AKOUDA, Tunisia (AP) — In fields outside their hometown in central Tunisia, an increasing number of unemployed young men are seeking a new way to make a living, picking snails off of rocks and leaves and collecting them in large plastic bags to take to the local market to be sold.

More and more people, they say, are buying the shelled wanderers as the price of market staples remains high and out of reach for many families.

“They’re profitable, beneficial and quite in demand,” said Karim, a 29-year-old snail seller from the village of Akouda said.

Snails have been consumed in Tunisia for more than seven millenia, according to research published last year in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences. In today’s world considered mostly a bistro delicacy, they’re again gaining traction in Tunisia as a practical alternative to red meat — a protein-rich substitute that pairs perfectly with salt, spices, and bold seasonings.

The snails are a lifeline for some in Tunisia, where youth unemployment now hovers above 40% and inflation remains high, three years after spiking to its highest levels in decades. A lack of opportunity has fueled social discontent throughout the country and, increasingly, migration to Europe.

Low in fat and high in iron, calcium and magnesium, snails offer both nutritional value and economic relief. In a country where unemployment runs high and median wages remain low, they cost about half as much as beef per kilogram and often less when sold by the bowl.

“Snails are better for cooking than lamb. If lamb meat costs 60 dinars ($19.30), a bowl of snails is five dinars ($1.60),” a man named Mohammed said at the Akouda market.

As the price of meat and poultry continues to rise, more Tunisians are turning to affordable, alternative sources of protein. Beyond their economic appeal, these substitutes are also drawing interest for their environmental benefits. Scientists say they offer a more sustainable solution, producing far fewer carbon emissions and avoiding the deforestation linked to traditional livestock farming.

Wahiba Dridi, who serves snails at her restaurant in Tunis, cooks them in a traditional fashion with peppers and spices. She said they were popular throughout this year’s Ramadan, which ended last week. Though Tunisian Muslims traditionally eat red meat at the meals during which they break their daily fasts, a kilogram of snails costs less than 28 Tunisian dinars ($9) compared to beef, which costs 55 dinars per kilogram ($18).

“If people knew the value of snails they would eat them all year long,” Dridi said.

COLUMBIA, Md. (AP) — A group of Chinese people decided they wanted the nation’s biggest movie to be big in the United States, literally. So they made it really big.

And therein lies a story.

On a recent Saturday afternoon, more than 100 people gathered at an IMAX screening room in a movie theater outside Baltimore. Many were Chinese students and young professionals nearby, parents took their kids, some of whom dressed as the movie’s main characters. Men and women wore Chinese traditional outfits. People lined up to sign their names onto a Chinese scroll and get tickets styled like traditional Chinese paintings. Some posed for pictures with red-tasseled spears and swords.

The screening was organized by volunteers among the Chinese community in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., area. “Ne Zha 2,” the movie they came to see, is a Chinese film that replaced “Inside Out 2” as the highest-grossing animated film ever at around $2 billion.

You might never have heard of “Ne Zha 2,” though. It is not a big hit internationally. And that’s exactly what the people behind the screening want to change.

An ancient character gets a new treatment

In China, Ne Zha is a well-known traditional fairy character, a child god-general in heaven and also a naughty boy, who was introduced in a story called “Creation of the Gods” written about 400 years ago.

Sun Bohan, a 27-year-old student in Baltimore, wanted to watch the movie on IMAX. The problem? Every IMAX was playing “Captain America: Brave New World,” which premiered on the same day. He asked around and learned the only option would be to rent a theater and pay for the showing at the IMAX. But Sun couldn’t afford that on his own. So he posted on Xiaohongshu, a Chinese social media app; he also started a group on WeChat, China’s most popular messaging platform.

More than 100 people joined his effort and supported it in different capacities.

Raye Xia, a lover of manga, anime and games who had already watched the movie four times, saw Sun’s post and reached out. She spent hours painting a special ticket for the screening that depicted Ne Zha sitting on a dragon under the iconic Washington cherry blossom trees near the Jefferson Memorial.

“It is really rare to see such events in a small town. I love that I’m helping in my own way,” said Xia, who cosplayed as a movie character at the event.

Hoff Xu, a student in Baltimore, stayed up until 3 a.m. the night before and made her own outfit with copper wire, binder clips and old clothes.

“It is not an easy thing for everyone to get together, so I thought I would love to add some effect and vibe to this immersive experience,” Xu said.

Audience members love the cosplay outfits and lined up to take photos with those dressed up.

“As a Chinese, I am really proud to see a Chinese movie as the only one among the top 10 of something,” said Zhao Yuanyuan, who brought her son Jiang Wei’en, 7, to see the movie together for the second time, “I hope he can be exposed to and carry on Chinese traditional culture and not forget his own roots.”

