Shippers eye Iran Hormuz reopening with wariness

Jeans, a clerical collar and a rosary on his wrist: this is how Father Guilherme Peixoto -- the "DJ Priest" -- appeared in central Buenos Aires on Saturday to spin electronic music at a massive rave paying tribute to Pope Francis one year after his death.

Techno versions of the "Super Mario" soundtrack and "Ameno" -- the 1990s classic that emulates Gregorian chant -- were mixed with excerpts from Francis's speeches in Plaza de Mayo, the political heart of Argentina, which had been transformed into a Catholic celebration.

From behind the decks, Peixoto energized tens of thousands of people beneath a laser light show, flanked by the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral and Casa Rosada, the seat of the Argentine government.

Peixoto told AFP his goal for the event was "to let the music touch hearts so deeply that young people return home with a desire to change the world."

On stage, an illuminated cross hung above Peixoto as a nearby screen showed a large white dove flapping its wings as a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

Many people in the crowd wore halos fitted with white lights, sold by street vendors for less than $10.

The concert kicked off with an audio clip of Francis saying, "The Church is not an NGO." Later, the 52-year-old Portuguese priest recited Francis's frequent request to young people to "make some noise."

Francis, who was born in Buenos Aires and served as archbishop of the city before his papacy began in 2013, died on April 21, 2025.

Tomas Ferreira, a 25-year-old lawyer, told AFP that while he is not Catholic, he thought it was "really great that the priest is trying to bring people together through the fusion of electronic music and religion."

"Religion is modernizing, and that's a good thing," he said.

- From Guimaraes to the booth -

A native of Guimaraes, Portugal, Peixoto has served as a parish priest in the Archdiocese of Braga, northern Portugal, since 1999. 

His Sunday masses, he said with a laugh, "are normal. It's a normal liturgy."

He entered the seminary at age 13, but always kept one foot in the world of music. As a young man, he played the organ in a pop-rock band alongside his fellow seminarians.

"Going to church and going out to a bar or a club to listen to music felt the same -- it was normal," he recalled in an interview with AFP.

In the early 2000s, he organized karaoke nights to raise funds for his debt-ridden parish. He learned how to mix music by watching videos on YouTube and practicing the craft over several years.

"When I first started learning how to mix, I also began to immerse myself in electronic music culture. It wasn't just about understanding the technicalities, how to structure a set, but grasping the very essence of what an 'electronic music journey' truly is," Peixoto said.

"It was a long, long process -- a journey that led me right here."

- Breakthrough in Ibiza -

The Covid-19 pandemic marked the turning point for Peixoto.

He began streaming live sets on Facebook, his videos went viral and the nickname "DJ Priest" stuck.

"Techno started becoming a bit more melodic, which is the style I play now," said Peixoto.

"The music isn't quite as intense or heavy as it used to be. Instead, it serves as a vehicle capable of conveying messages, thoughts and melodies."

He said he conveys "messages of peace."

Peixoto's breakthrough moment came in Ibiza in July 2024, when he celebrated his 25th anniversary as a priest by performing in front of thousands of people.

He said he was concerned about how people would react to seeing a priest in the DJ booth. But the fear quickly faded when he said he saw young people showing "such incredible warmth."

"I get goosebumps when I feel that we are all united on the dance floor, that we are all on this journey together," he said.

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Wearing a gas mask, a young man performs a rapid series of push-ups, jumps and squats at the German military's recruiting booth at FIBO, the world's largest fitness expo, held in Cologne.

Germany hopes to grow its armed forces, winning tens of thousands of new volunteers -- a tough task in a country where many young people view military service with scepticism.

To find new recruits, the Bundeswehr must rely on the power of persuasion, and sees the FIBO fair -- a celebration of bulging muscles and displays of sweaty stamina -- as a natural venue to win the soldiers of tomorrow.

"The target group is right here -- we rely on young, athletic, motivated people to join the service," the 30-year-old lieutenant commanding the booth, who gave his name only as Peter, told AFP.

"We can approach them very effectively here."

Franz, a 31-year-old physiotherapist who declined to give his last name, set the day's record in the army booth's gas-masked fitness challenge, working his way through 50 jumping jacks, 20 squats, 10 press-ups and five burpees in just 46 seconds.

Shortly after, he told AFP that he would be open to joining the army in coming years: "Being there to defend my country is definitely an option."

Chancellor Friedrich Merz has called for Germany to become Europe's leading conventional military power, part of a broader rearmament push by European NATO allies to deter a hostile Russia.

