I regret to inform you that Digital Human as a Service (DHaaS) is now an acronym

Sean Hollister 1 day ago

Science fiction movies have prepared us for the distinct possibility that artificial intelligence will walk among us someday. How soon? No one can say — but that isn’t stopping a raft of companies by trying to sell “digital humans” before that whole intelligence thing gets figured out. Ah, but what if you don’t want to buy a digital human because that sounds icky? Rent one, of course! That’s why we now have the regrettable acronym Digital Human as a Service (DHaaS).

The actual news here is that Japanese telecom giant KDDI has partnered with a firm named Mawari (which means something along the lines of “surroundings” in Japanese) to create a virtual assistant you can “see” through the window of your smartphone in augmented reality, one who might automatically pop up to give you directions and interact if you point your phone at a real-world location.

If you peek the video atop this post, you can see it’s not that much more advanced than, say, Pokémon Go. But behind the scenes, the partners claim that KDDI’s 5G network, Amazon’s low-latency AWS Wavelength edge computing nodes, and a proprietary codec from Mawari combine to let “digital humans” stream to your phone in real time instead of running natively on your phone’s chip.

© Provided by The Verge
“the heavy processing requirements of real-time digital humans”

That “substantially lower[s] the heavy processing requirements of real-time digital humans, reducing cost, data size and battery consumption while unlocking scalability,” according to the press release. (It’s true that AR apps like Pokémon Go tend to chow down on battery, but it’s not just graphics to blame; some of that is running GPS, camera and cellular simultaneously.)

Who’s going to jump on board to actually populate the metaverse with experiences designed for KDDI and Mawari’s “digital humans” and pay monthly, quarterly or annually for the “service” part of the acronym? That’s always the question, but there’s no shortage of companies looking to lean into the buzzy metaverse these days. And if they can leverage their existing buzzwords like “5G”, “AI” and “Edge compute,” so much the better. It takes a lot of work to look like you’re paying attention to the future, and you never know if this is the moment someone actually manages to make fetch happen.

Want some more digital humans? We’ve got you covered:

DIRECT ACTION GETS THE GOODS

A former Burger King worker got 'WE ALL QUIT' tattooed on her arm after she and her coworkers ditched the chain

gdean@insider.com (Grace Dean) 

© Provided by Business Insider Rachel Flores

A former Burger King worker got "WE ALL QUIT" tattooed on her arm.

Kylee Johnson and eight coworkers quit their jobs in July, and their story soon went viral.

Johnson said almost everyone she knew who'd left had since a found better job.

A former employee at a Burger King, where staff resigned en masse in July, has commemorated the event by having the viral message "WE ALL QUIT" tattooed on her arm.

Kylee Johnson, who had worked at the Lincoln, Nebraska Burger King outlet for around seven months, was one of nine members of staff who left the restaurant, citing problems including understaffing, long hours, low pay, and broken air conditioning.

One member of staff changed the restaurant's front sign to "We all quit — sorry for the inconvenience," and a photo of it quickly went viral.

Johnson got the tattoo as a reminder of her worth, Nebraska media outlet Flatwater Free Press reported. "I was raised to give respect. But I was also taught that when you give respect, you should be given respect back," she told the outlet.

Many restaurant workers across the US are quitting their jobs in search of better wages, benefits, and working conditions, often leaving restaurants scrambling for staff. Hospitality workers have cited long and unsocial working hours, rude customers, and fears of catching COVID-19 as reasons for leaving their jobs.

Johnson told Flatwater Free Press in a recent interview that other staff who'd quit their jobs at the Lincoln Burger King had got new roles including as clerks or cooks at sit-down restaurants, hotels, and convenience stores. Most of the nine who left have not gone back into fast food jobs, according to the outlet.

Johnson said that she'd worked at the Burger King restaurant to help out her roommate Rachel Flores, its then general manager, while also working at a Ruby Tuesday restaurant as a server and bartender. She said that after leaving Burger King she stayed working at Ruby Tuesday, and that some of her Burger King coworkers moved to Ruby Tuesday, too.

"Almost everyone that I know that left has found better jobs making at least the same or more," Johnson told Flatwater Free Press.

