Shipping toll for Hormuz passage sharply divides nations

Thousands of fans have gathered in the California desert for the hotly anticipated Coachella Festival, which kicks off Friday with pop princess Sabrina Carpenter in the headliner spotlight.

The star-studded line-up -- which also includes headliners Justin Bieber and Colombia's Karol G -- will grace the stage in Indio on two consecutive weekends, kicking off the US music festival circuit for 2026.

Friday's acts include standout emerging talent Teddy Swims and girl group KATSEYE, as well as established artists like Moby.

But the highlight of the opening night will be Carpenter, who promised "the most ambitious show" of her career in an interview with Perfect Magazine.

The "Manchild" singer made her Coachella debut in 2024, the year she released her catchy summer hit "Espresso."

Closing out the first day will be Italian DJ Anyma, who is set to premiere his new production, "ÆDEN," which promises to be an immersive audiovisual experience that will hit the road after Coachella for a tour including stops in Milan, London and Seoul.

- Bieber Fever -

The party continues across Coachella's nine stages on Saturday, with the highly anticipated appearance of Bieber, who will close out the night.

"Bieber fever" seems to have returned after a decade and already spread across the Coachella Valley, after the singer made a comeback at the Grammy Awards this year.

Fans of the 32-year-old artist posted videos on social media this week of what appear to be rehearsals that included hits such as "Sorry" and "Where Are U Now."

The night will also feature performances by techno stalwarts like Armin van Buuren and Adam Beyer, K-pop stars such as Taemin and British dance sensation PinkPantheress.

French DJ and producer David Guetta returns to the desert in Indio, and David Byrne, the legendary co-founder of Talking Heads, will make an appearance.

Another highly anticipated act is Nine Inch Noize -- a collaboration between the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails and German producer Boys Noize -- which has just announced a joint album. 

As a testament to the diversity of genres on display at Coachella, the festival's main stage will host influencer-turned-singer Addison Rae, as well as New York rockers The Strokes.

Led by Julian Casablancas, the band returns with a new album slated for June, following a six-year hiatus. 

- 'Tropicoqueta' - 

The cherry on top for Sunday will be reggaeton star Karol G, the first Latina to headline the festival.

The winner of eight Latin Grammy Awards made her Coachella debut in 2022 with a performance that paid tribute to Latin music icons such as Selena, Celia Cruz, and Daddy Yankee.

For this year's show, the "Provenza" singer is expected to embrace the "Caribbean showgirl" aesthetic of her latest project, "Tropicoqueta."

Sunday also promises the festival debut of K-pop kings BIGBANG, who are celebrating their 20th anniversary with a highly anticipated return to the international stage. 

Also appearing will be the godfather of punk, Iggy Pop, and Fatboy Slim -- the British DJ and producer who dominated the electronic music scene in the 1990s. 

Other acts include Major Lazer, indie-pop band Foster the People and British singer, dancer, and visual artist FKA twigs.

The festival will close with a screening under the stars of the first episode of the third season of "Euphoria," the HBO high school drama series starring Zendaya, returning to television after four years.

Coachella will also be streamed live on YouTube.

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Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing was sworn in as president on Friday, continuing his rule from a civilian post five years after snatching power in a military coup.

As the nation's armed forces chief, Min Aung Hlaing ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021 -- detaining the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and triggering a civil war.

After a half-decade of ruling by diktat, he organised an election concluding in January excluding her party and securing a walkover win for military allies in civilian politics who backed him into the top office.

"Myanmar has returned to the path of democracy and is heading toward a better future," the 69-year-old said in a speech, after reading aloud the presidential oath to start his five-year term at a triumphant parliamentary ceremony in the capital, Naypyidaw.

Min Aung Hlaing has resigned as top general to take over as president of the new government ahead of Myanmar's Thingyan holiday starting Monday, which celebrates the new year with water-splashing ceremonies of renewal and rejuvenation.

- Rebranding military rule -

Democracy watchdogs deride the transition as a rebranding of military rule in an unconvincing civilian disguise.

