ANN/THE KOREA HERALD – The government said Sunday that three Indonesian sailors who helped other residents evacuate from the recent wildfires in the southeastern region were granted F-2-16 long-term residency visas, issued to individuals who made a special contribution to the country.
“It has been decided to grant long-term residency based on special contributions to three people of Indonesian nationality who helped senior citizens to safety during the recent wildfires… We offer sincere gratitude to those who saved the lives of neighbours with no regard to their own,” said Lee Han-kyung, deputy chief of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.
Officials said the Ministry of Justice notified them of the decision on Saturday.
It was reported last week that the Justice Ministry was reviewing granting an F-2 visa to 31-year-old sailor Sugianto, a resident of Yeongdeok-gun, North Gyeongsang Province who carried some 60 of his neighbors on his back to safety when the fire spread to his village at around 10 p.m. March 25.
The village chief who helped evacuate the residents with Sugianto told local media outlets that he was a “kind young man,” who would frequently help older residents carry heavy bags and fix household appliances.
Two other Indonesian sailors, one from Yeongdeok-gun and the other from Uljin-gun of the same province, were also granted the same long-term residence visa.
The wildfires that ravaged across the southeastern region left 31 dead and 51 injured, according to the officials, Sunday. The largest wildfires in the country’s history are thought to have consumed over 45,000 hectares in the northern North Gyeongsang Province alone, forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents in the area.
This April 3 photo shows a house in Yeongdeok-gun, North Gyeongsang Province, that was destroyed by the massive wildfires in the southeastern region. PHOTO: Yonhap via ANN/THE KOREA HERALD
TOKYO (AP) — A medical transport helicopter fell into the sea in southwestern Japan, killing the patient and two other people, the Japan coast guard said.
The pilot, Hiroshi Hamada, 66; Kazuto Yoshitake, a helicopter mechanic and a 28-year-old nurse, Sakura Kunitake, were rescued by the coast guard after they were found in the waters clinging to inflatable lifesavers. The three suffered hypothermia but were conscious, an official with the coast guard told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Yoshitake’s first name was initially given with a different spelling, but the coast guard corrected it later.
The bodies of medical doctor Kei Arakawa, 34; Mitsuki Motoishi, 86, the patient, and her caretaker Kazuyoshi Motoishi, 68, were later recovered by a Japan Air Self-Defense Force helicopter.
The coast guard deployed two planes and three ships to the area as part of the rescue operation.
The helicopter was heading to a hospital in Fukuoka from an airport in Nagasaki prefecture when it crashed, according to the coast guard.
The cause of the accident remains under investigation, the coast guard said Monday.
In this image released by the the 7th Regional Japan Coast Guard Headquarters, rescuers work near people aboard a medical transport helicopter after it fell into the sea in southwestern Japan Sunday, April 6, 2025. PHOTO: The 7th Regional Japan Coast Guard Headquarters via APThis image released by the 7th Regional Japan Coast Guard Headquarters, shows a medical transport helicopter which fell into the sea in southwestern Japan Sunday, April 6, 2025. PHOTO: The 7th Regional Japan Coast Guard Headquarters via AP
SAN JOSE (ANN/THE STAR) – Apple’s new suite of AI features, available only in English until now, is being rolled out in new languages, including French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Korean and Chinese.
Localised English for Singapore and India is also available. With the release of the iOS 18.4 operating system on iPhones, Apple’s proprietary AI software now supports ten languages, and is now also available to iPhone and iPad users in the European Union.
However Apple’s long-awaited AI-powered reboot of Siri has still not been released. The company recently suffered a setback in its AI race with other tech giants.
The iPhone manufacturer is experiencing delays in launching its improved Siri assistant software. An Apple spokeswoman stated three weeks ago that the new, extensive AI features will only be available “next year,” even though the feature had been expected this spring.
The currently available features, marketed by the company as Apple Intelligence, can summarise emails and text messages, create personalised emoji symbols and retrieve information on demand.
For data privacy, most of the AI features operate locally on the mobile device, allowing users to avoid sending information to Apple’s servers.
For more intricate requests, a secured connection accesses Apple’s cloud service for greater computing power. Furthermore, users have the option to receive answers to their questions through OpenAI’s ChatGPT system online.
