'Raw and honest': India climbers face obstacles in race to the top

Chinese startup DeepSeek released a new artificial intelligence model Friday, more than a year after it stunned the world with a low-cost reasoning model that matched the capabilities of US rivals.

DeepSeek-V4 "features an ultra-long context of one million words", the company said in a statement on social media platform WeChat, hailing it as "cost-effective" in a separate announcement on X.

The announcement came as Meta said it planned to cut a tenth of its staff as it looks for productivity gains from the rest of the workforce while investing heavily in artificial intelligence. Reports said Microsoft was also looking to trim its ranks.

DeepSeek-V4's context length, which determines how much input a model is able to absorb to help it complete tasks, "(achieves) leadership in both domestic and open-source fields across agent capabilities, world knowledge, and reasoning performance".

A "preview version" of the open source model is now available, the company said.

DeepSeek-V4 is released as two versions, DeepSeek-V4-Pro and DeepSeek-V4-Flash, with the latter being "a more efficient and economical choice" because it has smaller parameters.

V4-Pro has 1.6 trillion parameters while the V4-Flash has 284 billion parameters, which refine models' decision-making ability.

The model has also been "optimised" for popular AI Agent products such as Claude Code, OpenClaw, OpenCode and CodeBuddy, the statement said.

"In world knowledge benchmarks, DeepSeek-V4-Pro significantly leads other open-source models and is only slightly outperformed by the top-tier closed-source model, (Google's) Gemini-Pro-3.1," the statement added.

Hangzhou-based DeepSeek burst onto the scene in January last year with a generative AI chatbot, powered by its R1 reasoning model, that upended assumptions of US dominance in the strategic sector.

This so-called "DeepSeek shock" sparked a sell-off of AI-related shares and a reckoning on business strategy in what was also described as a "Sputnik moment" for the industry.

The chatbot performed at a similar level to ChatGPT and other top American offerings, but the company said it had taken significantly less computing power to develop.

However, its sudden popularity raised questions over data privacy and censorship, with the chatbot often refusing to answer questions on sensitive topics such as the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.

At home, DeepSeek's AI tools have been widely adopted by Chinese municipalities and healthcare institutions as well as the financial sector and other businesses.

This has been partly driven by DeepSeek's decision to make its systems open source, with their inner workings public -- in contrast to the proprietary models sold by OpenAI and other Western rivals.

"China-made large AI models spearheaded the development of the global open-source AI ecosystem," Chinese Premier Li Qiang told an annual gathering of China's top decision-makers last month.

The AI race has intensified the rivalry between China and the United States, and the White House on Thursday accused Chinese entities of a massive effort to steal artificial intelligence technology.

"The US has evidence that foreign entities, primarily in China, are running industrial-scale distillation campaigns to steal American AI," science and technology chief Michael Kratsios said in a post on X.

"We will be taking action to protect American innovation."

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Hundreds of alleged Mara Salvatrucha gang members sat chained, shaved and mute as they were accused of murder and torture during a mass trial at El Salvador's notorious CECOT jail, AFP reporters witnessed Thursday.

Seated in neat columns of plastic chairs in the prison's main hall, some 220 defendants are accused of collectively carrying out more than 29,000 murders.

"We burned her genitals and buttocks" one witness said over the loudspeaker, testifying in a mass trial El Salvador's president has compared to those of Nazi leaders at Nuremberg.

Among those on trial are about 20 alleged leaders and dozens of lieutenants, many with tattooed faces, heads, hands, and necks.

Some stared at journalists. All were dressed in white T‑shirts and shorts.

Hundreds more defendants appeared remotely.

Human rights groups have criticized the mass trials, warning that innocent people would inevitably be caught up in the process.

According to the testimony, gang members tied many victims' hands and took them to remote areas to kill them.

A phalanx of guards with full armor and riot shields watched over proceedings. 

"It's a horrifying account that makes your hair stand on end," said a hooded CECOT security agent who did not give his name.

- 'World's coolest dictator' -

The hearing took place on the fourth day of the mass trial at the so-called Terrorism Confinement Center, southeast of San Salvador.

Two witnesses testified that gang leaders ordered killings from prison.