"There's so many openings," Johnson added. "It does leave the door open."
Johnson: Working at Burger King was 'horrible'

Johnson told Flatwater Free Press that working at the Lincoln Burger King during the pandemic was "horrible" and "exhausting."

Johnson said that management was slow to fix the kitchen's air conditioning and that the store was understaffed.

"Four or five people left and upper management had not tried to bring in anybody new," she said.

Burger King didn't respond to Flatwater Free Press' or Insider's requests for comment.

Flores told Insider in July that she'd regularly had to cover unexpected absences, leaving her working many back-to-back, open-to-close shifts from 5:30 a.m. to 1 a.m., with just an hour off during the day to care for her child. She said that her team frequently worked six- and seven-day weeks for weeks on end.

Flores also said that the local area managers resisted her requests to raise wages above $12.50 per hour, even for an employee who had worked for 18 years at the restaurant. She also said that she was once hospitalized for dehydration.

"The work experience described at this location is not in line with our brand values," a Burger King spokesperson told Insider at the time. "Our franchisee is looking into this situation to ensure this doesn't happen in the future."

Johnson told Flatwater Free Press that she'd now been banned from the Burger King restaurant in Lincoln, and that she'd got the tattoo in mid-July.

Laurentian's effort to hide information a 'critical civil right' - lawyer

A Superior Court judge reserved his decision on Monday in an ongoing court battle between Laurentian University and Ontario’s auditor general.

The auditor general has accused the university of refusing to provide documents for a value-for-money audit into the institution’s finances amid Laurentian’s insolvency proceedings.

In her court filing, Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk said Laurentian has failed to provide unfettered and timely access to information during the probe into the publicly funded university’s governance, operations, and financial decisions launched this past spring.

Laurentian has cut almost 200 staff and a number of programs this year in an effort to balance its books. In response, Ontario's Standing Committee on Public Accounts unanimously passed a motion in April asking the Office of the Auditor General conduct a value-for-money audit on Laurentian's operations from 2010 to 2020.

In September, the auditor filed an application with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice asking a judge to declare her legislated right to privileged information and documents that are necessary to her work.

Lysyk said this is the first time her office has had to take this step.

Laurentian has denied the auditor general’s allegations, claiming that the institution has the option, but not the obligation, to hand over documents covered by solicitor-client privilege.

The university is arguing that if the Auditor General Act does compel them to shared privileged information, it would amount to a “flagrant violation” of the Canadian constitution.

At issue during Monday’s hearing was Section 10 of the 2004 amendment to the Auditor General’s Act, which legislates a party’s duty to furnish information.

The act states that a party “shall give the auditor general the information regarding its powers, duties, activities, organization, financial transactions and methods of business” as necessary for the auditor to perform his or her duties.

Subsection 10.2 further states that the auditor “is entitled to have free access to all books, accounts, financial records, electronic data processing records, reports, files, and all other papers, things, or property.”

The final subsection in the amendment provides that “a disclosure to the auditor general under subsections one or two does not constitute a waiver of solicitor-client privilege, litigation privilege, or settlement privilege.”

The auditor general’s attorney, Richard Dearden, argued that solicitor-client privilege is not absolute, but it can be “limited or abrogated by statute.”

He submitted that Section 10 of the 2004 amendment “explicitly confirms the auditor general has a right to access privileged information” because of the inclusion of subsection 10.3. In other words, the entire section is meant to be read as a whole.

“Yes, it could have been clearer – no argument there,” said Dearden.

“But the legislature chose to add subsection 10.3. What else could they mean than disclosing any information or document to the auditor general that is subject to solicitor-client privilege?”

He added that the legislature provides for the disclosure of privileged information because there are a number of “safeguards” built into the act.

As an example, Dearden referred to subsection 27.13, which states that “a person required to preserve secrecy … shall not disclose any information or document disclosed to the auditor general under Section 10 that is subject to solicitor-client privilege.”

The attorney said that Laurentian University president Robert Hache’s interpretation that disclosure of privileged information is meant to be voluntary is “unreasonable.”