More than two-thirds of Min Aung Hlaing's 30 ministers, also sworn in Friday, are either retired or serving members of the military.

A similar proportion served in the post-coup junta leadership, while more than ten have been subject to international sanctions.

AFP reporters saw bomb squads patrolling Naypyidaw hotels ahead of the ceremony, and parliament was sequestered by rings of checkpoints.

The lead-up to Min Aung Hlaing's swearing-in has seen some political prisoners from Suu Kyi's administration pardoned and government workers blacklisted for quitting in protest over the coup invited to return to their jobs.

Critics likewise dismissed those steps as cosmetic measures, but Min Aung Hlaing said his government will "grant appropriate amnesties to support social reconciliation, justice and peace".

He did not mention Suu Kyi -- held incommunicado since the putsch, serving a 27-year sentence on charges that rights groups dismiss as politically motivated.

More than 22,000 others have also been locked up in Myanmar's jails since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, while thousands have perished in the civil war.

- 'Restore normal relations' -

The junta trumpeted the election as a return of power to the people and a chance for reconciliation in the civil war.

Myanmar's post-coup leaders have been considered pariahs by many nations abroad.

Analysts say another aim of the election was to normalise their image with a veneer of legitimacy, unfreezing foreign engagement -- including investment projects.

Min Aung Hlaing said his government will "work to restore normal relations" with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional bloc which has ostracised Myanmar's leaders since the coup.

Friday's ceremony was attended by representatives from the neighbouring nations of China, India and Thailand -- as well as 20 other countries, according to parliamentary officials.

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul this week sent a congratulatory message, according to Myanmar state media, saying that under Min Aung Hlaing's "able leadership" the nations' relations would "grow from strength to strength".

However, China was the election's biggest backer, analysts say, and discussions over stalled Beijing-backed infrastructure projects are now being revived.

Myanmar's military has ruled the country for most of its post-independence history.

A rare decade-long interlude starting in 2011 saw the top brass loosen their grip and Suu Kyi's civilian government tentatively take the reins in a burst of optimism and reform.

Analysts say the military snatched back power out of anxiety about their waning influence after her landslide victory over pro-military parties in 2020 elections.

The junta-organised re-run of the vote excluded parties that won more than 90 percent of seats in 2020, according to the Asian Network for Free Elections, and punished protest or criticism of the poll with prison time.

Voting did not take place in swathes of the country which have been seized by rebels battling the military and rejecting the vote, further undermining Min Aung Hlaing's mandate according to rights monitors.

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Exiled Iranian cartoonist Mana Neyestani has a huge following back home for his biting humour.

And one of his recent sketches sums up the "dilemma created by the regime" over the US-Israel bombing of his homeland and how it divides Iranians.

Two men hold a banner with the words "No to war". But one is in a balaclava and is also holding a gallows with a man hanging from it.

"It's difficult to work right now," said the Paris-based artist. "You either get labelled as a lover of the war or of the Islamic Republic."

Three exiled Iranian cartoonists who talked to AFP said they were walking the same thin line, with Sanaz Bagheri -- who has been working from Amsterdam for the last seven years -- insisting that they "are doing everything we can to be the voice" of those who cannot speak back home.

Artists have used satire throughout Iran's turbulent history to circumvent the threat of persecution.

- Khamenei and women -

Another of Neyestani's drawings -- taking a dig at Tehran's internet ban -- shows Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi sitting on the head of a man tied up below a no WIFI sign while declaring, "I am the voice of Iranians."

"Social media is the only way I can communicate with my audience," said the 52-year-old cartoonist, who has close to a million followers on Instagram alone.

"It's one of the only ways people inside Iran can stay informed. All official news sources inside Iran only present the government's narrative." 

But that audience is now effectively cut-off by a near total internet shutdown since the start of the war in February, keeping roughly 90 million Iranians in digital darkness.

In a central Paris gallery a selection of Neyestani's works currently hangs alongside another award-winning Iranian cartoonist, Kianoush Ramezani, who works from exile in Helsinki.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, killed on February 28 at the start of the US-Israel bombing, is a frequent target of their satire.

