BEUNOS AIRES: An Argentinian farmer was given a three-year prison sentence for animal cruelty Wednesday, likely to be commuted, after being found guilty of killing over 100 Patagonian penguin chicks.
The sheep farmer from the southern province of Chubut was found guilty last month of destroying dozens of nests and killing chicks in 2021 while clearing land along the Punta Tumbo nature reserve, home to one of the main colonies of Magellanic penguins on the Atlantic coast.
The farmer is unlikely to be incarcerated as Argentina’s penal code recommends alternatives to prison for a first conviction and sentences up to three years.
Prosecutors had requested a four-year sentence.
Environmental group Greenpeace, the complainant in the case, had welcomed the farmer’s conviction as “an important step for environmental justice.”
The farmer argued there was no choice but to clear the land as the state had failed to set up an access route to his property, or boundaries between his farm and the reserve.
The Magellanic Penguin is listed as a species of “least concern” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List, meaning it is not at risk of extinction even though numbers are in decline.
Farmer in Argentina gets jail term for killing penguin chicks
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Farmer in Argentina gets jail term for killing penguin chicks
- The sheep farmer was found guilty of destroying nests and killing chicks while clearing land along the Punta Tumbo nature reserve
- In his defense, he said he had no choice but to clear the land as the state had failed to set up an access route to his property
Banana taped to a wall sells for $6.2 million in New York
- Chinese-born crypto founder Justin Sun forks over more than six million for the fruit and its single strip of silver duct tape
- Given the shelf life of a banana, Sun is essentially buying a certificate of authenticity that the work was created by Maurizio Cattelan
NEW YORK: A fresh banana taped to a wall — a provocative work of conceptual art by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan — was bought for $6.2 million on Wednesday by a cryptocurrency entrepreneur at a New York auction, Sotheby’s announced in a statement.
The debut of the edible creation entitled “Comedian” at the Art Basel show in Miami Beach in 2019 sparked controversy and raised questions about whether it should be considered art — Cattelan’s stated aim.
Chinese-born crypto founder Justin Sun on Wednesday forked over more than six million for the fruit and its single strip of silver duct tape, which went on sale for 120,000 dollars five years ago.
“This is not just an artwork. It represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community,” Sun was quoted as saying in the Sotheby’s statement.
“I believe this piece will inspire more thought and discussion in the future and will become a part of history.”
The sale featured seven potential buyers and smashed expectations, with the auction house issuing a guide price of $1-1.5 million before the bidding.
Given the shelf life of a banana, Sun is essentially buying a certificate of authenticity that the work was created by Cattelan as well as instructions about how to replace the fruit when it goes bad.
The installation auctioned on Wednesday was the third iteration — with the first one eaten by performance artist David Datuna, who said he felt “hungry” while inspecting it at the Miami show.
Sun, who founded cryptomoney exchange Tron, said that he intended to eat his investment too.
“In the coming days, I will personally eat the banana as part of this unique artistic experience, honoring its place in both art history and popular culture,” he said.
As well as his banana work, Cattelan is also known for producing an 18-carat, fully functioning gold toilet called “America” that was offered to Donald Trump during his first term in the White House.
His work is often humorous and deliberately provocative, with a 1999 sculpture of the pope stuck by a meteor titled “The Ninth Hour.”
He has explained the banana work as a critical commentary on the art market, which he has criticized in the past for being speculative and failing to help artists.
The asking price of $120,000 for “Comedian” in 2019 was seen at the time as evidence that the market was “bananas” and the art world had “gone mad,” as The New York Post said in a front-page article.
The banana sold on Wednesday was bought for 35 cents from a Bangladeshi fruit seller on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, according to The New York Times.
Sun has hit headlines in the past as an art collector and as a major player in the murky cryptocurrency world.
He was charged last year by the US Securities and Exchange Commission for alleged market manipulation and unregistered sales of crypto assets, which he promoted with celebrity endorsements, including from Lindsay Lohan.
In 2021, he bought Alberto Giacometti’s “Le Nez” for $78.4 million, which was hailed by Sotheby’s at the time as signaling “an influx of younger, tech-savvy collectors.”
Global art markets have been dropping in value in recent years due to higher interest rates, as well as concern about geopolitical instability, experts say.