“Subsection 10.1 is a mandatory disclosure obligation. It says every grant recipient shall give the auditor general information. Shall give,” said Dearden.

“And 10.2 confers an entitlement, a right, of the auditor general to have free access to all the books and other records that are delineated in that subsection.”

In response, Laurentian University’s attorney, Brian Gover, said “the only question” in this application is whether Section 10 requires subjects to disclose privileged information.

“Everyone has the right to consult with their lawyers in private. Privilege is a fundamental civil and constitutional right. It is a principle of fundamental justice,” he said.

Gover added that any exceptions to that principle must be “rare, narrow, and justified by absolute necessity.”

“It has been determined that privilege cannot be abrogated except by legislative language that is clear, explicit, and unequivocal,” said Gover.

“The language of Section 10 does not disclose an intention, let alone a clear and explicit intention, to abrogate privilege.”

Gover said the auditor general claimed that Laurentian must provide her with “everything – including my emails, memoranda, and opinions to my client.”

“The auditor general says that she needs all of this so she can use it to inform her audit. That is not what the legislature intended in Section 10,” he said.

“Section 10, properly interpreted, allows for but does not require production of privileged information. It provides protection where privileged information is disclosed.”

He added that subsection 27.13 does the same thing.

Mandatory disclosure, said Gover, would increase the likelihood of a breach of privacy.

“It just takes one mistake for privileged information to be disclosed forever. I’m not questioning the sincerity of the auditor general’s staff,” he said.

“But we’ve all heard about data breaches or about electronic devices being misplaced.”

He also said that having access to privileged information would allow the auditor general to “reverse engineer” a report to use the privileged information to create a narrative that has the same effect as “disclosing the information directly.”

Gover said that solicitor-client privilege is not a “lawyer’s trick to avoid proper scrutiny” but rather a “critical civil right.”

“If doubt remains about the correct interpretation, it must be resolved in favour of upholding the privilege,” said Gover.

Gover said that if the court rules in Laurentian University’s favour, the institution will be asking for $25,000 in costs.

The auditor general is not seeking costs should it be successful on this application. By way of explanation, the auditor’s attorney said, “Laurentian University is in insolvency. It’s a publicly funded institution.”

Upon hearing the submissions on Monday, Superior Court Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz said he is taking the matter under reserve.

“I do thank both of you for some very complete submissions, both written and oral,” he said.

“I will endeavor to get to it as soon as possible.”

The Local Journalism Initiative is made possible through funding from the federal government.

dmacdonald@postmedia.com

Twitter: @SudburyStar

Colleen Romaniuk, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Sudbury Star

🔮 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖂𝖎𝖙𝖈𝖍 𝕾𝖔𝖓𝖌𝖘 𝕮𝖔𝖑𝖑𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 🌙

Apr 7, 2021

Daniela

This is a collection of my most favourite witchy songs. Chants & spiritual and dance songs are included. This video is not a promotion of any kind of faith. It is simply about sharing some of the music I love. Therefore, I hope you enjoy these songs as much as I do, regardless of your spiritual beliefs. Blessed be! 🌕

🔮 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖂𝖎𝖙𝖈𝖍 𝕾𝖔𝖓𝖌𝖘 𝕮𝖔𝖑𝖑𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 🌙 (𝕻𝖆𝖗𝖙 2): https://youtu.be/tYiQkf5y3ho

🔮 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖂𝖎𝖙𝖈𝖍 𝕾𝖔𝖓𝖌𝖘 𝕮𝖔𝖑𝖑𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 🌙 (𝕻𝖆𝖗𝖙 3): https://youtu.be/3euQ6lFHbic

8 months ago (edited)

