External News

PARIS: From the Zen capital of LA to the Champs Elysees comes the calming voice of a British Buddhist monk-turned entrepreneur, introducing American-style online mindfulness to the stressed-out French.

“Relax your muscles, breathe,” Andy Puddicombe, the bronzed co-founder of the app Headspace, intones by videoconference to a roomful of participants gathered on Paris’s ultra-chic shopping artery.

The Englishman and his French team are hoping to replicate the US success of Headspace with a French-language version, in a market where New Age philosophies from the “Anglo-Saxon” world are often viewed askance.

Its path has been helped by the success of French mindfulness app PetitBambou, which launched in 2015 – five years after Headspace – and claims more than three million users in France for its free and paid platforms.

Both apps use guided meditations for an array of situations – from coping with bereavement to just getting through a difficult day at work – with support from online counsellors, funky animations and videos.

In France as in the United States, Britain and elsewhere, companies have been signing up to subscriptions for their employees.

PetitBambou says it has secured “hundreds of licenses” from companies such as Deloitte and railways group SNCF and that it has nothing to fear from Headspace, which along with rival Calm has come to dominate the US market.

In a Paris studio, working on voice recordings for the app, PetitBambou co-founder Benjamin Blasco said his company was, in any case, aiming for the long haul.

‘Mental health unicorn’

“We broke even three years ago. We will not sacrifice anything on the altar of marketing,” Blasco told AFP.

“We do not try at all costs to keep people in the app,” he said, but to solicit a two-way exchange and tailor therapy to the user’s needs.

“Meditation is not a miracle tool, rather mental hygiene: what’s essential is regular practice,” Blasco added.

Investors are certainly buying into the concept. Calm – which like Headspace was co-founded by a British emigre to California, Michael Acton Smith – raised US$88 million from a fundraising round in February.

That gave it a valuation of US$1 billion, which Smith noted made Calm the first “mental health unicorn”.

“Unicorns” are start-up companies with a billion-plus valuation.

But like Headspace, Calm has its sights set further afield. In Britain it has enlisted actor and TV presenter Stephen Fry to record bedtime stories for use on a popular feature that helps users get to sleep.

“America is only 4.5% of the total global population, so there are a lot of other people that can enjoy the product and help the company grow,” Smith told CNBC after the investment round.

According to figures from Marketdata, the US mindfulness market as a whole including the dozens of apps on offer topped US$1 billion in 2017 and should double that by 2022.

Helped by the growth in apps, a survey by the National Center for Health Statistics found 14% of Americans had meditated in 2017, a threefold increase in five years.

Lose that phone

Headspace alone says it has 50 million users worldwide and has raised US$75 million from investors in total, despite marketing a product that preaches “digital detox”.

The paradox is not lost on Richard Pierson, the company’s other British co-founder.

“Although there is the irony that the phone is probably causing us a lot of our stress, our hope is that by using Headspace, you’ll be able to teach yourself the techniques that you need to learn in order to be able to use your phone in a more mindful way,” he said at the Paris launch.

Many of the techniques in mindfulness apps are rooted in Buddhism and have long been familiar to practitioners in Asia. But what, if any, science underpins the apps?

Boosters got new backing with a US scientific study released in late April that looked at the effects of an experimental mindfulness app aimed at smokers.

The app helped many participants cut their smoking or give up altogether, by helping to rewire impulses in the brain linked to addiction.

The world of mindfulness “has become a business, but there is an ethical dimension”, commented Dominique Steiler, a professor at the Grenoble Ecole de Management who specialises in the “well-being” economy.

Apps “are a good way to get started”, but users should be encouraged ultimately to sever the smartphone cord and meditate alone, he said.

KUALA LUMPUR: Police have contacted Mohamad Azmin Ali over the sex video implicating him, the economic affairs minister revealed.

However, Azmin said he would only be able to meet authorities tomorrow at “anytime convenient to them” as he was travelling to Penang for a programme today.

“I was informed by my office that they have contacted me,” he told reporters at a Hari Raya open house here today.

Yesterday, Astro Awani quoted Inspector-General of Police Abdul Hamid Bador as saying that Azmin would be called over the controversial video, although no dates were given.

Police also released Haziq Aziz yesterday after he was detained overnight following his claim that he and Azmin were involved in homosexual acts, an allegation the PKR deputy president has strongly denied.

Haziq was arrested on Friday evening as he was about to fly to the Philippines.

Police are investigating the Santubong PKR Youth chief for various offences, including for carnal intercourse against the order of nature and distribution of obscene material.

On Wednesday, Haziq had admitted that he was one of two men filmed engaging in homosexual acts at a hotel in Sandakan last month.

The private secretary to Deputy Primary Industries Minister Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin said the videos, which he claimed were recorded without his permission, were taken on May 11 at the Four Points hotel during the recent by-election there.

Meanwhile, Azmin has called on the PKR leadership to explain how the video was circulated via WhatsApp groups and had reached branch chiefs and lower ranked office-bearers.

Azmin said he did not have access to such information.

“So the question now is, who provided this information and established WhatsApp groups nationwide? This warrants an explanation from the leadership.”

Azmin hoped that the PKR disciplinary board would investigate the matter “professionally and transparently”.

The Gombak MP said he had done his part “legally” by lodging a police report and one with the religious department.

