Features

KRONG AREYKSAT, Cambodia — In a small Cambodian town near the banks of the Mekong River, law student Oeun Bunthav tenses his slender torso and steels himself for an elbow strike to his head.

Bunthav is among 20 young Cambodians at an open-air club in Krong Areyksat training in the ancient Khmer combat martial art of Yutkromkhorm.

The practice was largely forgotten after many of its masters were killed in a purge of intellectuals under the communist Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979, but Bunthav and his fellow students are determined to learn its techniques and keep their heritage alive.

For the students, who wear headbands and arm ties, the training includes learning to launch knockout blows with fists, high-powered precision kicks and rapid elbow and knee strikes.

Stick, sword and spear fighting are also on the curriculum.

“I will try my best to train with it so that I can know about it clearly and try to preserve this martial art for the next generations,” Bunthav told AFP.

Born out of wars

Yutkromkhorm — which translates to “the art of war” in the Khmer language — was born out of the numerous wars fought by the ancient Khmer empire.

It has three components — the art of war, magic spells and military strategy.

“In the ancient time, they did not have modern weapons like nowadays,” said Nak Rinda, the 25-year-old master who leads the classes in Krong Areyksat.

“In the ancient time people used this martial art such as punches, elbows, kicks, knees, swords, spears and arrows to protect our nation from invading enemies,” he added, explaining that the art’s techniques were refined and perfected by warriors over time.

In the early 2000s, some of the old Yutkromkhorm masters emerged from the shadows and began to showcase the little-known martial art.

It was introduced to the Cambodian military and some universities, but remained largely unknown to the public, who are more familiar with Kun Khmer kickboxing and another ancient martial art, Bokator.

“This ancient Khmer martial art, Yutkromkhorm, almost disappeared,” Rinda said.

“We lost a lot of human resources, especially intellectuals who died during the Khmer Rouge regime.

“Yutkromkhorm also suffered a great loss.

“But now our youths are trying to bring it back to show to all compatriots that we also have another ancient martial art, which is Yutkromkhorm.”

‘Deadly technique’

Student Mao Rida, 18, who has trained for around two years, hopes to use her skills to protect herself from “bad people”.

“At first I wanted to be trained with it for my self-protection because I am a girl, so that nobody could harm me,” Rida told AFP.

“Since I have learned that it is an old Khmer martial art, so I would like to be trained to be a good practitioner in order to help preserve this culture,” she said, appealing to young people, especially girls, to take it up.

“The elbow strike is brutal... It could injure a head,” she warned.

At the club, Bunthav’s opponent darts forward and in one swift, simultaneous movement, hops up and lands a ruthless mock strike.

Bunthav, who is in his third year of his legal studies, has been practising Yutkromkhorm for only two months, but the training has already helped to reduce his stress levels and made him healthier.

“What I love the most is the art of jumping and strike with an elbow,” he told AFP.

“If we are involved in a fight, this elbow strike is a deadly technique.”

GENEVA — Humanity is in a race against time to harness the colossal emerging power of artificial intelligence for the good of all, while averting dire risks, a top UN official said on Thursday.

“We’ve let the genie out of the bottle,” said Doreen Bogdan-Martin, head of the United Nations’ International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

“We are in a race against time,” she told the opening of a two-day AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva.

“Recent developments in AI have been nothing short of extraordinary.”

The thousands gathered at the conference heard how advances in generative AI are already speeding up efforts to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems, such as climate change, hunger and social care.

“I believe we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to guide AI to benefit all the world’s people,” Bogdan-Martin told AFP in an email ahead of the summit.

But she lamented on Thursday that one-third of humanity still remains completely offline, and is “excluded from the AI revolution without a voice”.

“This digital and technological divide is no longer acceptable.”

Bogdan-Martin highlighted that AI holds “immense potential for both good and bad”, stressing that it was vital to “make AI systems safe”.

She said that was especially important now, given that “2024 is the biggest election year in history”, with votes in dozens of countries, including in the United States.

And “with the rise of sophisticated deep fakes disinformation campaigns, it’s also the most contentious one,” she said.

“Not only does this misuse of AI threaten democracy, it also endangers young people’s mental health and compromises cyber-security.”