0:00 Inkubus Sukkubus - Wytches Chant '98

02:13 Alice Di Micele - Mother of Darkness

06:24 Robert Gass - Lady of the Flowing Waters

12:04 Libana - The Earth, the Air, the Fire, the Water

14:54 Wendy Rule - Elemental Chant

20:39 Lindie Lila - Born of Water

24:08 Spirits of Fire 

26:15 Elaine Silver - Call On The Moon

31:34 Lisa Thiel - Moon Mother

33:48 Heather Houston - Full Moon Chant

37:19 Marie Bruce - Moon Song

41:12 Blackmore's Night - Shadow of the Moon

46:19 Blackmore's Night - Darkness

49:40 Blackmore's Night - Under a Violet Moon

54:03 Wendy Rule - The Circle Song

59:10 Wendy Rule - The Water

01:04:19 Lisa Thiel - Song to Brighid

01:08:00 Lisa Thiel - Song to the Grandmothers

01:11:05 Michelle Mays - One Power-Closing

01:13:28 Lisa Thiel - Wolf Chant

01:15:54 Ordo Funebris - A Witches Song

01:19:43 Luna Santa - Bruja

01:23:53 Luna Santa - Una Con La Tierra

01:27:11 Luna Itzel - Luna, Lunita

01:32:21 Ashley Serena - The Witch's Daughter

01:35:03 Sopor Aeternus & The Ensemble Of Shadows - In der Palästra (Instrumental)

01:42:12 Erutan - Come Little Children

01:45:08 Louisa John-Krol - The Witch in the Wood

01:48:55 Louisa John-Krol - Escalder

01:54:57 Jean Luc Lenoir - Witchery Fate Song

01:57:47 Tina Malia - Full Moonlight Dance

02:01:28 Blackmore's Night - The Other Side

02:04:47 An Danzza - Endless Night

02:10:02 An Danzza - Hekate

02:15:23 Cernunnas - Enheduanna

02:19:34 Natacha Atlas - I Put A Spell On You

02:23:18 Leah - Elixir of Life

02:27:25 Leah - Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep

02:32:03 Denean - As One

02:35:30 Eivor - Trøllabundin

02:40:01 Karliene - Witch

02:43:34 Wendy Rule - Dissolve

02:48:52 Loreena McKennitt - All Souls Night

02:54:01 Priscilla Hernandez - Off The Lane

02:57:58 E Nomine - Mysteria

03:01:35 Nox Arcana - Gypsy Spell

03:04:45 Gypsy - Magick

03:09:32 Priscilla Hernandez - Līgo 

03:14:05 Caitlin Grey - My Spirit

03:17:34 Mecano - Figlio della Luna

03:21:53 Galahad - Girl from the Woods

03:25:59 S.J. Tucker - Witch's Rune

03:30:23 S.J. Tucker - Song of the Witches

03:34:58 Omnia - Wytches' Brew

03:39:06 Faun - Walpurgisnacht

03:42:55 Circle Within A Circle

03:45:08 Robert Gass - May The Circle Be Open                                                                                                          

Newspaper publisher SaltWire offering employee buyouts

HALIFAX — East Coast newspaper publisher SaltWire Network Inc. is offering voluntary buyouts and an option of reduced hours for employees.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

In an internal memo, the company says that offers are part of its ongoing pivot from a traditional newspaper publisher to a digital media company.

SaltWire's head of people and process Nancy Cook says in the memo that the company's needs are shifting and it has to be nimble and ready to tackle the changes ahead.

The company doesn't specify how many employees it expects to take up the offer, but notes that there are several eligibility criteria and that management will have to approve any applications.

In 2020, SaltWire permanently laid off 109 staff who had been part of a wider temporary layoff, which the company said was prompted by lower ad revenue because of COVID-19.

SaltWire owns 27 media brands in Atlantic Canada including The Chronicle Herald in Halifax and The Telegram in St. John’s, N.L.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 6, 2021.

The Canadian Press

Napoléon’s sword, firearms from 1799 coup sold for $2.8 million at US auction

FRANCE 24 

The dress sword carried by Napoléon Bonaparte when he staged a coup in 1799 and five of his firearms sold at auction for nearly $2.9 million, US auctioneers announced Tuesday.

© Pack-Shot, Shutterstock

The lot, which was put up for sale by the Illinois-based Rock Island Auction Company, was sold on December 3 via phone to a buyer who has remained anonymous, company president Kevin Hogan told AFP.

The sword and five ornamented pistols had initially been valued at $1.5 million to $3.5 million.

