Jennie of Blackpink poses on the red carpet at the 2024 Met Gala held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, May 6. PHOTO: ANN/THE KOREA HERALD SOURCE
SEOUL (ANN/THE KOREA HERALD) – K-pop stars’ presence at the recent 2024 Met Gala has stirred controversy, drawing criticism for their silence on the Gaza conflict.
Notably, Jennie from Blackpink and the boy group Stray Kids, who attended the event on May 6, face mounting pressure from fans urging them to address the ongoing war.
The names of celebrities at the fashion event were shared on social media platforms, alongside calls to boycott them by unfollowing or blocking their accounts. The action is aimed negatively at celebrities’ income from social media activity.
US stars such as Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Drake and Zendaya have been blacklisted by online users under a mass boycott campaign dubbed the “digitine” – or “digital guillotine” – movement.
The campaign went viral in the wake of the 2024 Met Gala after influencer Haley Kalil lip-synced the line “Let them eat cake” from Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette” and posted it to TikTok as pro-Palestinian demonstrators were being arrested for staging a protest outside the gala venue.
Jennie of Blackpink poses on the red carpet at the 2024 Met Gala held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, May 6. PHOTO: ANN/THE KOREA HERALD SOURCE
The same night as the gala, the apartheid regime revealed its military strike plan against the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
According to a video on TikTok, Jennie and Stray Kids have also been included in the blacklisting campaign.
Some fans even left comments on the Instagram accounts of Jennie and the Stray Kids members, saying things like, “The civilians in Rafah would appreciate your efforts,” “Free Palestine” and “You are blocked for Gaza.”
Jennie has kept silent on the issue, while JYP Entertainment, the music label behind Stray Kids, also declined to comment.
A recent post to group member Changbin’s Instagram featuring singer Charlie Puth added to the backlash, increasing fans’ calls for a boycott.
Stray Kids released a collaboration with Puth on Monday.
This July 2023 image provided by Adrienne Reeves shows a variety of crops growing in staw bales in a garden in Livonia, Mich. PHOTO: AP
This July 2023 image provided by Adrienne Reeves shows a variety of crops growing in staw bales in a garden in Livonia, Mich. PHOTO: ADRIENNE REEVES VIA AP
AP – If you’d like to install a raised bed but don’t have the resources to build one, you can achieve the same effect by growing your plants in straw bales. It’s also a great option for those with poor soil or who don’t have a patch of dirt to call their own.
Typically used as Halloween decorations to display winter squash and pumpkins, straw bales can also be used to grow those vegetables in an economical, low-maintenance way.
Sizes vary, but standard bales measure roughly 14 to 24 inches high, 18 inches wide, and 36 to 42 inches long.
When shopping for bales, avoid hay, which contains seeds and, as we know, is for horses.
Straw is for gardening, and most of its seeds have been harvested, so there shouldn’t be many (or any) remaining in the bale to sprout into weeds. Straw is also less likely than hay to have been treated with pesticides, which would inhibit your plants or prevent their growth altogether. To be sure, ask the retailer if their bales are organic or at least pesticide-free.
PREP WORK
It will take about two weeks to condition your bale, a process that turns it into a moist, fertile garden bed.
Select a location that provides the correct sunlight exposure for the plants you will be growing. You can place the bale on any flat surface — concrete, gravel, wood pallets or even grass (if you don’t mind the grass beneath it dying). But be aware that after the bale is wet, it will be very heavy and difficult to move.
Set the bale with its cut (prickly) end facing up, then begin the conditioning process.
On days 1-3, apply water slowly and evenly until it begins to run out the bottom of the bale. A soaker hose snaked over the top and, ideally, set on a timer would facilitate the process and ensure the straw doesn’t dry out.
On days 4-10, sprinkle the top of the bale with one-third cup of herbicide-free lawn fertiliser that contains at least 20 percent nitrogen (organic gardeners can substitute a 50/50 mix of bone meal and blood meal). Water the bale to dissolve and distribute the fertiliser, but take care not to overwater, which would wash out the nutrients.
Continue to water the bale daily.
As the nitrogen works to decompose and transform the bale into a nutrient-rich environment for plants, the centre of the bale will heat up, similar to a compost pile, and then begin to cool. It will be safe to plant seeds or seedlings when the temperature drops below 100 degrees (use a compost thermometer to measure the bale’s internal temperature).
Black ink mushroom growth at the beginning of the process is normal. They will die down on their own. Do not eat them!
PHOTO: ADRIENNE REEVES VIA AP
PLANTING AND GROWING
Poke holes or cut slits in the top of the bale and plant your seedlings, filling each little hole around them with compost or potting mix. If planting seeds, make holes or slits following the depth recommendation on their packet. Drop larger seeds in, then fill each hole with compost or potting mix. If planting smaller seeds, sprinkle a layer of compost or potting mix over the bale’s surface, sow seeds, then sprinkle more compost or potting mix over them to achieve the recommended depth.
