Polls open in Virginia congressional redistricting vote

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday stressed his country was a "reliable member" of NATO, after a report the United States was considering possibly trying to expel Spain over its refusal to support operations in the Middle East war.

The Reuters news agency cited an anonymous US official telling it that the Pentagon had outlined the expulsion option in an email looking at ways to punish NATO allies that steered clear of the US-Israeli war against Iran.

"Spain is a reliable member within NATO" which is fulfilling all its obligations, Sanchez told reporters in Cyprus, where he was attending an EU summit.

"As a result, I am absolutely not worried," he said.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly railed against NATO allies for refusing to join the war, saying he viewed it as a betrayal. 

Some of them -- France, Spain and Italy -- did not allow US military aircraft deployed for the war to overfly their territories or to use bases. Britain initially also refused, but later allowed US flights from its bases for "defensive" missions in the conflict.

Trump also tried, in vain, to get European NATO members to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively closed with military threats and attacks.

Washington's expectation that NATO members' facilities and territories should be available to the US without question has added to strains within the alliance, which Trump has taken to calling a "paper tiger".

Sanchez added in Cyprus that "we don't work on the basis of emails, we work off official documents and the position that the United States government has set out in this case".

He added that his government's stance was "absolute cooperation with allies, but always within the bounds of international law".

NATO is to hold its next summit in Turkey on July 7-8.

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From the world's first drive and dump car seat to the secret sauce that makes salmon leap. Your weekly roundup of offbeat stories from around the world.

- Salmon's a bit high -

Salmon can swim almost twice as far if there is cocaine in the water, scientists have discovered.

More and more of the drug is getting into rivers and streams as human consumption of the stimulant hits new highs. And the result is not to be snorted at.

Researchers at Australia's Griffith University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences found wild salmon exposed to cocaine swam 1.9 times further than their clean-living cousins.

Which may explain why they are always swimming against the tide and trying to jump up waterfalls.

Scientists were unable to say whether coked-up fish thought they were smarter, sexier and better dancers than other salmon, though we can safely make the leap.

- Everybody dance now -

It might be interesting to test the water some politicians have been swimming in given the groovy moves world leaders have been throwing lately.

US President Donald Trump found time from posting memes of himself as "Doctor Jesus" healing the sick to dust off his "YMCA" dance moves for supporters, while Hungarian politician Zsolt Hegedus stole the show on election night in Budapest with his zany display of dad dancing as he celebrated the ousting of Viktor Orban.

But Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has bested them both, drumming up support for his re-election run by touring the country with his newly-formed rock band.

The 50-year-old took up drumming last year and has since been putting the percussion into politics, with a string of gigs billed as "We play, you dance".

While Pashinyan is no Phil Collins, he does write his own songs. It can only be a matter of time before he forms a trio with Vladimir Putin -- who famously serenaded Sharon Stone with "Blueberry Hill" -- and Turkenistan's Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who likes to rap about his favourite horse.

- It'll drive you potty -

A Chinese carmaker has patented an on-the-go toilet aimed at drivers who might be caught short on long journeys.

The voice-controlled loo is concealed beneath a sliding car seat that springs into action with the magic words, "Start up toilet function." 

The design by electric vehicle maker Seres even has a fan and exhaust pipe to get rid of whiffy odours.

- Creeping train -

First there was "Snakes On A Plane", now German railways have gone one better than the Hollywood film with tarantulas on a train.

A driver found a parcel packed with 20 live tarantula spiders on his train in Stuttgart. Police said it was labelled "Spiders and Scorpions" and that a 31-year-old woman forgot them as she rushed to get off at a station but returned later to pick them up.

- Lots of time off now -

A Frenchman wrote 44,000 fake sick notes for people to get time off work before being caught, police say.

The 25-year-old made nearly one million euros in a matter of months posing as a doctor online and charging 21 euros a go, they said.

He is now facing 10 years of enforced leave himself -- behind bars -- with the French government less than happy about having to pick the tab for the sick pay.  