With the $2.87 million sale, "the buyer of the Napoléon Garniture is taking home a very rare piece of history," Hogan said. "We are pleased to have provided the opportunity for them to acquire such a historic object."

The sword, with its scabbard, was the "crown jewel" of the collection, according to the auctioneers.

The weapon was made by Nicolas-Noël Boutet, who was director of the state arms factory in Versailles.

After being crowned emperor, Napoléon is believed to have presented the sword to general Jean-Andoche Junot, but the general's wife later was forced to sell it to pay off debts.

It was then recovered by a London museum. A US collector was its last owner, but the man recently died, according to the auction house.

In May, France celebrated the bicentennial of Napoleon's death.

The famed Corsican is one of the most divisive figures in French history, his huge contribution to the creation of the modern state set against his imperialism and war-mongering.

Josephine Bonaparte's tiaras fetch $760,000

Meanwhile a pair of "highly rare" centuries-old headpieces encrusted with jewels and believed to have belonged to Napoléon's wife, French empress Josephine Bonaparte, sold at auction in London Tuesday for more than $760,000.

The two tiaras — offered from a private British collection dating back at least 150 years — are thought to have been given to Napoléon's wife by his sister Caroline early in the 19th century, according to Sotheby's.

Both headpieces, each part of a parure — a set of matching jewellery designed to be worn together — are set with gemstones engraved with classical heads, several of which are possibly ancient, the auction house said.

"These majestic jewels mounted with cameos and intaglios certainly evoke the style of the grand Empress Josephine — her rank as wife of Napoléon Bonaparte, her impeccable taste and her interest in the classical world," said Kristian Spofforth, of Sotheby's.

Josephine Bonaparte was likely given just the engraved gems, which Sotheby's said were a possible combination of Roman examples dating back to as early as 100 BC as well as more contemporary Italian engravings.

The auctioneers believe the jewels were then mounted for her in the French capital in around 1808 in the neo-classical style, citing marks on the crowns pointing to Paris and its famed goldsmiths of the age.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)

The architect trying to finish the Sagrada Familia after 138 years

Jordi Fauli is the seventh chief architect of Barcelona's iconic Sagrada Familia since Antoni Gaudi began work on the basilica in 1883, and he had been expected to oversee its long-awaited completion.

© LLUIS GENE Architect Jordi Fauli has been working on the Sagrada Familia for three decades -- just a fraction of 140 years it has been under construction

But the pandemic has delayed efforts to finish this towering architectural masterpiece, which has been under construction for nearly 140 years, and it is no longer clear whether Fauli will still be in charge when it is finally done

.

© LLUIS GENE "I would like to be here for many more years, of course, but that's in God's hands," says Fauli

"I would like to be here for many more years, of course, but that's in God's hands," says Fauli, 62, a wry smile on his lips.

He was just 31 when he joined the architectural team as a local in 1990 -- the same age as Gaudi when the innovative Catalan architect began building his greatest work in the late 19th century, a project that would take up four decades of his life.

 

© LLUIS GENE Building such a vast monument which draws huge numbers of visitors is not welcomed by everyone

"When I arrived, only three of these columns were built and they were only 10 metres (33 feet) high," he explains from a mezzanine in the main nave.

"I was lucky enough to design and see the construction of the entire interior, then the sacristy and now the main towers."

When finished, the ornate cathedral which was designed by Gaudi will have 18 towers, the tallest of which will reach 172 metres into the air.

The second-highest tower, which is 138 metres tall and dedicated to the Virgin Mary, will be officially inaugurated on Wednesday with the illumination of the gigantic 5.5-tonne star crowning its highest point.

It is the tallest of the nine completed towers and the first to be inaugurated since 1976.

- Construction halted by Civil War -

In 2019, the Sagrada Familia welcomed 4.7 million visitors, making it Barcelona's most visited monument.

But it was forced to close in March 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic took hold, with its doors staying shut for almost a year.

This year, there have been barely 764,000 visitors, municipal figures show.

And as entry tickets are the main source of funding for the ongoing building works, the goal of finishing the basilica by 2026 to mark the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death -- he was run over by a tram -- has been abandoned.

