said Nader Saqlawi, director of archaeological excavations in the south for Lebanon's culture ministry.

- Human remains -

The team from the ministry that came to inspect possible damage to the monuments found human remains -- "a hand and pieces of flesh" -- on the roof of the site's museum, which is still under construction, he said.

The museum suffered damage, its windows were blown out, but the explosion did not reach the necropolis nor the Roman-era triumphal arch, aqueducts and hippodrome that are also part of the site.

In antiquity, the city of Tyre was at various times Phoenician, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine. 

While many of its inhabitants have fled the latest war, others remain alongside the city's precious relics. 

Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassan Salame condemned what he called Israel's aggression.

"The archaeological sites do not contain any military or security presence. Therefore, this argument cannot be used to justify their bombing," he said.

There was no immediate comment in response to AFP's request from the Israeli army, which usually says it is targeting Hezbollah sites or operatives with its attacks.

"Lebanon is full of archaeological riches... and the Beirut depots do not have the capacity to accommodate all these threatened objects," said David Sassine, an expert at the International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage.

- 'No one cares' -

There is also no guarantee that the objects would be safer in the capital, which is itself regularly bombed by Israel, and transporting the items from the south of the country, even under military escort, "remains risky", Sassine said.

During the previous Israel-Hezbollah conflict in 2024, gold coins, millennia-old amphorae and valuable sarcophagi were transferred to Beirut, where they have remained.

Tyre was heavily damaged by Israeli strikes during that war, while much of the population evacuated at the time.

Closer to the border, the citadel in the village of Shamaa was also partly destroyed by the Israeli military.

Saqlawi of the culture ministry said he believed attacks on historic sites were intentional.

"The Israelis know everything. They know your shoe size... and they know very well this is an archaeological site," he said.

Mustapha Najdi, a guard at the archaeological sites, was at the Al-Bass site when the March 6 strike hit.

"I heard a very violent impact. I fled and alerted the authorities," he said.

"No one cares about us", Najdi lamented, calling on "everyone who can to exert pressure to stop this barbarity".

"This civilisation represents history, represents us all, Lebanese and non-Lebanese."

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German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke on Tuesday of a "deep rift" with traditional ally the United States and said the US-Israeli war on Iran was a "breach of international law".

In unusually strong comments, the German head of state said that just as there was no going back from Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, "there will be no going back to before January 20, 2025", when US President Donald Trump entered the White House for a second time.

"The rift is too deep and the trust in American power politics has been lost, not only among our allies but... worldwide," he said at an event to mark the 75th anniversary of the German foreign ministry.

Although Steinmeier's role is largely ceremonial, his words carry weight in Germany, which has not officially condemned the war against Iran.

Steinmeier, a former foreign minister, said: "Our foreign policy does not become any more convincing simply because we do not call a breach of international law a breach of international law."

He stressed that the US-Israel war on Iran was, "in my view, in breach of international law".

"There is little doubt that, in any case, the justification of an imminent attack on the US does not hold water," he added.

Germany's head of government, Chancellor Friedrich Merz, has harshly criticised Iran's leadership and backed several key US-Israeli war goals but also stated that, had Berlin been consulted in advance, it "would have advised against" the war.

Merz has repeatedly said Germany shares "the objective that Iran should no longer pose a threat in future", while also making clear Germany would not enter the conflict.

Steinmeier called the military campaign "a politically disastrous mistake" and "a truly avoidable, unnecessary war".

"Realism means we must be pragmatic in our dealings with this US administration and focus on our core interests," he said.

"But realism also means we must not compromise our own principles. 

"The US government has a different world view to ours, one that shows no regard for established rules, partnership or hard-won trust. 

"We cannot change that. We must deal with it. But this is my conviction: we have no reason to align ourselves with this world view."

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Soaring black-market prices of cooking gas in India's capital are pushing poorer families back to wood and coal, raising health risks and worsening air quality in the highly polluted megacity.