“Empire of Light” (“L’Empire des lumieres“), a painting by Rene Magritte, shattered an auction record for the surrealist artist on Tuesday, however, selling for more than $121 million at Christie’s in New York.
SpaceX fails to repeat Starship booster catch, as Trump looks on
BOCA CHICA: SpaceX’s Starship megarocket blasted off on its latest test flight Tuesday, with President-elect Donald Trump joining Elon Musk to witness the spectacle firsthand in the latest sign of their ever closer ties.
But the Republican leader was deprived of the chance to see the booster stage caught in the launch tower’s “chopstick” arms, an engineering marvel demonstrated by the company last month and one he personally lauded during his election victory speech.
Instead, the colossal Super Heavy first stage made a more subdued splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. Company representatives cited unmet technical criteria, dampening the triumph of an event attended by a bevy of Trump-world figures, including Donald Trump Jr.
Earlier, Trump greeted Musk warmly on Tuesday afternoon, sporting a red MAGA hat as the pair headed off to watch from the control tower of the company’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, where the rocket blasted off at 4:00 p.m. local time (2200 GMT) on the sixth test flight for Starship.
SpaceX founder and CEO Musk has been a constant presence at Trump’s side since the incoming president’s election victory, joining him at a meeting with Argentina’s President Javier Milei and even at a UFC bout.
Trump’s decision to travel to Musk’s home turf was the latest sign of the growing alliance between the billionaire duo, which has raised questions over possible conflicts of interests given SpaceX’s lucrative contracts with NASA and the Pentagon.
Tuesday’s launch marked the quickest turnaround between test flights for the world’s most powerful rocket, a gleaming, 121-meter-tall (400-foot) stainless steel colossus central to Musk’s ambition of colonizing Mars and making humanity a multiplanetary species.
Musk aims to launch the first uncrewed missions to the Red Planet as early as 2026, coinciding with the next “Mars transfer window” — a period when the journey between Earth and Mars is at its shortest.
NASA is also counting on a specialized version of Starship to ferry astronauts to the lunar surface later this decade under its Artemis program.
Flight six of Starship was seen as a test of whether SpaceX’s first booster catch was pure precision or relied on a stroke of luck after Musk — perhaps inadvertently — disclosed how close the last flight came to disaster.
In a clip posted to X showcasing his gaming chops in “Diablo IV,” sharp-eared fans caught an employee briefing him that the Super Heavy booster was “one second away” from a system failure that could have spelled catastrophe.
Starship’s upper stage will make a partial orbit of Earth, reenter the atmosphere and splash down in the Indian Ocean a little over an hour later, but this time in the daylight, providing clearer visuals for analysis.
Key milestones include reigniting Starship’s Raptor engines for the first time in space and trialing new heat shield materials. The flight also carries Starship’s first ever payload — a stuffed banana — and serves as a swan song for the current generation of Starship prototypes.
With twice the thrust of the Saturn V rockets that powered Apollo missions, Starship is the most powerful rocket ever built. Musk has already teased that its successor, Starship V3, will be “3X more powerful” and could take flight within a year.
The flight comes as Musk is riding high on Trump’s November 5 White House win, having campaigned extensively for the returning Republican leader, as well as donating staggering sums from his own fortune to the cause.
His loyalty has paid off. Musk has been tapped to co-lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency” — or DOGE, a cheeky nod to the meme-based cryptocurrency Musk loves to promote.
That in turn has led to concerns Musk could engage in “self-dealing” as the CEO is poised to straddle the line between government insider and corporate titan.
Critics worry he could sway regulatory decisions to benefit his six companies, including SpaceX and its marquee Starship program, which has faced launch delays linked to an environmental review the company called “superfluous.”
Stray dogs in Giza become tourist draw after ‘pyramid puppy’ sensation
- Apollo became an overnight sensation last month after being filmed scaling the Great Pyramid of Khafre
- As news of Apollo’s daring climb spread worldwide, interest grew in the dogs who have long made their homes among the ancient stones
CAIRO: Beneath the blazing Egyptian sun, crowds at the Giza Pyramids gazed up at the ancient wonders, but some had their eyes peeled for a new attraction.
“There he is,” one Polish tourist told his wife as they spotted a scrappy dog perched on one of the stones.
They were talking about Apollo, a stray who became an overnight sensation last month after being filmed scaling the Great Pyramid of Khafre, one of the seven wonders of the world.
