Global Pulse

作者： admin

  • ‘I adore her now’: Mother learns to cope with child’s autism in a country with little help

    ‘I adore her now’: Mother learns to cope with child’s autism in a country with little help

    Two years ago, Martha Ongwane, a 33-year-old mother living in Mzuzu, northern Malawi, stood on the brink of an unthinkable act. She had poured poison into a cup, prepared to end the life of her young autistic daughter Rachael, overwhelmed by despair that had consumed her family. Today, that dark chapter feels like a distant nightmare. As Martha chops maize for the national staple nsima on her living room floor, four-year-old Rachael climbs giggling onto her lap, wrapping her arms around her mother’s face in a warm embrace – a transformation that would have been impossible just a few years ago.

    When Rachael was first diagnosed with autism, the young girl presented severe behavioral challenges: she was non-verbal, struggled to stay seated, and often bit herself or others. With no access to guidance or support, Martha slowly crumbled under the weight of caregiving, sinking into deep depression. Neighbors in her community shunned the family, blaming Martha for Rachael’s behavior and demanding she lock the child inside their home. Widespread misunderstanding of neurodevelopmental disorders left Martha completely isolated, with nowhere to turn for help.

    “I told myself it would be better if she died because that would mean she would rest and that would be the end of our problems,” Martha recalled softly, staring down at her hands. “[But] my heart didn’t let me. I changed my mind and cried so much.”

    The turning point came when the family was referred to Saint John of God, a Catholic Church-funded non-profit organization that provides community-focused mental health services and runs a school for children with special educational needs. For Martha and her husband, the organization became a lifeline: they received specialized counseling, connected with a peer support network, and Rachael began accessing tailored behavioral and educational support. One year later, the change in Rachael is staggering. When her name is called in class at the Saint John of God school, she jumps up eagerly, grabs her friend’s hand, and joins in group singing – a far cry from the non-verbal, overwhelmed toddler of two years ago.

    But Martha and Rachael’s happy ending remains a rare exception in Malawi, a lower-income east African nation facing a catastrophic shortage of autism resources and awareness. According to the World Health Organization, over 60 million people globally live on the autistic spectrum, a neurodevelopmental condition that affects how the brain processes information, communicates, and builds relationships, varying widely in presentation and intensity from person to person. While many autistic people possess unique strengths including intense focus, exceptional memory, and innovative thinking, low- and middle-income countries like Malawi rarely prioritize neurodevelopmental support, leaving most affected families to cope alone.

    Currently, Malawi’s population of more than 22 million people is served by just two developmental pediatricians and three consultant psychiatrists nationwide. There is no term for autism in Chichewa, the country’s most widely spoken language; the condition is typically lumped under translations meaning “mentally challenged” or “troublesome,” reinforcing deep-seated stigma. Widespread misconceptions, including the common belief that autism is caused by witchcraft, push many desperate families to seek unproven, sometimes harmful treatments from traditional healers instead of clinical care.

    Natasha Lusinje, a mother living outside the capital Lilongwe, 300 kilometers south of Mzuzu, represents this all-too-common reality. Her five-year-old son Shalom is non-verbal and cannot feed himself, and repeated community claims that the boy was cursed by witchcraft led Natasha to turn to a traditional healer for a cure. Granted rare access to the process, BBC Africa Eye documented the healer’s unfounded claim that autism comes in two forms: one from God that cannot be changed, and one from Satan that she can cure. She classified Shalom as the latter, charged Natasha 26,500 kwacha ($15), and put the boy through three weeks of daily herbal baths, forced herbal drinks, and skin cutting treatments. When no improvement appeared, the healer simply admitted she had failed. Natasha brought Shalom home, still clinging to the belief that a cure will come, with no access to the evidence-based support her son needs.

    Saint John of God is working to reverse these harmful narratives one community at a time. The organization hosts regular autism awareness sessions, bringing together Christian and Muslim religious leaders to unpack common misconceptions and explain that practical, evidence-based support can drastically improve outcomes for autistic people. Christopher Mhone, a program lead at Saint John of God, argues that the systemic failure to address autism is a national failure. “For a woman to come to a point where she feels like she should kill her child – as a nation we have failed her. Her burden has become so impossible to bear that she does not have the emotional and psychological capacity to cope,” he said.

    Currently, almost all autism support in Malawi is provided by non-governmental and charity groups. The national Disability Act does not even mention autism, a gap Mhone says reflects the general invisibility of the condition. “If you don’t know you have this problem, there’s no way you can begin to sort it out,” he explained. The BBC reached out to Malawi’s Health Minister Madalitso Baloyi to request comment on national autism provision, but received no response.

    At its Mzuzu facility, Saint John of God currently supports more than 600 children and young adults with disabilities a year, including people with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and autism. Mhone says the organization’s goal is to reframe public understanding of disability: “Disability is ability, in a different way. And if society begins to understand that, then there will be less stigmatisation, and they will be looking at the positive things that can come out of those with disabilities.”

    For Martha, the joy of having her thriving daughter comes with a quiet guilt, and a mission to help other families avoid the despair she faced. “When I look at her, I feel so guilty. Every day I think about the fact that my daughter could have been dead,” she said. “I adore her now.” She has shared her story publicly in the hope that more families will learn that support is available, and that no one has to walk the path of caring for an autistic child alone.

  • Israel renews Lebanon strikes, forces Syria border crossing closed

    Israel renews Lebanon strikes, forces Syria border crossing closed

    A new wave of deadly Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon on Sunday left at least 15 people dead, one day after Israeli threats targeting the Masnaa crossing—Lebanon’s primary land gateway to Syria—forced the vital trade and transit point to shut down.

    The escalation marks an intensification of months of open conflict that began on March 2, when the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah joined the broader Middle East war in support of its principal backer, Iran. Since that date, Israel has conducted sustained airstrikes across Lebanese territory and launched a ground invasion into southern Lebanon. On Sunday, Israeli military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir visited frontline troops stationed in southern Lebanon and publicly reaffirmed his commitment to ramp up offensive operations against Hezbollah.