India is the world's second-largest buyer of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which is used for cooking and predominantly sourced from the Middle East -- and supplies have been strangled by the ongoing war.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged states to curb black marketing and avoid panic, stressing that India's energy supplies remain stable.

In the low-income Madanpur Khadar neighbourhood, 36-year-old domestic helper Sheela Kumari says she has been forced to abandon LPG cooking gas cylinders for cooking after prices more than doubled.

"We used to buy cylinders for 1,800–2,000 rupees ($19-$21), but now on the black market it has gone up to 5,000 ($53)," she told AFP, nearly as much as she entire monthly salary of 6,000 rupees.

"It is unimaginable for us," she said. "The next best option for us was going back to wood and coal."

Kumari said a 14 kilogramme cylinder lasts only 15–20 days for her family of six, even when they stretch its use out.

But she says a 10 kilogramme bundle of firewood, lasting several days, costs 30 rupees ($0.30).

"There are health repercussions, and my children cough," she said. "But tell me a way out?"

- 'Too expensive' -

Her neighbour, 45-year-old Munni Bai, who has asthma, had switched to using an electric cooker as well as biogas from cow dung, to help her breathing.

But now she said she was being forced to resume use of alternative fuels.

"Gas is too expensive," she said. "We cannot depend on it -- we moved from coal and wood, due to my health issue, but now it is difficult to sustain."

But activists say the problem is more about access.

Many migrant workers lack documentation needed for subsidised LPG and rely on informal markets, where hoarding has pushed up prices.

"There is no major shortage yet, but hoarding has increased," said Deepak, who uses only one name, from the Centre for Advocacy and Research (CFAR).

"Many migrants depend on black-market cylinders, and prices have gone up two to three times".

New Delhi, and its wider sprawling metropolitan region of 30 million residents, is regularly ranked among the world's most polluted capitals, due to a deadly mix of emissions from power plants, heavy traffic, as well as the burning of rubbish and crops.

For the past decades, India's government has pushed its "Ujjwala" or "light" clean-energy scheme, to provide over 100 million LPG connections to poor households.

Burning wood, coal and biomass indoors exposes families to high levels of smoke and toxic particles, increasing the risk of respiratory illnesses.

Women and children, who spend more time near cooking areas, are especially vulnerable.

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Ibrahima Mar first lost his livelihood then lost his son when the fish off Senegal's coast began to disappear, rupturing a way of life that had sustained his family for generations.

Industrial and illegal fishing, among other factors, have contributed to a sharp decline in the region's fish stock, robbing the west African nation of a traditional source of nutrition and income.

In recent years, fish have been "increasingly plundered", said Mar, who lives in a fishing village in the Dakar suburb of Rufisque.

The 55-year-old fisherman, a member of the Lebou ethnicity, a traditional fishing people, spoke to AFP from one of Rufisque's boat landings, explaining that the fish had been "taken from our path. So, there's no hope left".

Bottom trawlers and other industrial ships, generally flagged to Senegal but whose owners' real nationalities are difficult to trace, send their catches abroad.

"If you dig a little deeper into the ultimate beneficial ownership" the boats are Spanish, Italian, French, Chinese and Turkish, among other nationalities, Bassirou Diarra, country manager for Senegal at the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), told AFP.

"Not only is there a shortage of fish for the Senegalese market, for food security, but the money that should come back in terms of currency for the national economy isn't coming back," he said.

Destructive and illegal practices meanwhile include "fishing in prohibited areas, nets that do not comply with regulations, MPA (marine protected area) rules that are not respected, and the abusive granting of licences", Diarra said.

- Fish dependency -

A 2025 EJF report suggests that 57 percent of fish populations exploited in Senegal are in a state of collapse.

Members of coastal fishing communities have become increasingly desperate, illegally immigrating in traditional wooden canoes called pirogues along the deadly Atlantic migration route to Europe.

That includes two of Mar's sons, both fishermen.

After one succeeded, Mar received a call several years ago from his other son, in his late teens.

He phoned "to tell me he was in a pirogue heading for Spain. That pirogue had 140 people on it," Mar said.