The viral footage, captured by American paragliding enthusiast Alex Lang and shared online by his friend Marshall Mosher, showed Apollo fearlessly climbing the 136-meter monument, barking at birds from the summit.
“He was acting like a king,” Lang told AFP.
As news of Apollo’s daring climb spread worldwide, interest grew in the dogs who have long made their homes among the ancient stones.
“He is climbing over there,” said Arkadiusz Jurys, a tourist from Poland, craning his neck for a better view.
“It is unusual,” he added, describing Apollo as surveying the picture-snapping crowd from above.
Another visitor, Diego Vega from Argentina, felt a special bond with the dogs.
“Connecting with them feels like connecting with the pharaohs,” he said, while petting a member of Apollo’s pack.
Apollo’s newfound fame has even inspired local guides to include him and his pack in their stories for tourists.
“This is Anubis,” one tour guide told two American tourists, comparing Apollo, now known as the “pyramid puppy,” with the ancient Egyptian god of the dead, often depicted as a man with a jackal’s head.
“He and his pack are now part of our tour conversations,” said Sobhi Fakhry, another tour guide.
Businesses around the Giza plateau are also seeing a boost.
Umm Basma, a 43-year-old woman selling souvenirs near the Khafre pyramid, reported an increase in sales thanks to the influx of tourists eager to meet the so-called pyramid dogs.
“We’ve always seen these dogs climbing the pyramids, but we never thought they would become a blessing for us,” she said.
One pyramid guard, who preferred to remain anonymous, also said that some celebrities had paid for permits to have their own dogs photographed with Apollo.
Apollo, a three-year-old Baladi dog, is part of a pack of about eight that has made their home among the ancient ruins.
The dogs, a local breed, are known for their resilience, intelligence and ability to survive in Egypt’s harsh climate.
Ibrahim el-Bendary, co-founder of the American Cairo Animal Rescue Foundation, which monitors the pyramid dogs, described Apollo as the pack’s “alpha male.”
“He is the bravest and strongest in his pack,” he said.
Apollo was born in a rocky crevice within the Khafre pyramid where his mother, Laika, found shelter. Sadly, some of Apollo’s siblings did not survive the site’s perilous heights.
A sympathetic guard eventually relocated Laika to a safer spot where Apollo now stands out with his distinctive curled tail and confident nature.
The initial focus of Lang and Marshall was the daring canine climber, but their visit led to a deeper connection with Cairo’s stray dogs.
Intrigued by the challenges they face, Mosher decided to adopt a puppy from the pack: Anubi, who is Apollo’s daughter.
Anubi will join Marshall in the US after she receives the dedicated care she needs in Egypt to grow up healthy.
At the pyramids, local animal care groups are now working with the government in order to set up food and water stations for the strays, as well as for other animals including camels and horses.
A permanent veterinary center will be established at the pyramids with staff set to receive animal care training, said Egypt’s tourism minister.
Vicki Michelle Brown, the other co-founder of the American Cairo Animal Rescue Foundation, believes that Apollo’s story can make a difference.
“It sheds so much light on the dogs and cats that are here,” Brown said.
“I definitely believe him (Apollo) climbing the pyramids can help all of the dogs in Egypt to have a better life.”
Law and disorder as Thai police station comes under monkey attack
- The human inhabitants of Lopburi have long suffered from a growing and aggressive monkey population
- Thousands of the fearless primates rule the streets around the Pra Prang Sam Yod temple in the center of Lopburi
BANGKOK: in central Thailand said they barricaded themselves into their own station over the weekend, after a menacing mob of 200 escaped monkeys ran riot on the town.
The human inhabitants of Lopburi have long suffered from a growing and aggressive monkey population and authorities have built special enclosures to contain groups of the unruly residents.
But on Saturday around 200 of the primates broke out and rampaged through town, with one posse descending on a local police station.
“We’ve had to make sure doors and windows are closed to prevent them from entering the building for food,” police captain Somchai Seedee said on Monday.
He was concerned the marauders could destroy property including police documents, he added.
Traffic cops and officers on guard duty were being called in to fend off the visitors, the Lopburi police said on Facebook on Sunday.
Around a dozen of the intruders were still perched proudly on the roof of the police station on Monday, photos from local media showed.
Down in the streets, hapless police and local authorities were working to round up rogue individuals, luring them away from residential areas with food.