    The Lebanese Ministry of Health confirmed that Sunday’s strikes spread far beyond the contested southern border zone, reaching population centers near the capital Beirut. A strike on Beirut’s Jnah neighborhood killed at least five people and wounded 52 others, while an attack on an apartment building in Ain Saadeh, a town just east of the capital, left three dead and three more injured. In the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Hatta, located far from the Israeli border, a Sunday strike killed seven people, including a four-year-old girl.

    In a rare offensive claim Sunday, Hezbollah announced it had launched a cruise missile against an Israeli warship patrolling off the Lebanese coast. But the Israeli military told Agence France-Presse (AFP) it had no record of such an incident occurring.

    According to official Lebanese data, more than 1,400 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across Lebanon since the outbreak of the latest conflict, 126 of whom are children. Over one million Lebanese have been displaced by the violence.

    Medical sources told AFP that the Jnah neighborhood strike landed just 100 meters from Rafik Hariri University Hospital, Lebanon’s largest public medical facility. Zakaria Tawbeh, the hospital’s deputy head, said the facility received four fatal casualties – three Sudanese nationals and a 15-year-old girl – plus 31 wounded patients. “Lots of glass was broken, and some of our patients had panic attacks,” Tawbeh told reporters.

    For local residents, the strikes represent a repeated cycle of trauma. Nancy Hassan, a 53-year-old Jnah resident, said she believed she would be safe in her home after the first strike of the day. “Shortly after, the planes were flying overhead, and we heard a huge bang, then stones rained down on us,” she recalled. Hassan already lost her 23-year-old daughter to an Israeli strike on the same neighborhood during the 2024 Hezbollah-Israel war, and four of her daughter’s friends were killed in Sunday’s attack. “Every time, they bomb us in the neighbourhood without warning,” she added.

    Israel also carried out multiple strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold that has been almost entirely evacuated in recent months. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon has issued a warning that exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah near UN peacekeeping positions raise the risk of accidental retaliatory attacks on UN personnel.

    The closure of the Masnaa border crossing followed explicit Israeli threats made Saturday. Israeli military Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said the crossing would be targeted because Hezbollah uses it for military activity and to smuggle weapons and combat equipment, urging all civilians to evacuate the area immediately. The Lebanese side of the crossing was evacuated within hours. While Syrian border and customs director Mazen Aloush emphasized the crossing is used exclusively for civilian travel and trade, it was temporarily shuttered in response to the imminent threat.

    Masnaa is a critical economic artery for both Lebanon and Syria, and a key travel hub for Lebanese residents seeking access to the broader Middle East. Military analyst Hassan Jouni told AFP that Israel’s threat to target the crossing is not rooted in legitimate security concerns, but instead is intended to pressure the Lebanese government to take action to disarm Hezbollah.

    With Masnaa closed, travelers have flooded alternative border crossings. At the northern Qaa crossing, an AFP correspondent on Sunday observed long lines of cars and vans waiting to cross into Syria, as people sought alternate routes to reach their destinations.

    As Israeli forces push deeper into southern Lebanese border areas, destroying entire villages in their advance, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has repeated his call for diplomatic negotiations with Israel to avert full-scale destruction similar to that seen in the Gaza Strip. “Why don’t we negotiate… until we can at least save the homes that have not yet been destroyed?” Aoun said in a televised address to the nation.

  • Spain’s huge pork industry seeks salvation from swine fever threat

    Spain’s huge pork industry seeks salvation from swine fever threat

    For third-generation pig farmer Jordi Saltiveri, the November 2023 announcement of the first African Swine Fever (ASF) detection in Spain hit with a mix of grief, frustration, and helplessness. Though his 8,000-head farm, nestled in the isolated countryside of Catalonia’s Lleida province hundreds of kilometers from the outbreak’s origin, has never recorded a case, the economic damage has already upended decades of stable production.

    “Every slaughter pig we sell now brings 30 to 40 euros less per head than it did before the outbreak was announced,” Saltiveri, who also serves as president of Catalonia’s federation of agricultural cooperatives, explained. The fallout is universal across Spain’s $27 billion pork sector, the largest in Europe, that has grown exponentially since the country eradicated its last ASF outbreak 30 years ago.

    The first case of the highly contagious, pig-lethal virus — which poses no risk to human health — was traced to a wild boar carcass found in Collserola Park, a protected natural reserve on the outskirts of Barcelona. A preliminary investigation quickly ruled out a leak from a nearby animal research facility as the source, but experts have pinned the risk of wider spread on the region’s booming wild boar population, which has grown unchecked due to relaxed wildlife management policies.

    Catalonia’s regional agriculture minister Òscar Ordeig noted that overpopulation of wild species, from rabbits to deer to boar, has created cascading public safety and health risks, with boars contributing to a sharp rise in traffic collisions and disease transmission. Current estimates put Catalonia’s wild boar population between 120,000 and 180,000 animals, many of which roam into Barcelona’s suburban outskirts. To curb spread, the regional government has set a target to cut the wild boar population in half, with 24,000 animals culled in the first three months of 2024 alone.

    Culling operations are concentrated in a 6-kilometer high-risk radius around the initial detection site, with a broader 20-kilometer low-risk zone also monitored. Teams use a combination of net traps, enclosed box traps, and silenced firearms, supported by drone and camera surveillance to track boar movement. All culled carcasses are tested for ASF; by the end of March 2024, 232 positive cases had been confirmed. Movement restrictions backed by reinforced fencing and strict biosecurity protocols — including disinfection of all vehicles and personnel that enter high-risk zones — are also in place to slow transmission.

    “We are deploying every available resource to protect our pork industry, our rural economy, and our farming families,” Ordeig said, emphasizing that Spain has long maintained some of the strictest biosecurity standards in Europe. “There is far too much at stake here to cut corners.”

    But the economic damage arrived almost instantly. As soon as ASF was confirmed, multiple major export markets including Brazil, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, and the United States immediately moved to close their borders to all Spanish pork imports. Other trading partners, including EU member states, China, and the United Kingdom, implemented targeted restrictions banning only pork from Catalonia and the affected northeastern region.