In an address to a separate event focused on AI governance this week, the ITU chief said that “the power of AI is concentrated in the hands of too few”.

Bogdan-Martin hailed that governments and others had become more focused on regulation and protections around the use of AI.

For instance, on Wednesday the European Union announced the creation of an AI Office to regulate artificial intelligence under a sweeping new law.

“It’s our responsibility to write the next chapter in the great story of humanity, and technology, and to make it safe, to make it inclusive and to make it sustainable,” Bogdan-Martin said.

CANNES, France — Emma Stone has won an Oscar working with director Yorgos Lanthimos, but the self-described feminist star on Saturday rejected the suggestion that she is the Greek auteur’s “muse”.

“He’s my muse,” Stone joked, during a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival for “Kinds of Kindness”.

The movie is Stone’s third feature film collaboration with the Greek director, after “The Favourite” and “Poor Things”.

A dark comedy containing three separate stories, it requires each actor to play three discrete characters.

Asked whether she views herself as an activist when picking her roles, Stone replied: “I am a feminist. Whether that’s activism or not, that just is what makes sense to me.”

“I don’t know I’m really the type of actor that’s like, ‘I need to do this film because it has this particular message,’” she added.

“I just find the characters interesting, the worlds interesting and it’s something that I want to explore.”

While Lanthimos and Stone’s two previous efforts together enjoyed mainstream commercial as well as critical success, “Kinds of Kindness” marks a return for the director to his more surreal and experimental early work.

Reviews have been largely favourable, but many have noted that the film will be too subversive for some viewers, and the film was booed by several critics at one press screening attended by AFP.

Jesse Plemons co-stars in the movie, which also features another “Poor Things” alumnus, in Willem Dafoe.

Stone described the atmosphere on set as comparable to a theatre company, with the actors and director having “built-in trust with each other”.

And like in “Poor Things”, Stone appears in graphic scenes of sex and violence in “Kinds of Kindness”.

“I just have extreme comfort, I feel like I can do anything with him,” she said, of Lanthimos.

“I trust him beyond the trust I’ve ever had with any director.”

LOS ANGELES — “The Garfield Movie” and “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” battled for the top spot in North American theaters over the long US holiday weekend, but it was still a rough Memorial Day at the box office, industry estimates showed on Sunday.

“The Garfield Movie”, Sony’s animated reboot about the lazy cat who loves lasagna, starring Chris Pratt (“Guardians of the Galaxy”) as the orange feline, was expected to take $31.9 million from Friday to Monday, Exhibitor Relations said.

“Furiosa” — the fifth installment in Australian director George Miller’s “Mad Max” post-apocalyptic action series, starring Anya Taylor-Joy in the role first played in Charlize Theron — was right behind at $31.5 million over the four-day weekend.

“Furiosa,” from Warner Bros, was ahead in the estimated Friday-Sunday totals, Exhibitor said, but the four-day figure is the key metric.

Final figures are due out Tuesday.

“’Garfield’ is not among the animation elites, but it’s reasonably budgeted,” said industry analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. “It’s doing what it’s supposed to do.”

As for “Furiosa”, Gross called it “a weak opening for Mad Max’s 5th episode”, adding that though it was well received by critics and audiences, the prequel paled at the box office in comparison to “Mad Max: Fury Road”, which starred Theron.

Memorial Day is the traditional kickoff to summer in the United States, and also usually a big weekend for new movies — meaning studios are sure to be disappointed with the overall box office total.

Both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter said whichever film triumphs it will be the worst Memorial Day opening in nearly three decades.

In third place at $21 million was Paramount’s animated feature “If”, which stars Cailey Fleming as a young girl who, along with neighbor Ryan Reynolds, embarks on an adventure to reconnect forgotten made-up playmates with their children.

Fourth place went to 20th Century action sci-fi “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes”, at $17.1 million, and in fifth was Universal’s action-comedy “The Fall Guy”, starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, with $7.8 million.

By Dr Silvia Zayadin,
Veterinarian

Spring can harbour hidden dangers to our beloved furry friends. So, we need to prepare ourselves and our pets for the potential dangers this season may bring

Cleaning products

Spring cleaning is a common activity we undertake to prepare for warmer weather. It involves some deeper cleaning than the usual cleaning we do regularly.