The alleged leaders included "The little devil of Hollywood" Borromeo Henriquez and "Snaider of Pasadena" Carlos Tiberio Ramirez. 

Prosecutors accuse them directly of about 9,000 crimes. They listened to the accusations without reacting.

"These individuals caused mourning and pain to our society for many years," said CECOT director Belarmino Garcia.

Salvador's government invited journalists to witness proceedings under strict security protocols.

The prison, and the mass trials, have become centerpieces of media-savvy President Nayib Bukele's efforts to be, in his words, the "world's coolest dictator".

He has declared a "war" on gangs, imposing a state of emergency in 2022 which has since been used to arrest more than 90,000 suspected gang members.

Many caught in the dragnet were later declared innocent. 

Supporters say Bukele has made safe a country once ravaged by violent gangs and dubbed the murder capital of the world.

He has served as a model for many right-wing political candidates across Latin America looking to tap into widespread concerns about crime.

US President Donald Trump sent 140 Venezuelan alleged gang members to CECOT last year, a move that US courts later said was unlawful.

In 2021, the United States alleged that despite Bukele's carefully cultivated tough-on-crime image, his government held "covert negotiations" and "provided financial incentives" to gangs.

Secret deals were allegedly cut to reduce violence and for gangs to provide "political support" for Bukele's New Ideas party. 

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India on Thursday criticized as inappropriate a post by US President Donald Trump that called the South Asian country a "hellhole."

The comments come ahead of a planned visit next month to India by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who would seek to turn the page on recent tensions between the normally friendly powers.

Trump late Wednesday posted on social media a screed apparently written by someone else denouncing the US constitutional right to citizenship of everyone born in the country.

The post accused Indian immigrants in the tech industry of not hiring white native-born Americans and inaccurately alleged that Indian immigrants lack English proficiency.

"A baby here becomes an instant citizen, and then they bring the entire family in from China or India or some other hellhole on the planet," the post said.

Indian foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal responded that the remarks were "obviously uninformed, inappropriate and in poor taste."

"They certainly do not reflect the reality of the India-US relationship, which has long been based on mutual respect and shared interests."

Congressman Ami Bera, a Democrat who is the children of Indian immigrants, called the post by Trump "offensive, ignorant and beneath the dignity of the office he holds."

"President Trump, who was born into wealth and privilege, has never had to struggle the way so many immigrant families have," he said.

The Hindu American Foundation, an advocacy group, said it was disturbed by the "hateful, racist screed."

"Endorsing such rants as the president of the United States will further stoke hatred and endanger our communities, at a time when xenophobia and racism are already at an all-time high," it wrote on X.

Trump, who has made a sweeping crackdown on immigration a signature policy, has taken aim at visas commonly used by Indian tech workers.

He also for months maintained major tariffs on India after he was angry that Prime Minister Narendra Modi downplayed his mediation during a conflict between India and Pakistan, which has avidly courted Trump.

Trump's sparring with India stands in contrast to decades of efforts by successive US presidents to avoid friction and build relations with the world's largest democracy, which US policymakers have seen as a counterweight to rival China.

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Blink and you might miss Indian speed climber Deepu Mallesh scaling a wall five buses high in five seconds.

India, a country obsessed with cricket, has seen a surge in popularity in climbing but those who want to compete internationally have had to crowdfund and there is little government recognition or help.

Some have had to quit the sport they love.

"What I like most about climbing is how raw and honest it is," said 28-year-old Mallesh, who has climbed for his country and dreams of being the first Indian climber to qualify for the Olympics.

"It's just you, the wall and the clock."

Mallesh works part-time as a climbing instructor while pursuing his goal of reaching the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

"I have to somehow make some money. That is the only way for me to survive in this sport," he said.

The Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) estimates there are tens of thousands of people who sport-climb regularly, with more than a dozen climbing gyms opening in the last decade.

But the rise in those picking it up as a professional career is slow -- high costs and scarce sponsorship deals hold back many.

There are about 3,500 climbers who compete across various levels in the country and among them, about 60 participate internationally annually.

Mallesh didn't win at the world championship in China this month, but at 5.39 seconds he set a national record in men's speed climbing.

He also qualified for the Asian Games in Japan in September-October.