Women feature prominently, inspired by the "Women, Life, Freedom" demonstrators sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in state custody in 2022. 

Sketches include a woman with long flowing hair standing on Khamenei's burning turban, while another shows hijab-less schoolgirls ripping his portrait from their classroom wall.

"This system is built on sanctifying the supreme leader and other figures within it. They have invested enormous effort and resources to construct this sense of sanctity, and a simple cartoon can undermine it," Ramezani said.

- 'Dangerous' -

"Iranians are sarcastic and are good with humour, but they take political cartoons extremely seriously and that is a problem for us because when they take it too seriously," he said. "Then it becomes dangerous for us."

After periods of repression under the Shah's feared Savvak intelligence services in the 1970s, and the "sacred defence" era declared by the Islamic authorities during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, satire enjoyed a brief respite with a proliferation of reformist newspapers in the 1990s.

But the election of hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005 turned the tide, with a wave of cartoonists leaving the country after mass protests against Ahmadinejad in 2009, and again with the crackdown on the Women, Life, Freedom Movement.

- Nightmare -

In a tale of Kafkaesque irony, it was a cockroach that drove Neyestani into exile in 2006. 

An award-winning author of eight works, he told the story of his nightmarish fall from grace in a graphic novel, "An Iranian Metamorphosis", including his time in Tehran's notorious Evin prison over a cartoon of a young boy talking to a cockroach.

Interpreted as a slur to the Iranian Azeri community, from which Neyestani ironically hails, the drawing sparked massive riots and forced him to leave the country.

Picking up a pen has gotten no less riskier since.

Ramezani feels the threat of Tehran's long arm 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) away from his hometown of Rasht on the Caspian Sea.

"They spend a lot of money to make this kind of cyber army and they systematically attack you, harass you," he said, reporting cartoonists to social media platforms, claiming their content was insulting or inappropriate.

It is designed to put you in "a shadow ban to decrease your visibility," he said.

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As Iranian and US envoys prepare to hold talks in Islamabad to end the Middle East war, official sources and experts say Beijing helped pave the way for the negotiations and will be a crucial component in securing a permanent truce.

Pakistan has received praise – and some surprise - on the global stage for its last-ditch clinching of a temporary ceasefire between the warring sides.

But Pakistani officials say Beijing's quieter role would now prove to be as essential as it was in striking the down-to-the-wire agreement that had looked set to fail on Tuesday night.  

"On ceasefire night, hopes were fading, but China stepped in and convinced Iran to agree to a preliminary ceasefire," said a senior Pakistani official source familiar with the negotiations.

"While our efforts were central, we were falling short of a breakthrough, which was ultimately achieved after Beijing persuaded the Iranians," said the source, who requested anonymity to speak openly on a sensitive diplomatic matter. 

That echoed President Donald Trump, who shortly after announcing the two-week ceasefire on social media, told AFP that China had been key to getting Iran to the negotiating table.

The planned talks had raised fragile hopes of an end to the war that has claimed thousands of lives and jolted the global economy since Israel and the United States launched strikes on February 28 and Iran responded with attacks on the Gulf as well as Israeli cities.

Pakistan, which has deep cultural and religious ties with neighbouring Iran and whose leaders share close personal rapport with Trump, will facilitate both sides.

To get a lasting agreement, it will need to steer the rival sides through fractious issues, including on the opening of the strategic Strait of Hormuz and the continuation of Iran's nuclear programme.

"Pakistan has formulated a team of experts to facilitate the two sides in negotiations, on navigation, nuclear and other related matters," said a second diplomatic source familiar with the matter, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to speak publicly. 

The second source, along with several experts and former officials, told AFP that as Pakistan sets the negotiating table, all eyes were on China's role.

"China was requested to be a guarantor. Iran wants a guarantor," said the source.

The main alternative, Russia, which is fighting a war in Ukraine, would not have been accepted by Western players, especially the European Union, meaning China was "best placed".

- 'Ironclad brothers' -

Beijing shares close ties with Islamabad and Tehran, and has been Iran's largest trading partner during years of crippling US-led sanctions.

