Asian elephants swim in a pool with transparent sides at Fuji Safari Park in Susono city of Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. PHOTO: AFP
SUSONO (AFP) – Paddling with chunky legs and using their trunks as a snorkel, the elephants at Fuji Safari Park in Japan are taking a dip in their summer swimming pool – with each graceful movement visible thanks to a special see-through tank.
Visitors are often surprised to discover that elephants can swim, but the hefty creatures are very good at it, Zoo Manager Daisuke Takeuchi told AFP.
The park’s six Asian elephants swim daily in the summer months, sometimes entering the 65-metre canal – the length of five buses parked in a line – together.
“Especially on hot days, they can’t wait to get in the water, so when the water is ready, they rush in energetically and splash,” Takeuchi said.
The park, within sight of Mount Fuji in central Japan, installed the pool with transparent sides in 2015, and elephant keepers from Laos clean it and change the water daily.
Japan’s scorching summers are getting hotter, and last month the country saw its warmest July since records began.
To cool down in the heat, elephants spray water on their bodies and flap their large ears like a fan, so the main purpose of bathing is to remove parasites and dirt from their skin.
Elephant expert Assistant Professor of Asian and African Area Studies at Kyoto University Sanjeeta Sharma Pokharel said elephants use their “remarkable” instinctive swimming skills to migrate across habitats by crossing rivers.
“But swimming may not be their daily activity, until and unless circumstances demand it,” such as during floods, Sharma Pokharel said.
Elephants also use bodies of water when they have leg or other injuries, a habit which “helps in reducing the strain due to their body weight”, she added.
Using their trunk to breathe means they can swim long distances, and “in the wild, they have no choice but to swim in search of food”, Takeuchi said.
“But in our zoo, rather than searching for food, they swim for fun, and because their bodies get cooler and it feels good to cool down, they happily enter the water.”
Asian elephants swim in a pool with transparent sides at Fuji Safari Park in Susono city of Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. PHOTO: AFPAn Asian elephant sprays water with its trunk. PHOTO: AFPAsian elephants play in the pool. PHOTO: AFP
CULIACAN (AFP) – Gunfire, roadblocks and arson on Thursday shook a Mexican city home to one of the country’s most powerful drug cartels, authorities and local media said.
Vehicles were set on fire in Culiacan, capital of the northwestern state of Sinaloa – the bastion of jailed drug kingpin Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman and his sons.
Gunmen attacked a military patrol on the outskirts of the city, the Sinaloa state security secretariat reported on social media.
Roadblocks were later reported in another district where Ovidio Guzman, one of El Chapo’s sons, was arrested in January 2023 before being extradited to the United States (US).
The unrest, as well as a string of recent murders in Sinaloa, follow the dramatic arrest on US soil of a Sinaloa Cartel boss in circumstances worthy of a crime thriller.
PHOTO: ENVATO
Cartel co-founder Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada claimed in a statement released through his lawyer that he had been kidnapped in Mexico and delivered into US custody against his will.
Zambada, 76, was detained on July 25 along with Joaquin Guzman Lopez, another son of El Chapo, who is serving a life sentence in the US.
Only one of El Chapo’s sons accused of cartel links remains free – Ivan Archivaldo.
The US has offered a USD10-million reward for information leading to his arrest.
Joaquin Guzman Lopez is accused by Mexican prosecutors of kidnapping Zambada and taking him on a private plane across the border.
Mexico’s state prosecutor’s office on Thursday urged US authorities to “urgently” clarify the legal status and whereabouts of Ovidio Guzman, suggesting his case was linked to Zambada’s abduction.
It said in a statement that Ovidio Guzman was taken out of US prison on July 23, two days before the arrest of his brother and Zambada.
AP – One of the first things you see in the reimagined The Crow is the sight of a fallen white horse in a muddy field, bleeding badly after becoming entangled in barbed wire.
It’s a metaphor, of course, and a clunky one at that – a powerful image that doesn’t really fit well and is never explained.