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After weathering unprecedented attacks from Iran, the wealthy Gulf states are now stuck between war and peace as talks stall and the vital Strait of Hormuz remains all but closed -- threatening economic recovery.

Iran has hit Gulf energy exports with its Strait of Hormuz blockade, while its attacks have caused damage to energy infrastructure that could take months or more to repair. 

Even as a shaky ceasefire holds, the threat of renewed strikes looms over the region's economy beyond oil, threatening diversification ambitions in the Gulf, long touted as a safe haven for visitors and business.

It is unclear whether stalled talks, so far centred around the Strait of Hormuz and uranium enrichment, will produce a deal addressing the Gulf's main concerns: stripping Iran of its control over the key waterway and keeping its missiles and proxies in check. 

The longer the Gulf's fate remains uncertain, the longer economic recovery will take, and analysts warn that the traditional US allies will struggle to influence Washington's decisions when it comes to war and peace.

- Unpaid leave -

"If this goes on for quite a long time with the Strait of Hormuz blocked, some of those states are going to suffer huge blows. And they already have," said Dania Thafer, director of the Gulf International Forum research institute. 

Qatar has already stopped liquefied natural gas production and, along with energy producers in Kuwait and Bahrain, declared force majeure.

In Dubai, unusually light traffic and deserted tourist areas tell the tale of a city still waiting for a return to normality.

Weeks into a fragile truce, the initial shock has subsided, with children returning to school in the UAE and Qatar after more than a month of distance learning.

But some are still following classes online after many families fled. UAE schools have put drills in place for security incidents.

One luxury hotel employee said some staff have put on unpaid leave, while an employee at a beauty salon said salaries had also been slashed.

Half of the Gulf countries are expecting a contraction this year, while slowed growth is projected for Saudi Arabia and the UAE, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Big, oil-rich countries with deep pockets can boost their economies again, but these prospects hinge on how long the crisis lasts and whether a final resolution can provide assurances for the future, Jihad Azour of the International Monetary Fund told AFP.

- 'Worse case scenario' -

The Hormuz blockade has exposed most of the Gulf's dependance on the key waterway.

But even for countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which have access to pipelines that allow some of their exports to bypass the waterway, diversification efforts are at risk.

Stability is key to attract talent and tourists, but also achieve their goal of becoming major hubs for artificial intelligence expertise and data centres.

"The US has really opened a Pandora's box for the Gulf states," Thafer said.

If Iran is allowed to maintain "a veto over their economies indefinitely" through its control of Hormuz, she added, that would be "an extremely challenging and vulnerable situation for the Gulf".

Israel is not at the negotiating table and could still upend any deal.

"Is Israel going to continue to 'mow the lawn' in Iran?" Thafer said, referring to the strategy of repeated, periodic attacks.

"And is Iran going to turn around and close the Strait of Hormuz or attack the Gulf states' economies?.

"This is the worst case scenario: instability ensuing around the Gulf states and no end to this crisis."

- 'Face-saving exit' -

Gulf states remain divided over the war and on Iran. The UAE, which Iran has struck most frequently, has had a more hawkish stance and expressed maximalist demands for any deal, while Saudi Arabia has supported mediator Pakistan's efforts.

"Iran had a calibrated strategy: striking Gulf states to different degrees and creating varying degree of threat perceptions towards Iran," according to Thafer.

And despite close ties to Trump, who was given a hero's welcome last May during his Gulf tour, the monarchies have found themselves on the sidelines of the talks despite being in the firing line.

"The Gulf states have struggled to shape the Trump administration's behaviour toward Iran," said Hasan Alhasan of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

"They did not want the US to initiate war against Iran -– which it did -– and it's no surprise that they are unable to get Washington to prioritise their own security interests in the negotiations," as Trump seeks what he Alhasan called a "face-saving exit".