By 2035, Berlin has committed to increase its troop strength to 260,000 soldiers -- up from the current 185,000 -- and boost the reserves to another 200,000.

To achieve this, Berlin introduced a system this year to register 18-year-olds to identify potential new recruits -- but so far has refrained from bringing back mandatory military service, which was suspended in 2011.

Conscription is a sensitive subject in Germany, which has a strong pacificist streak often attributed to the horrors of the Nazi regime, and so the Bundeswehr is looking for other ways to win hearts, minds and recruits.

- Obstacle courses, combat sports -

The Bundeswehr stand at the fair dominated the middle of two bustling aisles packed with young men in athletic shorts and young women in leggings and sports bras.

Helping draw attention to the troops was an imposing Fennek armoured reconnaissance vehicle and a troop transporter, parked on either side of the booth.

"We've expanded even further compared to last year due to the success of our recruitment drive at FIBO," the lieutenant told AFP at the big stand, which was manned by 92 soldiers and staff.

With obstacle courses, combat demonstrations and daily raffles offering prizes like water bottles, mugs, T-shirts and backpacks -- all in military shades of sand and khaki -- the Bundeswehr is pulling out all the stops to attract new soldiers.

A banner advertised an upcoming "Olympix" event at the Bundeswehr's sports school in the western town of Warendorf, where young people aged 16 to 19 can compete in football, beach volleyball and combat sports.

"We've become more professional and more attractive" to potential recruits, Peter said of Germany's military, although he declined to provide specific recruiting figures from the FIBO stand.

Potential recruits often "need three or four contacts before deciding to pursue a career path or change professions," he added, comparing the decision-making process for signing up to making a major purchase.

Linda Reinhard -- a 33-year-old physiotherapist who had just completed a combat course at the training stand while wearing a 13-kilogramme (29-pound) vest -- said she thought the public perception of the Bundeswehr had improved in recent years.

"With everything that's happening in the world, the guys and girls here really contribute to making us feel safe," she said, although she is not considering putting on a uniform at the moment.

"I have a great job, I'm very happy, but I think they need good people here they can rely on," Reinhard said, adding that she was keeping an open mind to one day doing military service.

"Maybe that would be an alternative sometime in the future, why not?"

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North Korea test-fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles on Sunday, South Korea's military said, the latest in a recent flurry of launches by the nuclear-armed state.

The Sunday launches add to a series of weapons tests Pyongyang has carried out in recent weeks, including ballistic missiles, anti-warship cruise missiles and cluster munitions.

"Our military detected several short-range ballistic missiles fired into the East Sea from the Sinpo area of North Korea at around 6:10 am (2110 GMT)," South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, referring to a body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.

"The missiles flew approximately 140 kilometres (87 miles), and South Korean and US intelligence authorities are conducting a detailed analysis of their exact specifications," it added.

Seoul was maintaining a "firm combined defence posture" with its security ally the United States, which stations about 28,000 troops in the South to help it defend against military threats from the North, and will "respond overwhelmingly to any provocation", it said.

South Korea's presidential office said it held an emergency security meeting over the launches.

Analysts said the tests signalled Pyongyang's latest rejection of attempts by Seoul to repair strained ties.

Among them was an expression of regret from Seoul over civilian drone incursions into the North in January, a gesture initially described as "very fortunate and wise behaviour" by Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader.

But this month, a senior North Korean official described the South as "the enemy state most hostile" to Pyongyang, reviving a label previously used by leader Kim Jong Un.

North Korea is subject to multiple United Nations sanctions banning its nuclear weapons development and use of ballistic missile technology, restrictions it has repeatedly flouted.

"Pyongyang must immediately halt its successive missile provocations that are heightening tensions," Seoul's defence ministry said in a statement. 

The North should "actively engage in the South Korean government's efforts to establish peace", it added.

- Two more destroyers – 

Earlier in April, Kim Jong Un oversaw tests of strategic cruise missiles launched from a naval warship, with official photos showing him watching the firings flanked by military officials.

Those tests were carried out from the Choe Hyon, one of two 5,000-ton destroyers in the North's arsenal, both launched last year as Kim Jong Un seeks to ramp up the country's naval capabilities.

The North is also building two more 5,000-ton class destroyers to add to its fleet.

A South Korean lawmaker said this month that North Korea appeared to be speeding up construction of a destroyer at the western port city of Nampo.

Citing satellite imagery from a US-based intelligence firm, Yoo Yong-won of the opposition People Power Party said North Korea was "accelerating the naval forces' modernisation on the back of military assistance from Russia".