China has also invested billions into infrastructure projects in Pakistan as part of President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road initiative and the two governments call themselves "ironclad brothers."

"As close partners and neighbours, Pakistan and China have been coordinating closely from day one to end hostilities," said Mushahid Hussain Sayed, a former Pakistan senator and head of the upper chamber's defence and foreign affairs committees.    

"China's role would remain indispensable in clinching any final peace agreement as the ultimate guarantor, given the fact that Iran doesn't trust the Trump/Netanyahu duo," he added, in reference to Israel's prime minister.

After Pakistan's foreign minister quickly flew to Beijing last month following de-escalation discussions with Saudi, Turkish and Egyptian counterparts, China said it backed Pakistan's efforts to mediate.

It then launched talks to help ease Pakistan's own spiralling armed conflict with Afghanistan, hosting Afghan government delegates and Pakistani officials in Urumqi in China after weeks of fighting.

China, with Russia, also took a key step likely to be warmly received in Tehran hours before the ceasefire, vetoing a UN Security Council resolution on reopening the Strait of Hormuz where Iran has imposed an effective blockade since the war began. 

- 'Uphill battle' -

China has not sought the limelight in peace building efforts, reiterating only that it has been mediating and encouraging an end to hostilities.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had held 26 calls with counterparts from relevant countries while Beijing's Middle East envoy had "shuttled across" the war-torn region, a foreign ministry spokesperson said. 

Analysts and officials said the prospect of China openly stepping in to a formal guarantor role in coming weeks was also uncertain. 

"They have their own considerations, they do not want to be dragged into this conflict" publicly, the second source told AFP, in a nod to Beijing's strong behind-the-scenes role.

Talks face an uphill battle in resolving the vast differences in the warring sides' positions.

A major sticking point is over Lebanon, which Pakistan's prime minister and Iran have insisted is included in the ceasefire and Israel has denied.

Israel, which Pakistan does not formally recognise, has continued to launch deadly strikes it says target Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, though the United States has said it will host its separate talks in Washington between Israeli and the Lebanese officials next week. 

"Negotiations are very complicated, sensitive...to reach consensus all sides will have to make painful compromises and concessions," the source added. 

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Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov hailed the "special nature" of relations with Cuba on a visit Thursday, where he met President Miguel Diaz-Canel as tensions simmer between Washington and energy-starved Havana.

"Russia is not going to leave the western hemisphere, no matter what they say in Washington," Ryabkov told a press conference after the meeting, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

"Our relations with Cuba are of a special nature... We can't just betray Cuba, it's completely out of the question, we can't leave it to its fate."

The meeting, confirmed by Diaz-Canel's office on X, came 10 days after a Russian oil tanker arrived in Cuba despite a de facto US fuel blockade.

"We take this opportunity to send a hug to our dear friend, President Vladimir Putin," Diaz-Canel said in the meeting, according to his office.

Ryabkov said Cuba's economic issues, including its energy security, were among the main topics of discussion, TASS reported.

Under President Donald Trump, the United States has threatened tariffs on any country that attempts to sell oil to Cuba, resulting in an energy crisis on the communist island that has worsened since January.

The US labels Cuba a threat to US national security, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is of Cuban descent, has demanded changes to the island's leadership.

Earlier on Thursday, Diaz-Canel told US-based NBC News that he would not resign under US pressure.

Rubio has denied calling for Diaz-Canel's resignation.

"At the present moment, Russia is one hundred percent in solidarity with Cuba; despite the complexity the country is going through, we are by your side, said the deputy foreign minister," the Cuban president's office wrote on X on Thursday.

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© Agence France-Presse

Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson kept the New York Knicks in the hunt for second place in the NBA's Eastern Conference as they beat the Boston Celtics 112-106 Thursday.

The tight Knicks victory in a playoff-style atmosphere at Madison Square Garden puts New York two wins behind rival Boston, with just two regular season games remaining.

Hart top-scored with 26 points, including a pair of clutch three-pointers in the game's final minute that took an evenly poised game out of the Celtics' reach.