    The collapse in international demand has sent domestic pork prices plummeting, cutting directly into farmer profits. Data from Catalonia shows that pork exports from the region dropped 17% year-over-year in January 2024. Farmers’ advocacy group Unión de Uniones estimates that the entire Spanish pork sector has already lost more than 600 million euros since the outbreak began. Under international animal health rules, Spain cannot regain full free export status until 12 full months have passed since the last confirmed infection is eliminated.

    The stakes of a prolonged outbreak are high: in recent years, Germany’s ongoing ASF crisis has cut national pork production by roughly 25% and forced thousands of small farms to close. Spanish officials point to Belgium as a successful model, where the country fully eradicated ASF just 14 months after its first detection. Saltiveri, who maintains strict biosecurity protocols on his farm that predate the current outbreak, says he is confident his operation and other Spanish commercial farms will remain free of the virus.

    Still, many industry voices have criticized the government’s containment response as too slow. After positive cases were detected outside the initial high-risk zone in February 2024, Mercolleida, Catalonia’s leading benchmark agricultural market for all of Spain, issued a public rebuke of the culling effort in the Barcelona area, warning that delayed action was already hurting producers across the country. “Farmers from every corner of Spain are already paying the price for this outbreak,” the board said in a statement. “We cannot allow Spain to become the next Germany.”

    Domestically, however, consumer confidence has remained steady, even just a few kilometers from the outbreak’s origin at Barcelona’s central Sants Market. Multiple shoppers purchasing pork told reporters they trusted the government’s safety controls, noting that ASF cannot infect humans — a stark contrast to the 1990s BSE (mad cow disease) crisis, which posed direct risks to human health and upended beef consumption across Europe.

    “I feel more confident buying pork now than I did before the outbreak, because every cut is subject to extra checks,” said shopper Nati Martínez. Longtime pork butcher José Rodríguez added that retail prices have held steady since the outbreak began, and any softness in sales is tied to broader cost-of-living pressures, not consumer concern over ASF. For Spanish consumers, Rodríguez noted, pork remains a staple of the national diet: “We eat every part of the pig, from nose to tail. That isn’t changing anytime soon.”

  • Step aside, children: A Chilean zoo stages an Easter egg hunt with treats for the animals

    Step aside, children: A Chilean zoo stages an Easter egg hunt with treats for the animals

    SANTIAGO, Chile — For many communities around the world, Easter weekend brings colorful candy-filled egg hunts for children chasing sweet treats. But at Chile’s largest private zoological park, this beloved holiday tradition gets a playful, animal-centric twist: this Easter egg hunt is exclusively for the park’s residents, with human visitors cheering them on from the sidelines.

    This year, Bioparque Buinzoo, located in the heart of Chile’s capital Santiago, held its 16th annual animal Easter egg hunt, a long-running event crafted to serve two key goals: delight visiting crowds observing the fun, and encourage native foraging behaviors that support the animals’ psychological and physical wellbeing.

    Across different animal enclosures, zookeepers hid holiday-themed treats that matched each species’ natural diet, wrapped in festive Easter-inspired packaging instead of the store-bought chocolate eggs familiar to human celebrants. For small wild cats including caracals, zookeepers tucked meat-filled pouches decorated to look like bright Easter eggs high on tree branches, prompting the agile felines to leap and climb to retrieve their snacks – just as they would climbing trees to hunt prey in the wild.

    Meerkats had their hidden treats placed in a small basket nestled between rocky outcrops in their enclosure, encouraging the curious burrowing animals to sniff out their meal. For primate residents including lemurs and multiple species of monkeys, zookeepers hid fresh, natural fruits inside brown paper bags printed with playful bunny graphics, matching the Easter holiday theme. Even the zoo’s flock of sheep got in on the fun: they foraged for food pellets tucked inside a colorful, holed sphere, a puzzle-like challenge that kept the animals engaged.

    Ignacio Idalsoaga, director of Bioparque Buinzoo, explained the core logic behind the annual event. In their natural wild habitats, the vast majority of these species spend a large portion of their daily lives searching for food, a routine that keeps them both physically active and mentally stimulated. “We wanted to recreate that natural searching behavior in a captive environment to keep our animals healthy and engaged,” Idalsoaga said. He also made clear that none of the “eggs” contained chocolate, a food toxic to many animals – all treats matched what the animals would naturally eat in the wild. Idalsoaga added that the zoo’s creative team brought extra imagination to this year’s event, crafting new themed challenges for animals across the park to enjoy.

  • The 40 minutes when the Artemis crew loses contact with the Earth

    The 40 minutes when the Artemis crew loses contact with the Earth

    When NASA’s Artemis II mission crew glide into the shadow of the Moon on Monday, they will enter a rare and profound chapter of human space exploration that few have experienced before. Scheduled to begin at approximately 23:47 BST, the Moon’s bulk will completely block the radio and laser signals that connect the four astronauts aboard the Orion capsule to mission control 240,000 miles away on Earth. For nearly 40 minutes, the Artemis II crew will travel through the dark of the lunar far side, completely cut off from all contact with home.

    This moment of intentional isolation is not an unplanned mishap—it is an unavoidable milestone of any lunar mission, one that links the current generation of Artemis explorers directly to the Apollo astronauts who first blazed this trail more than half a century ago. No human has ever traveled farther from Earth than the Artemis II astronauts, who have maintained a steady, calming connection with Houston mission control through every phase of their journey so far. That steady link, which has anchored the crew to home throughout their outward voyage, will vanish abruptly when they dip behind the lunar horizon.

    In a pre-mission interview with BBC News, Artemis pilot Victor Glover shared his reflection on the coming silence, asking people across the globe to seize the 40 minutes as a moment of shared connection rather than distance. “When we’re behind the Moon, out of contact with everybody, let’s take that as an opportunity,” Glover said. “Let’s pray, hope, send your good thoughts and feelings that we get back in contact with the crew.”

    The experience of lunar radio blackout carries heavy echoes of the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, when command module pilot Michael Collins faced a nearly identical period of isolation while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made their historic first steps on the lunar surface. For 48 minutes as his module circled the far side of the Moon, Collins lost all contact with both his crewmates on the surface and mission control back on Earth. In his 1974 memoir *Carrying the Fire*, Collins wrote that he felt “truly alone” and “isolated from any known life,” but noted that he felt no fear or crippling loneliness. In later years, he even recalled the silence as a moment of unexpected peace, a welcome break from the constant stream of communications from mission control that filled his active workday.