North Korea has sent ground troops and artillery shells to support Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and observers say Pyongyang is receiving military technology assistance from Moscow in return.

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

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

"We have a government that is already eager to move closer towards the EU, and the events in Iran provide an opportunity to speed up that process," Evie Aspinall, director of the British Foreign Policy Group think-tank, told AFP.

Starmer's administration is preparing an EU "reset" bill that will give ministers powers to align UK standards with EU single market rules as they evolve -- something called "dynamic alignment".

King Charles III will announce the legislation on May 13 when he reads out Starmer's legislative plans for the coming months, a government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Starmer has repeatedly called for a deeper economic and security relationship with Europe since his Labour party won the 2024 general election, ousting the Conservatives, who had implemented the 2016 Brexit referendum.

He has upped those calls in recent days, telling Dutch leader Rob Jetten on Tuesday that "he believed the partnership between the UK and the bloc needed to be fit for the challenges we were facing today".

The EU is Britain's biggest trading partner, while the International Monetary Fund warned this week that the UK will be the advanced economy hardest hit by the Iran conflict.

"Certainly Iran has made it (the reset) more prescient," said the UK official.

"We need to build economic resilience across the continent," they added.

Starmer refused to involve Britain in the US and Israel's initial strikes on February 28, angering Trump, although he has since allowed American forces to use UK bases for a "limited defensive purpose".

Under pressure at home for his disastrous decision to appoint former Jeffrey Epstein associate Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington, Starmer has received plaudits for standing up to Trump in the face of repeated taunts from the US president.

Days ago, Trump threatened in a phone interview with Sky News to scrap a US-UK trade deal that limited the impact on Britain of his tariffs blitz.

"There's no doubt that there is now momentum in the UK-EU relationship partly as a result of Trump's unreliable behaviour," David Henig, an expert on UK's post-Brexit trade policy, told AFP.

"Independent UK trade policy looks much harder, the prospects of working with the EU much brighter."

- Brexit regret -

Starmer's administration hopes to table the EU legislation in the next few months, meaning it could come around the time of the 10th anniversary of the Brexit referendum, held in June 2016.

MPs will get to approve whether to provide the government with a mechanism to adopt EU rules -- sometimes without a full parliamentary vote -- in areas where it has already signed deals with the bloc.

They include a trade agreement designed to ease red tape on food and plant exports and plans for an electricity deal that would integrate the UK into the EU's internal electricity market.

Britain and the EU are also aiming to finalise negotiations on a youth mobility scheme in time for a joint summit in Brussels expected in late June or early July.

Starmer has ruled out rejoining the single market or returning to free movement.

The Liberal Democrats, Britain's traditional third party, wants him to cross one of his other red lines by negotiating a customs union with the EU.

"We need to be doubling down on relations with reliable partners who share our interests and values," the Liberal Democrats foreign affairs spokesman Calum Miller told AFP.

But Brexit remains a toxic issue and the hard-right Reform UK party, leading opinion polls and headed by Eurosceptic firebrand Nigel Farage, have branded the legislation "a betrayal" of the referendum's narrow result.

Surveys regularly now show, however, that most Britons regret the vote to leave the EU, something Starmer hopes to capitalise on.

Rising cost-of-living pressures on family households, which UK finance minister Rachel Reeves has blamed on Trump for starting the war "without a clear exit plan", could also influence minds.

"When the relationship with the United States is fracturing, it means there's reduced opposition to a closer relationship with the EU among the public," said Aspinall.

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Pope Leo XIV will hold a giant open-air mass and visit one of southern Africa's holiest Christian sites Sunday on the first full day of a visit to Angola.

Leo arrived in the Portuguese-speaking nation on Saturday for the third leg of a four-nation tour of the continent.

At a meeting with officials including President Joao Lourenco, he spoke out against the "suffering" and social and environmental "disasters" caused by the rampant exploitation of natural resources.

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

The trip started in Algeria on Monday, overshadowed by a war of words with President Donald Trump.

The US president criticised the American pope as "weak" last weekend after he called for an end to the conflict in the Middle East.

Leo said on the plane from Cameroon to Angola on Saturday that he regretted that some of his comments during his African visit had been interpreted as a response to Trump's jibes.

He used as an example a reference to "tyrants" during one of his addresses in Cameroon, saying this speech had been written well before Trump's remarks.

It is "not in my interest at all" to debate the US leader, he told journalists.