- Shoes, chalk powder - 

Mallesh only manages to compete with support from the IMF.

Previously he raised the cash to compete via crowdfunding. Two years ago he collected about one million rupees ($10,500) to attend six international competitions. 

"I have had to miss competitions because I could not gather the requisite amount," he said.

"If I get proper funding and proper support I might see my career through till the Olympics. Otherwise I will have to find something else to do."

Since 2002, India have won nearly 70 medals in international climbing competitions, including in the Asian youth championships.

Among them is Joga Purty, who won silver in 2024. 

Purty, 19, said she was lucky because she was sponsored by the Tata conglomerate.

"If I didn't have this I also would be one of those who quit the sport," she said.

A decent pair of shoes and a harness cost about 10,000 rupees ($106) each. A chalk bag, used to dust the hands for grip, costs 5,000 rupees.

"The shoes also will only last three to six months, sometimes even less depending on the athlete's use," she said. "And we have to carry an extra pair of shoes."

- Game-changer? -

Unlike many other sports in India, there is little government support.

The IMF's Keerthi Pais, 50, said the organisation was in talks to get the sport recognised under the National Sports Governance Act.

"This recognition will help them continue their climbing career," Pais said.

Mallesh said wider recognition "would definitely help".

"It's not just about validation, it directly impacts support, funding, infrastructure and sponsorship opportunities," he said.

Pais said government support to make it easier to build climbing gyms would help too.

"That will be the game-changer... this is how it will grow."

Mumbai-based Shaiv Gandhi from The Indian Bouldering Company gym said facilities like his have been a catalyst for growth. 

"I think the two biggest things that the commercial climbing gym help with is awareness... and the infrastructure in order to train for the sport,"  the 30-year-old said. 

"We already have a programme where we have told our instructors to keep an eye out for budding talent... if anyone you think has potential, let them climb.

"It's on me."

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Chinese startup DeepSeek released "preview" versions of a new artificial intelligence model Friday, more than a year after it stunned the world with a low-cost reasoning model that matched the capabilities of US rivals.

The long-awaited DeepSeek-V4 "features an ultra-long context of one million words, achieving leadership in both domestic and open-source fields across agent capabilities, world knowledge, and reasoning performance", the company said in a statement on social media.

A "preview version" is now available, the company said.

The new DeepSeek-V4 model is released as two versions, DeepSeek-V4-Pro and DeepSeek-V4-Flash, with the latter being "a more efficient and economical choice" because it has smaller parameters.

"In world knowledge benchmarks, DeepSeek-V4-Pro significantly leads other open-source models and is only slightly outperformed by the top-tier closed-source model, (Google's) Gemini-Pro-3.1," the statement added.

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CJ McCollum hit the game-winner with 12.5 seconds remaining as the Atlanta Hawks pulled off another nail-biting victory over New York to take a 2-1 lead in their NBA first-round playoff series on Thursday.

The Hawks beat the Knicks 109-108 in Atlanta, their second straight one-point triumph giving them the advantage in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Series.

The Toronto Raptors also thrived at home, pulling away late in a 126-104 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers that cut the deficit in their series to 2-1.

The Hawks produced a fine collective effort, especially on the defensive end, to thwart the third-seeded Knicks' comeback bid.

With plenty of time after McCollum's go-ahead basket, the Knicks were unable to get a shot off as the Hawks pressured Jalen Brunson into a poor pass intended for Josh Hart and Jonathan Kuminga lunged in for a game-clinching steal.

"Picture perfect," McCollum said of the defensive display in the waning seconds. "When it was time to get a stop our guys dug deep and they did what it takes to win in these types of environments."

Jalen Johnson scored 24 points, pulled down 10 rebounds and handed out eight assists for the Hawks. McCollum added 23 points and Kuminga scored 21 off the bench.

The Hawks had led by as many as 18 in the first half but the Knicks took a 108-105 lead on a three-point play by Brunson, who was fouled by McCollum on a drive to the basket and converted the free throw with 1:03 to play.

Johnson pulled the Hawks back within one with a putback layup and, after misses by Hart and Brunson, McCollum came through.

"I got to a spot and did what I had to do to get this win," McCollum said, but he was still irked with himself for fouling Brunson.

