WELLINGTON: It’s noisy, smelly, shy — and New Zealand’s bird of the year.
The hoiho, or yellow-eyed penguin, won the country’s fiercely fought avian election on Monday, offering hope to supporters of the endangered bird that recognition from its victory might prompt a revival of the species.
It followed a campaign for the annual Bird of the Year vote that was absent the foreign interference scandals and cheating controversies of past polls. Instead, campaigners in the long-running contest sought votes in the usual ways — launching meme wars, seeking celebrity endorsements and even getting tattoos to prove their loyalty.
More than 50,000 people voted in the poll, 300,000 fewer than last year, when British late night host John Oliver drove a humorous campaign for the pūteketeke — a “deeply weird bird” which eats and vomits its own feathers – securing a landslide win.
This year, the number of votes cast represented 10 percent of the population of New Zealand — a country where nature is never far away and where a love of native birds is instilled in citizens from childhood.
“Birds are our heart and soul,” said Emma Rawson, who campaigned for the fourth-placed ruru, a small brown owl with a melancholic call. New Zealand’s only native mammals are bats and marine species, putting the spotlight on its birds, which are beloved — and often rare.
This year’s victor, the hoiho — its name means “noise shouter” in the Māori language — is a shy bird thought to be the world’s rarest penguin. Only found on New Zealand’s South and Chatham islands — and on subantarctic islands south of the country — numbers have dropped perilously by 78 percent in the past 15 years.
“This spotlight couldn’t have come at a better time. This iconic penguin is disappearing from mainland Aotearoa before our eyes,” Nicola Toki, chief executive of Forest & Bird — the organization that runs the poll — said in a press release, using the Māori name for New Zealand. Despite intensive conservation efforts on land, she said, the birds drown in nets and sea and can’t find enough food.
“The campaign has raised awareness, but what we really hope is that it brings tangible support,” said Charlie Buchan, campaign manager for the hoiho. But while the bird is struggling, it attracted a star billing in the poll: celebrity endorsements flew in from English zoologist Jane Goodall, host of the Amazing Race Phil Keoghan, and two former New Zealand prime ministers.
Aspiring bird campaign managers — this year ranging from power companies to high school students — submit applications to Forest & Bird for the posts. The hoiho bid was run by a collective of wildlife groups, a museum, a brewery and a rugby team in the city of Dunedin, where the bird is found on mainland New Zealand, making it the highest-powered campaign of the 2024 vote.
“I do feel like we were the scrappy underdog,” said Emily Bull, a spokesperson for the runner-up campaign, for the karure — a small, “goth” black robin only found on New Zealand’s Chatham Island.
The karure’s bid was directed by the students’ association at Victoria University of Wellington, prompting a fierce skirmish on the college campus when the student magazine staged an opposing campaign for the kororā, or little blue penguin.
The rivalry provoked a meme war and students in bird costumes. Several people got tattoos. When the magazine’s campaign secured endorsements of the city council and local zoo, Bull despaired for the black robin’s bid.
But the karure — which has performed a real-life comeback since the 1980s, with conservation efforts increasing the species from five birds to 250 — took second place overall.
This weekend as Rawson wrapped up her campaign for the ruru, she took her efforts directly to the people, courting votes at a local dog park. The veteran campaign manager who has directed the bids for other birds in past years was rewarded by the ruru placing fourth in the poll, her best ever result.
“I have not been in human political campaigning before,” said Rawson, who is drawn to the competition because of the funds and awareness it generates. The campaign struck a more sedate tone this year, she added.
“There’s been no international interference, even though that was actually a lot of fun,” she said, referring to Oliver’s high-profile campaign.
It was not the only controversy the election has seen. While anyone in the world can vote, Forest & Bird now requires electors to verify their ballots after foreign interference plagued the contest before. In 2018, Australian pranksters cast hundreds of fraudulent votes in favor of the shag.
The following year, Forest & Bird was forced to clarify that a flurry of votes from Russia appeared to be from legitimate bird-lovers.
While campaigns are fiercely competitive, managers described tactics more akin to pro wrestling — in which fights are scripted — than divisive political contests.
“Sometimes people want to make posts that are kind of like beefy with you and they’ll always message you and be like, hey, is it okay if I post this?” Bull said. “There is a really sweet community. It’s really wholesome.”