While Thailand is an overwhelmingly Buddhist nation, it has long assimilated Hindu traditions and lore from its pre-Buddhist era.
As a result monkeys are afforded a special place in Thai hearts thanks to the heroic Hindu monkey god Hanuman, who helped Rama rescue his beloved wife Sita from the clutches of an evil demon king.
Thousands of the fearless primates rule the streets around the Pra Prang Sam Yod temple in the center of Lopburi.
The town has been laying on an annual feast of fruit for its population of macaques since the late 1980s, part religious tradition and part tourist attraction.
But their growing numbers, vandalism and mob fights have made an uneasy coexistence with their human neighbors almost intolerable.
Lopburi authorities have tried quelling instances of human-macaque clashes with sterilization and relocation programs.
How a viral, duct-taped banana came to be worth $1 million
- Yellow banana fixed to the white wall with silver duct tape is a work entitled ‘Comedian,’ by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan
- It first debuted in 2019 as an edition of three fruits at the Art Basel Miami Beach fair, where it became a much-discussed sensation
NEW YORK: Walk into any supermarket and you can generally buy a banana for less than $1. But a banana duct-taped to a wall? That might sell for more than $1 million at an upcoming auction at Sotheby’s in New York.
The yellow banana fixed to the white wall with silver duct tape is a work entitled “Comedian,” by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. It first debuted in 2019 as an edition of three fruits at the Art Basel Miami Beach fair, where it became a much-discussed sensation.
Was it a prank? A commentary on the state of the art world? Another artist took the banana off the wall and ate it. A backup banana was brought in. Selfie-seeking crowds became so thick, “Comedian” was withdrawn from view, but three editions of it sold for between $120,000 and $150,000, according to Perrotin gallery.
Now, the conceptual artwork has an estimated value of between $1 million and $1.5 million at Sotheby’s auction on Nov. 20. Sotheby’s head of contemporary art, David Galperin, calls it profound and provocative.
“What Cattelan is really doing is turning a mirror to the contemporary art world and asking questions, provoking thought about how we ascribe value to artworks, what we define as an artwork,” Galperin said.
Bidders won’t be buying the same fruit that was on display in Miami. Those bananas are long gone. Sotheby’s says the fruit always was meant to be replaced regularly, along with the tape.
“What you buy when you buy Cattelan’s ‘Comedian’ is not the banana itself, but a certificate of authenticity that grants the owner the permission and authority to reproduce this banana and duct tape on their wall as an original artwork by Maurizio Cattelan,” Galperin said.
The very title of the piece suggests Cattelan himself likely didn’t intend for it to be taken seriously. But Chloé Cooper Jones, an assistant professor at the Columbia University School of the Arts, said it is worth thinking about the context.
Cattelan premiered the work at an art fair, visited by well-off art collectors, where “Comedian” was sure to get a lot of attention on social media. That might mean the art constituted a dare, of sorts, to the collectors to invest in something absurd, she said.
If “Comedian” is just a tool for understanding the insular, capitalist, art-collecting world, Cooper Jones said, “it’s not that interesting of an idea.”
But she thinks it might go beyond poking fun at rich people.
Cattelan is often thought of a “trickster artist,” she said. “But his work is often at the intersection of the sort of humor and the deeply macabre. He’s quite often looking at ways of provoking us, not just for the sake of provocation, but to ask us to look into some of the sort of darkest parts of history and of ourselves.”
And there is a dark side to the banana, a fruit with a history entangled with imperialism, labor exploitation and corporate power.
“It would be hard to come up with a better, simple symbol of global trade and all of its exploitations than the banana,” Cooper Jones said. If “Comedian” is about making people think about their moral complicity in the production of objects they take for granted, then it’s “at least a more useful tool or it’s at least an additional sort of place to go in terms of the questions that this work could be asking,” she said.
“Comedian” hits the block around the same time that Sotheby’s is also auctioning one of the famed paintings in the “Water Lilies” series by the French impressionist Claude Monet, with an expected value of around $60 million.
When asked to compare Cattelan’s banana to a classic like Monet’s “Nymphéas,” Galperin says impressionism was not considered art when the movement began.
“No important, profound, meaningful artwork of the past 100 years or 200 years, or our history for that matter, did not provoke some kind of discomfort when it was first unveiled,” Galperin said.