That’s a hint that Director Rupert Sanders will have a tendency to consistently pick the stylish option over the honest one in this film.
In his attempt to give new life to the cult hero of comics and film, he’s given us plenty of beauty at the expense of depth or coherence.
The filmmakers have set their tale in a modern, generic Europe and made it very clear that this movie is based on the graphic novel by James O’Barr, but the 1994 film adaptation starring Brandon Lee hovers over it like, well, a stubborn crow.
Brandon, son of legendary actor and martial artist Bruce Lee, was just 28 when he died after being shot while filming a scene for The Crow.
History seems always to repeat: The new adaptation lands as another on-set death remains in the headlines.
Lee’s The Crow was finished without him and he never got to see it enter Gen X memory in all its rain-drenched, gothic glory, influencing everything from alternative fashion to Blade to Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy.
Bill Skarsgård in ‘The Crow’. PHOTO: AP
Bill Skarsgård seizes Lee’s role of Eric Draven, a man so in love that he returns from the dead to revenge his and his sweetheart’s slayings in what can be best called a sort of supernatural, romantic murderfest. (The tagline, “True love never dies”, clumsily rips off Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera).
William Schneider, who co-wrote the screenplay with Zach Baylin, has given the story a near-operatic facelift, by introducing a devil, a Faustian bargain, blood-on-blood oaths and a guide who monitors the limbo between heaven and hell, which looks like a disused, weed-covered railway station.
“Kill the ones who killed you and you’ll get her back,” our hero is told.
The first half drags at it sets the table for the steady beat of limbs and necks being detached at the end. Eric and his love, Shelly (played by an uneven FKA Twigs), meet in a rehab prison for wayward youth that is so well lit and appointed that it looks more like an airport lounge where the cappuccinos are USD19 but the Wi-Fi is complimentary.
Eric is a gentle loner – tortured by a past the writers don’t bother filling in, who likes to sketch in a book (universal cinema code signalling a sensitive soul) and is heavily tattooed.
His apartment has rows of mannequins with their heads covered in plastic and his new love calls him “brilliantly broken”. He’s like a Blink-182 lyric come to life.
Shelly is more complex, but that’s because the writers maybe gave up on giving her a real backstory. She has a tattoo that said ‘Laugh now, cry later’, reads serious literature and loves dancing. She clearly comes from wealth and has had a falling out with her mum, but has also done an unimaginably horrible thing, which viewers will learn about at the end.
Part of the trouble is that the lead couple cast off very little electricity, offering a love affair that’s more teen-like than all-consuming. And this is a story that needs a love capable of transcending death.
There are lots of cool-looking moments – mostly Skarsgård in a trench coat, stomping around the desolate concrete jungle in the rain at night – until The Crow builds to one of the better action sequences this year, albeit another one of those heightened showdowns at the opera.
By this time, Eric has donned the Crow’s heavy eye and cheek make-up. He added to this ensemble a katana and an inability to die. As he closes in on his target, mowing down tuxedoed bad guys as arias soar, the group movements on stage are echoed by the furious fighting backstage.
A few severed heads might be considered over the top at curtain call, but subtlety isn’t being applauded here.
If the original was plot-light but visually delicious, the new one has a better story but suffers from ideas in the films built on its predecessor, stealing a little from The Matrix, Joker and Kill Bill. Why not create something entirely new?
The Crow isn’t bad – and it gets better as it goes – but it’s an exercise in folly. It cannot escape Lee and the 1994 original even as it builds a more allegorical scaffolding for the smartphone generation. To use that very first metaphor, it’s like the trapped white horse – held down by its own painful past, never free to gallop on its own. – Mark Kennedy
SAN JUAN (AP) – Federal agents seized USD6 million worth of cocaine and arrested two men from the Dominican Republic in waters south of Puerto Rico, officials said on Thursday.