Shy penguin wins New Zealand’s bird election after campaign filled with memes and tattoos
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Shy penguin wins New Zealand’s bird election after campaign filled with memes and tattoos
- The hoiho — a noisy, smelly and shy bird believed to be the world’s rarest penguin — was propelled to its second victory by a star-studded campaign
French-Algerian writer Kamel Daoud wins top French literary prize
- The prize money itself amounts to just 10 euros ($11), paid by a cheque that winners usually frame and hang on the wall rather than cash.
PARIS: French-Algerian writer Kamel Daoud on Monday won France’s top literary prize, the Goncourt, for a novel centered on Algeria’s civil war between the government and Islamists in the 1990s.
The jury needed just one round of voting to award the coveted prize to Daoud for his novel “Houris” about what has become known as Algeria’s “black decade.”
The book, written in French, is banned in Algeria.
Daoud was already known internationally for his 2013 debut novel “The Meursault Investigation” — a retelling of Albert Camus’ “The Stranger” from the opposite angle — for which he won the First Novel category of the Goncourt prize.
The writer, who used to work as a journalist and columnist in Algeria, has stirred controversy with his analyzes of society in Algeria.
The prestigious Goncourt prize usually sparks book sales in the hundreds of thousands for the winning author.
However, the prize money itself amounts to just 10 euros ($11), paid by a cheque that winners usually frame and hang on the wall rather than cash.
Daoud’s main rival for this year’s edition was Gael Faye, a Rwandan-born writer, composer and rapper, whose novel “Jacaranda” deals with the rebuilding of Rwanda after the 1994 genocide.
While losing out on the Goncourt, Faye was Monday handed the Renaudot, another coveted prize awarded during the French literary competition season.
Macron, on X, congratulated both writers, saying that “thanks to their voices, our French language expresses beauty, tragedy and universality even better.”
World’s largest captive crocodile Cassius dies in Australia
- Cassius, weighing in at more than one tonne, had been in declining health since October 15
- He took the title after the 2013 death of Philippines crocodile Lolong, who measured 6.17 meters
SYDNEY: A 5.48-meter (18 feet) Australian crocodile that held the world record as the largest crocodile in captivity has died, a wildlife sanctuary said on Saturday. He was thought to be more than 110 years old.
Cassius, weighing in at more than one tonne, had been in declining health since Oct. 15, Marineland Melanesia Crocodile Habitat said on Facebook.
“He was very old and believed to be living beyond the years of a wild Croc,” according to a post by the organization, based on Green Island near the Queensland tourist town of Cairns.
“Cassius will be deeply missed, but our love and memories of him will remain in our hearts forever.”
The group’s website said he had lived at the sanctuary since 1987 after being transported from the neighboring Northern Territory, where crocodiles are a key part of the region’s tourist industry.
Cassius, a saltwater crocodile, held the Guinness World Records title as the world’s largest crocodile in captivity.
He took the title after the 2013 death of Philippines crocodile Lolong, who measured 6.17m (20 feet 3 inches) long, according to Guinness.
Rapper Young Thug pleads guilty to gang, drug and gun charges
ATLANTA: Rapper Young Thug pleaded guilty Thursday in Atlanta to gang, drug and gun charges and will be released from jail, though he could be put back behind bars if he violates the terms of his sentence.
The 33-year-old Grammy winning artist, whose given name is Jeffery Williams, entered his pleas without reaching a deal with prosecutors after negotiations between the two sides broke down, lead prosecutor Adriane Love said. That left the sentence completely up to Fulton County Superior Court Judge Paige Reese Whitaker.
Young Thug’s plea comes two and a half years after he was arrested and charged and nearly a year after the prosecution started presenting evidence in the problem-plagued trial. Jury selection at the courthouse in Atlanta began in January 2023 and took nearly 10 months. Prosecutors have called dozens of witnesses since opening statements last November in the trial of six defendants.
The trial has faced many delays, including in July when the original judge was removed after two defendants sought his recusal, citing a meeting the judge held with prosecutors and a state witness.
Young Thug pleaded guilty to one gang charge, three drug charges and two gun charges. He also entered a no contest plea to another gang charge and a racketeering conspiracy charge, meaning that he decided not to contest those charges but can be punished for them as if he had pleaded guilty.
The judge imposed a sentence of 40 years with the first five to be served in prison but commuted to time served, followed by 15 years on probation. If he successfully completes that probation without any violations, another 20 years will be commuted to time served. But if he violates the conditions, he will have to serve those 20 years in addition to any penalty for a probation violation.