Apple Intelligence is available on iPhones, supporting all iPhone 16 models as well as the two flagship models of the previous generation, the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. PHOTO: AFP via ANN/THE STAR
Initially, Apple’s AI system was unavailable in the European Union due to legal ambiguities stemming from the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
These EU regulations impose strict requirements on major tech firms, known as “gatekeepers,” obligating them to allow other providers access to their platforms and refrain from favouring their own services.
Apple had expressed concerns that these regulations might undermine the privacy and security mechanisms of its AI functions.
Following intensive discussions with the European Commission, Apple announced that the AI features would be made available in the EU with the release of iOS 18.4. The software was adapted to comply with European regulations.
Apple Intelligence is available on iPhones, supporting all iPhone 16 models as well as the two flagship models of the previous generation, the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max.
The system is also compatible with Macs featuring Apple Silicon chips (M1, M2, M3 and their variants) and modern iPads with an M1 chip, as well as the iPad mini from the 7th generation (2024) with an A17 Pro chip and at least 8 GB of RAM. – dpa/Tribune News Service
NEW YORK (AFP) – The music industry is fighting on platforms, through the courts and with legislators in a bid to prevent the theft and misuse of art from generative AI — but it remains an uphill battle.
Sony Music said recently it has already demanded that 75,000 deepfakes — simulated images, tunes or videos that can easily be mistaken for real — be rooted out, a figure reflecting the magnitude of the issue.
The information security company Pindrop says AI-generated music has “telltale signs” and is easy to detect, yet such music seems to be everywhere.
“Even when it sounds realistic, AI-generated songs often have subtle irregularities in frequency variation, rhythm and digital patterns that aren’t present in human performances,” said Pindrop, which specialises in voice analysis.
But it takes mere minutes on YouTube or Spotify — two top music-streaming platforms — to spot a fake rap from 2Pac about pizzas, or an Ariana Grande cover of a K-pop track that she never performed.
For illustration only. PHOTO: FREEPIK
“We take that really seriously, and we’re trying to work on new tools in that space to make that even better,” said Sam Duboff, Spotify’s lead on policy organization.
YouTube said it is “refining” its own ability to spot AI dupes, and could announce results in the coming weeks.
“The bad actors were a little bit more aware sooner,” leaving artists, labels and others in the music business “operating from a position of reactivity,” said Jeremy Goldman, an analyst at the company Emarketer.
“YouTube, with a multiple of billions of dollars per year, has a strong vested interest to solve this,” Goldman said, adding that he trusts they’re working seriously to fix it.
“You don’t want the platform itself, if you’re at YouTube, to devolve into, like, an AI nightmare,” he said.
Litigation
But beyond deepfakes, the music industry is particularly concerned about unauthorised use of its content to train generative AI models like Suno, Udio or Mubert.
Several major labels filed a lawsuit last year at a federal court in New York against the parent company of Udio, accusing it of developing its technology with “copyrighted sound recordings for the ultimate purpose of poaching the listeners, fans and potential licensees of the sound recordings it copied.”
More than nine months later, proceedings have yet to begin in earnest. The same is true for a similar case against Suno, filed in Massachusetts.
At the center of the litigation is the principle of fair use, allowing limited use of some copyrighted material without advance permission. It could limit the application of intellectual property rights.
“It’s an area of genuine uncertainty,” said Joseph Fishman, a law professor at Vanderbilt University.
Any initial rulings won’t necessarily prove decisive, as varying opinions from different courts could punt the issue to the Supreme Court.
In the meantime, the major players involved in AI-generated music continue to train their models on copyrighted work — raising the question of whether the battle isn’t already lost.
Fishman said it may be too soon to say that: although many models are already training on protected material, new versions of those models are released continuously, and it’s unclear whether any court decisions would create licensing issues for those models going forward.
Deregulation
When it comes to the legislative arena, labels, artists and producers have found little success.
Several bills have been introduced in the US Congress, but nothing concrete has resulted.
A few states — notably Tennessee, home to much of the powerful country music industry — have adopted protective legislation, notably when it comes to deepfakes.
Donald Trump poses another potential roadblock: the Republican president has postured himself as a champion of deregulation, particularly of AI.
Several giants in AI have jumped into the ring, notably Meta, which has urged the administration to “clarify that the use of publicly available data to train models is unequivocally fair use.”
If Trump’s White House takes that advice, it could push the balance against music professionals, even if the courts theoretically have the last word.
The landscape is hardly better in Britain, where the Labor government is considering overhauling the law to allow AI companies to use creators’ content on the internet to help develop their models, unless rights holders opt out.