Continue to water daily to ensure the centre of the bale and the area around each plant are kept consistently moist. Depending on the weather, more frequent watering may be necessary. Do not let the bale dry out.
Apply fertiliser and amendments throughout the growing season as you would to garden plants.
Although many flowers and vegetables grow well in straw bales, those with shallow roots and heavy tops, like corn, should be avoided. – Jessica Damiano
Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (right) hosts a reception for Samsung Electronics Chief Financial Officer Park Hark-kyu at the Government Office in Ha Noi, Vietnam on Thursday. PHOTO: ANN/THE KOREA HERALD
HANOI (ANN/THE KOREA HERALD) – Samsung Electronics has committed to raising its annual spending in Vietnam to USD1 billion, reinforcing the country’s role as a key manufacturing hub in Southeast Asia.
On Thursday, Samsung Electronics CFO Park Hark-kyu met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Hanoi to discuss further business collaborations, industry sources revealed on Monday.
During the meeting, the Samsung CFO noted how the company has invested USD22.4 billion in Vietnam so far and shared plans to expand the investment to about USD1 billion, annually.
Samsung has expanded local operations from manufacturing plants for smartphones to research and development facilities. More recently, the tech giant has been seeking to help local firms join its global production and supply chain network.
“In the past decade, the number of Vietnamese companies working with Samsung Electronics has increased over 12-fold, from 25 firms in 2014 to 309 companies now,” Park was quoted as saying during the meeting.
“Samsung hopes to continue contributing to Vietnam’s foreign trade and economic growth.”
In response, the Vietnamese PM reportedly promised that his government will continue providing the optimal conditions for Samsung’s business operation and its sustainable development “in the spirit of harmonising interests and sharing risks.”
Pham also suggested the Korean tech giant continue to consider Vietnam as a strategic base for manufacturing and exporting its key products to international markets since the country is a member of a number of trade initiatives including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. Vietnam’s free trade agreement with the European Union also took effect, the prime minister added.
Park hailed the investment and business climate of Vietnam and said Samsung will continue to stand side by side with the country on its development path.
Expressing appreciation for Samsung’s investment and building of a research and development centre in the country, Pham also asked the company to step up cooperation with Vietnamese tech companies, to involve them in its business ecosystem and also support startup and manpower training in the country.
Meanwhile, Hyosung Vice Chairman Lee Sang-woon also met with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai, and discussed its plan to build a data centre in southern Vietnam.
According to VGP News, Vietnam’s state-run news outlet, Lee asked the deputy prime minister to approve its plan to build a factory producing automated teller machines and a big data centre in the high-tech industrial park in Ho Chi Minh City. Hyosung is the world’s third-largest ATM manufacturer.
Hyosung is the third largest Korean investor in Vietnam after Samsung and LG Electronics. Since 2007, the company has invested over USD4 billion in the Southeast Asian country, operating its businesses encompassing raw materials, textile, chemical and industrial electrical systems there.
Hyosung T&C recently received investment approval for its Hyosung BDO Project, under which the company plans to invest a total of 1 trillion won to establish a bio-butanediol production plant with an output of 200,000 tons per year.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (right) hosts a reception for Samsung Electronics Chief Financial Officer Park Hark-kyu at the Government Office in Ha Noi, Vietnam on Thursday. PHOTO: ANN/THE KOREA HERALD
The bus had been carrying students from Lingga Kencana vocational school in Depok, West Java on Saturday. Subang Health Agency recorded that 11 people died in the crash. PHOTO: ANN/THE JAKARTA POST
JAKARTA (ANN//THE JAKARTA POST) – A tragic bus accident in Indonesia that claimed the lives of nearly a dozen children on a study tour to Subang, West Java, has prompted experts to urge the government to implement stricter safety measures for buses and transportation providers to prevent future tragedies.
The bus, carrying 61 students from Lingga Kencana Vocational High School (SMK) in Depok, crashed into oncoming traffic and overturned on Saturday while navigating a hilly road in Subang, approximately 140 kilometres from the school.
The bus was thought to have experienced brake failure, preventing it from slowing down when travelling downhill.
Nine students and one teacher on the bus were killed in the accident, while 27 students were heavily injured. A bystander was also killed.
In its preliminary investigation, the Transportation Ministry found that the bus skipped roadworthy inspections and its permit to transport passengers had expired on December 6 of last year.
“[Having no licence means] the vehicle was not subjected to a periodic [roadworthy] test every six months, despite [the test] being required [for all passenger buses] in existing regulations,” Land Transportation Director General Hendro Sugiatno said on Sunday, as quoted by Antara.