Young Thug must stay away from the metro Atlanta area for the first 10 years of his probation, except for weddings, funerals, graduations or serious illness of family members, the judge said.
But she also ordered him to return to the Atlanta area four times a year during his probation to make a live anti-gang, anti-gun violence presentation at a school or a community organization serving children. She said that can count toward the 100 hours of community service she ordered him to perform each year during probation.
He’s also not allowed to associate with gang members or with the victims or other defendants in the case, with the exception of his brother and the rapper Gunna, with whom he has contractual obligations. He also cannot promote any criminal street gang or gang activity and can’t use hand signs or terminology that promotes a street gang.
Additional conditions include submitting to random drug screens and not possessing a gun. But he is allowed to travel both nationally and internationally for work, even while on probation.
Love had outlined for the judge the evidence she would have presented to prove Young Thug’s guilt, including some of his rap lyrics. She asked the judge to sentence him to 45 years, with 25 years in prison and the remaining 20 years on probation.
The rapper’s lead attorney Brian Steel said they “vehemently disagree” with many of the statements Love made and said it was “offensive” that the state is using Young Thug’s lyrics against him.
Steel said the evidence against his client is weak and accused prosecutors of misrepresenting and hiding evidence, saying Young Thug was “falsely accused.” Steel said he told his client that he thought they were winning the trial and should go through to a jury verdict.
“But he told me, ‘I can’t wait another three months if there is any possibility I could go home because I have children that are hurting. I have things to do,’” Steel said.
Steel asked the judge to impose a sentence of 45 years with five in prison commuted to time served and 40 years on probation.
Young Thug asked the judge to let him go home, saying he wouldn’t be in a similar situation again.
“I’ve learned from my mistakes, you know. I come from nothing and I’ve made something and I didn’t take full advantage of it. I’m sorry,” he said.
The judge said she appreciated that he realized the impact that he has on people worldwide. She said rap music may involve a lot of posturing but that children emulate some of the dangerous behavior mentioned in songs. She encouraged Young Thug to use his talent and influence to encourage kids to do the right thing.
“I want you to try to be more of the solution and less of the problem,” Whitaker said.
A tremendously successful rapper, Young Thug started his own record label, Young Stoner Life or YSL. Prosecutors have said he also co-founded a violent criminal street gang and that YSL stands for Young Slime Life.
He was charged two years ago in a sprawling indictment accusing him and more than two dozen other people of conspiring to violate Georgia’s anti-racketeering law. He also was charged with gang, drug and gun crimes.
Three of his Young Thug’s co-defendants had already pleaded guilty this week after reaching deals with prosecutors. The pleas leave the fates of two other co-defendants still undecided.
Nine people charged in the indictment accepted plea deals before the trial began. Twelve others are being tried separately. Prosecutors dropped charges against one defendant after he was convicted of murder in an unrelated case.
Apple results top Wall Street targets on strong iPhone sales, shares drop on outlook
- Early iPhone 16 sales grew faster than iPhone 15 sales, says CEO Tim Cook
- Apple’s AI strategy includes new iPhone 16 features
Apple beat Wall Street sales and profit expectations on Thursday for its fiscal fourth quarter, bolstered by strong early sales of iPhone 16, and forecast revenue growth of low to mid single digits for the current period.
“We expect our December quarter, total company revenue to grow low to mid single digits year over year,” CFO Luca Maestri said on a call with analysts. Analysts had expected revenue growth of 6.65 percent to $127.53 billion during the first quarter, according to LSEG data.
Shares dropped about 2 percent in extended trading. Apple said sales were $94.93 billion, ahead of Wall Street targets of $94.58 billion, according to LSEG. Earnings of $1.64 per share, excluding a massive one-time tax charge in the European Union, topped analyst expectations of $1.60 per share. Sales during the fourth quarter of Apple’s iPhone, the company’s main product, were up 5.5 percent to $46.22 billion, compared with analyst estimates of $45.47 billion. Other product lines missed expectations and the China sales total was less than Wall Street expected.
Apple’s fourth quarter ended Sept. 28, meaning it reflects only a few days of sales of its iPhone 16 series that went on sale Sept. 20. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook told Reuters that iPhone 16 sales grew faster than iPhone 15 sales did a year earlier, with both phones on sale for the same number of days in the fourth quarter.