"We can't give any estimate as to when it will be finished because we don't know how visitor numbers will recover in the coming years," Fauli says.

It is far from the first time Gaudi's masterpiece has faced such challenges.

During the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s, construction work stopped and many of Gaudi's design plans and models were destroyed.

For critics, this major loss means they do not view what was built later as Gaudi's work, despite the research carried out by his successors.

UNESCO, the United Nations' cultural agency, has only granted World Heritage status to the Sagrada Familia's crypt and one of its facades, both of which were built during Gaudi's lifetime.

But Fauli insists the project remains faithful to what Gaudi had planned as it is based on the meticulous study of photographs, drawings and testimony from the late Modernist architect.

- Some local opposition -

Nominated chief architect of the project in 2012, Fauli took over at the head of a team of 27 architects and more than 100 builders.

Today, there are five architects and some 16 builders working to finish the Sagrada Familia.

"It is a lot of responsibility because it's an iconic project, which many people have an opinion about," says Fauli.

Building such a vast monument which draws huge numbers of visitors is not welcomed by everyone, with some arguing that the hoards of visiting tourists are destroying the area.

Many also oppose plans to build an enormous staircase leading up to the main entrance, the construction of which will involve the demolition of several buildings, forcing hundreds to relocate.

"My life is here and they want to throw me out," says one sign on a balcony near the Sagrada Familia.

Fauli said he understands their concerns and wants to find "fair solutions" through dialogue.

And if he could ask Gaudi one question? Fauli pauses to reflect for a few moments.

"I would ask him about his underlying intentions and what feelings he wanted to communicate through his architecture," he says.

rs/ds/hmw/dl

DIFFERENTLY ABLE

Shanghai wheelchair dancers find their groove






Shao Yue trains in Shanghai with a dance troupe comprised of hearing- and visually-impaired people, as well as dancers who use wheelchairs (AFP/Jessica YANG)More

Tue, December 7, 2021, 9:26 PM·2 min read

When she lost a leg to cancer at the age of 10, Shao Yue never imagined she could learn to dance.

Now, she's a national wheelchair-dancing champion who hopes her story can help change perceptions of the disabled in China.

"People think we face a lot of difficulty going out... and need to rely entirely on others to survive," said the 34-year-old winner of multiple competitions.



"But we actually don't need that much help. And we don't need everyone to look at us as outsiders," adds Shao, a mother who drives her daughter to school each day.

Despite gradually modernising attitudes in China, people with disabilities say they are still treated as outsiders.

Shao trains in Shanghai with a dance troupe comprised of people with hearing or visual impairments, as well as dancers who use wheelchairs.

The troupe aims to combat stigmas by giving disabled people a platform to express themselves through art.

"Some disabled people often feel trapped," said Zhou Ziqiang, 38, a non-disabled dance instructor who started training artists with disabilities in 2006.

"Once they join these groups, they can slowly open up and become closer to society."

In recent years, some local governments have worked to increase the number of fitness programmes available to the disabled, and invested in building dedicated sporting facilities and training instructors.

- Fighting spirit -

Liu Huaiyu, 20, stayed near the back of the studio during a recent troupe practice session as he and his fellow dancers spun gracefully in their wheelchairs to pulsating Chinese pop music.

Despite his shyness, he said dancing has helped bring him out of his shell.

"I used to be quite self-loathing, I didn't like talking to people," said Liu, who lost a leg in a car accident when he was 10.

"After dancing, I even go out sometimes for strolls now."

Another team in their troupe made up of dancers with hearing impairments watched conductors at the front and back of the stage count out the beats of the routines on their fingers.

"Even though we can't hear the music, we can still follow the beat," said Chen Cen, 34, who was born without hearing but has danced since she was six years old.

"We put in a lot more work than people who can hear in order to complete a routine like this," she signed.

She hopes more Chinese can recognise the "fighting spirit" required of disabled people -- rather than viewing them as an "inconvenience", as she puts it.

For wheelchair dancer Shao, the most important thing is how she sees herself.

"I don't despair just because I have a disability," she said.