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Prices of rubber products have shot up due to supply chain disruptions stemming from the Middle East war, the world's largest condom maker and a leading glove manufacturer, both based in Malaysia, said on Friday.

Karex, which supplies condoms for brands like Trojan and Durex, said it had to increase prices by up to 30 percent, while global supplier Top Glove said the main material for synthetic rubber gloves had doubled in cost.

Much of Malaysia's rubber industry relies on oil to produce goods, but supply has been scarce since Iran imposed a de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which around a fifth of global crude and liquefied natural gas passes in peacetime.

The closure, which began after the United States and Israel launched strikes on February 28, has also affected raw material costs and disrupted global shipping.

"We continue to experience longer lead times from suppliers, increased price volatility and higher freight costs," Karex chief executive Goh Miah Kiat said.

"In the meantime, we are also holding more key raw materials critical for business operations, and hence requiring the need to increase costs by up to 30 percent," Goh told AFP in an email.

A crucial raw material affected, silicone oil, is "used in every condom", Karex said.

Karex makes more than five billion condoms yearly, helping to prevent unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases across the globe. It provides condoms to organisations such as Britain's National Health Service and the World Health Organisation.

The prices of other Karex products, from personal lubricants and probe covers to catheters and aluminium foil packaging, have also increased, Goh said.

Costs have been affected "across the board", including the price of condom material nitrile latex and natural rubber.

Top Glove, one of the world's leading manufacturers of rubber gloves, said it was particularly hard hit by a sharp hike in the price of nitrile butadiene rubber "which has increased by more than 100 percent, reflecting tight supply".

"For natural rubber gloves, input costs have risen by approximately 30 percent, as natural rubber is a traded commodity which is impacted by the uptrend in crude oil prices," the company added.

Top Glove supplies 95 billion gloves per year to more than 2,000 customers worldwide.

Both manufacturers said the supply of their main products remained stable.

"However, longer ship lead times are causing lower inventory levels at our customers' end, and certain condom manufacturers are facing challenges in production," Karex's Goh said.

jhe/ami

The latest developments in the Middle East war:

- 'Tight' gas markets -

The market for liquefied natural gas (LNG), which has been strained by the war, will remain  "tight" through 2026 and 2027", the International Energy Agency said.

- Oil prices rise -

Oil prices extended gains and stocks struggled as investors worried about a lack of progress in ending the Middle East crisis, with Tehran keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed and the US maintaining a blockade of Iranian ports.

- Everyone needs 'stability' -

"It is in everyone's interest for stability to return as soon as possible and for the world's economies to be reassured," French President Emmanuel Macron said as he attended an EU summit in Nicosia, where talks with Middle East leaders were also scheduled.

- US reward -

The US State Department is offering up to $10 million for information on the leader of the Tehran-backed Iraqi armed group Kataeb Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS), which Washington designates as a terrorist organisation.

- Israel-Lebanon ceasefire extended -

The ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended for three weeks, US President Donald Trump announced Thursday.

"I think there's a very good chance of having peace. I think it should be an easy one", Trump told reporters, adding that he plans to meet with top leadership from both countries in the next couple weeks.

- Hezbollah fires on northern Israel -

Hezbollah said on Thursday it fired rockets at Israel, accusing it of "violation of the ceasefire and its targeting of the town of Yater in southern Lebanon".

Hezbollah said it targeted the Shtula settlement in northern Israel with rockets.

- Trump says 'clock is ticking' for Iran -

Trump said Thursday the United States is under no pressure to end the war with Iran, but "the clock is ticking" for Tehran, as disruption from the conflict batters the world economy.

He also ruled out striking Iran with a nuclear weapon. "A nuclear weapon should never be allowed to be used by anybody," the US president told reporters at the White House.

- US aircraft carrier arrives in Middle East -

The USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier has arrived in the Middle East region, the US military said Thursday, bringing the number of the American navy battle groups in the theatre to three.