Cook also said Apple customers are downloading a new version of its iPhone operating system with what it calls Apple Intelligence features at twice the rate they had the year before.
“We’ve had great feedback from customers and developers already,” Cook said. “We’re off to a good start.”
Tom Forte, an analyst at Maxim Group, attributed Apple’s slight share drop to China sales coming in below expectations.
“We see the potential for sustained weakness in China as we await additional details on the earnings call regarding the potential timing of Apple Intelligence in that important country,” Forte said.
Apple’s call with analysts began at 5 p.m. ET (2100 GMT).
The rollout of Apple’s artificial-intelligence strategy, which it revealed this year, hinges on how well its new phones sell.
Rather than introduce AI in a standalone app or service, Apple has sprinkled Apple Intelligence throughout its most recent operating systems as new features, such as the ability to help re-write an email in a more professional tone. Those features will mostly be available on iPhone 16 models, which feature more powerful computing chips, although the pro versions of the iPhone 15 both work with Apple Intelligence. While some of those Apple Intelligence features arrived this week, others have been delayed, which has led some Wall Street analysts to wonder whether consumers will be slower to upgrade their devices this year while flagship software features trickle out.
The early iPhone 16 results on Thursday could allay some of those concerns. IPhone sales helped steady Apple’s fourth-quarter sales in China, which were down less than 1 percent to $15.03 billion overall. Analysts were expecting China sales of $15.78 billion on average, according to data from Visible Alpha.
Apple’s rivals Microsoft and Meta both said this week they expect continued increases in spending to support their AI strategies. Apple said payments for property and equipment — a measure of its capital expenditures — were up $2.91 billion from the previous quarter to $9.45 billion.
Apple’s lower spending comes in part because it uses third-party data centers for some AI work. Some aspects of Apple Intelligence do rely on Apple’s own data centers, but the company is using its own in-house chips to power those features.
“There would be some (financial) benefit to us by using our own silicon, obviously, but that’s not the reason we’re doing it. We’re doing it because we can provide the same standard of privacy and security that we can provide on device,” Cook said.
Sales in Apple’s services business, which includes iCloud storage and Apple Music, were $24.97 billion, compared with analyst expectations of $25.28 billion, according to LSEG. Mac and iPad sales were $7.74 billion and $6.95 billion, respectively, compared to estimates of $7.82 billion and $7.09 billion, according to LSEG data.
Sales in Apple’s home and wearables business, which includes its Apple Watch and AirPods devices, fell to $9.04 billion, compared with estimates of $9.2 billion, according to LSEG.
Earnings per share were 97 cents including the charge related to a one-time multi-billion-euro European tax payment.
Starbucks reports drop in comparable sales, earnings as global demand suffers
- The Seattle-based company’s strategy to drive demand through promotions and improved loyalty program offers fell flat
Starbucks on Wednesday reported a 7 percent drop in global comparable sales for the fourth quarter as the coffee chain struggles to revive demand for its pricey lattes in the key US and China markets.
Last week, Starbucks reported preliminary fourth-quarter results and suspended its annual forecast through the next fiscal year as new CEO Brian Niccol tries to steer the company toward the path to growth.
The Seattle-based company’s strategy to drive demand through promotions and improved loyalty program offers fell flat in the face of muted spending from cost-conscious consumers.
Starbucks is also facing an uphill battle in China, where it is dealing with a choppy macroeconomic recovery and stiff competition from local brands.
Comparable sales in China, the company’s second-largest market after the US, declined for three straight quarters, falling 14 percent in the fourth quarter.
Investors, however, are betting on seasoned industry veteran and ex-Chipotle Mexican Grill head Niccol to simplify the company’s leadership and operating structure, and reinvigorate the coffee-house culture at Starbucks’ US stores.
Shares of the company have risen about 26 percent since Niccol replaced Laxman Narasimhan as CEO in a surprise announcement in August. They were down about 1 percent in extended trading on Wednesday.
International comparable sales fell 9 percent in the fourth quarter, compared with expectations of a 6.5 percent drop, as per data compiled by LSEG.
Starbucks’ loyalty program growth was also tempered in the fourth quarter, with 90-day active members in the US remaining flat sequentially. That compares with a 3 percent sequential rise reported in the third quarter.
The company’s net income fell to $909.3 million, or 80 cents per share, from $1.22 billion, or $1.06 per share, a year earlier in the fourth quarter ended Sept 29.
