President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has honoured King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden with the Bintang Adipurna medal, the country’s highest award to a foreign statesman, after witnessing the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two countries at the Bogor Palace in West Java on Monday.

The award was honoured based on the king’s contributions to various subjects that had strengthened ties between the two countries and to accolade the same honour, Jokowi received the Royal Order of Seraphim from the Swedish leader, according to a press statement issued by the State Palace.

After visiting the palace, the Swedish monarchs planted ironwood trees at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

CIFOR researcher Herry Purnomo said he expected the bilateral co-operation to result in transfer knowledge, particularly in regard to the implementation of information and technology.

The king and Queen Silvia will be in Indonesia from Monday to Wednesday, during which they will attend various events. Swedish Infrastructure Minister Anna Johansson and a total of 31 representatives from various Swedish companies are also visiting.

Seoul, May 23, 2017 (AFP) – Beyond the gleaming towers of modern high-tech Seoul, it is the dark past of South Korea’s years of dictatorship, violence and upheaval that have inspired the country’s staggering rise as a cinematic powerhouse.

No fewer than five South Korean movies are showing in the elite selection of this year’s Cannes film festival.

And Bong Joon-Ho’s Netflix creature feature “Okja” is one of the early favourites for its top prize, the Palme d’Or.

But two of the other Korean films in competition are crime and action thrillers typical of the booming “Korean noir” genre.

Films about bloody crimes, gangsters and corruption, often with a political edge, have swept box offices and film awards, winning praise for gritty stories about the dark underbelly of society.

“The Villainness” portrays a female assassin trained as a killer at a young age by a crime ring.

She seeks a new life by working for the South Korean government with a licence to kill.

“The Merciless” has two former prison buddies trying to climb the ladder of the gangster world, where lying, cheating, backstabbing and violence are norms.

“South Korea has such a turbulent modern history ridden with violence and political, social upheavals… I think that may be why we are good at making thriller movies like this,” said Jung Byung-Gil, director of “The Villainness”.

“With the military dictatorship that ruled for decades and widespread corruption… reality is a fertile ground for so many interesting stories,” he told AFP.

The South has gone through a stunning transformation in recent decades, going from from a war-ravaged backwater poorer than Ethiopia after the 1950-53 Korean War to Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

Its political history is an equally hectic roller coaster. Before the democratisation of the 1990s, military rule from the 1960s to the 1980s saw tens of thousands killed or tortured – all against a backdrop of perennial tension with North Korea, now nuclear-armed.

At the same time its vibrant entertainment industry has taken Asia by storm, with its television dramas, movies, K-pop songs and stars enjoying loyal followings across the region and beyond.

Raw and real

Jung, 36, made his name with a series of action and thriller films, including “Confession of Murder”, loosely based on a series of murders of young women in rural Hwaseong in the 1980s.

The serial killer was never found, and his crimes also inspired Bong’s award-winning 2003 “Memories of Murder”, which highlighted the repressive social atmosphere under the army rule of the time.

“The Villainess” is packed with dramatic fight and killing scenes – Jung studied at a martial arts acting school – involving knives, swords, axes, rifles and handguns.

Despite South Korea’s rising stature in world cinema, its directors have limited resources, forcing them to be “more creative and more spontaneous”, Jung told AFP.

“We don’t have huge investment or world-class technology like Hollywood. So we try to create scenes that feel more real, raw and alive than CGI-ridden US blockbusters,” he said.

The style first gained global traction with “Oldboy”, an emblematic mystery thriller by Park Chan-Wook – a Cannes judge this year – which won the Cannes Grand Prix in 2004.

The movie, about a man seeking revenge after being imprisoned by a captor for 15 years, won rave reviews for its cut-throat, unrelenting scenes of violence and sombre, bleak cinematography.

Many other moviemakers followed suit with their own bloody thrillers.

Life imitating art?

Recent examples of the genre include 2015’s critically-acclaimed “Inside Man”, which detailed cosy and corrupt ties between the elites of Seoul’s business, political, media and criminal worlds.

“The King” – a recent swashbuckling political drama about corrupt, power-hungry prosecutors – features shamanistic rituals in which powerful political figures pray for the defeat of a presidential candidate.