More than 300 kilogrammes of cocaine were found aboard a boat traveling south of the United States (US) territory on Wednesday, according to US Customs and Border Protection. It is the latest multimillion-dollar drug seizure this year in waters surrounding Puerto Rico. In July, federal agents seized USD4.6 million worth of cocaine west of the island.
Puerto Rico is considered a transit point for drugs being smuggled to the US mainland and other countries.
ANN/THE STAR – When Lilian Chan and her husband received the keys to their Kuala Lumpur apartment in late 2017, they envisioned a home that would evoke memories of their hometowns. Being avid entertainers, they also wanted a space that would accommodate gatherings, resulting in an open-plan design with a bohemian vibe and warm tones accented by splashes of colour.
“I grew up in Kuching, Sarawak, and my husband is from Penang. We wanted our home to reflect the relaxed, island-style living of our hometowns. Since we both enjoy hosting, we opted for an open concept, dedicating more space to the living and dining areas,” shared Chan, 34, a home decor content creator and freelance project manager.
Their 1,449-square-foot, three-plus-one bedroom apartment in Taman Sungai Besi underwent renovations before they moved in in April 2018. However, as first-time homeowners, Chan and her husband faced some challenges, even with the help of an interior designer.
“At that time, I was mostly focused on aesthetics, overlooking the importance of practicality and functionality in daily living. This led to some decisions I later regretted, as I spent money on non-essential features.
“For instance, I splurged on a marble kitchen peninsula because I loved the look and feel of real marble. While I still appreciate its beauty, it’s high-maintenance, prone to staining, etching, and scratching. If I hadn’t chosen real marble, I could have used the budget to extend my wet kitchen by knocking down the wall between the kitchen and service yard.
Initially, I thought I didn’t need a large kitchen since I rarely cooked at home.
“However, since the pandemic, I’ve become much more of a homebody, and now I wish I had a bigger kitchen,” Chan explained.
ABOVE & BELOW: Lilian Chan prefers to use colours and textures to give her home depth and character; the custom-made bench by the window in the living room; and the marble kitchen peninsula, cool grey cabinets and hexagon-patterned backsplash in the dry kitchen. PHOTO: LILIAN CHANPHOTO: LILIAN CHANPHOTO: LILIAN CHANABOVE & BELOW: Chan likes experimenting with tablescapes. PHOTO: LILIAN CHANPHOTO: LILIAN CHAN
She said that she also splurged on carpentry and built-in furniture, like a custom-made bench by the window.
“While I still love it and find it useful, the money could’ve gone to renovating my master bathroom. I didn’t renovate the master bathroom because everything was brand new and I thought it was a waste of money to hack everything and redo it from scratch.
“But, I regret it because I realised I spend a lot of time in the bathroom and the current design makes it difficult to keep the bathroom dry. It’s always wet and humid, which makes it uncomfortable.”
Chan also wished she paid closer attention to the materials used.
“I chose the vinyl flooring, laminates and paint colours based on what I liked. But I didn’t ask any questions regarding the materials, for example what brand it was, where it was manufactured, what it was made of, how long it would last and care instructions. “After living here for six years, I realised all that information is important to have on hand for any repairs or maintenance work required in the future.”
Her final renovation regret was not checking out more local content for inspiration and tips.
“I used a lot of Pinterest and read a lot of international home decor blogs, which were not always applicable to the construction work done in Malaysia.
“I wish I had looked at Instagram, as there are many local homeowners who share their home reno journeys on the platform. There’s a lot of useful information including which suppliers or contractors to hire and which materials to use. I would’ve learned a lot and made wiser decisions had I done that from the start!”
Overall, in terms of design, Chan said her home is close to how they had imagined it to be, but that there were definitely more things she could have improved on.
Since then, Chan has developed a more mature sense of design and style.
“Back then, I didn’t have a clear idea of what I truly loved. I was heavily influenced by trends and tried to mix and match everything I liked into the home. At one point, I even had a pink wall! Safe to say, the home definitely didn’t look and feel as cohesive as it does now,” she shared.