- Iran welcome at World Cup -

Iran's footballers will be welcome at this year's World Cup, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday, distancing the US government from a proposal that Italy could take their place in the tournament.

Rubio denied that Washington had asked the Iranian team not to come, but warned members of its delegation deemed to have ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) may be barred.

- Israel awaits 'green light' -

Israel's defence minister, Israel Katz, said the country was "prepared to resume the war" and was awaiting a green light from Washington to return Iran to "the Stone Age".

- Trump's Hormuz order -

Trump on Thursday said "I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be...that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz".

- US forces board tanker -

The US Defense Department said Thursday its forces boarded a vessel in the Indian Ocean that was providing material support to Iran, the second time it had done so in three days.

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Tesla's much-touted autonomous "robotaxi", called the Cybercab, has started production, CEO Elon Musk said on Friday, the same week that the carmaker reported first-quarter profits that beat expectations.

Musk posted a promotional video on X accompanied with the brief caption, "Cybercab has started production."

The 38-second clip, mostly shot from within a driverless Cybercab, showed the vehicle rolling off the factory floor and driving onto streets.

Musk also shared a short video clip showing what appeared to be multiple gold-colored Cybercabs driving in formation on a road.

Tesla said on Wednesday it was on track to commence "volume production" of both its Cybercab and Tesla Semi this year, after reporting first-quarter profits of $477 million.

Cybercab -- billed as a self-driving robotaxi without a steering wheel or pedals -- was first unveiled in the fall of 2024, with Musk predicting at the time that it would become available in 2027.

Tesla began offering robotaxi services to "early access" users on an invitation-only basis in the US city of Austin, Texas, last June.

The auto manufacturer posted a photo in February showing employees gathered around a Cybercab on a factory floor, with the caption "First Cybercab off the production line at Giga Texas."

hol/abs

Has a 300-year-old Stradivarius violin worth $10 million and stolen by the Nazis during World War II turned up in France?

Pascale Bernheim, an expert on looted musical instruments, thinks so.

The first clue was an article in a local newspaper.

It reported that violinist Emmanuel Coppey had  demonstrated his talent on several old violins during an evening of wine and music in the city of Colmar in the Alsace region near the German border.

Luthier Nicolo Amati had made the first in 1624, and Antonio Guarneri crafted the second in 1735, Les Dernieres nouvelles d'Alsace said.

The third was made by fellow Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari back to 1719. 

"I am absolutely convinced that it is the Lauterbach," named after one of its first owners, Bernheim told AFP.

Nazi soldiers stole the violin from a museum in the Polish capital Warsaw in 1944, according to French newspaper Le Parisien, which investigated the story.

The string instrument survived years in East Germany during the Cold War, then was last seen in France in the early 1990s.

Stradivari made only nine violins in 1719, two of which are missing -- the "Lauterbach" and the "Lautenschlager".

But the "Lautenschlager" has a back made of two pieces of wood -- not one, like the "Lauterbach", the Parisien says.

A classical concert producer named Emmanuel Jaeger organised the wine and music evening in Colmar on March 31.

He had contacted Bernheim in 2017 to trace the origin of a violin owned by Jean-Christophe Graff, a luthier from Strasbourg, she said.

But when late British luthier Charles Beare examined it before he died last year, he said it was a Stradivarius from the luthier's so-called golden period, Bernheim said.

He was worried he was holding a stolen instrument, she added.

- 'Which one is it?' -

The French expert started digging and found that Polish industrialist Henryk Grohman had owned the instrument before World War II, then handed it over to the Polish museum before his death.

She found he had descendants in Austria and Argentina.

But the instrument's origin still needs to be confirmed with certainty.

"To my knowledge, Beare twice examined the violin, then it underwent a dendrochronological analysis," to determine the age of wooden objects, Bernheim said.

Neither the concert producer Jaeger nor the luthier Graff responded to an AFP request for comment.

But Jaeger has said Bernheim was wrong.

"To the best of my knowledge, this isn't the stolen violin," he told the Alsace newspaper on Thursday.