The family waited the five- to six-day journey for news of his arrival, then 15 days, 20 and 30.

But they never heard from him again.

Colourful pirogues are ubiquitous along Senegal's 700-kilometre (435-mile) coast.

"What a pirogue used to catch in two months, now that same pirogue can fish for six or seven months to catch the same amount, which is a problem," Mamadou Diouf Sene, president of the Fishing Wharf Revenue Commission of Rufisque, told AFP from the city's wharf.

A web of professions from cart driver to ice seller, as well as fishmonger and processor, depend on fish.

Fishmonger Fatou Seck, 39, sat at the Rufisque wharf alongside several other women with small trays of sea bream, white carp and mullet.

"Times are really tough right now," the mother of six told AFP, adding that "many of us base our hopes on this work, which is our only source of income to feed our children".

More than 82,000 people in Senegal work in fishing according to latest census information, comprising some two percent of the workforce in 2023.

A surge of artisanal fishermen has additionally contributed to fish population decline, as people flock to the profession which requires minimal training.

Estimates on pirogue numbers in Senegal vary but generally fall between 12,000 to 19,000.

Meanwhile, climate change is pushing west Africa's small pelagic fish -- smaller, often schooling species caught by artisanal fishers -- to move northward, according to research.

- Wild West -

Fish have declined for some 40 years but artisanal fishers really took note when small pelagics like sardinella and horse mackerel started vanishing some 15 years ago.

The prospect of Senegal having to import fish, a part of its cultural identity and a major natural resource, "is catastrophic", Mar said.

Cheikh Salla Ndiaye of Senegal's Directorate of Fisheries Protection and Surveillance described monitoring the sea as "very difficult", even with assistance from the navy and air force.

Mar recently spent time on a Greenpeace ship with four other fishermen learning how to better spot and report illegal fishing.

"We used to call the high seas like the Wild West because there was no way to see what was happening out there," Sophie Cooke, a fishing vessel analyst with Greenpeace, told AFP aboard the ship.

But technologies such as tracking devices, satellite radar and even smartphones, which fishermen can use to take pictures and pinpoint boats' locations, are changing that, she said.

Mar intends to take these tools back to his community.

With his two fishermen sons now gone, one in Spain and the other taken by the sea, Mar's experience with declining fish stocks is deeply personal.

As for his third son, Mar said: "I put him in a training centre. He's learning metal welding."

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A proposed amendment to India's transgender law has sparked fear and anger among LGBTQ groups, who warn it could undo hard-won legal gains and take away the right to self-identify.

The bill before parliament would narrow the legal definition of transgender persons to a limited number of traditional socio-cultural identities such as "hijra" and "aravani", terms used for hundreds of years for a third-gender community.

But critics say that the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Amendment Bill excludes trans men and women, non‑binary or gender-fluid people and others who rely on self‑identification.

It would also introduce mandatory certification by medical boards and district magistrates, with additional approvals for those undergoing gender-affirming surgery.

The government says the bill intends to "streamline" the existing framework, plug implementation gaps and better protect vulnerable groups by strengthening penalties for exploitation, forced identity and trafficking.

For transgender students at a makeshift tea stall in New Delhi -- many of whom have not even come out to their families -- the implications feel overwhelming.

"I am very scared," said one student, their voice barely above a whisper. "If the state decides who you are, what happens to who you know yourself to be?"

Activists warned that the bill could upend the lives of thousands, and runs counter to a landmark 2014 Supreme Court ruling that affirmed the right of transgender people to self-identify.

"This bill doesn't just create problems... it throws our lives out of order completely," said PhD scholar Vaibhav Das, who identifies as non‑binary. 

- 'Invasive' -

Over the past decade, India has moved ahead of many countries on legal recognition.

Yet discrimination and limited economic opportunity continue to shape the daily lives of many transgender people.

"The moment you take away the right to self-identify, you give that power to the state," Das said. 