    While the astronauts themselves will get a rare, undisturbed window to focus on lunar observation during the blackout—capturing high-resolution imagery, mapping lunar geology, and simply absorbing the unparalleled view of the Moon up close—teams on the ground will spend the 40 minutes in quiet anticipation. At Goonhilly Earth Station in southwest England, a massive deep-space antenna has been tracking Orion’s position throughout the mission, feeding precise location data back to NASA headquarters. This marks the first time the facility has tracked a human-crewed lunar mission, and Goonhilly chief technology officer Matt Cosby admits the team will feel a flicker of tension during the blackout.

    “We’re going to get slightly nervous as it goes behind the Moon, and then we’ll be very excited when we see it again, because we know that they’re all safe,” Cosby told the BBC. For the future of lunar exploration, however, communication blackouts like this one are expected to become a thing of the past. As NASA and other global space agencies work toward establishing a permanent sustainable lunar base and expanding exploration of the far side of the Moon, constant, reliable communications coverage will be a non-negotiable requirement.

    “For a sustainable presence on the Moon, you need the full comms – you need the full 24 hours a day, even on the far side, because the far side will want to be explored as well,” Cosby explained. Initiatives like the European Space Agency’s Moonlight program are already moving forward with plans to deploy a network of communications satellites in lunar orbit, designed to deliver uninterrupted coverage for all future missions, regardless of where a craft or surface outpost is located around the Moon.

    As the Artemis II crew prepare for their 40 minutes of silence, millions around the world will be waiting alongside ground teams for the moment the Orion capsule emerges from the Moon’s shadow. When the signal reconnects, the world will breathe a collective sigh of relief, and the history-making crew will once again be able to share their unprecedented views of the Earth and Moon with everyone waiting back home. The stunning new image of Earth captured by the crew from Orion in the past week, which has already captivated the public, offers a small preview of the breathtaking sights the astronauts will share once contact is restored.

  • How China fell for a lobster: What an AI assistant tells us about Beijing’s ambition

    How China fell for a lobster: What an AI assistant tells us about Beijing’s ambition

    In March 2026, an unconventional artificial intelligence tool called OpenClaw sparked a nationwide digital frenzy across China, where users have affectionately nicknamed the customizable agent a “lobster” and coined the term “raising lobsters” to describe the process of fine-tuning the tool to fit their personal and professional needs. The viral trend has laid bare China’s accelerating push to integrate artificial intelligence across every corner of its economy, while also highlighting the growing tensions between rapid innovation, regulatory oversight, and shifting labor markets.

    For many Chinese users, OpenClaw has been a revelation. The tool was originally developed by Austrian coder Peter Steinberger, and its open-source codebase gives it a unique advantage in China’s market: unlike closed, Western AI platforms such as ChatGPT and Claude that remain inaccessible to most Chinese users, OpenClaw’s code can be freely adapted to run on domestic large language models developed by Chinese tech firms. That accessibility has turned it into a grassroots AI movement that has captured the attention of everyone from casual hobbyists to major technology corporations and government policymakers.

    Wang, a young IT engineer who asked to keep his full name private due to his unregistered side business selling digital goods on TikTok — a platform banned in mainland China — is one of the millions of Chinese users who have dived into “raising lobsters” in recent months. When he first tested a custom OpenClaw build modified for his e-commerce work, he said he was stunned by its capabilities. Manually uploading new product listings to TikTok Shop is an hours-long grind: it requires editing images, writing SEO-friendly titles and product descriptions, adjusting pricing and promotional discounts, registering for marketing campaigns, and coordinating with influencer partners. Normally, Wang can only complete around 12 listings a single day. But his custom “lobster” can push out up to 200 complete listings in just two minutes, he claimed. “It is scary, but also exciting. My lobster is better than I am at this,” Wang told the BBC. “It writes better, and can instantly compare my prices with every competitor – something I would never have time to do.”

    OpenClaw had already earned significant attention in global tech circles even before its viral rise in China: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang publicly hailed it as “the next ChatGPT”, and Steinberger, its creator, was recently recruited to join leading U.S. AI lab OpenAI. But the grassroots enthusiasm that turned it into a nationwide cultural trend is a distinctly Chinese phenomenon, according to Wendy Chang, an analyst with the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS).

    The viral traction of OpenClaw in China is no accident. It comes on the heels of years of targeted investment in AI development, backed by top-level political support from China’s central leadership that has encouraged domestic innovation in the sector. The groundwork was laid in early 2025, when Chinese open-source AI platform DeepSeek, built by domestic engineers educated at China’s top universities, surprised global observers with its capability, proving that Chinese developers could compete in the global AI race and demonstrating strong domestic demand for open, adaptable AI tools. This set the stage for OpenClaw’s rapid adoption once it caught the attention of Chinese tech communities.

    Major domestic tech giants such as Tencent and Baidu quickly got in on the trend, releasing their own custom-built versions of OpenClaw for users. In cities ranging from Beijing to Shenzhen, hundreds of people from all age groups — from secondary school students to retired residents — lined up outside the two firms’ headquarters to claim free custom OpenClaw builds. Public figures from across China’s digital ecosystem have also embraced the trend: popular comedian and author Li Dan told his millions of Douyin followers that he was so immersed in his OpenClaw that he even talked to his “lobster” in his sleep, while Cheetah Mobile CEO Fu Sheng regularly documented his own experience “raising lobsters” on social media, cementing the phrase in the country’s online lexicon.

    Users have adapted their “lobsters” for a huge range of use cases: some stock market enthusiasts have claimed their custom OpenClaw builds can analyze market trends to identify optimal entry and exit points for trades, even executing trades automatically despite the high risk of costly errors. Other users highlight the tool’s ability to cut down on repetitive work and streamline multi-tasking for daily personal and professional tasks. Wang summed up the sentiment of many users when he called OpenClaw “the AI era’s answer for ordinary people.”