After it was shot, the real-life corruption scandal that eventually brought down president Park Geun-Hye emerged, centred on her secret confidante Choi Soon-Sil – the daughter of her shady former mentor, a seven-times-married former shaman himself.

Park was removed from power in March and is now in custody, due to go on trial Tuesday for corruption as well as abuse of power for ordering a secret “blacklist” of thousands of artists who voiced criticism of her or her policies.

“One day, someone may be able to make a movie about all the turbulent, painful dramas we went through these past years,” Bong – who was blacklisted himself – told AFP.

“Many say South Korean movies are so intense, dynamic and brimming with explosive energy,” he added. “It may be because art mirrors reality.”

BANGKOK – Thailand’s foreign ministry on Tuesday reassured the international community that the country would increase security at sensitive locations a day after a bomb exploded at a hospital in the capital Bangkok wounding 24 people.

Thailand has been ruled by a junta since a May 2014 coup. The attack on Monday coincided with the third anniversary of the takeover and the army has blamed the incident on groups opposed to military rule.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack which happened at the military-owned Phramongkutklao Hospital. “Bombs will have an impact anywhere,” Thailand’s Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai told reporters on Tuesday.

“Any action at a hospital violates human rights … I would like the foreigners to know that security forces are looking after this,” he said. “We didn’t want this to happen. If we can catch those behind this even better,” he added.

One of the most popular holiday destinations in Southeast Asia, Thailand attracted 32.6 million visitors last year, a rise of nearly 9 per cent from the previous year.

The country’s beaches and city destinations continue to lure travellers with Chinese making up the largest group of tourists.

But Thailand has been rocked by attacks, including a series of explosions last year at popular beach locations, which cast a shadow over Thailand’s safety credentials.

The beach attacks killed four people and wounded dozens, a day after Thais voted overwhelmingly to accept a military-backed constitution that critics said would only serve to entrench military power.

Thailand’s military seized power on May 22, 2014 to end months of street action aimed at overthrowing a populist movement that had won several national elections since 2001.

The coup was the 12th military takeover since 1932 when Thailand saw the end of an absolute monarchy.

Junta spokesman Winthai Suvaree said security would be increased following Monday’s attack. “Any security measures that are not working will need to change,” junta spokesman Winthai told reporters at Bangkok’s Government House.

On May 15, a small bomb went off near the National Theatre in Bangkok’s old quarter, wounding two people. It was not clear who was behind the bomb. An explosion outside a former government lottery office on April 5 wounded two others.

Army chief Chalermchai Sitthisat said on Monday that he believed the two attacks were linked to the hospital attack, adding that the materials used to make the bombs were the same.

“Modhumash is nothing if you do not taste the litchi (lychee) of Dinajpur.”

This is how the Bangla month of Jaistha was described by a teenager, Tauhid Aziz, who travelled all the way to his grandparents’ home in Dinajpur, 337 kilometres from Dhaka, just to enjoy the mouth-watering seasonal fruit.

It has been nearly a week that litchis hit Dinajpur town’s wholesale market in Kalitola area. However, apprehensions are rife that the juicy fruit would not be available for long as production was less than half of that in the last couple of seasons for adverse weather.

“Weather was not favourable during the flowering season. Besides, there was a lot of rains and storms. All these things together affected production,” Rafiqul Islam, a litchi trader in the market, told The Daily Star.

A senior horticulturist at the Department of Horticulture in Dinajpur, Md Imrul Ahsan, apprehended that production may be only half of that of last year.

At least 23,227 metric tonnes of litchi was produced on 4,100 hectares of land last year, according to the department.

“There was fog, massive fluctuations in day and night temperature and rains…these are the key things which affected litchi production,” said Imrul.

Madrazi, Bombai, Bedana and China-3 are the varieties widely produced in Dinajpur, he said.

The Daily Star correspondent found Madrazi litchis, though not completely ripe, arriving on Sunday, selling at Tk 250 (S$ 4) to Tk 350 per hundred in retail shops depending on the size and taste.

Traders said other varieties may take another 15 days to arrive.

“The price remains high initially…it will start dropping later,” said a local, Zahidul Islam.

The price is a little bit high this year and many will not be able to afford it, said one Kurban Ali, a trader who came from Barisal for the fruit, adding that it was Tk 30 to 50 lesser in wholesale markets.