McCollum said: "I've got to be better."

OG Anunoby scored 29 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Knicks.

Brunson scored 26 points and Karl-Anthony Towns scored 21 points with 17 rebounds for New York, who will try to turn the tables in game four in Atlanta on Saturday.

In Toronto, Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett scored 33 points apiece, and rookie Collin Murray-Boyles added 22 off the bench for the Raptors.

Barnes handed out 11 assists and the Raptors, who took a two-point lead into the fourth quarter, stormed home.

They connected on eight of nine three-point attempts in the final frame, out-scoring the Cavaliers 43-23.

"We knew we needed one," said Barnes after the Raptors avoided falling behind 0-3 -- a deficit no NBA team has come back from to win a playoff series.

James Harden scored 18 points and the Cavs got 15 from Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Max Strus.

bb/pst

Flames from raging wildfires in northern Japan were spreading towards the centre of a town Friday, with authorities urging more than 2,500 people to evacuate their homes, media reports and the government said.

As of Friday morning, fires in the mountainous areas of Iwate region had burned over 400 hectares (988 acres) since breaking out two days ago, government spokesman Minoru Kihara told reporters. 

Flames could be seen encroaching on homes in Otsuchi Town as smoke billowed from a nearby forest.

Increasingly dry winters have raised the risk of wildfires. A blaze that broke out in the Iwate city of Ofunato early last year was Japan's worst in over half a century.

Kihara said the flames prompted authorities to issue evacuation advisories to more than 2,500 people, and they were upping measures to extinguish the blaze, with around 700 firefighters and 13 aircraft mobilised.

As of 5:00 am on Friday, 329 residents were taking shelter, public broadcaster NHK said.

"The sound was crazy. All these cedar trees were cracking as they burned, sending flames and smoke soaring," a local firefighter told major broadcaster TV Asahi. 

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Christine Li is a model and influencer, but not an actor, so when she saw herself playing a cruel character in a Chinese microdrama she felt bewildered, then angry and afraid.

The 26-year-old is one of two people who told AFP their likenesses were cast without consent in the AI-generated show "The Peach Blossom Hairpin", which ran on Hongguo, a major microdrama app owned by Tiktok parent company ByteDance.

Li plans to sue the drama makers and the platform, highlighting new legal and regulatory grey areas created by artificial intelligence.

"I was genuinely shocked. It was clearly me," said Li, who lives in Hangzhou in eastern China.

"It was so obvious that they used a specific set of photos I took two years ago" and had posted on social media, she said.

Microdramas are ultra-short, online soap operas hugely popular in China and elsewhere.

When Li's fans alerted her to the series, she was horrified to find her digital twin shown slapping women and mistreating animals.

"I also felt a deep fear. I kept wondering what kind of person would do something like this," Li said.

Hongguo hosts thousands of free, bite-sized shows -- both live-action and AI-generated -- whose episodes are two or three minutes long.

As of October, the platform had around 245 million monthly active users, according to data cited by Wenwen Han, president of the Short Drama Alliance.

A Hongguo statement in early April said it had taken the series down because the producers had violated platform rules and contractual obligations.

- 'Sleazy' antagonist -

AI's ability to mimic real people has sparked global concern for actors' jobs, and over such deepfakes being used for scams and propaganda.

Li and a man who says he was portrayed as her AI husband in the series, which became a hit last month on Hongguo, spoke out online about their separate unwelcome discoveries.

But even as their stories sparked a public outcry about AI ethics, AFP saw that "The Peach Blossom Hairpin" kept running for days before its removal, with the disputed characters quietly replaced.

The man, a stylist specialised in traditional Chinese clothing and make-up, had posted photos of himself in costume on the Instagram-like Xiaohongshu app.

Like Li, he was upset by the "ugly" portrayal of his likeness as a "sleazy" antagonist in the show.

"Will it have an impact on me, on my job, on my future work opportunities?" said the man, who asked to use the pseudonym Baicai.

To keep audiences hooked, microdramas are often full of shocking, larger-than-life moments.

Li and Baicai both showed AFP their original photos and the characters in "The Peach Blossom Hairpin", which bore a strong resemblance.