    China’s national strategy of “AI Plus”, which aims to integrate artificial intelligence across all major industries from manufacturing to services, has created a policy environment that encouraged OpenClaw’s early growth. Multiple local governments rolled out financial incentives to encourage entrepreneurs to integrate OpenClaw into their business operations. The eastern manufacturing hub of Wuxi, for example, offered rewards of up to 5 million yuan ($726,000) for OpenClaw-based applications in manufacturing such as industrial robotics.

    “Everyone in China knows that the government sets the pace, and the government tells you where the opportunities are,” said Rui Ma, founder of the Tech Buzz China newsletter. “It’s practical for most people. That’s probably a better plan, to just follow the government directive than to really try to figure it out on your own.” Since Beijing prioritized AI development, thousands of domestic startups and established tech firms have rushed into the AI sector, supported by a range of policy perks including subsidized office space, low-interest loans, and cash grants for innovation. Today, companies across almost every sector — from automotive manufacturing to healthcare, consumer electronics to logistics — are racing to integrate AI into their products and internal operations. The competition in China’s domestic AI market is already fierce: since 2023, more than 100 domestic large language models have launched in what local media have dubbed the “Hundred Model War”, and only around 10 remain major competitors today.

    Experts note that while Chinese AI platforms still lag behind leading Western models in overall capability, the gap has narrowed steadily in recent years. For Chinese policymakers, promoting the open-source OpenClaw framework is a strategic move to help close that gap further, according to analyst Jenny Xiao.

    But as the initial hype has cooled, growing challenges have emerged that have forced a shift in the narrative. First, many users have been caught off guard by the recurring cost of running custom OpenClaw agents, which require paid “tokens” for every interaction. More critically, national cybersecurity authorities have raised alarms about unregulated use of the tool. Last month, Beijing’s cybersecurity watchdog issued a public warning about major security risks linked to improperly modified and deployed OpenClaw builds, and a growing number of government agencies have since banned staff from installing the tool on work devices. Many institutions that once offered custom OpenClaw installations have now shifted to removing the tool from official systems.

    This back-and-forth is characteristic of China’s top-down policy approach to emerging technology, observers say. Local governments often rush to embrace new tools that align with central leadership’s priorities to compete for approval, then pull back when risks emerge. Ma describes this dynamic as “disorder with control”, and notes that Beijing’s regulatory intervention does not mean policymakers are turning against AI development broadly.

    In fact, policymakers see AI tools like OpenClaw as a potential partial solution to one of China’s most pressing social problems: youth unemployment, which has remained above 16% in recent months. Many government incentive programs tied to OpenClaw specifically target “one-person companies” — small, solo-run startups built with the support of AI tools — offering subsidies of up to 10 million yuan to encourage new business formation. “Who’s the most likely to build a one-person company? Probably young people who face a tough job market,” Xiao explained.

    For many Chinese workers, the rapid spread of AI tools like OpenClaw has already created widespread anxiety about job displacement. A recent commentary in state-run newspaper *People’s Daily* captured the growing national mood: “Some say that in 2026, if you don’t ‘raise lobsters’, you’ve already lost at the starting line.” Jason, an IT programmer whose team now only hires candidates with prior experience working with AI tools, called the shift “genuinely terrifying.” “It’s mostly people leaving, with very few new hires coming in,” he said.

    Wang, the e-commerce entrepreneur who built his own custom “lobster” to streamline his business, acknowledges that the rapid pace of AI change is scary, with widespread fears that many workers could be replaced by AI tools. But he remains optimistic about his own future. He expects his TikTok shop business, scaled up by his “lobster”, to become his full-time occupation, eliminating the need for his regular IT job. And if AI eventually advances enough that “lobsters” can run entire e-commerce shops on their own, squeezing him out of the market? “I’ll use AI to find another business,” he said.

  • Two protests, two elections: How Nepal’s Gen Z succeeded where Bangladesh’s stumbled

    Two protests, two elections: How Nepal’s Gen Z succeeded where Bangladesh’s stumbled

    Across South Asia, a new wave of Gen Z political activism has reshaped national politics in recent years, but two neighboring countries have seen starkly different outcomes for youth movements that both ousted sitting governments through mass public protest. Last month, as Nepal swore in former rapper Balendra Shah as prime minister — with dozens of Gen Z lawmakers filling seats in the newly elected parliament for the four-year-old Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) — Bangladeshi youth activist Umama Fatema watched from afar with a heavy heart.

    Fatema was one of thousands of Gen Z protesters who led 2024 mass demonstrations that brought down Bangladesh’s long-ruling authoritarian Awami League government, matching the grassroots energy that upended Nepal’s political establishment. But nearly two years after Bangladesh’s revolution, the nation’s youth movement has yet to claim meaningful formal political power. In the country’s first post-protest national election held in February, the long-established opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) secured a historic parliamentary majority, while the youth-led National Citizens’ Party (NCP) — which grew directly out of the student protest movement — suffered a dismal defeat, winning only six of the 30 seats it contested.

    This outcome stands in sharp contrast to Nepal’s historic election results, delivered just one month after Bangladesh’s vote. The RSP, a youth-focused upstart party, won a landslide victory, earned dozens of Gen Z seats in parliament, and paved the way for Shah’s ascension to the prime ministership via an electoral alliance. Nepal’s win marks a rare breakthrough for youth political movements across Asia, where dozens of Gen Z-led protest movements have erupted in recent years, but none have managed to convert street protest into formal governing power the way Nepal’s young activists have.

    “Personally, I felt disheartened. When I saw how effectively [the Nepalese youth] were able to organise themselves, I could not help but feel disappointed about the situation in our own country,” Fatema explained. “Bangladesh has not been able to deliver such a change… it is naturally disheartening to realise that we have not been able to organise and rebuild our country in the same way.”

    Political analysts and youth leaders on both sides have dissected the stark divergence in outcomes, pointing to a combination of structural political context, strategic decision-making, and timing that separated the two movements.

