Pictures of the week come from Al Jazeera, The Guardian (wildlife), BBC and BBC (Africa at this latter link), and Sputnik.
From ABC News (Australia):
Indonesia's national skateboarding team has suffered a training crisis in the leadup to the Asian Games: an uncomfortable rash caused by a caterpillar infestation at the training venue.
"There's a lot of rambutan trees so there's lots of caterpillars," veteran skater Pevi Permana said.
"When the wind blows the hairs of the caterpillars are carried by the wind and get onto our skin and we get all itchy.
From the Inter Press Service:
JAKARTA, Indonesia, Mar 30 2018 (IPS) - More than a century has passed since Putri Mardika, Indonesia’s first ever women’s organization, was established but challenges persist in the efforts to influence national politics to bring progress to all women.
Like many countries with a colonial past, it was not suffrage that first ignited early women activism in what is now Indonesia. Rather it was nationalistic aspiration and basic women’s empowerment issues such as education and women’s rights in marriage that mobilized the movement.
From The Straits Times:
KUALA LUMPUR China's Tiangong-1 Space Station, which is currently falling towards Earth, left a streak across Malaysian skies for 81 seconds from 3.19am Friday (March 30).
It was estimated that for the 90-second duration, the altitude of the Tiangong-1 dropped from 182.462km to 182.407km, according to the re-entry forecast issued by the National Space Agency (Angkasa).
From CNN:
By Sugam Pokharel, CNN
New Delhi (CNN) Is India distancing itself from the Tibetan exile community six decades after the Dalai Lama fled to the country?
That's the question many are asking after celebrations to mark the 60th anniversary of the spiritual leader's arrival in India have been moved or canceled, as Beijing and New Delhi seek to reboot ties in the wake of a tense year in bilateral relations.
From Quartz Media:
Five years ago, China was the
most trigger-happy cloud seeder in the world. It was creating 55 billion tons of artificial rain a year, with plans to quintuple that amount. In 2013, launching cloud-seeding chemicals by rocket into the sky or spraying them from planes were the preferred methods.
Now, reportedly equipped with new military weather-altering technology, China is embarking on its biggest rain-making project yet, the South China Morning Post says. Using a system developed by the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the Hong Kong news outlet reports, the country plans to build tens of thousands of combustion chambers on steep Tibetan mountainsides. The chambers would burn a solid fuel, which would result in a spray of silver iodide billowing towards the sky.
From The Times of Central Asia:
ASHGABAT (TCA) — Public Diplomacy Officer J.R. deLara will bike across Turkmenistan March 31 – April 12 to demonstrate support for regional connectivity, promote U.S. educational and exchange programs, and learn more about life in Turkmenistan outside the capital, the U.S. Embassy in Ashgabat said. J.R. will depart from Farap on March 31 and expects to reach the Caspian resort of Awaza on April 12, covering approximately 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) total and approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles) each day. Along the way, he will give public presentations at the American Center in Ashgabat and the American Corner in Turkmenabat.
From Xinhua:
MOSCOW, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Two more people will be charged in the criminal case of a shopping mall fire in the Siberian city of Kemerovo, Russia's Investigative Committee said Friday.
Tanzilia Komkova, chief inspector of the Kemerovo Region's construction watchdog, and Julia Bogdanova, general director of the Kemerovo confectionery plant which owns the shopping mall, were detained on suspicion of dereliction of duty, and will be charged with abuse of power and violation of fire safety requirements, according to the committee.
Investigations showed that Komkova had not taken measures to stop the unauthorized construction of the shopping mall in Kemerovo, while Bogdanova did not adopt stronger safety measures despite repeated warnings by her subordinates, the committee said in separate statements.
News of the season, from The Washington Post:
By Aaron Favila | AP
SAN PEDRO CUTUD, Philippines — Seven Filipino Roman Catholic devotees, including a woman, were nailed to wooden crosses in a Good Friday reenactment of Jesus Christ’s suffering that was watched by thousands of spectators but frowned upon by church leaders.
