BEIRUT-A sad-eyed Pikachu Pokemon Go character sits amidst the rubble on a Syrian street, while a Charizard dragon from the smash hit game is perched alongside gun-toting jihadists.
The striking montages are the work of Syrian Khaled Akil, who is one of several activists and artists using the international frenzy over Pokemon Go to draw new attention to the plight of their battle-scarred country.
In the images posted on Akil's website, characters from the wildly popular smartphone app are placed into news photographs of scenes from the conflict in Syria, which is now in its sixth year and has killed more than 280,000 people.
One image appears to show the aftermath of bombardment, with the facades sheared from buildings and smoke rising from the blackened carcass of a car.
A child walks across the rubble strewn throughout the street, atop which sits the yellow Pikachu character, his tall ears flopping down.
In another image, a boy wheels his bicycle down a devastated street, with the turquoise-green Vaporeon character by his side.
"The idea came to me when I was reading the news and saw the news about Syria was mixed with the news about Pokemon Go," Akil told AFP. "I searched for photos of destruction in my city Aleppo and I imagined the Pokemon Go game in Syria and the impact of the war on these creatures," he added.
"My goal with this simple project is to shed light on what is happening in Syria," said Akil. "Unfortunately, after five years of war, the Syrian death machine has become ordinary, everyday news."
Since its global launch, Pokemon Go has sparked a worldwide frenzy among users who have taken to the streets with their smartphones.
The free app uses satellite locations, graphics and camera capabilities to overlay cartoon monsters on real-world settings, challenging players to capture and train the creatures for battles.
But some Syrians see it as a chance to redirect attention to the conflict that began in March 2011, which has often fallen out of the headlines despite a spiralling death toll and the displacement of more than half the Syrian population.
Syrian graphic designer Saif Aldeen Tahhan posted images on his Facebook page showing users holding smartphones and seeking not Pokemon but medical care, school books or undamaged homes.
One image depicts a smartphone in front of a rubber dinghy carrying refugees at sea, with the user trying to capture a life ring.
"I wanted to draw world attention to the suffering of the Syrians in this war," the 26-year-old told AFP.
Tahhan, from Damascus province, left Syria in December 2011, shortly after the conflict began, seeking refuge first in Egypt. In August 2014, he took to the seas like thousands of Syrian refugees, landing in Italy before continuing onto Denmark, where he now lives.
Syrian opposition activists inside the country have also sought to harness the craze over the game, posting a series of images online this week showing children holding posters of individual characters. "I am in Kafr Nabal in Idlib province, come and save me," reads the text underneath a Pikachu on a poster held by a young boy. Kafr Nabal is a rebel-held town in northwestern Idlib province, which is mostly held by an opposition alliance that includes Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front.
Towns across the province are regularly bombarded by the Syrian government and its Russian ally, with more than 20 civilians reported dead in raids in Idlib on Thursday alone.
Other images in the series created by the Syrian Revolutionary Forces activist group show children in the rebel-held towns of Kafr Zita and Kafr Nabuda in central Hama province.
And an additional montage depicts a giant Pikachu in tears, seated next to a child in the ruins of a devastated building. "I am from Syria, come to save me!," the picture is captioned, with the hashtag #PrayForSyria.

Craze finally hits Japan

TOKYO -Pikachu was welcomed home by thousands of enthusiastic gamers Friday as the global phenomenon of Pokemon Go finally launched in Japan, extending a wildly successful franchise that is part of the national social fabric.

The smartphone app has now been launched in more than 40 countries, including the US and much of Europe, but Japan - where Nintendo started the mythical creature franchise 20 years ago - was kept waiting. The suspense lasted for days, as international media reports about a timeline for the Japan rollout kept changing, and Nintendo, the Pokemon Company, and the game's US-based developer Niantic all declined to comment. But that finally ended Friday as the game was made available online in Japan. "We are truly happy that we have been able to bring this to Japan, where Pokemon was born," Niantic announced on its blog.

It attributed the delay in Japan to responses "beyond our expectations" after the game's rolling release began on July 6. User reaction in Japan was ecstatic.

Sixteen-year-old high school student Mamiko Amaha was immersed in Pokemon Go with a group of girlfriends in Tokyo's historic Asakusa district in search of Pokemon characters, as crowds of tourists strolled around.