Hendro urged transportation providers across the country to complete the test every six months, saying negligence that resulted in a fatal crash could result in the driver being penalised with a six-year prison sentence and a IDR12 million (USD746) fine.
“[Transportation providers] that do not have permits but are still operating their vehicles are subject to criminal charges. We will report such cases to the police,” he added.
Transportation expert Djoko Setijowarno said authorities also needed to tighten their supervision of transportation providers and bus owners, saying that fatal bus crashes followed a common pattern of involving old buses with worn-out bodies and without safety belts for their passengers.
“It is time for bus owners running their business without paperwork to be brought to justice because up until now drivers have always been made the scapegoats of fatal bus crashes,” he said in a statement on Sunday.
He also urged the government to come up with more safety regulations, particularly as the majority of buses providing tours were not registered on the Land Transportation Directorate General database, Spionam.
He also said that bus drivers often lacked the know-how to assess whether their bus was in good condition, and that they often operated on pack schedules that made them fatigued.
“These problems have not been properly mitigated in a structured and systematic way. As a result, bus crashes will continue to happen in Indonesia, and [the number] could even increase if not handled properly,” Djoko added.
West Java acting governor Bey Machmudin signed a circular on Sunday instructing regents and mayors in the province to closely monitor all study tour plans from schools in their jurisdictions.
The circular, according to a press release from Bey’s office, recommends schools in West Java to only host study tours to places within the province and instructs school administrators to coordinate with local transportation and education agencies prior to the trip.
The National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) has deployed a team to investigate the crash in Subang.
The bus had been carrying students from Lingga Kencana vocational school in Depok, West Java on Saturday. Subang Health Agency recorded that 11 people died in the crash. PHOTO: ANN/THE JAKARTA POST
Farmers harvest tea leaves early in the morning in Tan Cuong Commune, the capital of tea of Thai Nguyen Province. PHOTO: ANN/VIETNAM NEWS
Home to over 1,000 historical relics and numerous national heritages, Thai Nguyen is a cultural treasure trove.
HANOI (ANN/VIETNAM NEWS) – Nestled in Vietnam’s northeast region, Thai Nguyen is a natural paradise, boasting mountains, forests, rivers, lakes, caves, streams, and waterfalls. The province is rich in cultural heritage, with over 1,000 historical relics and numerous national intangible heritages and archaeological sites.
Renowned for its stunning landscapes and as the largest tea cultivation area in the country, Thai Nguyen is a captivating destination for tourists.
“Thai Nguyen is a semi-mountainous land, with favourable natural conditions creating an ecological region very suitable for the growth and development of tea plants,” said Nguyen Thanh Binh, vice chairman of the provincial People’s Committee.
“With an area of 22,300ha for growing tea, Thai Nguyen is one of the leading provinces in the country in terms of cultivated area for tea trees. Tea has been closely associated with the local land and people for a long time. Tan Cuong Commune tea is the best, and is honoured as the ‘Number One Tea’ of Vietnam. The tea tree, which was once grown as a ‘tool’ to help farmers eradicate hunger and reduce poverty, now helps to enrich and create community tourism.”
It has been more than 100 years since the first small-leaf tea trees were brought to and planted in Tan Cuong, about 10km southwest of Thas Nguyen City centre. A few trees from 1921 have now grown into vast tea fields.
“Tan Cuong tea is praised for its unique flavour, with a gentle scent of green rice, astringent-sweet taste, and complete lack of bitterness,” said Dao Thanh Hao, director of Hao Dat Tea Cooperative.
“The brew is not green like tea from other regions but an attractive honey-like yellow. The eye-catching colours and unique flavours are rare to find anywhere else.”
The local soil is said to contain trace elements in appropriate proportions that are endemic to the tea trees. The water source taken from natural water from Nui Coc Lake enhances the delicious and rich taste of the tea. Meanwhile, the microclimate east of the Tam Dao mountain range, at around 1,000m high, is ideal for growing the crop.
Thai Nguyen tea is now exported to many countries and territories around the world, such as Russia, America, Japan, Europe, and the Middle east.
The local authority issued a resolution approving a project to preserve and develop the Tan Cuong specialty tea region for 2021-25. It requires 100 per cent of tea products to be produced by joint enterprises and cooperatives according to safety standards. all must have planting area codes, packaging facility codes, and traceability stamps. as many as 70 tea products will be certified to meet One Commune, One Product standards by 2025.
The province has built a Tea Culture Space under the Thai Nguyen Museum in Tan Cuong. There are many documents and artefacts on growing, caring for, and processing tea. Visitors are given information about tea’s history, with different demonstrations on how to brew the beverage and drink it correctly.