- Legal risk -

For low-budget AI microdramas, Chinese regulations say platforms must be the primary checkpoint for potentially dodgy content.

If they do not carry out mandatory content reviews, the videos will be forcibly taken down, according to the National Radio and Television Administration.

If the platforms were aware of any infringement but failed to act on it, parties affected can alert China's cyberspace authorities which can impose administrative penalties, according to Zhao Zhanling, a partner at Beijing Javy Law Firm.

Hongguo said in a second statement this month it would continue to strengthen how it reviews content and how it authorises creators, among other steps.

It said it had dealt with 670 AI microdramas that violated regulations, with most taken down, and warned it would crack down on repeated breaches.

When approached for comment, parent company Bytedance referred AFP to the two Hongguo statements.

Li and Baicai say they need more information from Hongguo to confirm the identity of the drama's creator -- with two companies potential candidates.

One is linked to a verified account on the Chinese version of TikTok that also published the series. Another is listed as the drama's producer on an official Chinese filing system.

AFP contacted both firms but received no response.

Using AI to slash costs may be tempting in the fast-growing, multi-billion-dollar microdrama market.

But featuring someone in a demeaning way without permission "may constitute an infringement of both portrait rights and reputation rights", said Li's lawyer Yijie Zhao, from Henan Huailv Law Firm.

- 'Associated with controversy' -

National regulations require microdrama makers to register to obtain a licence -- a step made mandatory for AI-generated animations from this month.

But producers could remain in the shadows by registering temporary outfits, Zhao said, while some allegedly use overseas servers to hide.

In 2024, a Beijing court ordered a company to apologise and pay compensation to a celebrity after its AI software enabled users to produce a virtual persona using his photos and name that could exchange intimate messages.

But lawyers told AFP that compensation for plaintiffs like Li likely won't amount to much due to the limited commercial value of an ordinary likeness.

Li worries that the saga may cost her opportunities in the modelling industry, as she is now "associated with controversy".

Baicai has not launched legal action, but hopes to see more measures from regulators and platforms to protect people like him.

"There are probably plenty of cases with unknown victims," he said.

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In the first four pitches that Mizzou saw, the Tigers homered twice. 

After that, the Tigers were shut down at the plate, allowing Arkansas time to come back in the seventh and eighth. This brought Mizzou to a 5-4 loss on Thursday night in Columbia, pushing the Tigers' losing streak to eight games.

The team started hot. Nothing more came until the ninth, but it was too late.

Jase Woita didn’t spend much time in the batters box. He swung at the first pitch he saw and drove it 405 feet, opposite field into Mizzou’s bullpen. Two pitches later, Kam Durnin was hit and put on base for Blaize Ward’s third home run in five games, also coming on the first pitch of the at-bat.

"Lord knows that I was not doing what he was doing as a freshman," Woita said. "That kid, he is unbelievable." 

The game started with Mizzou starter Josh McDevitt loading the bases in the top half of the inning with walks, but striking out the side to strand three Hogs. That first inning and McDevitt’s final inning saw the most action on the basepaths from the Razorbacks during his outing.

"He's just a warrior," Missouri coach Kerrick Jackson said postgame.

Following that contentious first inning, both McDevitt and Arkansas starter Hunter Dietz settled into a pitchers’ duel until the seventh inning.

McDevitt held the Razorbacks scoreless until the fifth inning where he gave up a solo home run to TJ Pompey. He held a no-hitter until the fourth inning, which saw a lead-off single get stranded.

"The same thing that always works well, his competitiveness and his fastball," Jackson said of what was working for McDevitt. "Guys just don't see it."  

This rebound performance was a much needed one from McDevitt, who was coming off an eight-run outing the weekend before.

"He's going to give you everything that he has and you can't ask for more than that," Jackson said. 

McDevitt left the mound with two runners on from a walk and a double. Reliever Trey Lawrence entered the game and gave up an RBI single two batters later. This tied the game at three apiece.

Arkansas followed it with another two-run inning courtesy of a two-out, two-run homer from Zack Stewart in the eighth to take the lead. Left-hander Ian Lohse halted the Razorbacks in the ninth, but walked two runners along the way. It was the graduate’s first scoreless inning since North Dakota State on Feb. 28.