In a twisty game that featured 16 lead changes, Knicks superstar Brunson provided another standout performance, including 25 points and 10 assists.

Asked about teammate Hart, Brunson joked: "I don't want to say anything too good about him right now, but he played really well."

"We kept coming back and finding a way," Brunson added.

The No. 2 spot means home-court advantage through to the Eastern semifinals.

The Knicks would have the tie-break advantage if the two teams finish level, due to a superior head-to-head.

Thursday's win also gives the Knicks a one-win cushion over the chasing Cleveland Cavaliers.

In a possible preview of the Eastern playoffs' second round, a back-and-forth first half featured 10 lead changes, with Payton Pritchard and Brunson scoring freely at opposite ends.

After the break, the Knicks quickly opened up a 13-point lead. Yet they found themselves trailing at the end of the third quarter, as the Celtics rallied with seven three-pointers, including six from the bench.

The Celtics' Baylor Scheierman was particularly potent from behind the arc, sinking his fifth and sixth three-pointers of the night to put Boston up 104-103 with barely two minutes left.

But a Hart layup and a Brunson free throw restored the Knicks' lead, before Hart finished the game off. 

On an emotional return to the fabled Manhattan arena where he suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon nearly a year ago, Boston star Jayson Tatum top-scored for the Celtics, with 24 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists.

Tatum has defied the odds to return this season, making his debut last month with the Celtics in the thick of the playoff race.

Trailing conference champions the Detroit Pistons, Boston remain the favorites to clinch second, with games Friday against the New Orleans Pelicans and Sunday against the Magic.

But they may have to secure the spot without fellow star Jaylen Brown, who missed Thursday's clash with Achilles tendinitis.

- Playoff race -

Elsewhere, the incredibly tight race for the Eastern Conference's final guaranteed playoff spots took yet more twists Thursday.

The top six automatically progress to the post-season, while teams finishing seventh to tenth must enter a knockout play-in tournament next week to join them.

The Toronto Raptors, boosted by Brandon Ingram's 38 points, gained a valuable 128-114 win over the Miami Heat, rising from sixth to fifth.

It leaves both the Raptors and the Atlanta Hawks one win clear of the in-form Orlando Magic -- who have won their past four in a row.

But the eighth-placed Philadelphia 76ers saw their own playoff hopes fade as they fell 113-102 to the red-hot Houston Rockets, who claimed an eighth consecutive victory.

And fans in the West were denied a match-up between the two biggest NBA stars of the past decade, as the Golden State Warriors rested Stephen Curry for medical reasons against LeBron James's Los Angeles Lakers.

Facing the play-ins next week, the Warriors opted to give an extra recovery day to superstar Curry, who had only recently returned from a 27-game knee injury absence.

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In a handwritten note on a sketch of an evening dress for her official visit to India and Pakistan in 1961, Queen Elizabeth II specified it should be sewn in "yellow satin", a colour symbolising health and prosperity in the region.

The sketch is one of about 300 items on display, some for the first time, at the exhibition "Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style", which opens Friday at Buckingham Palace.

This unprecedented survey of the late UK monarch's wardrobe throughout her life (1926-2022) reveals the important diplomatic role she attached to her outfits. 

The display in the King's Gallery at the London palace features sheath dresses sparkling with sequins and swirling outfits in vibrant colours from the 1960s.

There are also spectacular draped evening dresses straight from the atelier of Cristobal Balenciaga, maternity outfits and the military uniforms the princess wore during World War II. 

In a section called "the finishing touch", the queen's signature colourful hats are pinned up on a wall opposite the coordinating outfits.

Tickets for the spectacular exhibition, which runs to October, have already sold out for April.

Highlights include Elizabeth's wedding dress dating from 1947 and the ornate embroidered gown she wore for her coronation, both created by British designer Norman Hartnell.

- Political aims -

"We wanted to pay tribute not only to her style but also to British fashion and designers," stressed Caroline de Guitaut, the curator, who chose the outfits on display from an archive of some 4,000 items.

A key attribute of the royal's wardrobe was its political aims, the exhibition reveals, with fashion choices also playing a diplomatic role. 