More than a thousand musicians, including Kate Bush and Annie Lennox, released an album in February entitled “Is This What We Want?” — featuring the sound of silence recorded in several studios — to protest those efforts.
For analyst Goldman, AI is likely to continue plaguing the music industry — as long as it remains unorganised.
“The music industry is so fragmented,” he said. “I think that that winds up doing it a disservice in terms of solving this thing.”
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (AP) — President Donald Trump said Sunday that he won’t back down on his sweeping tariffs on imports from most of the world unless countries even out their trade with the U.S., digging in on his plans to implement the taxes that have sent financial markets reeling, raised fears of a recession and upended the global trading system.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said he didn’t want global markets to fall, but also that he wasn’t concerned about the massive sell-off either, adding, “sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.”
His comments came as global financial markets appeared on track to continue sharp declines once trading resumes Monday, and after Trump’s aides sought to soothe market concerns by saying more than 50 nations had reached out about launching negotiations to lift the tariffs.
The higher rates are set to be collected beginning Wednesday, ushering in a new era of economic uncertainty with no clear end in sight. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said unfair trade practices are not “the kind of thing you can negotiate away in days or weeks.” The United States, he said, must see “what the countries offer and whether it’s believable.”
U.S. stock futures dropped on Sunday evening as the tariffs continued to roil the markets. Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 futures fell nearly 4 per cent while Nasdaq futures were down nearly 5 per cent. Even the price of bitcoin, which held relatively stable last week, fell nearly 6 per cent Sunday.
Trump’s tariff blitz, announced April 2, fulfilled a key campaign promise as he acted without Congress to redraw the rules of global trade. It was a move decades in the making for Trump, who has long denounced foreign trade deals as unfair to the U.S. He is gambling that voters will be willing to endure higher prices for everyday items to enact his economic vision.
Countries are scrambling to figure out how to respond to the tariffs, with China and others retaliating quickly. Top White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett acknowledged that other countries are “angry and retaliating,” and, he said, “by the way, coming to the table.”
Adding to the turmoil, the new tariffs are hitting American allies and adversaries alike, including Israel, which is facing a 17 per cent tariff. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to visit the White House and speak at a press conference with Trump on Monday, with his office saying the tariffs would be a point of discussion with Trump along with the war in Gaza and other issues.
President Donald Trump walks down the stairs of Air Force One upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, Sunday, April 6, 2025. PHOTO: AP
Another American ally, Vietnam, a major manufacturing centre for clothing, has also been in touch with the administration about the tariffs. Trump said Vietnam’s leader said in a telephone call that his country “wants to cut their Tariffs down to ZERO if they are able to make an agreement with the U.S.” And a key European partner, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, said she disagreed with Trump’s move but was “ready to deploy all the tools — negotiating and economic — necessary to support our businesses and our sectors that may be penalised.”
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick made clear there was no postponing tariffs that are days away.
In Congress, where Trump’s Republican Party has long championed free trade, the tariff regiment has been met with applause but also significant unease.
Several Republican senators have already signed onto a new bipartisan bill that would require presidents to justify new tariffs to Congress. Lawmakers would then have to approve the tariffs within 60 days, or they would expire. Nebraska GOP Rep. Don Bacon said Sunday that he would introduce a House version of the bill, saying that Congress needs to restore its powers over tariffs.
Wyoming’s John Barrasso, the No. 2 member of the Senate’s GOP leadership, said Trump is “doing what he has every right to do.” But, he acknowledged, “there is concern, and there’s concern across the country. People are watching the markets.”
Trump’s government cost-cutting guru, billionaire businessman Elon Musk, had been relatively silent on Trump’s tariffs, but said at a weekend event in Italy that he would like to see the U.S. and Europe move to “a zero-tariff situation.” The comment from the Tesla owner who leads Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency drew a rebuke from White House trade adviser Peter Navarro.
Trump indicated he disagreed with Musk, saying Sunday of the European Union, “They want to talk, but there’s no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis.”
Lawrence Summers, an economist who was treasury secretary under Democratic President Bill Clinton, said Trump and his economic team are sending contradictory messages if they say they are interested in reviving manufacturing while still being open to negotiating with trade partners.
ANN/THE STAR – Artist Anas Afandi, raised in Taiping, Perak – often called the “wettest town” in Peninsular Malaysia – fondly remembers the cool, unspoiled beauty of his hometown.