“I will let the authorities conduct their investigation freely without any political interference,” he said, adding that he would not go on leave despite calls for him to do so, as he had done nothing wrong.

KOTA BARU, June 16 — The police are expected to bring out four more bodies of Orang Asli from the Batek tribe in Kampung Kuala Koh that were found in the search operation codenamed “Operasi Batek”, today.

Kelantan police chief Datuk Hasanuddin Hassan said a police forensics team aided by 12 Orang Asli men will enter the jungle area for the recovery operation and that the bodies were expected to be brought out by this evening.

He, however, said it also depended on the weather and travelling distance.

“If the weather is good, we will proceed, but if it rains heavily, then the operation to bring out the bodies will be postponed.

“The journey to the location of the four bodies will take four or five hours. If we use a boat, it will take us two hours but it would be difficult if it rains,” he told reporters after the Kelantan Police Contingent Headquarters (IPK) monthly gathering here today.

He explained that if it rained heavily today, it would be difficult for the search team in the forest as they were likely to face risks like decayed tree branches falling on them.

Besides weather and distance, the operation to bring out bodies also will take into account the Batek tribe’s customs and cannot be “taken out just like that”, he said.

“As we said before, there are 12 bodies in all, that is true. But, until all bodies brought out and identified by their next-of-kin, then only we can verify it.

“As we all know, we found bone fragments (of the bodies) and identities can only be confirmed through DNA tests,” he said.

Hasanuddin added police also will record statements from family members of the victims after all the bodies were brought out.

He said some of the family members were most likely to have migrated and some perhaps would have died (during migration) and buried in the area.

Hasanuddin further stressed that Kampung Kuala Koh’s status as a ‘red zone’ (restricted) area would remain until further notice.

A crisis has hit the Batek people in Kampung Kuala Koh whereby within a space of a month 14 people from the village died of mysterious circumstance.

The cause or causes of the deaths have yet to be ascertained but the victims were reported to be suffering from breathing difficulties. A pneumonia outbreak is suspected. — Bernama

MANILA: Beijing confirmed Saturday that a Chinese vessel hit a Philippine fishing boat in a collision which has increased tensions in the disputed South China Sea but denied claims it was a “hit and run”.

The Chinese trawler sailed away after the incident Sunday near Reed Bank that sank the fishing boat, sparking outrage from Philippine authorities and media.

While President Rodrigo Duterte has largely set aside the once tense stand-off with China over the resource-rich waterway, many in the Philippines bristle at Beijing’s actions in the sea.

The Chinese embassy in Manila said the crew of trawler Yuemaobinyu 42212 “bumped into” the Philippine boat and then left due to safety fears.

“The Chinese captain tried to rescue the Filipino fisherman, but was afraid of being besieged by other Filipino fishing boats,” the statement said.

It went on to say the incident was not a “hit-and-run”, as some Philippine authorities had claimed because the trawler “confirmed the fishermen from the Filipino boat were rescued”.

However, the 22 fishermen told a very different story, saying they had spent hours in the water awaiting help.

They were eventually picked up by a Vietnamese boat and brought home Friday aboard a Philippine navy vessel.

The Philippine coast guard has started an investigation of the incident which Duterte’s spokesman branded as “outrageous and barbaric”.

Duterte has yet to make any public comment but he recently criticised China’s assertive stance over the sea.

“I love China… but it behoves upon us to ask, ‘Is it right for a country to claim the whole ocean?’” he said in a speech last month.

Manila’s Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin said this week that he had lodged a diplomatic protest with China over the sinking.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang on Thursday called the incident “an ordinary maritime traffic accident”.

Geng said it was irresponsible for the Philippines to “politicise the incident without verification”.

Competing claims over the South China Sea are a point of regional contention because trillions of dollars of goods pass through it, and rich petroleum reserves are thought to sit deep beneath its waters.

Reed Bank, an area claimed by Manila and Beijing, is within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone and far from China’s nearest major landmass.

Manila won a key 2016 ruling against China’s claims in the waterway, but Duterte opted to set it aside in exchange for Chinese investments.

Opposition politicians, as well as segments of the public and media, charge that Duterte has bartered away Philippine sovereignty with little to show in return.

AFP: Actor, director and DJ Idris Elba and renowned rally driver Ken Block will star in a car-stunt series called “Elba vs. Block,” which will pit cars against each other in a series of stunts for short-form video platform Quibi.

Elba is the latest big name to be linked with Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman’s short-form streaming service due to launch in spring 2020.

For the eight-episode show, Block and Elba will try to outperform each other in London’s Docklands in a series of stunts with names like “Wall of Death,” “Car Tightrope” and “Flaming Obstacle Course.”

Block is famous for his choreographed driving stunts; his Gymkhana video series has over 550 million YouTube views.

“Ken is my driving hero. I’ve never worked with a driver as skilled as him, so I’m a little intimidated by his talent,” said Elba. “I love challenges, I love speed and I’m a ‘wheel man,’ so let’s see how this plays out.”

“Elba vs. Block” is a co-production between Workerbee (part of EndemolShine UK) and Elba’s Green Door Pictures for Quibi.

Streaming service Quibi is targeted at mobile users, with shows broken into ‘chapters’ no longer than ten minutes. It will launch in April 2020 with a slew of high-profile shows from Steven Spielberg, Guillermo del Toro, Jennifer Lopez and Antoine Fuqua, among others.