Next to the Space is Hao Dat Tea Cooperative, one of the largest units that grows and produces tea in the area. as one of the places that offer community tourism service, visitors can harvest tea leaves with the staff in the early morning and take part in tea processing activities such as tea hand-rolling, drying and packing.
Tea also plays a key role in Thai Nguyen’s cuisine. The fragrance of the tea buds and leaves makes braised fish, grilled pork, fried tofu cakes and boiled eggs much more delicious. Mat-cha ice cream, jelly, and peanut candies are offered as special desserts.
The “Huong Sac Tra Xuan” Festival is organised every year, to promote and honour tea farming
It is also an opportunity for tea growers, processors, and tea lovers to meet and exchange experiences in making delicious tea. This is also an opportunity for Tan Cuong tea to be promoted to a larger community.
At the festival, many exciting activities are organised, such as contests of quick tea leaves picking and processing tea using traditional manual methods, traditional folk games, and sports and music performances.
according to Vice Chairman Bình, Thai Nguyen identified tourism associated with tea culture as one of the key tasks of the province tourism development project for 2021-25.
Farmers harvest tea leaves early in the morning in Tan Cuong Commune, the capital of tea of Thai Nguyen Province. PHOTO: ANN/VIETNAM NEWS
Tourism
The tourism industry here focuses on cultural, spiritual, and historical tourism; ecotourism; community and rural tourism associated with tea culture; meetings industry tourism; and adventure sports.
“Thai Nguyen attracts not only historical and cultural tourists but also those interested in ecotourism and community-based tourism,” said Nguyen Ngoc Tuan, director of Thai Nguyen Culture, Sports and Tourism Department.
“This is a land of green mountains and blue waters with many famous landscapes, while the eastern part of the Tam Đaao mountain range in Thai Nguyen has wild, majestic natural landscapes with many streams, waterfalls, and natural rocky reefs.”
He added that Thai Nguyen is home to 51 out of 54 ethnic people groups of Vietnam.
Nui Coc Lake is the most renowned tourist destination in the region. The lake, which was created from a dam built in Cong River in Daai Tu District, is well-known for its spectacular and legendary beauty. With 89 large and small islands, Nui Coc Lake is both an irrigation project and a beautiful landscape amid mountains and forests.
People can take a cruise to explore the lake, visiting islands and enjoying dozens of fun activities such as playing at the water park, aqua-sailing or visiting Legend Palace.
The province has established a project to build a tourist resort connected with a special national historical relic site ATK Dinh Hoa. The Safety Zone in Dinh Hoa Commune (ATK Dinh Hoa) used to provide shelter to the leadership of the war of resistance against the return of the French.
From 1947-54 at this military headquarters, President Ho Chi Minh and many comrades made important decisions important for the national destiny. Among them were strategic military campaigns such as the Viet Bac counteroffensive, Northeast and Northwest campaigns, and the Border campaign.
Twenty relic sites in the safety zone have been recognised as national relics closely associated with the images of President Hồ and other high-ranking party and government leaders such as Khau Ty Hill, Tin Keo Hill, and Khuon Tat Waterfalls.
In addition to historical tourism, the region also offers interesting eco- and community-based tourism. The most notable is the Thai Hai eco ethnic Stilt House Village in Thinh Duc Commune.
It is home to 30 original stilt houses of the Tay ethnic minority people who were relocated from Dinh Hoa. It is a place where villagers preserve artefacts and the traditional culture and customs of the Tay people, where visitors can immerse themselves in lush green nature, and participate in village life.
The village was the only Southeast Asian representative recognised as the best tourism village in the world in 2022 by the UN World Tourism Organisation.
The Phuong Hoang eco-tourism area, which includes Phuong Hoang Cave and Mo Ga Stream, is famed in Thai Nguyen.
Located in Vo Nhai District, it is an ecological space, and unique forest – stream – cave complex. In particular, Mo Gaa stream offers cool, clear and fresh water all year round, and is a fantastic water cave, highly rated by the Royal British Cave association.
There is also the Museum of the Cultures of Vietnam’s ethnic Groups in the city centre, which contains more than 10,000 documents, and artefacts belonging to the cultural heritage of 54 ethnic groups of Vietnam. In its five showrooms, people can learn about the origins and traditional cultural identities of every ethnic group.
The museum also presents an extensive collection of agricultural, handicraft, and hunting tools. Typical ritual clothes with bright colours and decorative motifs of different ethnic minorities are also exhibited. The unusual costumes of the Tay and Nung groups are used for worship and embroidered with lines and designs that supposedly perceive magical sounds.
“With this year’s theme ‘From experience to heart,’ we hope visitors will feel that Thai Nguyen is a safe and friendly destination offering unique, attractive, and impressive experiences to guests,” said Vice Chairman Binh. “Many interesting things await people to explore when they are in our province.”