He says the violin that starred at the concert was another of those made in 1719.

Bernheim was adamant.

"If it really is a Stradivarius from 1719, and not the Lauterbach, then which one is it?" she asked.

A rare Stradivarius violin, the "Joachim-Ma Stradivarius", fetched $11.3 million at auction in New York in February.

The most-expensive record belongs to another Stradivarius, the "Lady Blunt," which went in 2011 for $15.9 million.

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A large ice chunk is blocking the climbing route to Everest's summit, officials said Friday, risking delays in the summit season at the world's highest peak.

A team of highly skilled mountaineers, known in Nepal as "icefall doctors", began fixing ropes and ladders on Mount Everest last month to prepare for the coming spring climbing season.

But a dangerous serac -- a block of glacial ice -- above the already treacherous Khumbu icefall has disrupted their work for nearly two weeks.

"We are waiting for it to melt, and expect that it will clear in a few days," icefall doctor Dawa Jangbu Sherpa told AFP.

Climbers must cross the Khumbu icefall, a constantly shifting maze of crevasses and ice blocks, to reach higher on Everest.

"A team of experts and highly skilled guides will head there to monitor and devise an alternative plan if needed," said Himal Gautam, spokesman for Nepal's tourism department.

"We are trying to ensure that there are no delays, even drop supplies by a helicopter, so that routes can be prepared on schedule," he added.

Nepal is home to eight of the world's 10 highest peaks and attracts hundreds of climbers each spring, when temperatures are warmer and winds calmer.

A climbing boom has made mountaineering a lucrative business since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa made the first ascent in 1953.

The government has issued more than 900 climbing permits for various Himalayan mountains this season, including 410 for Everest.

A sea of tents to host more than 1,000 people -- foreign climbers and support staff -- has built up at the foot of Everest, readying to scale the 8,849-metre (29,032-foot) summit.

Expedition organiser Iswori Poudel, of Himalayan Guides Nepal, said that climbers would usually be doing acclimatisation climbs on Everest at this point.

"Most teams have reached the base camp or are on their way," he said. "Climbers are going to neighbouring peaks now for preparations."

Around 700 people reached Everest's summit last year from the Nepali side, according to the tourism department, with another 100 climbers believed to have reached the peak from the northern side, via China.

In 2023, three Nepali guides were killed when a falling block of glacial ice swept them into a deep crevasse as they were crossing the Khumbu icefall with supplies.

Autumn summits on Everest in 2019 were also thwarted by a serac.

In 2014, an immense tumbling wall of snow, ice and rock killed 16 Nepali guides on the icefall, one of the deadliest accidents in the Himalayas.

pm/pjm/ami

Tokyo's metropolitan government is encouraging staff to wear shorts to work to cut reliance on air conditioning, an official said Friday, as concerns grow over high energy costs linked to the Middle East War.

The loosened dress code is part of an upgraded version of "Cool Biz" -- an energy-saving initiative started by Japan's environment ministry in 2005 that encouraged bureaucrats to ditch ties and jackets in summer, and saw some turn up to work in Okinawan-style collared t-shirts. 

An energy crunch threatened by the Middle East war is "one of the factors" that prompted the Japanese capital to take it up a notch and start allowing its workers to don shorts this month, a Tokyo official who declined to be named told AFP. 

Already, some male workers in the Tokyo government office can be seen sporting shorts and T-shirts, local media footage showed earlier this week.

Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike, who herself started the Cool Biz campaign as environmental minister two decades ago, is all in. 

This summer, "we encourage 'cool' attire that prioritises comfort, including polo shirts, T-shirts and sneakers and -- depending on job responsibilities -- shorts," she told reporters earlier this month, citing "a severe outlook for the supply and demand of electricity". 

The new Cool Biz initiative also includes a greater shift toward teleworking and starting work early, Koike added.

