DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
A participant lies in tomato pulp, as people attend the annual food fight festival ‘La Tomatina’ in Bunol, near Valencia, Spain, on 28th August, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Eva Manez
• The streets of a town in eastern Spain were awash in red on Wednesday as revellers flung overripe tomatoes at each other in a high-spirited battle royale during the traditional Tomatina festival. Some 22,000 participants wearing white clothes bespattered with tomato pulp engaged in the frenzy that grips Bunol – located 40 kilometres to the west of Valencia – every year in the last week of August. Seven trucks distributed 150 tons of ripe pear tomatoes to eager roisterers, many of them visiting from abroad. Non-residents pay a fee of 15 euros ($16.70), while Bunol locals enjoy it for free. “We love tomatoes! That’s why we decided to come and we had a fab time,” said Taylor, who came from Australia, adding that she and her friends would “make some spaghetti to have with the sauce”. The start of the hour-long fight was signalled by firecrackers ignited once one of the contenders managed to climb up a slippery pole lathered in soap to snatch a leg of ham hanging from the top. Senam, from Kenya, described the event as “beautiful, wonderful, creative, mind-blowing”. After the fracas ended, a cleaning crew armed with water hoses was dispatched to remove the refuse from the town’s streets, which were left gleaming thanks to the tomatoes’ natural acidity. The fruits, grown specifically for the festival, are considered too sour for human consumption. According to the Tomatina‘s official website, the festival originated during a brawl that ensued in 1945 when youngsters attempting to get a closer view of a parade knocked over one of the participants. Several people plucked tomatoes from a nearby stand as makeshift projectiles until police restored order. The following year, youths recreated the altercation, with some even bringing their own tomatoes. The event was briefly outlawed in the 1950s under General Francisco Franco’s fascist dictatorship, but resumed in 1959 with certain rules. – GUILLERMO MARTINEZ and MICHAEL GORE, Bunol, Spain/Reuters.
A cat visitor poses with its owner in the entrance hall of Shanghai Museum’s “Meow Night” in Shanghai, China, on 31st August, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Casey Hall
• Shanghai Museum has pulled in crowds this summer for an exhibition of ancient Egyptian relics including cat statues and other feline imagery, and which on Saturday nights allows up to 200 visitors to bring along their own four-legged friends. Inspired ancient Egyptians’ worship of Bastet, the goddess of protection – often depicted as a cat – the museum has given cats the chance to interact with part of the exhibition called “The Secrets of Saqqara”. “Egyptian archaeological teams discovered a cat temple in Saqqara and unearthed many cat mummies and cat statues. So when we were planning the event, we had cats as a theme, and then came the idea for ‘Meow Night’,” said Shanghai Museum Deputy Director Li Feng. The Top of the Pyramids: Ancient Egyptian Civilization Exhibition began on 19th July and runs until 17th August, 2025, with “Meow Night” planned for at least 10 Saturdays. It has held six so far with tickets, including 200 bring-a-cat tickets, selling out each time. Visitors bring their cats in carriers or pet strollers and can take them out only at designated areas, such as for a photo opportunity next to a statue of Bastet. The cats are checked on entry to ensure up-to-date vaccinations and for signs of illness or stress. There are veterinarians onsite and rest areas for cats in case the stimulation from their night at the museum gets a bit much. “It’s very special that you can bring a cat with you,” said visitor Qiu Jiakai who was attending “Meow Night” with one-year-old puss An Mao. “I listened to the narrator’s introduction saying…many of today’s pet cats are related to the cats domesticated in ancient Egypt. So I thought I would have to bring my cat here to see its ancestors and the cat goddess,” she said.
An image shows avatars generated through artificial intelligence technology by Connectas with the headline reading “La Chama, El Pana,” Venezuelan slang for ‘the girl’ and ‘the friend’. PICTURE: Connectas/Handout via Reuters
• One of Venezuela’s newest news anchors sits on a stool, dressed in a flannel shirt and chinos as he delivers the day’s headlines. He goes by “El Pana,” Venezuelan slang for “friend.” Only, he’s not real. El Pana, and his colleague “La Chama,” or “The Girl,” are generated using artificial intelligence, though they look, sound and move realistically. They were created as part of an initiative dubbed “Operation Retweet” by Colombia-based organisation Connectas, led by director Carlos Huertas, to publish news from a dozen independent media outlets in Venezuela and in the process protect reporters as the government has launched a crackdown on journalists and protesters. “We decided to use artificial intelligence to be the ‘face’ of the information we’re publishing,” Huertas said in an interview, “because our colleagues who are still out doing their jobs are facing much more risk.” At least 10 journalists have been arrested since mid-June and eight remain imprisoned on charges including terrorism, according to Reporters Without Borders. “Here, using artificial intelligence is…almost like a mix between technology and journalism,” Huertas said, explaining the project looked to “circumvent the persecution and increasing repression” from the government as there would be no one who could face arrest. The country’s opposition and human rights groups have said recent arrests of protesters, opposition figures and journalists are part of a government crackdown meant to quiet a sometimes violent, month-long election dispute. Venezuela’s communications ministry did not respond to a request for comment about the AI journalism initiative. No official has responded to repeated requests for comment by Reuters about the arrests of journalists in recent weeks. – MARIA PAULA LAGUNA/Reuters TV