The coronation gown illustrates this, perfectly decorated with the national emblems of the nations of the United Kingdom: the English rose, the Welsh leek and the Scottish thistle, as well as flowers symbolising the Commonwealth countries. 

This diplomatic dimension was a recurring theme of Elizabeth's wardrobe through her record-breaking 70-year reign. 

In 1954, while travelling in Australia, she wore a yellow stole delicately embroidered with the golden wattle, the national floral emblem. 

And in 1961, on a visit to Pakistan, she dined with President Mohammad Ayub Khan wearing a satin dress in the colours of the national flag of the country, a former British colony. 

"She was the undisputed queen of sartorial diplomacy," said de Guitaut.

The monarch's aim was always the same: "to show respect for the country she was visiting", the curator said, since her visits were made on government advice largely to countries with whom Britain hoped to build stronger ties.

- 'Eye for everything' -

This broke with the ancient tradition of royal clothing as a way to display wealth and power, historian Lisa Hackett told AFP. 

Now confined to ceremonial roles, monarchs "no longer use their clothing to display their power" but instead want to convey respect and courtesy, said the academic from the University of New England in Australia.

These were dress codes that Elizabeth mastered to perfection.

"She was educated from an early age about her role and her wardrobe," Hackett said.

Elizabeth was also very involved in the design of her outfits. 

"She decided what she wanted to wear, chose her designers, and even selected her suppliers," said de Guitaut.

Her handwritten note on the dress sketch for the trip to India and Pakistan was not exceptional: the exhibition shows that she added comments on several occasions. 

"She had an eye for everything. I think it's fair to say she had almost complete mastery of her style," said the curator.

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Shortly after news of a US-Iran ceasefire, an Iranian group released a new Lego-style video lampooning President Donald Trump and declaring "Iran won," the latest in a wave of war-themed AI-generated propaganda flooding the internet.

Explosive Media, a group of pro-Iran creators that describes itself as independent but is widely suspected of government ties, has produced a series of such videos that have racked up millions of views during the conflict.

"The way to crush imperialism has been shown to the world. Trump surrendered. IRAN WON," read the caption of its video on X after the two-week ceasefire agreement was announced on Tuesday.

"TACO will always remain TACO," it added, referring to the acronym "Trump always chickens out."

The ceasefire -- already showing signs of strain -- followed a series of apocalyptic threats from Trump, including his warning that he would take Iran back into the "Stone Age."

With dramatic background music, the video depicts a Trump-like toy figure huddling with Arab leaders, hurling a chair at US military figures, while Iranian generals press a red button with the label "Back to the Stone Age," unleashing a torrent of destruction across the Middle East.

Another clip on X depicted Trump -- caricatured with an oversized yellow head and a flaming backside -- holding a sign that read: "VICTORY! I am a loser."

- 'Age of AI slop' -

Explosive Media, whose videos often tap into American popular culture, has portrayed Trump as old, isolated, and prone to childish tantrums, seemingly disconnected from reality.

Iranian state media and diplomatic accounts have leaned into their strategy, regularly posting similar so-called AI slop -- mass-produced content created by cheap artificial intelligence tools.

"Iran has crafted a wartime propaganda strategy tailored for the age of AI slop and algorithmic amplification," Joseph Bodnar, a senior research manager at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, told AFP.

"They are playing to the AI aesthetics and hyperbolic anti-imperialist narratives that draw attention, spark controversy and get rewarded by platforms."

In recent weeks, viral meme videos have depicted fictional Iranian military victories, world leaders in subservient scenarios -- dependent on Iranian leaders for oil -- and even the strategic Strait of Hormuz reimagined as a cartoonish toll booth.

"It is clear that Iran is putting out content that resonates," Bodnar said.

The English-language content of Explosive Media, which describes itself as an "Iranian Lego-style animation team," appears aimed at audiences outside Iran, where platforms like X have been blocked for years and are only accessible via VPN.

With Iranians facing what monitor Netblocks calls an "internet blackout," the ability of Explosive Media to produce and upload slick content has fueled suspicion of government ties.