With its amazing tea culture, incredible beauty and huge tourism potential, the province is set to make waves as one of the nation’s premier destinations.
Britain’s King Charles III greets artist Jonathan Yeo at the unveiling of Yeo’s portrait of the King, in the blue drawing room at Buckingham Palace, in London, Tuesday May 14, 2024. PHOTO: AP
LONDON (AP) — King Charles III has unveiled the first portrait of the monarch completed since he assumed the throne, a vivid image that depicts him in the bright red uniform of the Welsh Guards against a background of similar hues.
The larger-than-life painting by artist Jonathan Yeo captures the king with his hands clasped atop the hilt of his sword and a butterfly flitting above his right shoulder. Charles got his first look at the canvas Tuesday at Buckingham Palace.
Yeo began the portrait more than a year before Charles became king, with a sitting at the then-Prince of Wales’ Highgrove estate in June 2021. The last sitting took place in November 2023 at Clarence House, one of the king’s residences in London.
“When I started this project, His Majesty The King was still His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, and much like the butterfly I’ve painted hovering over his shoulder, this portrait has evolved as the subject’s role in our public life has transformed,” Yeo said.
The portrait, which is approximately 8 1/2 by 6 1/2 feet, will be on display at the Philip Mould Gallery in London from May 16 to June 14. From the end of August, it will be displayed at Drapers’ Hall across town.
The portrait was commissioned to celebrate Charles’ 50 years as a member of the Drapers’ Company, which was set up more than 600 years ago as a trade association for wool merchants.
Philanthropy came to be part of their mission and the company is now a grant-giving body.
Britain’s King Charles III unveils artist Jonathan Yeo’s portrait of the King, in the blue drawing room at Buckingham Palace, in London, Tuesday May 14, 2024. PHOTO: AP
FILE - FIFA President Ganni Infantino addresses the 78th Conmebol Congress in Luque, Paraguay, Thursday, April 11, 2024. FIFA has been told to reschedule its inaugural expanded Club World Cup just over a year before the tournament is due to be hosted by America. PHOTO: AP
AP – FIFA’s gravest crisis erupted with police raids at its annual meeting in 2015 and nine years later international football’s 211 member federations gather this week in Thailand with some of the resulting anti-corruption reforms now in retreat.
During three days of meetings starting Wednesday in Bangkok, international football’s governance standards are set to distract from significant decisions in women’s football — including picking a 2027 World Cup host — and FIFA pushing its members to do more to tackle racism in stadiums.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino also is scheduled Friday for a first news conference with international media since Saudi Arabia was effectively confirmed last October as host of the men’s 2034 World Cup.
Infantino should get approval at the annual congress earlier Friday for his move to restore a pre-2015 sprawl of committees, giving him the option of awarding hundreds of expenses-paid posts to football officials worldwide who vote in the election for FIFA president every four years.
On Thursday, the 47-member Asian Football Confederation plans to abolish term limits for senior elected officials including its president, Sheikh Salman of Bahrain, who would otherwise have to leave in 2027 after 14 years in power.
FIFA, plus its continental bodies, is now showing it seems less bound by reform principles designed in 2015 to be key in repairing a reputational crisis in football leadership.
The seven most senior elected roles in the FIFA hierarchy — Infantino and presidents of each of football’s six continents — all rose to power since 2013 because their predecessors were ousted, indicted or left while implicated in corruption allegations.
Also Friday, FIFA should give itself the authority later this year to pick two future hosts of the men’s World Cup on the same day. That has echoes of the December 2, 2010 votes that made Russia and Qatar hosts of the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.
This year there will be no contested votes or losers, with opaque deals done that let FIFA announce last October its preferred only candidate for each of the 2030 and 2034 tournaments.
The Spain-Portugal-Morocco co-host plan for 2030 gives a single game to each of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, which cleared a path for Saudi Arabia to get the 2034 event without opposition.
A contested vote is still expected Friday for the Women’s World Cup in 2027, though Brazil is strongly favoured over a combined European bid from neighbours Belgium, Netherlands and Germany.
The United States-Mexico co-host bid withdrew weeks ago to focus on the 2031 hosting vote, due next year. Waiting four more years makes sense when the same two countries, joined by Canada, will host the first 48-team, 104-game men’s World Cup in 2026.
Women’s football also has long been promised a Club World Cup and confirmation of that launch could come Wednesday at a meeting of the 37-person FIFA Council chaired by Infantino. The women could get the same Club World Cup format as the men — a larger tournament every four years and a smaller annual event just for continental champions.
Developing women’s football and “a prohibition against all forms of discrimination” were key goals of a reform panel created in the 2015 crisis.