“My interior decorating style has definitely evolved since 2018. I don’t refer to trends anymore and have made more intentional decor decisions since. Everything I do now is to create a home that exudes warmth and cosiness.
“Instead of tying myself down to a particular interior style, I prefer to use colours and textures to give the home depth and character. For example, I have a glass dining table which pairs beautifully with boucle dining chairs. The contrast keeps things interesting.
“I’m also a fan of mixing warm and cool tones in our home. Most of the carpentry, furniture and decor items are in warm shades, but the kitchen cabinets and curtains are a cool grey.
This was intentional because our home has a lot of hard lines and angular elements, and we needed the balance of warm and cool tones to add softness to the home,” she said.
INFUSING MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES
Chan first began creating content on home decor during the pandemic in 2020.
“Before the pandemic, I was constantly working and travelling so I hardly spent time at home. Although our home was renovated, it was very cluttered and lacked personality.
“During the lockdown, I started to explore different ways to make my home a happy space for my husband and myself. I tried various mini home projects from organising spaces in my home to experimenting with tablescapes.
“I wanted to share my knowledge and unbiased experiences with everyday women like myself. So, I started a blog and my social media platforms to share interior styling and home organisation tips. My goal is to help other women make their homes a happy space for themselves and their families.
“As a one-woman show (with occasional help from my husband), I learned how to take photos and videos, how to edit them, and how to include storytelling in my content.
“It has been a fulfilling journey and I hope to continue sharing about my home and lifestyle with my audience,” she said. Chan added that she makes it a point to infuse memories and experiences into her home. “I’m always looking for ways to incorporate (them) into my home because I want my home to be a reflection of who I am as a person.
“I love island living, hence why my blog and social media platforms are aptly named That Isle Life. That being said, I didn’t want to decorate my home in the typical coastal style since the condo is located in the city.
“I used lime paint for our walls because the texture and colour reminded me of the sand, seashells and rocks at the beach. I love lime paint because it adds a subtle layer of texture to the home and it’s environmentally friendly.”
Art pieces specially curated by Chan further add character to her home.
“I commissioned an artwork from local artist Carissa Gan that successfully captured the current stage in my life. The painting resembles a moody beach morning, with every brush stroke reminding me of waves ebbing and flowing, similar to grief, which has been something I’ve been dealing with on the personal front for the past four years. Carissa even added actual sand in the painting.
“One of my ongoing goals is to support local makers and artists, so I’m really happy I was able to work with Carissa on this.”
Chan has also put together a sentimental gallery wall in her home office using postcards and letters from family and friends.
“It’s an affordable way to create an interesting yet meaningful gallery wall. I’m also really proud of my Sarawakian heritage, so I have one of my favourite prints, The Tree Of Life by Sarawakian artist and sape musician Alena Murang.”
Vintage pieces also appeal to Chan. “In terms of decor, some of my favourite finds have been vintage items I thrifted or inherited, in addition to pieces I purchased during my travels.
Instead of buying generic souvenirs like magnets or keychains, I gravitate towards handmade pieces that remind me of a particular country.
“Another way I’ve incorporated memories into my home is during the festive season. Growing up, my late mother always decorated the Christmas tree at home and brought me to different places to look at Christmas decor.
“Every year, I honour her memory and that tradition by decorating my home for Christmas. It’s one of my favourite things to do and I look forward all year to doing it. Plus, I get a lot of my festive home decor from my travels, so it’s a fun way to bring everything out and reminisce about my vacations when my husband and I start decorating at the end of the year.”
Chan’s favourite part of her home remains the common spaces of her house.