“Taiping’s abundant rainfall once nurtured lush flora and fauna, but recent visits show changes – less mist, higher temperatures and a shifting landscape,” said Anas, 33, whose debut solo exhibition ‘I Love God, Gold, & Glory’ is on display at Wei-Ling Gallery, Brickfields in Kuala Lumpur until October 19.
“You could say global warming inspired my work,” he added.
Anas’ artwork ‘Climate Crisis’ – a leaky, hole-riddled bucket labelled ‘Rain Catchment Taiping’ – greeted visitors at the gallery entrance.
In this show, he examined the colonial legacy’s lasting impact on Malaysia’s environment and cultural identity.
The exhibition title ‘I Love God, Gold, & Glory’ also nodded to the three main motives behind European colonisation during the Age of Discovery: gold, gospel and glory.
“Throughout this series, I viewed the natural world as its own institution, profoundly influencing our culture – our idioms, motifs in handicrafts and architecture, and dances, all inspired by nature,” said Anas, a Kuala Lumpur-based artist whose practice spans drawings, paintings, sculptures and installations.
“I consider what might happen if we keep damaging the environment. Without a shift in values and a true appreciation for nature, Malaysia risks losing its cultural uniqueness,” he added.
REMNANTS LEFT BEHIND
Anas pointed out that Malaysians are often shown Western images of melting glaciers and polar bears as symbols of climate change.
“But these are images that I cannot relate to. So this led me to wonder if I could attempt to portray environmental degradation from the perspective of a South-East Asian.
“As Malaysians, we tend to romanticise our connection with nature, but do we really walk the talk or is it a mere superficial ‘branding’ effort? That was one of the things I wanted to explore,” he said.
The exhibition featured 44 pieces created with acrylic, watercolour and coloured pencil, along with two installations. Much of it resembled museum displays or textbook diagrams, using a primary colour palette of red, blue and yellow to reflect the Malaysian flag, as Anas noted.
He revealed that he read many scientific papers during the two years he spent researching this series. “I’m particularly fascinated by archaeology and scientific methodology, so I think I subconsciously adopted that look and feel into my work,” he shared.
A DOSE OF SATIRE
Although many pieces address environmental issues, the series explores more than just that.
“That’s just one part of it. The more I looked into our relationship with the environment, the more I realised that it goes beyond that. As a result, a new question emerged: what is the role of the environment and how does it intersect and affect the construction of culture, identity, and nation?” he said.
Anas adopted a satirical perspective on colonial history and its influence on contemporary Malaysian society.
“Our colonial past is marked with a legacy of economic exploitation, environmental harm, and social disruption. So I used humour as a critical tool to highlight the nonsensical, absurd nature of the situation where destruction and conservation always seem to go hand in hand,” said Anas.
In one of his installations, a random collection of objects are laid out on a table as if they had been unearthed in an archaeological excavation taking place in the future. The make-believe “artefacts” consisted of tools used in oil palm cultivation, spare parts of a chainsaw, fragments of an axe and hunting knives and that all-too-familiar touristy heart sign that you’ll find in many towns and cities, to name a few.
“In this work, I am offering the audience an understanding of our actions and a glimpse of what our culture and nation will be known for in the future,” Anas concluded. – Hanis Maketab
The art on display. PHOTO: ANN/THE STARAnas Afandi. PHOTO: ANN/THE STAR
KOTA KINABALU (BERNAMA) – The number of evacuees from the four flood-affected villages in Kinabatangan increased to 138 people from 30 families as of 4pm yesterday from 131 people (29 families) in the morning.
Sabah Disaster Management Committee Secretariat, in a statement, said all the victims are being accommodated at the relief centre at PPS at Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Bukit Garam.
Kinabatangan was declared a flood disaster area on April 2 following continuous rain and the rise in river water to dangerous levels.
Seven villages in the district, located about 306 kilometres from Kota Kinabalu, were affected by the floods and the PPS at SK Bukit Garam was opened at 6pm on Wednesday to accommodate the victims.
Meanwhile, in Johor Bahru, the number of victims in the flood-affected district of Batu Pahat showed a slight increase as at 4pm yesterday, totalling 285 people (94 families), from 254 people (88 families) yesterday morning.
State Disaster Management Committee chairman Tan Sri Dr Azmi Rohani said all the victims are at the PPS at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Seri Gading.
“The water in Sungai Senggarang in Batu Pahat is at the warning level of 3.36 metres (m), while Sungai Batu Pahat recorded an alert level at 2.30m,” he said in a statement.