"It was like, 'Finally! I want to play it immediately,'" Amaha said outside colourful Sensoji Temple of her reaction when the app became available. "When we're playing, we see Pokemon on our friend's shoulder," she added. "So we're like, "It's there, it's there!"

Her friend Maika Kubo, also 16, admitted to being a bit perplexed at playing the game. But that didn't dampen her enthusiasm. "I'm not really familiar with Pokemon, but it's fun," she said.

Since its global launch, Pokemon Go has sparked a worldwide frenzy among users who have taken to the streets with their smartphones.

The free app uses satellite locations, graphics and camera capabilities to overlay cartoon monsters on real-world settings, challenging players to capture and train the creatures for battles.

Pokemon, short for "pocket monsters" has been a constant in Japan since first being launched as software in 1996 for Nintendo's iconic Game Boy console.

It expanded into other media, most notably a wildly popular TV animation show and its popularity has never waned.

Tsunekazu Ishihara, president of Pokemon Company, told top-selling daily Yomiuri Shimbun in February that the secret of its popularity was rooted in social exchange as it has allowed for "trading Pokemons among friends".

Indeed, 27-year-old Tsubasa Kawaguchi, playing the game on his smartphone outside a McDonald's in electronics gadget-haven Akihabara, has grown up with the phenomenon.

"People of my generation have been playing Pokemon games," he said.

Now, Pokemon Go has given a shot in the arm to Nintendo's nascent move into mobile gaming - after it abandoned a longstanding consoles only policy.

The videogame giant's stock at one stage had more than doubled from its July 5 close, sending its market value soaring as investors saw the app's popularity as positive for the company's mobile gaming strategy.

McDonald's Japan and Pokemon Company, meanwhile, officially announced a collaboration whereby the fast food chain's outlets will be key locations - gyms and PokeStops - for Pokemon Go players.

Though a verifiable global phenomenon, authorities in a number of countries have expressed safety and other concerns about the craze.

Indonesian civil servants, for example, have been ordered not to play Pokemon Go at work in a bid to protect "state secrets", according to a government statement Thursday.

And amid widespread anticipation before the release in Japan, the government issued a rare safety guide warning over dangers gamers could face, from heat stroke to online scams.

The country's Nuclear Regulation Authority also issued a warning on Thursday, calling on atomic power plant operators to watch out for Pokemon Go players who might approach facilities while playing the game, an agency official told AFP.

Another potential pitfall could be Pokemon Go's effect on workplace discipline. "Pokemon Go came, I cannot bother with work," a Twitter user posted minutes after it hit Google Play in Japan.

Game banned for Indonesian civil servants

JAKARTA - Indonesian civil servants have been ordered not to play Pokemon Go at work in a bid to protect "state secrets", the latest sign of a growing backlash in the country against the smartphone game.

Resistance is mounting in official circles to Pokemon Go, with the military and police already having banned their personnel from seeking to catch virtual monsters while on duty, and the Jakarta presidential palace prohibiting the game around its premises. The top echelons of the security establishment have expressed fears that the game's hi-tech capabilities could be used by foreign spies to access sensitive data - although security experts are sceptical there is any danger.

A Frenchman was briefly detained this week after accidentally wandering onto an Indonesian military base as he hunted for monsters. Yuddy Chrisnandi, the minister for bureaucratic reform, has now sent a letter to all government departments across the archipelago, from ministries to the intelligence agency and local leaders, calling on them to ban staff from playing Pokemon Go.

"We are taking preventative measures to maintain the state's security and state secrets," he said in a statement posted on his ministry's website Thursday, addressed to the country's approximately 4.5 million civil servants. "We cannot endanger the stability of the country."

Indonesians have been swept up in the frenzy for Pokemon Go, which has been a worldwide hit since its launch two weeks ago among hordes of users who have taken to the streets with their smartphones.

While it is not available officially in Indonesia, gamers have managed to download unauthorised copies and have set out to hunt for virtual monsters everywhere from shopping malls to mosques.

Some local leaders were already heeding Chrisnandi's order, with the mayor of Bandar Lampung city on western Sumatra island threatening to fire civil servants caught playing the game.

However there appeared to be resistance in other areas - the governor of Central Java province suggested the game could be used to attract more tourists.

Pokemon Go uses smartphone satellite location, graphics and camera capabilities to overlay cartoon monsters on real-world settings, challenging players to capture and train the creatures for battles.