Last year Japan sweltered through its hottest summer since records began in 1898, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Temperatures rising to 40C and above have become so common that the agency unveiled an official designation last week for these extreme weather events, labelling them "cruelly hot" or "kokusho" days.

tmo/aph/fox

Four months ago, the stars seemed to be aligned for veteran left-winger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in his quest for an unprecedented fourth term as Brazilian president.

The 80-year-old was riding high in polls after staring down US President Donald Trump in a spat over the coup trial of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro.

The economy was growing and unemployment was falling to record lows.

But a flurry of financial scandals and growing discontent over a cost-of-living crisis have eroded his lead over his right-wing rival, Flavio Bolsonaro, son of Jair Bolsonaro, now sitting in prison.

A survey by the polling firm Datafolha published on April 11 sent alarm bells ringing throughout the Lula camp.

For the first time it showed Bolsonaro edging out the incumbent in a presidential runoff, with the senator garnering 46 percent to 45 percent for Lula, although the pair remained locked in a statistical tie.

Worryingly for Lula, the Datafolha poll showed 51 percent of voters disapproving of his performance. 

"It's a warning sign, obviously," said Jilmar Tatto, vice president of the Workers' Party, which former metalworker Lula co-founded in 1980.

The younger Bolsonaro is running as a more moderate version of his father, who is serving a 27-year sentence for plotting to cling onto power after losing elections to Lula in 2022. 

Lula has launched a counteroffensive, highlighting improvements in health, education, and infrastructure since he succeeded Trump ally Bolsonaro.

The publicity effort is taking place on several fronts.

To allay concerns about his age, Lula has released videos of him lifting weights, using a treadmill and sprinting to meetings.

He has also issued a new call to arms in the face of Trump's intimidation of friend and foe alike. 

"We cannot allow the world to bow down to the behavior of a president who believes that he can impose tariffs on products, punish countries, and wage war by email or Twitter," Lula said recently in Germany.

- 'Barely surviving' -

Defending Brazil's sovereignty gave Lula a poll bump last year, when the United States slapped tariffs on its longtime ally for putting Trump's friend Bolsonaro in prison.

But in the months since, the mood in Brazil has shifted.

Rising prices for essentials like food and energy have taken center stage, particularly among younger voters.

"The market is incredibly expensive. Buying clothes is very expensive too. It's very shocking because you're not really living, you're just barely surviving," Yohana Freitas Barbosa, a 27-year-old administrative assistant in the capital Brasilia, told AFP.

Mariano Machado, an analyst at the consulting firm Verisk Maplecroft, warned that "any gap between the macroeconomic situation and voters' everyday experience with the cost of living will influence the vote, and Lula knows it."

To curb rising fuel prices caused by the Middle East war, the government has temporarily reduced taxes on diesel to zero.

But Lula has failed to quell feverish speculation about his poll slump.

For the first time, newspaper columnists are pondering a hypothetical scenario in which he might withdraw from the election. 

The ruling party has dismissed the idea and doubled down on its social agenda, which includes a proposal to cut the working week by four hours to 40 total.

"We are going to set the country's agenda and win the elections," Tatto said.

- Whiff of scandal -

A series of high-profile financial scandals have added to the president's woes. 

Police and Congress are investigating a major alleged pension fraud scheme, from which one of Lula's sons is believed to have benefited.

Another probe is looking at the links between a businessman at the heart of a major banking scandal and high-ranking public officials. 

While none of the investigations target the president, Brazilians' weariness with corruption "ends up tainting those in power," Edinho Silva, head of the Workers' Party, lamented.

For many on the right, Lula remains poisoned by the corruption scandals that marked his first two terms as leader between 2003 and 2010.

Lula himself spent 580 days in prison for corruption as part of the sprawling Lava Jato (Car Wash) probe, although his convictions were later annulled.

The lingering perception among some voters is "that the (Workers' Party) is more corrupt than the rest," Creomar de Souza, a politics professor at the Dom Cabral Foundation, told AFP.

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