    For Nepal, RSP leaders frame their victory as a product of deep resonance with widespread public frustration. “The Gen Z protests tapped into a deep, long-standing frustration with the way things have been run,” explained KP Khanal, an RSP candidate who won a parliamentary seat in Kailali district. “At the same time, the sacrifices and voices of Gen Z stayed with the public — they haven’t been forgotten. Consistency was also a key factor. We kept raising our voices around accountability and justice, over and over, and gradually that message reached far and wide. It stopped being just a reaction to the status quo and started to feel like a genuine, credible movement that people believed in and wanted to be part of.”

    Analysts add that Nepal’s unique political landscape created a unique opening for an upstart youth party. For years, the nation’s electoral system has encouraged coalition governance, and no single party has held a parliamentary majority. Over 17 years, Nepal cycled through 14 separate governments, with a small group of established parties rotating power in a pattern critics called political musical chairs. Widespread public anger over systemic corruption left all major established parties discredited, clearing the way for the RSP’s outsider brand to win over voters.

    “In Nepal’s case, since all three established parties, none dominant, were discredited, the main beneficiary has been the youthful RSP and its leader,” noted Nitasha Kaul, director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of Westminster.

    Another strategic decision that cemented the RSP’s success was its electoral alliance with Shah, a charismatic former protest leader who lacked a formal party structure of his own. The alliance benefited both sides: the RSP provided Shah with access to its existing national organizational network and campaign resources, while Shah helped the RSP overcome a damaging embezzlement scandal surrounding party leader Rabi Lamichhane, giving voters a unifying, trusted figure to rally around.

    Nepalese political analyst Amish Mulmi explained that in South Asian politics, robust party organization is non-negotiable for electoral success, especially for first-time contenders. That lesson was not lost on 27-year-old youth activist Purushottam Suprabhat Yadav, who turned down an invitation from friends to launch a new independent youth party after Nepal’s Gen Z protests. “Winning an election is not a joke. Organising a movement and emerging victorious in an election are two different things,” Yadav told reporters. “A political party cannot be formed out of nowhere… you require a very big machinery. There were also problems of finance and organisation-building, which was not easily available to us at that time.”

    Yadav instead joined the RSP in December, drawn to the party’s existing national organizational network and slate of new, young candidates. The decision paid off: last week, Yadav was sworn into parliament as an RSP lawmaker via the party’s proportional representation list. Echoing the movement’s core promises, Yadav emphasized that the transition from street protest to parliamentary office has not changed the movement’s core goals. “We are now entering parliament from the streets — our place in society has changed, but not our agenda. Anti-corruption and an end to appointments on the basis of political affiliation and nepotism are our key demands. If we have to fight against our own party regarding this, we will do so.”

    Kaul noted that converting street protest power to electoral power requires long-term, intentional organizing work that many passion-driven youth movements lack. “A movement that is driven primarily by passion, frustration, anger, or the politics of purity may be better at challenging the status quo — but not necessarily at winning elections,” she said. Nepal’s success, she added, stemmed from minimal internal division, ideological flexibility without open hostility, and a lack of dominant established parties capable of co-opting the movement’s momentum — all factors that were missing in Bangladesh’s case.

    In Bangladesh, the long-ruling Awami League had suppressed all opposition for decades before it was ousted, leaving only established opposition parties well positioned to capitalize on anti-government anger after the revolution. “This meant that the second and third parties were seen as ‘victims’,” Kaul explained, noting that the BNP and Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami ended up reaping the benefits of widespread anti-establishment sentiment in the election. These established parties framed themselves as reform-minded, aligned closely with the youth movement, and ultimately were better able to absorb and channel protest energy than the new, under-resourced youth-led NCP, according to Imran Ahmed, a research fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore.

    The NCP’s fatal strategic misstep was its decision to enter a coalition led by the conservative, controversial Jamaat-e-Islami, which alienated its core base of young progressive supporters, particularly women. “By aligning with a regressive force in Bangladesh, the NCP became more about political power than about the Gen Z cause, squandering their golden chance to appeal to more voters,” said Rishi Gupta, assistant director of the Asia Society Policy Institute in Delhi.

    Timing also worked against Bangladesh’s youth movement. Gupta points out that a year and a half passed between the 2024 protests and the 2026 election, allowing the movement’s grassroots momentum to fade. Nepal, by contrast, held its election just six months after its mass protests, capitalizing on sustained public anger at the old establishment.

    While Bangladesh’s youth failed to win formal power, their movement did succeed in shifting the national conversation around reform. The protests forced a constitutional referendum held alongside February’s election, where a majority of voters backed sweeping changes to the constitution, parliament, and national legal system. The new BNP-led government has also released a 31-point plan for structural reform, but many young activists remain skeptical.

    “In many ways, they have followed the same conventional pattern of programmes that the Awami League used to undertake,” Fatema said, adding that the new government has failed to prioritize expanded economic and job opportunities for Bangladesh’s large youth population. A growing sense of disillusionment has spread among young Bangladeshis, she added, with more and more young people seeking work opportunities abroad and turning away from domestic politics entirely.

    “The tendency among young people to look abroad has grown to an alarming level… even those who once intended to remain in the country are no longer thinking that way,” Fatema said. “With young people no longer seeing their future within this country, how will they find a place for themselves within the political landscape? It has become a major problem.”

    Still, some young Bangladeshi activists hold out hope for the future. The NCP, which now holds a small foothold in parliament, will contest upcoming local city elections independently, without any coalition alliances. Local NCP leader and Gen Z protester Rahat Hossain argues that running alone will help the party rebuild trust with its core base. “I think the people will accept the party more than they did in the national elections,” Hossain said. “If the NCP continues to stand with the people on the streets, fighting alongside them and upholding its promises, then it can achieve better outcomes in the future.”

    For youth activists across both nations, the fight for systemic reform remains ongoing. Nepal’s new Gen Z lawmakers have pledged to hold their own government accountable to the high expectations of a public hungry for change, while Bangladeshi youth warn they will return to the streets if the new government fails to deliver on the promised constitutional reforms. Fatema says even if current activists remain sidelined, the next generation will carry the movement forward. “Those who are 10 years younger than us will eventually organise movements of their own,” she said. “The next phase of protests in Bangladesh will likely be led by Generation Alpha.”

  • Hire house help in 15 minutes in India. But is the system fair?

    Hire house help in 15 minutes in India. But is the system fair?