"A medical board will examine you, and a district magistrate will decide who you are. It's invasive -- and strikes at dignity and autonomy."

Kabir Maan, an educator and trans man from India's marginalised Dalit community, voiced similar concerns.

Obtaining basic identity documents was already challenging under the current system.

"Do I have to prove myself all over again now?" he asked.

Maan, who is on hormone therapy but has not undergone surgery, feared the bill could also jeopardise access to medical care. 

"If a medical board does not recognise me (as a trans-man), will that (access to health care) be taken away?"

Raghavi, a trans-woman lawyer, warned that the amendments amounted to a rollback of rights.

"By removing the provision of self‑determination, we are losing a right recognised (under the constitution)," she said.

Others described the bill as a form of "medical gatekeeping", arguing that added bureaucratic layers could leave many people without legal recognition or essential services.

- 'Slow journey' -

"The judgement of how I identify my body is being put in the hands of the state," said Ritu, an activist who identifies as non‑binary.

"This violates the constitutional right to live with dignity and freedom."

For many, concern stems not only from the potential legal changes but also from what they signal for the future.

Das, who grew up in the eastern state of Odisha, said institutional support for understanding gender identity was already scarce. 

"My journey was slow," Das said. "I found support from friends but not from the state. Now the law is moving in the opposite direction."

India's transgender population was estimated at nearly 500,000 in the 2011 census, although activists say stigma and underreporting mask the true figure.

The amendment must still clear both houses of parliament and could be referred to a committee for further scrutiny.

Trans groups have pledged legal challenges and street protests if it passes.

"We will fight this tooth and nail," Das said. "Protests are already happening across the country."

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When her three-year-old son Elias told her that his father, a child psychiatrist, had abused him, Alina thought she would quickly find support to protect her child.

But what ensued was a shocking odyssey through Austria's legal system, where she found those in powerful positions protected their peers, while she faced kidnapping accusations when she tried to keep her son safe.

The social worker's legal battle only ended when her husband committed suicide three years later and another minor filed a sexual abuse complaint against him.

"Sadly, he protected my son by killing himself. No one else did," Alina told AFP.

Elias and Alina's nightmare is by no means unique.

In another Austrian case examined in detail by AFP, doubt also benefited the alleged paedophile, according to court documents.

Austria has been hit by a procession of high-profile paedophilia scandals, most notoriously that of Wolfgang Priklopil, who abducted 10-year-old Natascha Kampusch in 1998 and held her for eight years in his basement.

The latest broke in October, when Hermann Gmeiner -- long celebrated for helping orphans with his charity, SOS Kinderdorf Austria -- was accused of abusing children from the 1950s to the 1980s.

While he is now dead, several people who worked for the NGO are being investigated.

- Wall of silence -

A similarly all-powerful man protected by his fame inspired Austrian Nobel literature prize winner Elfriede Jelinek to write an opera about the child psychiatrist and serial abuser Franz Wurst two decades ago.

The well-known paediatrician was convicted in 2002 for sexually abusing more than 80 children. Such was his control over his victims, he even used one of them to kill his wife.

But theatres refused to stage Jelinek's work, leaving it to lie in a drawer unpublished.

Despite the headlines generated by the recent Gmeiner case, victims' groups say a deep-seated reluctance to tackle the reality of the problem persists.

When Alina -- whose name AFP has changed to protect her son's identity -- filed for custody after her son told her about the abuse in 2000, the judge had to rely on a child psychiatrist's report for his judgement.

He recommended the courts "grant the father extensive visitation rights, given his profession".

He even advised that after a trial period, overnight stays at the father's home be authorised, without ever having met him.

Alina claims several of her husband's colleagues knew he was a paedophile.

In his diary, consulted by AFP, Elias's father wrote that he wished to become a child psychiatrist to get "close to children".

- 'Crushed' -

A senior child psychologist told AFP she has repeatedly come up against abuse of power by child psychiatrists in Austria.

A child's word carries little weight when hard evidence is lacking and the accused parties deny wrongdoing, she said.