A Chinese grassroots effort on American screens

The communal experience of seeing the movie — and, in particular, the community built by advocating its showing — can help Chinese people in the U.S. make in-person connections in the post-pandemic era. That’s particularly true for a movie some feel isn’t getting its rightful attention globally.

In the U.S., the gatherings reflect the anxiety among the Chinese community under the increasing institutionalized hostility toward immigrants, especially after President Donald Trump returned to office, says Belinda He, an assistant professor of Sinophone cinema and media studies at the University of Maryland.

“The emotional connection could purely outweigh the aesthetic impact and shock that the movie itself brings to them,” He said. “The more severe the institutionalized and structural exclusion here, the more people need to strive for some possibilities through real connections and a sense of belongings.”

Sun wasn’t the only one with the idea. Other Chinese living in the U.S. have organized theater rentals in Indianapolis, Boston and New York City.

Ma Ruoyuan, 31, who works in finance, worked with a friend to organize two screenings that drew a total of 600 people to watch the movie in New York. Ma says participants were highly involved in organizing the events, from seat booking to checking tickets. They even practiced democratic voting in the chat group so people could pick their preferences on the pricing system.

The movie’s rare access to an IMAX screen, Ma believes, is what “brought everyone together.”

IMAX Corp., headquartered in the Toronto area, said the high demand for IMAX screens means it requires studios booking months ahead, if not a year. The company said “Ne Zha 2” was shown on 80 screens for one day on Feb. 12 and expanded to 110 screens after “Captain America” ended.

“IMAX created opportunities to play ‘Ne Zha 2’ across its network in the United States, while honoring its earlier commitments to other releases,” the company said in a written statement.

Within China, “Ne Zha 2” is considered a patriotic movie. Media reports say internet celebrities, private companies and Chinese authorities organized special screenings for their followers and staff.

Earlier this month, all police officers from a court in the east coast province of Shandong were dispatched to watch the movie “to strengthen their belief in the rule of law and draw strength for progress,” the court said on its official Wechat account.

Sichuan, a province in China’s west, helped to fund the movie as part of a program using art projects to alleviate poverty. Media reports say the film’s producers received 15 million yuan ($2.1 million) from the Sichuan provincial government. CMC Pictures, the international production company that produced the movie, refused to comment.

For Sun, who stayed up the night before the screening in Maryland to bake cookies for the audience, the whole experience was an object lesson in collaboration among people who are making their way outside their own society.

“I started as just one person, but people with different skills all came to help,” he said after the screening. “It was worth it.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is planning to halt more than half a billion dollars in contracts and grants awarded to Brown University, adding to a list of Ivy League colleges that have had their federal money threatened as a result of their responses to antisemitism, a White House official said Thursday.

Nearly $510 million in federal contracts and grants are on the line, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the plan and spoke on condition of anonymity.

In an email Thursday to campus leaders, Brown Provost Frank Doyle said the university was aware of “troubling rumors” about government action on its research money. “At this moment, we have no information to substantiate any of these rumors,” Doyle said.

Brown would be the fifth Ivy League college targeted by President Donald Trump’s administration, which is using federal money to enforce its agenda at colleges. Dozens of universities — including every Ivy League school except Penn and Dartmouth — are facing federal investigations into antisemitism following a wave of pro-Palestinian protests last year.

Columbia University was the first one targeted, losing $400 million in federal money with threats to terminate more if it didn’t make the campus safer for Jewish students. The school agreed to several demands from the government last month, including an overhaul of student discipline rules and a review of the school’s Middle East studies department.

The government later suspended about $175 million in federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania over a transgender swimmer who previously competed for the school. On Monday, a federal antisemitism task force said it was reviewing almost $9 billion in federal grants and contracts at Harvard University amid an investigation into campus antisemitism.

And on Tuesday, Princeton University said the administration had halted dozens of its research grants.

The pressure has created a dilemma for U.S. colleges, which rely on federal research funding as a major source of revenue.

Trump’s administration has promised a more aggressive approach against campus antisemitism, accusing former President Joe Biden of letting schools off the hook. It has opened new investigations at colleges and detained and deported several foreign students with ties to pro-Palestinian protests. An incoming assistant professor of medicine at Brown was deported to Lebanon last month for having “openly admitted” to supporting a Hezbollah leader and attending his funeral, the Department of Homeland Security said.

During last school year’s campus protests against the Israel-Hamas war, Brown stood out for a deal it struck with student activists. In exchange for the students’ dismantling an encampment, the university committed to having its governing board vote on whether to divest from companies that protesters said were facilitating Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

The Corporation of Brown rejected the divestment proposal.

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AP Education Writer Collin Binkley contributed. Mumphrey reported from Phoenix.

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