The group rejected the claim on X as a "media distortion."

- Meme battlefield -

The White House's X account has meanwhile posted its own war-themed content --  combining battlefield footage with clips from films such as "Iron Man," "Gladiator" and "Top Gun."

The content highlights an internet meme battlefield that has blurred the line between propaganda and entertainment.

And while the Trump administration used AI-generated content in its social media strategy well before the war, the virality of Explosive Media's clips suggests it may be contending on the digital front, experts say.

The group is "beating the Trump administration at its own game," said Nina Jankowicz, chief executive of the American Sunlight Project.

"The immature humor, the polarizing rhetoric, the idea of 'owning' opponents, and the clicks-at-whatever-cost strategy that Trump and allies have employed is now being mobilized against it."

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Stocks rose Friday with investors still optimistic about the shaky ceasefire in the US-Iran war ahead of planned weekend talks, though oil prices extended gains over worries Israel's continued attacks on Lebanon could shatter the peace process.

Washington and Tehran's announcement Tuesday of a two-week truce that would see the Strait of Hormuz reopened, having been closed since the start of the war, sparked a wave of euphoria across markets.

But hopes for an end to the crisis have been hit by squabbles between the two sides over the agreement and the future of the key waterway, through which a fifth of the world's oil and gas passes.

US and Iranian delegations are due in Pakistan for peace talks, but they come as Tehran says Israel has already broken terms of the ceasefire by continuing to hit Lebanese targets, where Israel says Iran-backed Hezbollah is located.

The United States and Israel deny an end to attacks on Lebanon was in the deal.

Meanwhile, Trump warned on Thursday against Iran's plan to charge a toll for ships passing through Hormuz, saying on social media : "They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now!"

In a second message just a few minutes later, he added that "very quickly, you'll see Oil start flowing, with or without the help of Iran."

He also said Tehran was "doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz".

Just 10 vessels have passed through the waterway since the Middle East war ceasefire took effect, according to maritime tracking data.

Only one of those tankers is not Iranian.

Equity markets, which have been hammered since the war broke out on February 28, extended the week's gains.

Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai and Taipei all rose at least one percent, while Singapore and Manila were also well up, though Sydney slipped.

The gains followed a second healthy run-up on Wall Street.

Oil prices climbed around one percent but sat just below $100 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate briefly jumped above the key level on Thursday.

Analysts said the equity gains were helped by news that Israel and Lebanon will hold talks next week in Washington. 

That comes after NBC reported that Trump had asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a scale-back in strikes on its northern neighbour to ensure the success of negotiations with Iran.

With stocks rising, IG market analyst Fabien Yip said those "that suffered the deepest drawdowns during the conflict are likely candidates for the sharpest near-term recovery".

But she warned: "The ceasefire is temporary and the details remain sparse. Iran's 10-point proposal and Washington's stated positions retain substantial differences, and the Islamabad talks carry no guarantee of success.

"Even the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz -- subject to Iran's 'technical limitations' -- will take weeks, if not months, before shipping backlogs are cleared and supply chains normalise.

"Crude oil prices are therefore unlikely to revert to pre-war levels in the near term."

Investors are also keeping tabs on the release later Friday of US inflation data, which observers say could provide an idea about the impact of the surge in crude on consumers.

Prices are expected to have spiked 3.4 percent last month, from 2.4 percent in February, according to a Bloomberg survey.

In company news, shares in Japanese retail titan Fast Retailing soared 10 percent to a record high after it hiked its full-year operating profit outlook, helped by healthy demand for its Uniqlo brand in the United States and Europe.

- Key figures at around 0230 GMT -

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.8 percent at $98.67 a barrel

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.6 percent at $96.51 a barrel

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.5 percent at 56,728.95 (break)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 1.1 percent at 26,029.69

Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.0 percent at 4,006.68

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1692 from $1.1707 on Thursday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3428 from $1.3441

Dollar/yen: UP at 159.08 yen from 159.06 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 87.07 pence from 87.09 pence

New York - Dow Jones: UP 0.6 percent at 48,185.80 (close)

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 10,603.48 (close)

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In a community centre in eastern China, Shu Fangqiang shrugged off his jacket and stepped onto a scale, one of hundreds of locals signing up for an unusual weight loss programme -- "Trade Fat for Beef".