"I just have a different kind of life, and I can choose to live it in a more exciting way."

viv/dma/dva/jah

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
'National embarrassment': Malaysian ex-PM loses corruption appeal


Supporters of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak shout slogans outside his residence in Kuala Lumpur (AFP/Mohd RASFAN)More

Tue, December 7, 2021, 8:17 PM·3 min read

Former Malaysian leader Najib Razak lost his appeal against a corruption conviction and 12-year jail term Wednesday, with the judge branding his actions a "national embarrassment" but allowing him to remain free.

The 68-year-old was found guilty on all counts last year in the first of several trials he is facing related to the looting of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) sovereign wealth fund.

Najib and his cronies were accused of stealing billions of dollars from the investment vehicle, with the allegations contributing to his long-ruling coalition's ejection from power in 2018.

The former prime minister's first trial was related to the transfer of 42 million ringgit ($9.9 million) from a former 1MDB unit to his bank accounts.

Najib -- who has remained free on bail -- denies wrongdoing, but the Court of Appeal upheld his conviction on charges including money-laundering and abuse of power.

Judge Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil rejected the defence's argument that some of Najib's actions were in the national interest.

"There is no national interest here, only national embarrassment," he told the court in the administrative capital Putrajaya.

Najib had "dishonestly misappropriated" the money, he added.

Judge Karim also rejected Najib's defence that he believed the cash was a donation from Saudi royalty, saying there was "no evidence" for the claim.

But he agreed to a request for Najib to stay out of prison on bail while he lodges a final appeal with Malaysia's top court.

Najib has been making a political comeback in recent months, campaigning for his party and presenting himself as a man of the people who defends the interests of the ethnic Malay Muslim majority.

He followed proceedings online after a member of his legal team tested positive for the coronavirus, and said he was "disappointed" with the verdict.

"I did not know, nor did I ask nor did I order the transfer of 42 million ringgit to my account," he told reporters.

- 'Nightmare for Malaysia' -

His lawyers had sought to delay Wednesday's ruling over the Covid case in the legal team, and by seeking to introduce new evidence at the 11th hour as part of the appeal.

But the court rejected both moves.

Najib's final appeal to the top court will likely take months. If that fails, his only option will be a pardon from the king.

If Najib -- who remains an MP -- loses the next court challenge, he will be jailed and barred from holding political office.

Despite his conviction, he is still influential and popular among some voters -- a group of supporters gathered outside court Wednesday, urging the judges to rule in Najib's favour.

The blue-blooded politician, whose father and uncle were both prime ministers, has about 4.6 million followers on Facebook, where he frequently comments on the news and criticises rivals.

He campaigned at local polls last month in the bellwether state of Malacca, helping his party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), to a landslide victory.

Bridget Welsh, a Malaysia expert from the University of Nottingham, predicted Najib will "fight on, couching his personal interest as that of the party and nation".

But she added: "His comeback dream is a nightmare for Malaysia, fuelling polarisation and damaging the country's reputation."

Najib is currently facing two other ongoing 1MDB-related trials. The most significant centres on allegations he illicitly obtained more than $500 million.

jsm-sr/qan

On Africa's 'chocolate islands', cocoa producers target luxury market


Bean counters: The Diogo Vaz plantation in Sao Tome places out its cocoa harvest to dry (AFP/Adrien Marotte)

Jean-Remy Martin took over a dying cocoa plantation to launch the successful 

Diogo Vaz brand of high-end chocolate (AFP/Adrien Marotte)

Time to test: Claudio Corallo's chocolate workshop in Sao Tome. Cocoa grown in the islands' volcanic soil has a famously complex taste signature (AFP/Adrien Marotte)


Agronomist Claudio Corallo's background is in coffee, but he saw potential for Sao Tome in the growing market for top-quality chocolate (AFP/Adrien Marotte)

Just give me a tub: Chocolate testing in Claudio Corallo's workshop (AFP/Adrien Marotte)



Goat guardians: The Diogo Vaz cocoa plantation now has a bright future thanks to its foray into top-quality chocolate (AFP/Adrien Marotte)

Adrien MAROTTE
Tue, 7 December 2021

A morsel of chocolate sits on the tongue, and a strong yet subtle flavour starts to blossom.