    On a busy Tuesday afternoon in Noida, a satellite city bordering India’s capital New Delhi, domestic cleaner Seema Kumari steps through the door of a client’s home in a faded purple T-shirt and gets straight to work. In just 55 minutes, she wipes down sticky kitchen counters, scrubs years of grime from the balcony railing, straightens rumpled bedsheets, and mops every last corner of the floor, leaving the space spotless before heading to her next scheduled booking. Like millions of domestic workers across India, Seema now works through Urban Company, one of a new wave of home-service startups that let urban customers book everything from deep cleaning to beauty treatments on demand, often with as little as 15 minutes’ notice.

    For generations, domestic work in India has operated almost entirely through informal word-of-mouth networks, with workers hired off the books and paid exclusively in cash. Today, a growing cohort of digital startups is moving this centuries-old sector online, rolling out on-demand short-task booking services across major Indian cities. These platforms are entering a massive, nearly entirely unregulated market: industry estimates place the total number of domestic workers in India at roughly 30 million, the vast majority of whom are women with limited access to formal, steady employment options. One of the newest entrants, Pronto, launched just last year, has already scaled to 15,000 daily bookings within 10 months of operation, with peak demand concentrated in Delhi and its surrounding suburbs, followed by Mumbai and Bengaluru.

    For decades, domestic work in India has been defined by low wages, job insecurity, and near-total lack of regulation, in large part because it takes place behind closed doors in private residences. Platforms like Urban Company and Pronto frame their entry into the market as a force for good, arguing that they can formalize the sector by offering standardized worker training, transparent fixed pricing, and traceable digital wage payments. For workers like Seema, the shift has brought tangible new economic opportunities — but it has also introduced unprecedented pressures and algorithmic control that did not exist in the old informal system.

    Before joining Urban Company, Seema worked 12-hour shifts at a local garment factory, earning just 10,000 to 14,000 Indian rupees (approximately $108 to $151) per month. She quit the role last year after hearing the platform was hiring new cleaners, drawn by the promise of higher, more consistent earnings. “I now make around 20,000 rupees a month,” she says, explaining that the increased income lets her cover school fees and basic needs for her two children. While her monthly earning potential is listed as 25,000 rupees on the platform, she takes home far less after automatic fines for booking cancellations, low client ratings, and late arrivals. “I have made the full amount only once, when I did not take any leave and worked for at least eight hours every day,” she notes.

    Unlike the flexible informal arrangements of the past, platform-based domestic work is fully governed by algorithmic systems that assign jobs, track worker performance, and automatically impose penalties for rule violations. Even delays entirely outside a worker’s control can result in fines, Seema explains: “We often have to walk from one location to another. Sometimes security guards hold us up at the gate while they verify our entry into the building. That makes us late and then we are penalized — even if it is by five minutes.”

    This experience is not unique. An anonymous household client in Gurgaon shared that her app-based cleaner arrived a few minutes late and was automatically fined 10 rupees by the platform, a penalty the worker showed her directly on the app. The BBC reached out to Urban Company for comment on its penalty policy but received no response; Pronto stated it does not fine workers for late arrivals.

    Client ratings add another constant layer of stress for workers. One cleaner who accidentally broke a curtain rod during a job begged her client not to leave a negative review, explaining that a poor score would drastically reduce her future booking opportunities. Labour rights activists argue that the strict time and performance expectations imposed by platforms are often unworkable and dehumanizing. “It is inhuman to expect that someone can simply be summoned within 15 minutes,” says activist Akriti Bhatia. “These are people, not automated systems.”

    Beyond performance pressure, algorithmic governance also creates unpredictable earnings. Most platforms use either per-task payment models with performance-based incentives or variable fixed pay structures, meaning a worker’s monthly income is entirely shaped by their ratings and algorithmic allocation, rather than a set contracted wage. Pronto founder Anjali Sardana argues that the platform’s model delivers meaningful progress for workers, pointing to direct bank deposits and optional health and accident insurance as key steps toward formalization. But critics remain deeply skeptical. Bhatia notes that while digital payments have brought a small degree of formality to the sector, workers still lack core labor protections including paid leave, pensions, and minimum wage guarantees. With almost no unionization among platform domestic workers, most have little to no bargaining power to push for better conditions. Platforms counter that they offer internal grievance redressal systems and emergency support for workers who face hostile situations with clients, but activists say these measures do little to address the daily struggles of on-demand work.

    The relentless pace of back-to-back bookings has also taken a toll on workers’ basic well-being. In Hyderabad, domestic cleaner Amrutha says she declines offers of water during shifts because she cannot be sure she will have access to a public restroom between bookings, a common issue given that many private households still bar domestic workers from using their in-home bathrooms. While platforms state they operate service hubs with public restrooms for workers between shifts, many workers report not knowing these facilities exist, and instead wait for their next booking in public parks, building stairwells, or bus stops. What was once unstructured downtime to rest, eat, or travel between jobs has shrunk dramatically as demand for on-demand services has grown. “There are days when I don’t even get time to eat. It has started taking a toll on my health,” Seema says.

    This tension between expanded opportunity and increased exploitation is not a new pattern for India’s gig economy. The same trade-off played out when ride-hailing platforms like Uber and food delivery apps like Zomato first entered the Indian market. “We’ve seen this pattern before,” Bhatia explains. “Many venture-funded platforms initially offer higher pay and discounts to attract users and workers. Over time, that balance shifts” toward greater pressure and lower earnings for workers.

    While instant on-demand home services have gained rapid popularity among young, urban, middle-class households, many families remain hesitant to adopt the new model. Sushma, a long-time Delhi resident, says she was uncomfortable when her adult children booked an app-based cleaner after her regular domestic worker missed a day of work. “I do not know the person,” she says. “How do I let them into my house?” She also expressed concern about how the shift would affect her long-standing working relationship with her regular informal helper. Her hesitation reflects broader unease about how digital platforms are reshaping decades-old social and economic ties between households and domestic workers.