The panel’s role was to advise FIFA on structural reforms and cultural changes that would restore trust and faith of fans and commercial partners. Its 15 members included Infantino and Victor Montagliani, who is now a FIFA vice president and president of the North American football body CONCACAF.
The panel’s advisory document, including 12-year presidential term limits and as few as nine standing committees to improve efficiency, was broadly voted into FIFA statutes. Now, Infantino is set to stay in office for 15 years through 2031 and FIFA is preparing to give itself 35 committees plus more ad hoc taskforces.
The congress Friday should also hear a proposal by the Palestinian federation for FIFA to take action against Israeli football.
FILE – FIFA President Ganni Infantino addresses the 78th Conmebol Congress in Luque, Paraguay, Thursday, April 11, 2024. PHOTO: AP
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai speaks at a Google I/O event in Mountain View, Calif., Tuesday, May 14, 2024. PHOTO: AP
MOUNTAIN VIEW, California (AP) — Google on Tuesday rolled out a retooled search engine that will frequently favour responses crafted by artificial intelligence over website links, a shift promising to quicken the quest for information while also potentially disrupting the flow of money-making internet traffic.
The makeover announced at Google’s annual developers conference will begin this week in the US when hundreds of millions of people will start to periodically see conversational summaries generated by the company’s AI technology at the top of the search engine’s results page.
The AI overviews are supposed to only crop up when Google’s technology determines they will be the quickest and most effective way to satisfy a user’s curiosity — a solution mostly likely to happen with complex subjects or when people are brainstorming, or planning. People will likely still see Google’s traditional website links and ads for simple searches for things like a store recommendation or weather forecasts.
Google began testing AI overviews with a small subset of selected users a year ago, but the company is now making it one of the staples in its search results in the US before introducing the feature in other parts of the world. By the end of the year, Google expects the recurring AI overviews to be part of its search results for about one billion people.
Besides infusing more AI into its dominant search engine, Google also used the packed conference held at a Mountain View, California, amphitheatre near its headquarters to showcase advances in a technology that is reshaping business and society.
The next AI steps included more sophisticated analysis powered by Gemini — a technology unveiled five months ago — and smarter assistants, or “agents,” including a still-nascent version dubbed “Astra” that will be able to understand, explain and remember things it is shown through a smartphone’s camera lens. Google underscored its commitment to AI by bringing in Demis Hassabis, the executive who oversees the technology, to appear on stage at its marquee conference for the first time.
The injection of more AI into Google’s search engine marks one of the most dramatic changes that the company has made in its foundation since its inception in the late 1990s. It’s a move that opens the door for more growth and innovation but also threatens to trigger a sea change in web surfing habits.
“This bold and responsible approach is fundamental to delivering on our mission and making AI more helpful for everyone,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai told a group of reporters.
Well aware of how much attention is centred on the technology, Pichai ended a nearly two-hour succession of presentations by asking Google’s Gemini model how many times AI had been mentioned. The count: 120, and then the tally edged up by one more when Pichai said, “AI,” yet again.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai speaks at a Google I/O event in Mountain View, Calif., Tuesday, May 14, 2024. PHOTO: AP
The increased AI emphasis will bring new risks to an internet ecosystem that depends heavily on digital advertising as its financial lifeblood.
Google stands to suffer if the AI overviews undercuts ads tied to its search engine — a business that reeled in USD175 billion in revenue last year alone. And website publishers — ranging from major media outlets to entrepreneurs and startups that focus on more narrow subjects — will be hurt if the AI overviews are so informative that they result in fewer clicks on the website links that will still appear lower on the results page.
Based on habits that emerged during the past year’s testing phase of Google’s AI overviews, about 25 per cent of the traffic could be negatively affected by the de-emphasis on website links, said Marc McCollum, chief innovation officer at Raptive, which helps about 5,000 website publishers make money from their content.
A decline in traffic of that magnitude could translate into billions of dollars in lost ad revenue, a devastating blow that would be delivered by a form of AI technology that culls information plucked from many of the websites that stand to lose revenue.
“The relationship between Google and publishers has been pretty symbiotic, but enter AI, and what has essentially happened is the Big Tech companies have taken this creative content and used it to train their AI models,” McCollum said. “We are now seeing that being used for their own commercial purposes in what is effectively a transfer of wealth from small, independent businesses to Big Tech.”
But Google found the AI overviews resulted in people conducting even more searches during the technology’s testing “because they suddenly can ask questions that were too hard before,” said Liz Reid, who oversees the company’s search operations, told The Associated Press during an interview. She declined to provide any specific numbers about link-clicking volume during the tests of AI overviews.
“In reality, people do want to click to the web, even when they have an AI overview,” Reid said. “They start with the AI overview and then they want to dig in deeper. We will continue to innovate on the AI overview and also on how do we send the most useful traffic to the web.”