Traders said low supply against a high demand was pushing prices up.

Buyers from districts including Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and Barisal have already gathered in Dinajpur to ensure supply of the best litchis to their respective districts.

Besides, rural women are passing busy days sorting harvests. “We can earn some extra money with the start of the litchi season,” said Jarina Begum of Mashimpur village in sadar upazila.

There are some 3,000 litchi orchards all over Dinajpur. One trader, Aftab Uddin, however, opined that the tastiest ones can be found in Biral upazila and Mashimpur of sadar upazila.

The business centring litchi in Dinajpur lasts for around two months, involving around Tk 1,000 crore. Of the profits, 30 per cent goes to growers, 10 to 15 per cent to traders and the rest to labourers, truckers and middlemen, said farmers.

Growers and traders say they suffer losses every year for a shortage of preservation centres of this fruit, which perishes fast. They say a post-harvest management centre needs to be set up in Dinajpur as early as possible.

In an unexpected turn of events, Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has withdrawn his appeal against his two-year prison sentence for blasphemy.

Ahok’s wife, Veronica Tan, said on Monday that the decision was made after a long discussion with Ahok’s legal team. She refused to go into further detail but said the family would hold a press conference on Tuesday.

“After a long discussion, we have decided to withdraw our appeal,” Veronica said as quoted by tribunnews.com.

She said her husband was doing fine at the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) detention centre.

A similar statement was also made by Josefina Syukur, a member of Ahok’s team of lawyers, who confirmed that the team and Ahok’s family would meet on Monday night to discuss their next move.

“We need to unify our stance on this so we will have a discussion tonight and tomorrow we will explain everything,” Fina said.

Ten foreigners, most of them Chinese, were arrested by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation for extracting black sand and lahar from a river in Zambales province.

NBI Deputy Director Czar Nuqui said the suspects were caught in the act operating a dredging vessel that was drawing lahar and black sand from Macolcol River in San Felipe town on Saturday.

Nuqui identified them as Zhining Tang, Liao Nantu, Yichang Lin, Zhibin Xu, Jingwei Chen, Hongming Zhou, Wen Haihu, Yong Wang and Tang Peilong, all of them Chinese; and Afrixon Hary, an Indonesian.

The NBI, he said, received information that the dredging activities lacked permits from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, the Department of Labor and Employment and the Maritime Industry Authority.

Nuqui said the suspects were arrested as they were about to transport the sand to a bigger vessel. While the ship’s country of origin was still being determined, he said NBI personnel reported that the vessel’s name was “written in Chinese characters.”

The confiscated vessels include a dredger vessel registered in Fiji, a tugboat and three dumb barges.

Nuqui said lahar and black sand collected from the river were “intended for the foreign market,” as minerals such as magnetite could be extracted from these.

The foreigners, he said, were commissioned by local firms. They are facing 10 years of imprisonment for violating Republic Act No. 7942 (Mining Act of 1995).

The body of a 27-year-old Indian climber, Ravi Kumar, who went missing since Saturday on Everest has been found after 36 hours of intense search.

According to Chowang Sherpa, managing director of Arun Treks and Expedition, the handling agency of Kumar’s expedition, a team of high-altitude guides spotted the body early in the morning-resting below 200-metre-deep crevasse of so called ‘balcony’ (8,400 metres), near the summit.

“But it not possible to retrieve the body immediately,” said Chowang.

Climbers from the US and Slovakia also died on the Nepali side of the mountain on Sunday.

According to Chowang, the Indian climber with his Sherpa guide reached the summit at 1:28pm on Saturday. He said the Indian climber had forced the guide to push for summit even though it was not the appropriate time for climbing.

Lack of oxygen coupled with extreme temperatures and weather later in the afternoon creates a greater risk of death on the mountain.

Chowang said that the Indian climber had collapsed at 8pm on Saturday due to low level of energy and oxygen when they were descending from the summit.

The Sherpa guide then left the Indian climber at the balcony with supplementary oxygen after he failed to walk.

The guide then descended to Camp IV to send a rescue team as he suffered multiple injuries due to frostbite and snow blindness. But when three high-altitude guides reached the place, they didn’t find the Indian there, said Chowang.