During Dietz’s seven innings on the mound, Mizzou put seven runners on but stranded all after the first. The offense struggled to string together hits to plate another run.

"We needed to make adjustments and we never made those adjustments," Jackson said. 

They were shutout in every inning following the two home runs, until the ninth. 

The Tigers brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the ninth in Donovan Jordan, he singled up the middle to bring one run home. But Tyler Macon, pinch-hitting for Isaiah Frost, struck out to end the game. 

The Battle Line Rivalry will return for Game 2 at 7 p.m. Friday at Taylor Stadium. Mizzou lefty Brady Kehlenbrink will have the ball to start against Arkansas’s Cole Gibler.

On the facade of an apartment block in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe, a giant mosaic depicting cosmonauts and engineers celebrates the scientific triumphs of the Soviet Union.

Like so many other relics of the Soviet past in Central Asia, it is doomed to vanish amid a distancing from Russia and a top-down drive to boost national culture.

"If we could only carefully remove it and put it on the building that will be built here. That would be good," said Rakhmon Satiev, who lives in the apartment.

His wish will not come true. The block is about to be demolished to make way for a gleaming new residential complex, and the mosaic is to be torn down.

Over the past decade, Central Asia has shown little interest in preserving its Soviet heritage. Architectural landmarks and art, including mosaics, frescoes and sculptures, have been rapidly demolished.

"If a building is old and does not fit into the new city plan, it is torn down. The city is being rebuilt and renovated, and the past is vanishing," Dzhamshed Dzhuraev, a mosaic artist in Tajikistan, told AFP. 

Hidden from view in the courtyard behind his studio stands a monument to Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the USSR -- an awkward reminder of an era that no longer fits with the times.

- 'No longer necessary' - 

The five Central Asian former Soviet republics -- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan -- became independent with the collapse of the Soviet Union 35 years ago. 

Their urban landscapes have since turned into a chaotic mix of new high-rises, Stalin-era neoclassicism, dilapidated shacks and stalled construction sites.

Altynai Kudaibergenova, a co-founder of Artkana, a rare initiative group working to preserve Kyrgyzstan's architectural heritage, said the number of lost monuments was "striking".

She fears for the visual future of the capital Bishkek, which still has "magnificent examples of socialist-modernist architecture".

The style is popular on social media, particularly among tourists.

This architectural overhaul is being driven by ideology, which leaves no space for Soviet remnants.

The region's largely unchallenged leaders brand themselves as the founders of a new era and are cementing their own legacies with fresh symbols of power.

Few say outright that is what's going on.

Still economically dependent on Russia -- even as China muscles into the region -- officials frame the demolition drive as cost-efficient.

They say renovating crumbling Soviet-era buildings is more expensive than starting from scratch, and that the region urgently needs more housing for its rapidly growing population of some 80 million.  

In the Tajik capital Dushanbe, the mayor -- the son of the president -- "is doing everything possible to make the buildings as beautiful and comfortable as he can," prominent Tajik sculptor Safarbek Kosimov told AFP.

Soviet-era mosaics were "no longer necessary," he added.

There are no such qualms about portraits of 73-year-old strongman leader Emomali Rakhmon -- which have replaced many of the torn-down facades.

- Ideological art -

Critics lament the campaign.

"Most Soviet mosaics were designed to convey an ideological message, but their artistic value is also important," activist Kudaibergenova said.

"Unfortunately, businesses are rarely receptive to such considerations. Their main priority is selling square metres at a high price."

Real-estate deals in the region are often marked by corruption and collusion between officials and business interests, according to several nonprofits and international organisations.

In Bishkek, painter Erkinbek Bolzhurov is worried about the fate of the House of Artists, which stands next to the former national printing house -- of which now only the walls remain.

"We want the city to develop, of course, but not at the expense of our memory," he told AFP. 

"Great artists worked inside these walls. That is what makes the building unique -- it has a history."

Freedom of expression is tightly controlled in Central Asia, and authorities rarely consult with the public. 

Despite the current trend, Tajik mosaic artist Dzhuraev wants to believe that "the time will come" when mosaics will once again adorn buildings.

"Architects and urban planners should pay them more attention," he said -- a "revival" of mosaics is still possible.

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