The weather is reported fine in Johor Bahru, Mersing and Kota Tinggi, while in other areas, it is cloudy.
File photo shows police officers and residents during a flood in Pangkalan Garam, Malaysia. PHOTO: BERNAMA
CAIRO (AFP) – Nestled near the iconic Giza pyramids, the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) is preparing for a lavish opening, featuring a towering statue of Ramses II and more than 100,000 artefacts, including Tutankhamun’s golden treasures.
After two decades of planning, the GEM is set to open fully on July 3, following a partial opening in October.
Its long-awaited debut comes after years of delays caused by political instability, economic crises and the global pandemic.
Museum director Ahmed Ghoneim said the inauguration could span several days, with celebrations extending beyond the museum and pyramids to sites across Egypt and even abroad.
“It will be a spectacular showcase of Egypt’s historical and touristic potential,” Ghoneim told Egypt’s ON TV.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has invited United States (US) President Donald Trump and Spain’s King Felipe VI to attend the ceremony.
“This museum is the (world’s) largest museum for a single civilisation, which is the Pharaonic civilisation,” Sisi said in December.
Spanning 50 hectares, the GEM is twice the size of both Paris’ Louvre and New York’s Metropolitan, and two and a half times the British Museum, according to its director.
“The landscape of Egypt contributed to this rich civilisation and we wanted to reflect that in the design,” said co-founder of Dublin-based Heneghan Peng Architects Roisin Heneghan – the firm behind the museum’s design.
Visitors walk next to the 3,200-year-old pink-granite colossal statue of King Ramses II at the entrance of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in Giza on the southwestern outskirts of the capital Cairo. PHOTO: AFPABOVE & BELOW: Photos show visitors tour the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza on the southwestern outskirts of the capital Cairo. PHOTO: AFPPHOTO: AFP
“You see the pieces in the museum in the context of the pyramids. You are reminded of the place where this all happened,” she told AFP. An 11-metre statue of Ramses II greets visitors, leading to a grand staircase lined with statues of pharaohs, gods and sarcophagi, and ending at a window framing the pyramids.
Currently, 12 galleries display around 15,000 artefacts arranged chronologically from prehistory to the Greco-Roman period.
They include Queen Hetepheres’ treasures, such as her intricately carved armchair, in sophisticated lighting after years of being tucked away in the old Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square.
Even before the official opening, the museum left some of its first visitors awestruck.
“I cannot get over how the lighting is. It is just atmospheric and helpful, and you end up just drawn to everything that is around,” said tourist from the United Kingdom Philippa Hunt.
South African visitor Leon Wolmarans said the GEM was a significant upgrade from the old one.
“This is much better organised, much better lit. The architecture is impressive,” he told AFP.
Among the most anticipated displays for the grand opening are the treasures of Tutankhamun, including his iconic gold mask, which will take pride of place in a dedicated gallery.
More than 5,000 Tutankhamun artefacts have been transferred to the GEM, though his full collection, including his sarcophagus and the embalmed remains of his daughters, will be revealed at the official opening.
The GEM will also showcase the 44-metre-long cedarwood solar barque, buried near the Great Pyramid around 2,500 BC.
Another boat, still being restored, will offer an immersive experience, with visitors watching conservators at work over the next three years.
With cutting-edge technology such as virtual reality and interactive exhibits, the GEM promises a fresh take on storytelling, making history come alive for younger generations.
The museum website lists entry prices starting at EGP200 for adult nationals, and EGP1,200 for foreigners.
Beyond archaeology, the GEM is central to Egypt’s efforts to revive an economy battered by inflation and debt.
With tourism recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, the GEM is expected to attract five million visitors annually, adding to a record 15.7 million tourists in 2024.
Former chairman of the Egyptian Tourism Federation Elhamy al-Zayat said the museum’s proximity to the newly opened Sphinx International Airport, the pyramids and a growing number of nearby hotels will be a game-changer for Egypt’s tourism sector.
“There will be easy transportation options to and from the museum, making it accessible from anywhere,” he told AFP.
“This will definitely transform Egypt’s tourism industry.”
MELAKA (BERNAMA) – A teenage girl with a learning disability was reported missing on Saturday at Taman Rambai Idaman, Malaysia.
Melaka Tengah District Police Chief ACP Christopher Patit said Nurin Wardina Hairi, 18, was reported missing by her mother, 47, at 9.38pm after she realised that her daughter did not return home at about 5.30pm.