- Slave-route shrine -

Tens of thousands of people are expected to turn out to meet Leo, who was elected a year ago, for the mass at Kilamba on the outskirts of the capital, Luanda.

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

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

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

The government has embarked on a massive multi-million-euro project to build a basilica, houses and public services in the town.

The project has sparked criticism over the government's spending priorities in a country which, though rich in resources like oil and diamonds, is marked by poverty and inequality.

"The pope comes to Angola fully aware of the reality our country is facing, particularly in terms of stark social asymmetries and inequalities, which also stem from the unequal distribution of wealth," Catholic lawyer Domingos das Neves told AFP.

"Naturally, the pope cannot avoid addressing the issue of social justice in his official statements during his pastoral visit to our country," he told AFP.

"Angola is in great need of a guiding light to illuminate our collective efforts -- both within ecclesiastical institutions and the state -- so that we do not forget the poor and the destitute," he said.

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

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

On Monday, Leo is due to travel more than 800 kilometres from the capital to visit a retirement home in Saurimo and celebrate another mass before departing the following morning.

He will then travel on to Equatorial Guinea, the final stop of a whirlwind 18,000-kilometre journey across the continent.

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From established stalwarts like Fatboy Slim to rising artists like Australia's Ninajirachi, this year's edition of the annual Coachella music festival dedicated nearly half of its lineup to electronic musicians.

The traditionally rock-centric festival in Indio, California -- headlined this year by singers Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber and Karol G -- reflects the surge in popularity of electronic music in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"It's testament to the rise of electronic music, generally," Swedish DJ Adam Beyer told AFP.

"Much of it is so much more accessible. Also, there is a lot of electronic collaboration and influence in pop so it feels much more visible across the board now," he added.

Among the highlights of the festival's second weekend was the premiere of electronic musician Anyma's "ÆDEN" show on the festival's main stage, after the set was canceled the previous weekend due to high winds.

"I mean man, I love it, it's like... a rave after another, you know?" festival attendee John Good said as he left the Nine Inch Noize show, a joint act by industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails and German producer Boys Noize.

The second day of the festival featured a set by Beyer with trance legend Armin van Buuren, who popularized the subgenre for a global audience.

"The term is now so broad," van Buuren told AFP, referring to electronic music.

"It's no longer just 'house music,' but even tracks by Sabrina Carpenter have some sort of electronic drums in them. I guess electronic music has spread through and had an impact on all genres of music," he said.

Beyer and van Buuren agreed that the delineation between electronic and traditional genres has faded in recent years along with listening habits.

"This younger generation doesn't really approach music through strict genre labels anymore. It's more about mood, energy and context," van Buuren noted.

The 49-year-old Dutch DJ argued the festival setting was optimized for electronic acts.

"Festivals and large-scale shows have become more immersive and experience-driven, and electronic music is built exactly for this kind of setting," he said. "It's physical, emotional and repetitive in a way that works on this larger scale."

- 'Unpredictable' -

At the Sahara tent, Coachella's stage dedicated to electronic music, the lineup featured a variety of DJs from a range of subgenres.

Among them was Brazilian DJ Mochakk, who called his Coachella debut his "biggest gig to date." 

The 26-year-old's influences include Brazilian genres like MPB and Tropicalia, as well as artists like Caetano Veloso and Chico Buarque. 

"Music always goes in cycles," he told AFP.

"With electronic music I think it's this mix of old and new that people connect with. 

"Also how open it is, you can blend so many genres in one set, keep switching energy, keep it unpredictable," he added. 

"That keeps it exciting, and I think that's probably why it's been growing so much everywhere."

- Techno-flamenco -

Another electronic music act at Coachella this year was the duo MESTIZA, consisting of Spanish artists Pitty Bernad and Belah, who brought their cultural influences -- including flamenco dancers -- to the stage.

"Electric music has something very special, and that's why it's understood all over the world," Belah said.

The genre, she added, "has no borders."

"For a long time it was hard to find places where we could go to listen to electronic music," said Pitty, adding that "it has evolved in a dramatic way." 

"Giving rise, for example, to this Coachella lineup," she said.

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Big names from the worlds of film, technology, music and sports gathered on Saturday in Santa Monica, California for the Breakthrough Prizes, popularly known as the "Oscars of Science." 

The awards, co-founded by philanthropists and tech entrepreneurs, recognize the research achievements of leading scientists around the world in three broad categories: Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics and Mathematics.

"These are some of the most heroic and inspiring people we get in the world," actor Edward Norton told AFP.