“I love our living and dining area. I’m glad we stuck to an open concept because this area is truly the heart of our home. We’ve hosted many lunches, dinners, and game and movie nights in this space. We are so grateful to be able to create these beautiful memories with our loved ones and we hope to continue doing so in the future,” she said. – Wong Li Za
Waorani Indigenous women take part in a demonstration in Quito, Ecuador. PHOTO: AP
BOGOTA (AP) – Ecuador’s government said it has started dismantling infrastructure on a controversial oil drilling block in Yasuni National Park, just as a court-imposed deadline for completion looms.
The Ministry for Energy and Mines said in a statement on Wednesday evening that it shut one of 247 wells in the 43-ITT block – the Ishpingo B-56 well.
It’s been a year since the historic referendum to halt oil drilling in the national park in the country’s Amazon, but the Waorani Indigenous people who live there and rights groups said nothing has been done.
The government last week asked the constitutional court for an extension of five years and five months for the state-run oil company Petroecuador to cease operations and get out. “I have come to verify that the decision of last year’s referendum, where the citizens voted in favour of the closure of this field, is being complied with,” said Head of the ministry Antonio Goncalves, in the statement. “To comply with the closure of the ITT is not an easy job, it requires special and technical planning.”
The wells should all go offline by December 2029, the government has previously said.
The announcement of the B-56 well closure came hours after an Associated Press (AP) story about the frustrations of the Waorani people and others who complained the government has taken no action over the past year.
The AP has received no response to requests for comment from the ministry and Petroecuador over the past three days. The Ecuadorian government does not get to set its own timeline and has shown little political will to close operations, said climate and energy director for the nonprofit Amazon Watch Kevin Koenig, in response to the government statement.
“The government is bound by its obligations to the constitutional court, which gave it a year to close 227 wells. … The fact that they closed one yesterday does not mean that they are complying with the court order,” Koenig said in a call from Yasuni National Park.
“They’re not meeting their judicial obligation to the court, they’re not fulfilling the mandate of the Ecuadorian people and they’re not respecting the rights of the Waorani,” he said.
Waorani Indigenous women take part in a demonstration in Quito, Ecuador. PHOTO: AP
Danish singer-songwriter Christopher and rapper Lee Young-ji.
PHOTO: THE KOREA HERALD
ANN/THE KOREA HERALD – Danish singer-songwriter Christopher and Korean rapper Lee Young-ji are teaming up to release their new song Trouble this September.
Christopher announced the collaboration during his solo concert at Jamsil Indoor Stadium in Seoul, where Lee Young-ji made a guest appearance.
The two artistes first crossed paths in 2022 on Lee Young-ji’s YouTube variety show Nothing Much Prepared, where their candid and humourous interaction caught the audience’s attention.
Since then, they have stayed connected, and when Christopher suggested the collaboration earlier this year, Lee Young-ji agreed.
Christopher debuted in 2012 with the album Colours and has since gained attention for his falsetto and beautiful melodies in songs like Heartbeat, Leap of Faith, and Bad.
Danish singer-songwriter Christopher and rapper Lee Young-ji. PHOTO: THE KOREA HERALD
The European Central Bank next to containers in Frankfurt, Germany. PHOTO: AP
BRUSSELS (AFP) – Eurozone inflation fell to its lowest level in more than three years this month thanks to falling energy costs, official data showed yesterday, raising expectations of a European Central Bank (ECB) interest-rate cut.
Consumer price rises slowed to 2.2 per cent in August compared to the same month last year after reaching 2.6 per cent in July, closing in on the ECB’s two per cent target.
The August inflation rate was the lowest since July 2021 and in line with expectations by analysts for FactSet and Bloomberg.
But core inflation, which strips out volatile energy, food, alcohol and tobacco prices and is a key indicator for the bank, cooled slightly to 2.8 per cent in August from 2.9 per cent in July, Eurostat said.
Energy prices in the 20-country single currency area fell by 3.0 per cent in August, after a rise of 1.2 per cent in July, according to the European Union’s (EU) statistics agency.
Food and drinks prices rose by 2.4 per cent this month in the eurozone, at a slightly faster rate than the 2.3 per cent registered in July.