"When the chocolate starts to soften, you bite into it," orders chocolatier, Claudio Corallo.

The chocolate tasting then expands into different flavours -- ginger, coffee, pepper, sea salt -- but underpinning each of these delights is an earthiness, a richness that comes from cocoa trees that grow in volcanic soil, wafted by the tropical Atlantic breeze.

They grow in Sao Tome and Principe, a tiny island nation off the west coast of Africa that has a rich but also tragic association with chocolate.

Once named the "chocolate islands", the Portuguese-speaking archipelago was the world's leading cocoa producer at the end of the 19th century.

Then, as competition mounted in the second half of the 20th century, the sector was almost wiped out. Many plantations were abandoned, and their fields and buildings were taken over by nature.

Today, though, there is talk of a comeback as a handful of entrepreneurs pitch to the growing world market for high-end chocolate.

"Focusing on quality is the only way to survive," said Jean-Remy Martin, a Frenchman who revived an old, dying plantation about a decade ago on the island of Sao Tome, in Diogo Vaz.

The place gave its name to a brand of chocolate Martin created with his son. Its 82-percent "Grand Cru" organic chocolate -- with "hints of flowers, smoke, spices and fruit" -- sells to online buyers in Europe for 6.40 euros ($7.42) a bar.

His spread of 420 hectares (about 1,000 acres) lies on the slopes of an ancient volcano overlooking the Atlantic, using cocoa trees that are the descendants of plants brought in by the Portuguese in the 18th century.

Mechanised farming on this terrain is impossible, but the trees grow under a lush natural canopy and in soil so fertile that Martin says he can do without chemical inputs.

- Grow cocoa, make chocolate -

But going organic was not enough.

"We have organic certification, but growing cocoa by itself won't cover the costs," Martin said. "We had to go for 100 percent production," taking charge of the entire chain from cocoa pod to chocolate.

The business model demanded a seismic change.

The farm moved from "a monoculture regime, whose cocoa prices were determined by world buyers, to exercising total control over our prices and boosting our cocoa in the value chain," he said.

Since then, Diogo Vaz chocolate has established an international reputation, winning numerous awards and earning enough profit to create an ambitious -- and sustainable -- business.

Around 250 people, almost all of them locals, are employed by the firm, which aims to replicate its success with fruit and vanilla cultivation, to be transformed into pastries and alcoholic drinks.

Corallo, an Italian from Florence, moved to Sao Tome in the early '90s and became a pioneer in developing top-of-the-range cocoa.

He set up "laboratories" at his plantation on the island of Principe and his workshop on Sao Tome to try to unravel the unique taste signatures of cacao grown on the archipelago.

"I don't like chocolate myself," Corallo told AFP mischievously, alluding to his professional record as a specialist in coffee.

Corallo's chocolate has developed a growing and devoted international following, although he said that the logistics of exporting from a location more than 300 kilometres (185 miles) from the coast of Gabon were often a headache.

Sao Tome and Principe is one of a growing number of cocoa-producing countries to aim at the burgeoning demand for organic.

The world market is expected to grow at nearly eight percent annually over the next five years, to reach $1.3 billion (1.16 billion euros) by 2026, according to industry research published in October.

- Bittersweet history -

Cocoa plantations are rooted in the islands' history.

At the industry's peak at the end of the 19th century, the islands cranked out nearly 35,000 tonnes of cocoa per year -- the fruit of the labour of thousands of immigrants from Portugal's other African colonies, Cape Verde, Angola and Mozambique.

But once the colonies gained independence in 1975, "the Portuguese left with their know-how, the plantations were hit by outbreaks of pests and the state redistributed land to former employees without any supervision," said Maria Nazare Ceita, a historian at the University of Sao Tome.

"Production collapsed."

"The whole population is linked to cocoa in one way or another," Carlos Vila Nova, the country's president, told AFP.

"Thanks to our know-how we understand the product very well," he said.

"In the globalised economy, we must give cocoa added value. We have to bet on quality. By extending the sector to processing, the cocoa business has a future again."

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