The rules are straightforward: for every half kilogram he loses, Shu will receive the same weight in boneless beef, or 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds) of beef on the bone.

The programme is one of many springing up across China, backed by local authorities anxious to tackle rising obesity rates, which are fast becoming a pressing public health issue.

Participants who are already keen to lose weight say the initiative is an added bonus.

"Even without the beef, I wanted to lose weight for my health," said Shu, whose body mass index (BMI) of 30 is classified as obese.

More than a third of Chinese adults were overweight in 2022, and around 8.3 percent were obese, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), compared with the United States, where 72.4 percent of adults are overweight and 42 percent are obese.

However, the number of obese people in China has tripled between 2004 and 2018, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

If current trends continue, the share of overweight and obese Chinese adults could reach 70.5 percent by 2030, the National Health Commission (NHC) says, whose obesity criteria is stricter than the WHO's.

"This opportunity just came at the right time, so I signed up," Shu said.

Participants of the campaign in the city of Wuxi were weighed once in March, and will return in January 2027 for a second and final weigh-in .

They will then be rewarded with expensive cuts like oxtail if they lose more weight -- though the total amount of free meat available is capped at 10 kilograms (22 pounds).

Organisers say more than 1,000 people have registered since the Wuxi campaign started in March -- with thousands more turned away for not meeting local community residence requirements.

Queues for weigh-ins reached up to a dozen people at a time in both the men and women's sections, an AFP journalist saw.

At the front of the queues, participants stepped on weighing scales which displayed their height, weight and BMI.

Staff members then measured their waists, logged their data on a form and used an encouraging stamp to mark it and to cheer participants on.

An on-site doctor offered personalised medical advice.

- 'Flab for potatoes' -

Similar grassroots initiatives have also surfaced in other localities across the country, with many shared widely on social media.

In the southwestern province of Yunnan, slimmers can take part in the "Flab for Potatoes" programme and if they shrink their waistlines considerably, can upgrade to chicken.

Countrywide, popular supermarket chain Yonghui has invited customers to register their losses over 10 days by weighing themselves in-store.

They can then trade every 1.5 kilograms lost for half a kilogram of beef, crayfish or kiwi.

When AFP visited the Wuxi community centre, banners at the weigh-in urged participants to slim down steadily rather than quickly, and to aim for health over thinness.

Organisers also posted warnings against weight-loss drugs, self-induced vomiting and extreme fasting, with doctors on hand to offer guidance.

Participant Shu told AFP he wanted to lose 20 kilograms.

"Being obese affects your mental state, your work performance and your overall well-being," he said.

"Sometimes when I'm heavier, I don't sleep well at night."

As of 2021, there were 402 million overweight or obese adults over 25 in China -- the world's largest population, according to a study published in The Lancet medical journal.

Another study, published in The Lancet in 2021, attributed the problem to rapid urbanisation and a shift toward processed, high-sugar and high-fat foods, as well as increasingly sedentary lifestyles.

- 'Hard to resist' -

In Wuxi, 44-year-old Zheng Haihua said she was signing up to encourage her to "move more and eat less", and to commit to exercising. 

"The biggest challenge for me is... controlling my appetite, because when you see delicious food, it's hard to resist," Zheng laughed. 

Local physician Wu Changyan sympathised, adding "there's life pressure, and the convenience of modern life makes it easy to eat more and eat too much."

The NHC and other authorities have launched national initiatives in an effort to counter the trend, concerned about links with chronic disease and increased healthcare costs.  

Local efforts like the Wuxi one are "a fun way to get people motivated", Wu told AFP. 

But Li Sheyu, a clinical professor at Sichuan University's West China Hospital, said the campaigns might have limited impact. 

"I would not consider it a gamechanger in the big picture," he said, noting they were essentially just a traditional incentive method for weight loss. 

"But (they are) a good example of disseminating weight-loss ideas to the public."

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