According to the "American History X" star, it was important to turn out and "to highlight what this kind of work contributes to all of us."

"The United States has the most anti-science administration in US history," the actor said. "It's always important, but if it was ever especially important, the moment is now."

In the last year, the Trump administration has slashed funding for science, halting projects and devastating workforces.

Rock climber Alex Honnold agreed with Norton, adding that he hoped the fluctuations "of the political climate... are short-term compared to the long-term effort required to make these kind of gains in human knowledge."

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the collaboration between his company's artificial intelligence technology and some of the award-winning scientists "is moving things faster and faster, and letting them discover new things and bring them to the world faster than they could before."

"Change this fast is really disorienting. So there will be a lot of big questions that we'll have to sort through as a society," Altman told AFP.

The Breakthrough Foundation was started by Google co-founder Sergey Brin; Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan; science patrons Julia and Yuri Milner; and Anne Wojcicki, CEO of 23andMe.

Six prizes worth $3 million each were presented at the 12th edition of the awards.

French mathematician Frank Merle was honored for his work on nonlinear equations describing the behavior of waves, fluids and other systems.

Merle told AFP the funding is "essential" for science. 

"Science is one of the foundations of our civilization," he said.

Hollywood A-listers Ben Affleck, Lily Collins, Robert Downey Jr., Gigi Hadid, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Gal Gadot, Naomi Watts and her husband, Billy Crudup, also attended the event, alongside public figures like Bill Gates and Paris Hilton.

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An Australian former soldier charged with committing war crimes in Afghanistan vowed on Sunday to clear his name, saying he had never "run from a fight" in his first public comments since his arrest.

"For the past 10 years, my family and I have been subject to a campaign to convince Australians that I've acted improperly in my service in Afghanistan," Ben Roberts-Smith told journalists in Gold Coast.

"I categorically deny all of these allegations, and while I would have preferred these charges not be brought, I will be taking this opportunity to finally clear my name," he said.

Roberts-Smith was granted bail on Friday after a high-profile arrest on five counts of "war crime -- murder". Police alleged he was complicit in a string of unlawful killings between 2009 and 2012.

The Victoria Cross recipient has denied all the charges.

He was released from prison on Friday evening after 10 days behind bars.

"I'm proud of my service in Afghanistan. While I was there, I always acted within my values," he said on Sunday.

Australia's most decorated living soldier met Queen Elizabeth II, had his portrait hung at the Australian War Museum and was even honoured as the nation's "father of the year".

But the war hero's reputation was called into question in 2018, when a series of news reports linked him to the alleged murder of unarmed Afghan prisoners by Australian troops.

The soldier allegedly kicked an unarmed Afghan civilian off a cliff and ordered subordinates to shoot him, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

He was also said to have taken part in the machine-gunning of a man with a prosthetic limb which he later used as a drinking vessel with other soldiers.

Roberts-Smith has staunchly maintained his innocence throughout, launching legal action against the newspapers who aired the allegations.

But his efforts to sue The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald for slander would backfire, with a judge finding in 2023 many of the journalists' claims were "substantially true".

Such civil trials carry a lower burden of proof than the criminal proceedings Roberts-Smith now faces.

Australia deployed 39,000 troops to Afghanistan over two decades as part of US- and NATO-led operations against the Taliban and other militant groups.

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Artificial intelligence "agents" promise to save users time and energy by automating tasks, but the growing power of systems like OpenClaw is setting cybersecurity experts on edge.

Powered by a wave of hype, OpenClaw today claims more than three million users worldwide.

The system allows users to create so-called agents, tools based on a large language model (LLM) like OpenAI's ChatGPT or Anthropic's Claude that can carry out online tasks.

"We've moved from an AI you could talk with via a chatbot to an agentic AI, which can take action... the threat and the risks are definitely much greater," said Yazid Akadiri, principal solutions architect at Elastic France, an IT security company.

In an article titled "Agents of Chaos" that has yet to be peer-reviewed, a 20-strong team of researchers studied the behaviour of six AI agents created with OpenClaw.

They spotted a dozen potentially dangerous actions executed by the systems, from deleting an email inbox to sharing personal information.

Many users have posted similar stories of OpenClaw mishaps online.

"When you deploy agents, you have no control over what they'll do, and when you try to look at what they're doing, you'll find them going far beyond the limits you set," said Adrien Merveille, an expert at the Check Point cybersecurity agency.

And the security gaps are not limited to the agents' own mistaken actions.

To carry out useful work, the tools need access to personal accounts for email, calendars or search engines -- drawing the attention of cyberattackers.