It involves the use of various household cleaners, many of which contain chemicals that can be toxic to pets if ingested or inhaled. Common cleaning products such as bleach and ammonia can cause gastrointestinal irritation, respiratory issues, and in severe cases, chemical burns.

Our pets may be exposed to cleaning products through direct contact with surfaces that have been cleaned, ingestion of residue left on floors or countertops, or inhalation of fumes.

So, it is best to choose pet-safe cleaning products or use some non-toxic ingredients such as vinegar and baking soda. Cleaning supplies should be stored in secure Cabinets or areas inaccessible to children and pets to prevent accidental exposure or ingestion.

When using cleaning products, we must ensure that rooms are well-ventilated and to keep pets away from the area until surfaces are completely dry.

Toxic plants

During this season, we tend to take greater care of the greenery in our homes and gardens. There are many plants that can be harmful or even fatal to pets, if ingested. Some common offenders include lilies, tulips, daffodils and azaleas.

Symptoms of plant poisoning in pets may include vomiting, diarrhea, drooling, difficulty breathing, and in some severe cases, seizures.

When you decide to bring a new plant home, make sure to read about it to know if it poses any potential harm to our furry friends. If it does, it is best advised to avoid bringing it in the first place. Always seek to buy petfriendly plants and flowers.

Pesticides and fertilisers

As mentioned earlier, spring is the time we take care of our gardens and this often includes using pesticides and fertilisers. These chemicals can be harmful to pets if ingested or if they come into contact with their skin or paws.

Symptoms of poisoning can include drooling, vomiting, diarrhea, difficulty breathing and seizures in severe cases.

Always use pet-friendly and safe alternatives to traditional pesticides and fertilisers. If we need to use traditional non-pet-friendly chemicals then we must keep pets indoors or away from treated areas until they have dried completely. Always follow label instructions and store products out of reach of children and pets.

Allergens and pollens Just like us, pets can develop seasonal allergies. Spring can be a common trigger due to pollen and other airborne allergens that are more commonly present in the environment. Allergies in pets may cause itching, scratching, sneezing and skin irritation.

I advise to minimise your pet’s exposure to pollen during peak pollen times especially for pets known to have allergies. Keep them in places with lower pollen load, seeking medical care and regularly grooming your furry friend to remove allergens from its skin and coat.

Insects and external parasites

Insects become more active during this season, posing potential risk to pets through bites, stings, or ingestion.

Common springtime pests such as bees, wasps, ants, and mosquitoes can cause allergic reactions and transmit diseases.

Pets can be exposed to insects while exploring the outdoors, playing in grassy areas, or even inside the home if insects find their way indoors.

Always keep pet food and water dishes indoors to avoid attracting insects. Regularly inspect outdoor areas for nests or hives and take measures to remove them safely.

If your pet experiences a reaction to an insect bite, seek veterinary care promptly. Use regular external parasite control to prevent infestation of ticks and fleas and to also decrease the potential of getting diseases transmitted through those parasites.

With proper prevention and preparation, educating ourselves to the potential dangers we and our pets might face, we can ensure that we enjoy the season to the max.

Have a happy season filled with joy, excitement and new adventures!

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

TOKYO — The Japanese dog whose photo inspired a generation of oddball online jokes and the $23 billion Dogecoin cryptocurrency beloved by Elon Musk died on Friday, her owner said.

“She quietly passed away as if asleep while I caressed her,” Atsuko Sato wrote on her blog, thanking the fans of her shiba inu called Kabosu — the face of the “Doge” meme.

“I think Kabo-chan was the happiest dog in the world. And I was the happiest owner,” Sato wrote.

As a rescue dog, Kabosu’s real birthday was unknown but Sato estimated her age at 18, past the average lifespan for a shiba inu, with her birthday celebrated in November.

In 2010, two years after adopting Kabosu from a puppy mill where she would otherwise have been put down, Sato took a picture of her pet crossing her paws on the sofa.

She posted that image — with the fluffy shiba inu giving the camera a beguiling look — on her blog, from where it spread to online forum Reddit and became a meme that bounced from college bedrooms to office e-mail chains.

The memes typically used goofy broken English to reveal the inner thoughts of Kabosu and other shiba inu “doge” — pronounced like pizza “dough” but with a “j” at the end.