“The mother had seen her daughter leaving the house at 3pm to play at a nearby playground after choosing not to follow her to send her sister to work at Tanjung Minyak.
“After she arrived home, she saw her daughter was not at home and asked her husband to check the playground but she was missing… then she asked the help of residents there to look for their daughter,” he said in a statement yesterday.
The mother said she noticed a silver car parked nearby in a suspicious manner when she previously left, but thought it belonged to a guest of a homestay next to her house.
Christopher also said that according to a resident in the area, the disabled girl had followed and gotten into the car willingly and did not seemed to have been forced, causing the resident to think that the car was owned by her relative.
“The girl’s mother said that her daughter could barely speak and can only understand simple words and was hard to approach and did not have close friends.
“Her daughter would routinely go to the playground to sit on the swing and had never not returned home, always coming back on time,” he said.
The girl, Christopher said, was 145 centimetres high, thin and had shoulder length hair and was last seen wearing a green t-shirt and black pants.
The investigating officer had gone to the location and obtained CCTV footage of the car’s movements to track the owner of the vehicle, he added.
CHIANG MAI (AFP) – A bright orange helicopter races over the jungle to dump water on a raging wildfire that is adding to the air pollution choking Thailand’s northern tourist hub of Chiang Mai.
Chutaphorn Phuangchingngam, the only female captain in Thailand’s national disaster prevention team, draws on two decades of flying to steer the Russian-made chopper through the thick smoke.
Forest fires are burning in several areas of northern Thailand, contributing to the annual spike in air pollution that comes with farmers burning stubble to prepare their land for the next crop.
Chiang Mai had the sixth worst air quality of any major city in the world on Thursday morning, according to monitor IQAir, and the city governor has warned residents against staying outdoors.
Chutaphorn told AFP the dense forest and hilly terrain made helicopters the best tool to fight the blazes.
“We use (helicopters) to put out fire in areas that are difficult to reach, especially in the mountains,” she said.
Chutaphorn and her six-member crew flew over Huai Bok reservoir, collecting 3,000 litres of water each time before heading two kilometres to the fire zone, spread across more than 1.6 hectares. Northern Thailand is the latest area around the world to suffer significant wildfires, after South Korea – currently battling its biggest on record – Japan and California.
ABOVE & BELOW: Thai Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) personnel on a firefighting helicopter inspect fire spots to drop water to combat forest fires over Mae On district in the northern Thai province of Chiang Mai; and a DDPM personnel prepares to board a firefighting helicopter. PHOTO: AFPPHOTO: AFPSmoke rises from forest fires as seen from a DDPM firefighting helicopter. PHOTO: AFPABOVE & BELOW: A man sits in front of a screen displaying PM2.5 and fire hotspots in Thailand; and a DDPM firefighting helicopter drops water to combat forest fires. PHOTO: AFPPHOTO: AFP
While the causes of forest fires can be complex, climate change can make them more likely by creating hotter, drier weather that leaves undergrowth more prone to catching light.
As well as damaging important forests, the fires are fuelling Thailand’s anxieties about air pollution, which causes millions of people to need medical treatment each year.
Levels of PM2.5 pollutants – dangerous cancer-causing microparticles small enough to enter the bloodstream through the lungs – were almost 15 times the World Health Organization’s recommended limit in Chiang Mai, according to IQAir.
The government banned crop burning early this year to try to improve air quality, with violators facing fines and legal action, but authorities said the measures have proven ineffective.
“There are still large numbers of farmers who continue to burn their fields,” said head of the Department of Natural Disaster Prevention and Mitigation in Chiang Mai Dusit Pongsapipat.
Danaipat Pokavanich, a clean-air advocate involved in drafting the Clean Air Act – a bill to curb pollution in Thailand – praised the firefighting efforts but called them a “temporary fix”.
“The law alone won’t stop farmers from burning,” he said.
He recommended offering financial incentives to encourage sustainable farming practices and investing in technology to reduce the need for burning.
Until then, Chatuphorn and her team remain ready to take to the skies to do their part to clean up the air by putting out forest fires.
“Flying a helicopter for disaster work is different from flying passengers,” she said, citing limited visibility as a major challenge.
She remains committed to her childhood dream.
“I just wanted to touch the cloud,” she said, after the helicopter landed. “Though now all I feel is just the smoke.”