The increasing use of AI technology to summarise information in chatbots such as Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT during the past 18 months already has been raising legal questions about whether the companies behind the services are illegally pulling from copyrighted material to advance their services. It’s an allegation at the heart of a high-profile lawsuit that The New York Times filed late last year against OpenAI and its biggest backer, Microsoft.
Google’s AI overviews could provoke lawsuits too, especially if they syphon away traffic and ad sales from websites that believe the company is unfairly profiting from their content. But it’s a risk that the company had to take as the technology advances and is used in rival services such as ChatGPT and upstart search engines such as Perplexity, said Jim Yu, executive chairman of BrightEdge, which helps websites rank higher in Google’s search results.
“This is definitely the next chapter in search,” Yu said. “It’s almost like they are tuning three major variables at once: the search quality, the flow of traffic in the ecosystem and then the monetization of that traffic. There hasn’t been a moment in search that is bigger than this for a long time.”
Outside of the amphitheatre, several dozen protesters chained themselves to each other and blocked one of the entrances to the conference. Demonstrators targeted a $1.2 billion deal known as Project Nimbus that provides artificial intelligence technology to the Israeli government. They contend the system is being lethally deployed in the Gaza war — an allegation Google refutes. The demonstration didn’t seem to affect the conferences’ attendance or the enthusiasm of the crowd inside the venue.
JAKARTA (AP) – Fans of Korean pop bands around the world are increasingly channeling their millions-strong online community into climate and environmental activism, protesting business deals linked to coal power, urging K-pop entertainers to cut waste and raising awareness about climate-related issues.
Other climate activist groups have begun joining forces with Kpop4Planet, an environmental group founded in 2021 by K-pop fans Nurul Sarifah and Dayeon Lee. After Kpop4Planet petitioned South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co, it recently scrapped a deal linked to coal power plants in Indonesia.
The ability to quickly organise a large, dedicated group has made K-pop fans an increasingly influential lobby online as they participate in protests and promote causes that have included the Black Lives Matter movement. Politicians also have tried to tap into that power.
“I spotted how K-pop fans can be seen as a potential power,” said Sarifah.
“We think we can harness that power for climate change action.”
In 2021, Korea Beyond Coal – a coalition of civic groups calling for South Korea to stop using coal power – teamed up with Kpop4Planet in 2021 to raise awareness about plans for a coal-burning power plant.
The plant site near Maengbang Beach, the photo shoot location for album artwork for one of K-pop band BTS’s hit songs, is a popular destination for the band’s fans and a joint petition created by Kpop4Planet and Korea Beyond Coal got thousands of signatures.
“We realised Kpop4Planet has the experience of mobilising and connecting people and sharing information using social media… which is very helpful when it comes to climate campaigning,” said Solutions for Our Climate communications officer Euijin Kim, part of Korea Beyond Coal.
BTS fans during an anti-coal drive. PHOTO: APABOVE & BELOW: Demonstrators pose at Maengbang Beach in Samcheok, South Korea; and outside Hyundai Motorstudio Senayan Park in Jakarta, Indonesia. PHOTO: APPHOTO: AP
The power plant is still going ahead, but the groups were able to raise awareness about the environmental issues caused by coal power, Lee said.
“We want to show the power and influence that the K-pop fans can have… we believe that if we gather all together, we can make better social impacts and maybe change our society in more sustainable ways,” said Lee. “And, of course, love K-pop together.”
Korean pop culture fan clubs’ activism and philanthropy began in the 1960s, said University of Buffalo postdoctoral associate Stephanie Choi studying K-pop culture. Now, K-pop fans regularly organise thousands of people on social media platforms to buy gifts for wildly popular K-pop singers and bands, or promote other causes.
Sarifah and Lee have aligned Kpop4Planet’s activities with various causes, beginning with urging entertainment companies to cut back on waste related to the K-pop fan culture of collecting photo cards of band members, which are included in albums and sold as merchandise. K-pop labels often release multiple versions of albums with dozens of different photo cards, encouraging fans to bulk-buy albums to participate in lucky draws for meet-and-greet events with K-pop stars.
“The problem is that this creates a lot of waste,” Lee said in an interview. “We wanted to tackle that issue first, because it was the most well-known issue among K-pop fans.”
Entertainment companies haven’t directly responded to Kpop4Planet’s petitions and other approaches, but Lee still views the campaign as a success.
“There were changes after our campaigning: major entertainment companies published environmental, social and governance reports and published eco-friendly albums, including some releasing records using QR codes to minimise waste,” she said.
Kpop4Planet’s petition against Hyundai protested an agreement the company signed to buy aluminium from projects linked to coal power in Indonesia.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in 2022 with a unit of one of Indonesia’s largest coal miners, Adaro Energy Indonesia, gave Hyundai the right to purchase low-carbon aluminium from an industrial park Indonesian officials portray as “green”.