    As on-demand domestic services continue to grow across India, they are transforming not just how work is booked and paid for, but how the work is experienced by both workers and clients. For Seema, despite the constant pressure, the physical toll, and the unpredictable earnings, the job remains a lifeline. As she finishes her last booking of the day in Noida, another notification pops up on her phone for a new shift the next morning. “The work is tough and I am looking for other opportunities,” she says. “But for now, it helps me take care of my children, so I’ll keep going.”

  • Trump issues expletive-laden threat to Iran over Hormuz Strait blockage

    Trump issues expletive-laden threat to Iran over Hormuz Strait blockage

    After more than a month of open conflict between the U.S.-Israeli bloc and Iran, regional tensions have spiraled to new heights in recent days, fueled by a fiery public ultimatum from U.S. President Donald Trump and a wave of reciprocal cross-border strikes that have put global energy security at grave risk.

    The latest escalation follows the downing of an American F-15 fighter jet over southwestern Iran on Friday. Both the pilot and a second crew member ejected safely after the crash, and the pilot was rescued within hours. After a multi-day search carried out by both U.S. and Iranian teams in the mountainous crash site, the White House announced Sunday that the second service member had also been successfully extracted from hostile Iranian territory.

    Hours after confirming the rescue, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to issue a profanity-laced threat against Tehran, tying his demand to a rapidly approaching deadline. Iran has blocked all commercial shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most critical chokepoint for global oil exports, for more than a month. The closure has sent crude prices soaring worldwide and stoked widespread fears of a sustained global inflation surge. Trump first issued a series of deadlines for Iran to reopen the waterway back in March, and Sunday’s post reaffirmed that demand with unprecedented harsh language.

    “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP,” the post read. Later, Trump clarified an adjustment to the timeline, posting “Tuesday, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time!” – an extension from the original Monday, April 6 deadline. In subsequent interviews with U.S. media outlets, the president struck a contradictory tone: he repeated his earlier threat to unleash “hell” on Iran if the deadline is not met, but added that he believes there is a “good chance” a negotiated deal can be reached with Tehran before the clock runs out. He also acknowledged he is considering a more extreme option: “blowing everything up and taking over the oil” if no agreement is secured quickly.

    Iranian officials have responded with open mockery and defiance of Trump’s ultimatum. Gen. Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi, a senior commander with Iran’s central military command, dismissed the threat as a “helpless, nervous, unbalanced and stupid action,” warning that “the gates of hell will open” for the U.S. president if Washington follows through on the attack.

    Parallel to the diplomatic standoff, both sides have ramped up military strikes across the region in recent days. Israel has carried out a wave of attacks on civilian infrastructure targets across Iran in recent days, with a petrochemical facility hit Saturday marking the latest in that campaign. According to senior Israeli defense officials, Jerusalem is currently awaiting final approval from Washington to launch expanded strikes on Iranian energy facilities as early as next week. On Sunday, joint U.S.-Israeli strikes hit the Qasem Soleimani International Airport in southwestern Iran, a key logistical hub for Iranian military operations.

    Iran has continued its reciprocal retaliatory strikes targeting Israel and U.S. Arab allies across the Persian Gulf. On Sunday, an Iranian ballistic missile scored a direct hit on a residential building in the Israeli coastal city of Haifa, leaving four people injured. Further north in the Gulf, Abu Dhabi emergency responders spent Sunday battling large fires at the Borouge petrochemical complex, sparked by debris from an intercepted Iranian missile. Kuwaiti officials reported severe damage to key oil and petrochemical facilities from Iranian drone strikes, while industrial and fuel infrastructure in Bahrain was also targeted in separate attacks.

  • Trump warns ‘crazy bastards’ in Iran to open ‘fuckin’ strait’ in Truth Social rant

    Trump warns ‘crazy bastards’ in Iran to open ‘fuckin’ strait’ in Truth Social rant

    In a profanity-laced outburst posted to his Truth Social platform dated April 5, 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump launched a virulent verbal attack against Iranian leadership, threatening catastrophic consequences if Tehran does not immediately reopen the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz. The Strait, which carries roughly a fifth of the world’s daily oil supply and is a critical chokepoint for global energy trade, has been closed to commercial traffic since the joint U.S.-Israeli military assault on Iran launched in late February, sending shockwaves through global energy markets and straining international economies already grappling with persistent volatility.

    Trump’s inflammatory post targeted Iranian leaders as “crazy bastards,” demanding they open the “fuckin’ Strait” or face what he called “hell,” adding a threat to destroy Iran’s key energy and transportation infrastructure. In a striking and unusual closing to the aggressive message, the president ended the post with the phrase “Praise be to Allah.”

    As of Sunday, April 6, Iranian officials had not issued an immediate public response to Trump’s latest ultimatum. However, speaking to Fox News later that same day, Trump walked back some of the overt belligerence slightly, noting that ongoing negotiations are already underway and claiming he sees a “good chance” a formal agreement to reopen the waterway could be reached as early as Monday. The president reiterated his threat in the interview, stating: “If they don’t make a deal and fast, I’m considering blowing everything up and taking over the oil.”

    Reopening the Strait of Hormuz has been framed as a top policy priority for the Trump administration and the broader international community, which has faced steep economic fallout from the weeks-long closure of the critical trade route. Diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions and broker a deal have been led primarily by Oman, which announced Sunday that Omani and Iranian foreign ministry representatives had met to discuss a path toward reopening the strait.

    In a post on the social platform X, Oman’s state news agency confirmed the meeting, which brought together deputy foreign ministry officials and technical specialists from both sides to review potential “options” for restoring navigation through the waterway. This follows an announcement from Tehran earlier last week that Iran was drafting a peacetime maritime protocol with Oman to oversee commercial traffic through the strait, a document Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told Russian state media would go into effect once hostilities between Iran, the U.S. and Israel conclude.

    Diplomatic contacts between the U.S. and Iran have so far been indirect, mediated through Pakistani intermediaries, but Trump has ramped up his aggressive rhetoric in recent days. Just one day before his April 5 Truth Social rant, on Saturday, the president gave Tehran a 48-hour deadline to reach an agreement or face “all Hell.”

    In separate developments last week, an Iranian parliamentary committee voted to implement new shipping tolls for all vessels transiting the strait and implement a total ban on any ships flagged to or owned by the U.S. and Israel from entering the waterway.