The picture also later became an NFT digital artwork that sold for $4 million and inspired Dogecoin, which was started as a joke by two software engineers and is now the eighth-most valuable cryptocurrency with a market capitalisation of $23 billion.

‘Unbelievable’ events

Dogecoin has been backed by hip-hop star Snoop Dogg, “Shark Tank” entrepreneur Mark Cuban and Kiss bassist Gene Simmons.

But its most keen supporter is probably the billionaire Musk, who jokes about the currency on X — sending its value soaring — and hails it as “the people’s crypto”.

Dogecoin has also inspired a plethora of other cheap and highly volatile “memecoins”, including spin-off Shiba Inu and others based on dogs, cats or Donald Trump.

Kabosu fell ill with leukaemia and liver disease in late 2022, and Sato said in a recent interview with AFP in her home of Sakura, east of Tokyo, that the “invisible power” of prayers from fans worldwide helped her pull through.

The 62-year-old Sato said she had become so used to “unbelievable” events that, when Tesla boss Musk changed the icon for Twitter, now X, to Kabosu’s face last year, she “wasn’t even that surprised”.

“In the last few years I’ve been able to connect the online version of Kabosu, all these unexpected things seen from a distance, with our real lives,” she told AFP.

A $100,000 statue of Kabosu and her sofa crowdfunded by Own The Doge, a crypto organisation dedicated to the meme, was unveiled in a park in Sakura in November last year.

Sato and Own The Doge have also donated large sums to international charities, including more than $1 million to Save the Children. The NGO says it is “the single largest crypto contribution” it has ever received.

“The Doge is the most popular dog of the modern era,” said Tridog, a pseudonymous member of Own The Doge, describing Kabosu as “the Mona Lisa of the Internet”.

NEW YORK — Morgan Spurlock, the acclaimed filmmaker behind the hit 2004 documentary “Super Size Me,” has died aged 53 of complications from cancer, his family announced on Friday.

Spurlock passed away in New York on Thursday “surrounded by family and friends,” according to a statement released through his publicist.

“Morgan gave so much through his art, ideas and generosity. The world has lost a true creative genius and a special man,” his brother Craig Spurlock was quoted as saying in the statement.

“Super Size Me”, which was nominated for an Oscar for best documentary feature, followed Spurlock as he subsisted on a diet of only McDonald’s fast food for a month.

The witty, caustic movie helped spur a change of tack by fast-food corporations to include healthier options on their menus amid growing concern over rising obesity rates in the United States.

Through his production company, Warrior Poets, Spurlock produced and directed nearly 70 documentary films and television series.

But his legacy was tainted when he confessed to sexual misdeeds at the height of the #MeToo movement in 2017.

In an open letter, he admitted to verbally harassing a female assistant and paying her off. He also said he had been accused of rape in college, though there were no charges or investigations.

Spurlock, who said he had been sexually abused as a child and had a drinking problem, also confessed: “I have been unfaithful to every wife and girlfriend I have ever had.”

He said that with his confession he hoped “to empower the change within myself. We should all find the courage to admit we’re at fault”.

The post effectively ended his documentary career.

Super-sized legacy

During the one month it took to shoot “Super Size Me” — which cost just $65,000 to make — Spurlock ate only at McDonald’s.

Mixed in with scenes of his meals are details about the fast-food giant’s advertising techniques to keep the customers happy and the real cost to the consumer from health experts.

The result: He gained 12 kilogrammes, his cholesterol levels shot up and doctors following the experiment ultimately told him to drop it when he began developing liver problems.

Just weeks after the film debuted at the Sundance film festival in 2004, McDonald’s announced it would remove its “super-size” options from the menu.

In the years since its accuracy has been debated, but it remains in use as an educational health aid in some US schools.

Spurlock’s later projects included “30 Days”, which tackled minimum wages and immigrant labour, and the susceptibility of consumers to marketing, with “The Greatest Movie Ever Sold”.

In 2008’s “Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?” he set out to capture the Al Qaeda leader, at the time the world’s most wanted man.

“What began as ‘What a great title for a film’ became ‘What kind of crazy world creates an Osama Bin Laden’ and I started worrying about bringing a child into it,” Spurlock told AFP in an interview at the time.