The data will provide some relief after inflation unexpectedly edged up in July.
The European Central Bank next to containers in Frankfurt, Germany. PHOTO: AP
The ECB launched an aggressive rate-hiking campaign in July 2022 to tame red-hot inflation, which peaked at 10.6 per cent in October that year as the situation in Ukraine sent food and energy prices soaring.
The ECB cut rates for the first time in June this year.
The Frankfurt-based institution has since kept rates unchanged but the market hopes another cut will come after a monetary policy meeting on September 12.
An ECB board member warned yesterday before the data was published that there should be a cautious approach to loosening monetary policy.
“Policy should proceed gradually and cautiously,” Isabel Schnabel said.
“The pace of policy easing cannot be mechanical. It needs to rest on data and analysis,” she said during a speech in the Estonian capital Tallinn.
There were also welcome slowdowns in the inflation rate in Europe’s two biggest economies.
Germany registered an annual rate of inflation of 2.0 per cent in August, down from 2.6 per cent in July, Eurostat said.
Meanwhile, consumer prices in France reached 2.2 per cent this month, down from 2.7 per cent in July.
Across the eurozone, Lithuania recorded the lowest inflation rate in August, at 0.7 per cent, Eurostat data showed. Latvia came second, registering 0.9 per cent inflation this month.
But Belgium still recorded the highest rate of 4.5 per cent in August.
Other Eurostat data published yesterday showed the unemployment rate in the single currency area fell slightly to 6.4 per cent in July from 6.5 per cent in June.
KUALA LUMPUR (BERNAMA) – The ringgit appreciated by 2.5 per cent against the United States (US) dollar in July 2024 in line with most regional currencies, according to Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).
In its Monthly Highlights – July 2024 report yesterday, the central bank said the currencies of Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia and South Korea increased by an average of one per cent in July 2024.
It added that the 10-year Malaysian Government Securities (MGS) yield decreased by 14 basis points (bps) compared to the regional average of -25 bps, alongside a decline in US bond yields.
The FBM KLCI traded higher by 2.2 per cent versus the regional average of two per cent.
“Domestic financial markets were mostly driven by global developments, particularly shifting expectations over the US monetary policy path,” it said.
The US Federal Reserve (Fed) officials expressed confidence that recent readings indicated progress towards their target inflation, suggesting a potential policy rate reduction may come as early as September 2024.
Consequently, financial market participants revised their 2024 US policy rate expectations to two to three cuts (June 2024: one to two cuts).
PHOTO: ENVATO
On credit growth to the private non-financial sector, BNM said this will be sustained at 5.5 per cent as at end-July 2024 (June 2024: 5.5 per cent), following higher outstanding loan growth of 6.2 per cent (June 2024: six per cent) while outstanding corporate bonds grew more moderately at three per cent (June 2024: 3.4 per cent).
For businesses, outstanding loan growth rose to six per cent (June 2024: 5.7 per cent), driven mainly by higher growth in working capital loans, particularly across the manufacturing and services sectors.
Investment-related loan growth remained forthcoming, it said.
Meanwhile, household loan growth was sustained at 6.2 per cent amid steady loan expansion for housing and car purchases.
BNM said loan applications were higher, reflecting household demand for financing.
On banks’ liquidity and funding positions, the central bank said it remained supportive of intermediation activities as the banking system continued to record healthy liquidity buffers with an aggregate liquidity coverage ratio of 150.8 per cent (June 2024: 155.1 per cent).
The aggregate loan-to-fund ratio remained broadly stable at 83 per cent (June 2024: 82.8 per cent).
“The resilience of the banking system continued to be underpinned by sound asset quality, which saw overall gross and net impaired loans ratios stable at 1.6 per cent and one per cent,” it said.
The loan loss coverage ratio, including regulatory reserves, continued to be at a prudent level of 124.5 per cent of impaired loans (June 2024: 124.1 per cent), with total provisions accounting for 1.4 per cent of total loans.