She cited another case in which a doctor ruled out rape in his expert's report, even though "the facts were staring you in the face".

And she said the psychiatrist who did the report in Elias's case once wrote to the group she worked for calling for discretion in another incest case involving a member of the traditionalist Catholic organisation Opus Dei.

The psychologist said those who try to speak out expose themselves to defamation suits.

The wall of silence this creates has "crushed" families who bring complaints of abuse, she told AFP, often causing them to give up their fight for justice.

Victims' support group StoP said that "something is not working with the rule of law" in abuse cases in Austria, "as recent examples show", including the SOS Kinderdorf scandal.

It said "perpetrators are being better protected than children".

The group said that in criminal as well as custody cases, "the violence perpetrated against children and their mothers is not taken into account."

And it called for the judiciary to get specific training for such cases.

- 'Gaps' -

One Austrian grandmother fought tooth and nail to ensure her son-in-law would never be allowed to be alone with his twin boys, who began to speak of his abuse before they were even three.

They also described how they were repeatedly photographed in sexualised positions by their father in the presence of other men.

Yet courts ordered the twins to be returned to their father despite unequivocal expert reports, seen by AFP, and the boys' own testimony.

Instead it was the twins' mother who was convicted by a court abroad for failing to return the boys to their father after she went into hiding with her kids.

The proceedings were long, complex and costly, with the case passing through several judges' hands.

One Austrian judge questioned the mother's evidence, interrupting her when she began recounting what the boys had experienced.

"Were you there?" he asked.

"No one was there," he declared.

Stunned by his intervention, the grandmother later discovered that a few years earlier, the same judge had been arrested after being caught in the toilets of a swimming pool with a 13-year-old boy.

Placed in pre-trial detention and then charged, he defended himself by claiming he believed the boy was 14, the age of consent in Austria.

He was acquitted and promptly returned to the bench.

Austrian lawmakers urged the government in January "to identify the legal gaps in child protection and to close them as quickly as possible", with "80 percent (of abuse) occurring within the immediate family circle".

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The Pentagon beefed up restrictions on journalists covering the US military on Monday, days after a court ruled that its earlier overhaul to press access was unconstitutional.

The clampdown is the latest in a string of measures by President Donald Trump and top officials against journalists and news outlets often derided as "fake news" when their reporting displeases the administration.

A federal judge ruled on Friday that the Defense Department's changes to press access last year, which saw accreditations from a host of prominent media outlets withdrawn, violated the constitution.

But the Pentagon responded with even tighter restrictions, announcing Monday that it would close a press area called the Correspondents' Corridor and that "all journalist access to the Pentagon will require escort by authorized Department personnel."

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell cited security risks for the change, and said the department would appeal Friday's court ruling.

"Effective immediately, the Correspondents' Corridor is closed," Parnell posted on X.

He said a new press workspace will be established "in an annex facility outside the Pentagon, but still on Pentagon grounds."

The Washington-based National Press Club said the new policy restricted reporters' ability to do their work.

"Closing the Correspondents' Corridor and forcing escorted access undermines independent reporting at the Pentagon at a moment when the public needs clear, unfiltered information about the U.S. military," National Press Club President Mark Schoeff Jr said in a statement.

The Pentagon announced last year that eight media organizations including The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, NBC and NPR had to vacate their dedicated office spaces in the Pentagon, alleging that there was a need to create room for other -- predominantly conservative -- outlets.

It also required journalists to be accompanied by official escorts if they go outside a limited number of areas in the Pentagon.

US media including the Times and Fox News, and international news outlets such as AFP and AP, declined to sign the new policy, resulting in the stripping of their Pentagon credentials.

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Tiger Woods will make a tentative return to competitive action when he plays Tuesday in the TGL golf league, weeks after the 15-time major champion said that the Masters in April was not "off the table".

The 50-year-old underwent disc replacement surgery in October, the latest in a series of operations and injuries that have kept the American great sidelined from top-level competition since the 2024 British Open.