Three devotees wearing crowns of twigs were nailed to crosses by villagers dressed as Roman centurions on a dusty hill in San Pedro Cutud village, and four others were nailed to crosses in nearby farming villages in San Fernando city north of Manila, tourism officer Ching Pangilinan said.
And from The Guardian:
By Anthony McKee
Larantuka – the Catholic heart of Indonesia – is near Kupang in Flores, at the far east of the archipelago. An estimated 6,000 Catholic pilgrims visit for the religious festival of Semana Santa – a period that begins on Ash Wednesday and reaches its crescendo on Good Friday. The town boasts three religious statues that washed up on its shores in mysterious circumstances in the 1500s.
Nows news from the Arts, this first from Variety:
Malaysia offers filmmakers tropical rainforests, beaches scattered among a wide variety of islands, the modern and bustling city of Kuala Lumpur with its iconic Petronas Towers, and enough budgetary savings to tantalize the most fiscally conservative of producers. And all this comes on top of a 30% rebate.
Comprised of 13 states and three federal territories separated by the South China Sea, the multi-ethnic nation also provides many cultures to serve as background for varied stories – including Chinese neighborhoods, Hindu temples and indigenous people.
From Artsy:
By Eli Hill
A turtle basks in the sun atop a braid of willow branches winding through a watershed in Nevada––all thanks to an artwork. Just months before this moment, that same floodplain was deplete of a diverse wildlife and healthy ecosystem, until two environmental artists took up the area as the site for their next installation.
Artists Mary O’Brien and Daniel McCormick––a duo who have been partners in life as well as artistic collaborators for the last 30 years—create living sculptures that not only draw inspiration from landscapes, but use their natural materials to rejuvenate the environment.
To create River Fork Ranch Flood Plain (2014), the artists teamed up with hundreds of volunteers to harvest willow branches from the site, tie them into “willow wattles,” and place them inside of a 360-foot-long armature made of stakes. The result is a sinuous and majestic sculpture that anchors soil, prevents erosion, enhances water quality, and introduces a home for the aforementioned turtle (incidentally, the first animal the pair saw using the sculpture). The work is one of five created by O’Brien and McCormick for their “Nevada Rivers Project,” which is entirely crafted out of materials found on-site in three Nevada watersheds.
From The Star-Tribune Artcetera blog:
Halfway through a discussion about valuing the voices of indigenous artists, one of the four panelists onstage pointed out how unlikely the gathering was.
What are the chances, "that we're here right now in this venue," artist Nicholas Galanin pointed out, "based on its history and who's been sitting in these seats."
The venue in question: the Walker Art Center.
On Thursday night, Minneapolis-based artist Dyani White Hawk, who is Sicangu Lakota, moderated a panel that has been in the works since last year, when the Walker faced intense criticism for installing "Scaffold" in the revamped Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. Native Americans and others protested Sam Durant's sculpture -- based partly on the gallows used to hang 38 Dakota men in 1862 in Mankato -- leading to its dismantling.
Then came the touring retrospective of Jimmie Durham, who has identified himself as Cherokee, despite not being recognized by the three Cherokee tribes. After White Hawk and others met with Walker leaders, the Walker tweaked that show's introduction and edited language throughout the galleries.
From The Wall Street Journal:
Investors can learn a lesson in portfolio diversification from the collecting career of John Maynard Keynes
By Jason Zweig
A hundred years ago this week, the most influential economist of the 20th century began assembling what became one of the best collections of modern art then in private hands.
Every investor hoping to diversify a conventional portfolio with nontraditional assets can learn from the collecting career of John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946).
Wealthy investors often say they keep about a tenth of their net worth in art, antiques, fine wines and other collectibles. Research has suggested that the returns on such assets may beat cash, bonds and even gold over the long term, although the costs of trading — and holding — them can significantly reduce net results.