“I learned that what we see on American television, in the media isn’t what others in the rest of the world think of us, or of themselves. It’s much more complicated than good versus evil.”

Spurlock was born on November 7, 1970 in Parkersburg, West Virginia, and graduated from New York University in 1993.

According to Variety magazine, he is survived by his two children, his parents and siblings, and two ex-wives.

TOKYO — Men’s volleyball is flying high in Japan with the national team ranked fourth globally ahead of the Paris Olympics and the sport’s soaring popularity fuelled by a manga blockbuster.

“Haikyu!!”, the tale of school teams featuring an inspirational comic-book hero determined to beat the odds and his diminutive stature, has sold 60 million copies since its 2012 inception.

Turned into a hit anime series, now a new film “Haikyu!!: The Dumpster Battle” has taken 10 billion yen ($65 million) at the Japanese box office and will release in North America this month.

Masahiro Yanagida, who captained the national team from 2018-2021, said he was “immensely grateful” that the exploits of the fictional team have helped trigger a boom in numbers hitting the courts.

“I have all volumes of the manga myself,” he told AFP, recalling being “completely hooked” on its “pretty realistic” depictions of the sport.

High-school volleyball club membership for boys jumped from 35,000 in 2012 to more than 50,000 this year, official records show.

Anime-like action 

Among those inspired is Kaede Sakashita, 10, seeking to emulate “Haikyu!!” elite setter Atsumu Miya, and his low-lunge toss, in a Tokyo sports hall.

“He’s my role model,” Sakashita, a member of Tokyo’s Sugiichi junior volleyball club, told AFP.

The “Haikyu!!” fandom goes beyond boys.

For Nanami Fujiki, 22, the manga ignited her “love” for the sport.

“I used to have no interest at all... I didn’t even know the rules,” she told AFP at a pop-up store selling “Haikyu!!” merchandise.

But now thanks to the series “I can enjoy the actual matches in a way I never did before.”

The current national team has a real-life echo of the comic in star players like Ran Takahashi, a wildly popular 22-year-old playing in Italy’s top league.

Despite not being tall by volleyball standards, the 1.88 metre outside hitter stunned the world last year with a pirouetting spike with his back to the net — just like a character in “Haikyu!!”.

“Thanks perhaps to ‘Haikyu!!’, I feel the visually entertaining plays of Japanese volleyball are riveting spectators worldwide more and more,” Takahashi told AFP.

“Some may say the quality of Japanese volleyball is approaching anime.”

‘Miracle in Munich’ 

Japan’s glory days in volleyball date back more than half-a-century.

The women’s team, the “Oriental Witches”, famously defeated the Soviet Union to win gold at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, followed by the men’s “Miracle in Munich” gold medal in 1972.

The women have since fared better since, winning bronze at the 2012 London Olympics, although they haven’t qualified for Paris yet.

The men, meanwhile, “stagnated for ages”, Japan Volleyball Association spokesman Naohiro Kakitani told AFP.

The turning point came with players such as Takahashi and Yuki Ishikawa, 28, foraying into Italy’s top league, along with the team’s transformation since the 2017 arrival of French coach Philippe Blain, Kakitani added.

Last year, Blain’s squad finished third at the Volleyball Nations League, the first men’s medal at a major international tournament in 46 years.

“They’re now on a whole different level that I wouldn’t have dreamed of in our time,” said Yanagida.

The sport still has challenges, however, with critics pointing to the poor profitability of Japan’s top-level V.League.

The league features many company-backed teams whose players don’t rely on volleyball for a living and can therefore be less motivated, Yanagida said.

Breaking the mould is Yanagida’s current club, Tokyo Great Bears.

Donning pink uniforms, they are “actively shedding an aggressive, macho image” often associated with male athletes, to ensure “female fans wouldn’t feel ignored”, club president Takeshi Kubota told AFP.

This approach, combined with tie-ups with YouTubers and musicians, helped Tokyo Great Bears lure the biggest crowds in the men’s division for two straight years.

“We wanted to prove volleyball can draw crowds,” Kubota said.

And it’s a mindset that resonates with Takahashi, who willingly makes himself a volleyball poster boy by modelling and singing on YouTube.

“I want to make volleyball a sport children can dream of,” he said.