However, the smelter used to make the aluminium initially will be powered by newly built coal-fired plants.
Hydroelectric and solar power will power the industrial park at a later date.
Given K-pop group BTS’s collaboration with Hyundai, Kpop4Planet saw a chance to put their influence to work. In March 2023, Kpop4Planet launched a petition asking Hyundai to withdraw from the project until it phases out coal, and to disclose details of the energy used to make the aluminium. The petition got over 10,000 signatures in two months, and Kpop4Planet sent their pleas to Hyundai Motor’s headquarters. In March, Hyundai Motor said it had ended its agreement with Adaro.
“Following the expiry of the MoU at the end of 2023, both companies have decided not to renew it and to explore other opportunities independently,” a spokesperson for Hyundai Motor wrote in an email to The Associated Press (AP). Adaro did not respond to a request for comment sent by AP.
“This a victory of thousands of people, friends who took actions and also show that they genuinely care about the climate crisis and local communities,” said Sarifah.
Instructor Yuki Kawai working at the animation studio Shake Hands in Kyoto, Japan.
PHOTO: AFP
KYOTO (AFP) – Diagnosed with autism, Shoko Sakuma said she struggled working in accounting but now she is putting her childhood love of drawing to work in a special Japanese animation studio.
The ground-breaking initiative aims to provide job training and confidence to people with autism who can find it hard to cope in Japan’s often high-stress and long-hours work environment.
“I was really bad at numbers, which was the first thing that troubled me,” Sakuma said at Shake Hands, her workplace since last year in Kyoto in western Japan.
“I would lose things… Customers’ stuff that is very important that you should never lose,” the softly-spoken 39-year-old told AFP.
With attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Sakuma said she had problems concentrating on bookkeeping and eventually started developing bipolar disorder. Sometimes she couldn’t leave home.
But now she spends her working days at a partitioned desk – which helps her to focus – adding digital effects to an anime keyframe.
“With my personality, I cannot move onto the next step unless I thoroughly understand every detail,” she told AFP.
Instructor Yuki Kawai working at the animation studio Shake Hands in Kyoto, Japan. PHOTO: AFP
“Instructors here accept me being like that and teach me in a very gentle manner,” she said.
“I feel at ease here. I am having fun.”
Developmental disabilities like ASD were long considered a mere matter of personality in Japan, but scientific studies have helped raise public awareness and change public policy.
In 2004, Japan passed a law recognising conditions such as ASD, ADHD and learning disabilities, and mandated schools to detect and support children requiring special care.
It also widened the remit for so-called ‘Type B’ facilities, workplaces which previously catered only to those with conditions like down syndrome and which now number some 16,000.
Launched last year, Shake Hands does so with anime, an industry that with the likes of Ghibli studios (Spirited Away) is a major success story for Japan.
Instructor Yuki Kawai said that obstacles in other settings can be an asset in animation.
“An animation movie is constructed on what is called a time-sheet, a blueprint which commands every move of characters,” Kawai, 28, said.
“There are no abstract rules in creating animations… which is easy to understand for people like us,” he told AFP.
Kawai himself was diagnosed with ADHD after graduating from art and design school and the “terrible accident” of a first job in sales.
“Often I couldn’t get up in the morning or couldn’t get to the office on time,” he said. “I couldn’t handle phone calls because many times I couldn’t get the person’s name right.”
Such an experience for people with ASD can trigger mental health problems, said Waseda University professor and specialist in mental health and learning difficulties Yuji Umenaga.
“Many people who visit me have shown symptoms of depression,” he told AFP, adding that some people with ASD become depressed because their symptoms make it hard “Anti-depressant medicines don’t work for them because, in the case of ASD, the trigger is its symptoms which make relationships with bosses and colleagues difficult,” he said.
Shake Hands has provided animation sequences for several blockbuster films and has won an order from a Malaysian firm to produce a promotional anime movie.
In the studio, upbeat music plays in the background to help make the 10 or so employees comfortable.
“In a quiet environment, some people get sensitive about other people chatting, thinking they might be the subject of their talking,” said staff member Momoka Tsuji.
Workers, who earn a nominal salary, are reminded to take hourly breaks and people can start and stop whenever they like, even late into the night.
“Some of our colleagues don’t feel comfortable for having direct conversations, so we communicate through an intranet chat function,” said Tomoya Sawada, 34, head of the animation studio.
Professor Umenaga hopes that Shake Hands will inspire other initiatives along the lines of Exceptional Minds, a United States animation studio in Hollywood that provides vocational training for students with autism.
“In order to help their wonderful potential shine, we need to provide the right environment for them, from childhood schooling to vocational trainings,” he said.