- 'Delete your database' -

AI agents are likely to become top targets for hackers as their use spreads, said Wendi Whitmore, chief security intelligence officer at cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks.

"As soon as (attackers) are inside an environment, (they're) immediately going to the internal LLM (agent) that's being used and using that then to interrogate the systems for more information."

Palo Alto's Unit 42 research division said in early March that it had found traces of attempted attacks in the form of hidden instructions for agents added to websites.

One such command ordered any agent who might read it to "delete your database".

Other cybersecurity firms and researchers have warned that attackers could gain access to agents via so-called skills -- downloadable files that users can add to their systems to give them new abilities.

Among such files freely available for download, some include hidden instructions for malicious actions like exfiltrating data.

OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger says he is well aware of the risks.

"I purposefully didn't make it simpler so people would stop and read and understand: what is AI, that AI can make mistakes, what is prompt injection -- some basics that you really should understand when you use that technology," he told AFP in March.

Whitmore argued that expecting users to create their own guardrails for agents is "pretty unrealistic".

"People are going to adopt innovation and really see what it's capable of before they ask the questions about, 'how do I secure my own data?'," she predicted.

"That's going to cause some significant challenges in terms of data breaches in 2026."

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With a multitude of promotional events almost as long and diverse as its artist lineup, Coachella, one of the biggest music festivals in the world, is now an amusement park for influencers and a gold mine for brands.

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, or simply Coachella, has become the tone-setter for the US festival circuit.

Tickets for this edition -- now in its second weekend with pop stars Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber and reggaeton artist Karol G at the top of the bill -- sold out last year within four days of going on sale.

With that, organizers were expecting around 250,000 people to come over two weekends at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, where dozens of special events with fashion, beauty, beverage, and lifestyle brands were spread out among the festival's nine stages.

"I love how big it's gotten. I love how more people are open to it," 24-year-old Luz Maura told AFP at an e.l.f. Beauty station.

The pastel-colored space offered lip glosses as souvenirs, slushies to ease the high desert temperatures, makeup artists to touch up glittery festival looks, and hosted multiple selfie corners.

The "e.l.f.scape to Balm Desert" campaign drew a "six-figure audience," said Patrick O'Keefe, the company's vice president of integrated marketing, to AFP.

Promoting a moisturizing lip balm was not just about seizing on the arid, dry desert's climate -- it was also backed by sales data.

"We know that 92 percent of daily makeup users incorporate lip products into their routines," he added.

Its donut-shaped chairs and branded mirrors also serve as irresistible selfie backdrops that in turn promote the brand.

- 'Analog experience' -

At the festival that's sometimes dubbed the "influencer olympics," Pinterest chose to swim against the tide with a "phone-free" installation.

Amid the debate over digital fatigue, "we made a willing decision to sacrifice that sort of immediate coverage in order to tell a story about what we believe in and who we are, and our hope is that, you know, long term that sinks in," Sarah Pollack, the company's vice president and global head of consumer marketing, told AFP.

With their phones locked away in a pouch, visitors to the Pinterest space had to resist the urge to feed their social networks with images of the colorful bar for designing custom accessories or the makeup room.

For California resident Liz Mendoza, the "analog experience" was "a lot of fun."

"Especially in an environment like this where social media is such a big thing and you want to take pictures and post as much as you can, I think it's super nice to have a few minutes off of your phone and just be in the moment," Mendoza added.

Pollack maintained that Coachella, where they are taking part for a third year, "is a great place for us to connect with Gen Z, and Gen Z is our fastest growing demographic." 

She noted that 50 percent of Pinterest's audience was Gen Z.

- 'Cultural destination' -

In the Coachella Valley, where temperatures can climb past 86F (30C) this time of year, so-called "brand activations" also serve as oases of shade and, in some cases, air conditioning.

And the crowds those amenities attract are a gold mine for brands.

Absolut, a vodka brand, sets up Absolut Heat Haus each year. The space looks like a nightclub, with bars and a DJ in charge of the music -- a role that last year fell to Paris Hilton.

"Coachella is a standout moment for Absolut because it's more than a music festival -- it's a high-energy social occasion and a cultural destination," said the company's brand director, Bethan Hamilton.

Flor Ruiz, who was born the same year that Coachella began -- 1999 -- said the festival's extracurriculars are key to the experience.

"For me, there's no such thing as Coachella without this," she said, as she left one of the promo events. "It's not just about the music."

"For that, we'd just go to a concert."

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