Woods will play for Jupiter Links in the finals of the TGL, said the indoor simulator league, which combines technology with players from the PGA Tour.

Woods has won five Masters titles, the most recent an epic 2019 victory that ended his 11-year major championship drought.

He suffered severe leg injuries in a 2021 car crash.

The 2026 Masters at Augusta National are on April 9-12.

Speaking last month, he refused to rule out playing at the Masters.

He said he had progressed from chipping and putting practice to hitting full shots.

"I keep working on it, trying to get stronger, trying to get more endurance in this body and trying to get it at a level at which I can play at the highest level again," he said.

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Asian countries are ramping up use of polluting coal to tackle energy shortages and price spikes linked to the Iran war, but the crisis could have an environmental silver lining.

While leaning on the fossil fuel will raise emissions in the near term, the energy crisis is demonstrating the risks of energy import dependence, and could push policymakers to embrace renewables faster, analysts told AFP.

"The ongoing Iran oil and gas crisis shows the importance of having domestic energy sources that are not exposed to the global commodity market, which coal is," said Amy Kong, research analyst at Zero Carbon Analytics.

"Countries like Vietnam who have rapidly increased their share of solar generation, have a stronger buffer against rising energy import prices," Kong said.

Much of Asia is heavily exposed to the energy crisis that has unfolded since the US-Israel attack on Iran began last month.

More than 80 percent of the crude oil and liquified natural gas (LNG) that passes through the Strait of Hormuz heads to Asia, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

Pakistan, India and Bangladesh are all major importers of LNG from Qatar, which said last week that its export capacity had been slashed by 17 percent because of Iranian attacks.

It warned it would be forced to declare force majeure for up to five years on some long-term LNG contracts, signalling it may be unable to fulfill the agreements.

- Higher prices -

Compounding the problem, most Asian countries do not have underground gas storage, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, leaving them especially vulnerable to price spikes.

As a result, many nations are bumping up use of coal, which can be sourced regionally or even domestically, to prevent power outages and protect citizens from severe price shocks.

While it cannot be substituted directly in LNG plants, countries can run existing coal power plants at a higher capacity or bring idle units back online.

The shift has come in wealthy and developing economies alike.

In South Korea, a cap on how much power can be generated from coal has been lifted, while Thailand is preparing to resume operations at two coal power units decommissioned last year.

In India, already highly dependent on coal for electricity generation, the fuel is now being substituted for cooking gas. 

And in the Philippines, energy secretary Sharon Garin told AFP authorities "plan to ramp up cheaper coal, (domestic) natural gas, and renewables".

The increase in demand has pushed coal prices higher and even sparked talk of a windfall tax in coal-producing Indonesia, which reversed a decision taken last year to reduce production.

The shift is bad news for the environment in the short term. Coal is a top contributor to planet-warming greenhouse gases, and also a powerful air pollutant that is harmful for human health.

- 'Transition fuel' -

The shift will "impose substantial environmental and public health costs," said Dinita Setyawati, senior energy analyst for Asia at think tank Ember.

Asia's vulnerability is due in part to its heavy reliance on LNG, often promoted as a "transition fuel" -- a less polluting option than coal that can "bridge the gap" as countries move towards renewable energy.

Upfront costs for LNG plants can be lower than for renewables that may require grid upgrades.

But renewables are now cheaper in the long run, and the current crisis is illustrating their benefits in terms of stable supply, said Putra Adhiguna, managing director at Energy Shift Institute, an energy finance think tank.

"The story of gas as a stable transition fuel is highly in question," he said.

And while temporary increases in coal capacity are an attractive stopgap, the banking sector is reluctant to finance construction of new coal projects, concerned about stranded assets as nations are forced to phase down fossil fuels to meet their climate obligations.

That could help refocus policymakers' attention on the benefits of renewables, said Adhiguna.

"I think we already see a bit of that coming from Southeast Asian countries," he said.

"There have been all these debates about how we can't afford to spend the money (on renewables) upfront, but I think this security of supply issue is going to override that."

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