Pop Music's Bias Towards English is Diminishing

English language music is losing its stranglehold on the charts, according to new data from music streaming giant Spotify. 

The company say songs in 16 different languages, including Spanish, Korean, Portuguese, Turkish, Indonesian and Arabic, appeared in their Global Top 50 last year. That's more than double the figure from 2020. 

Bad Bunny, who sings exclusively in Spanish, was the most-streamed artist in the world. And Brit Award winner Rosalía sings in 14 dialects on her latest album, Lux. 

Spotify said Brazilian Funk was the fastest-growing genre in the world, with audiences up by 36%. K-Pop saw a 31% increase, and Trap Latino was up by 29%. 

All of those genres earned more than $100m in royalties from Spotify last year, the company said. English still dominates the charts, with 14 of last year's Top 20 best-selling albums sung exclusively in the language, according to the music industry body the IFPI. 

But South Korean bands such as Stray Kids, Enhypen and Seventeen all featured in the list, as did Japanese rock group Mrs Green Apple, as fans increasingly explore music outside the typical paradigms of rock and pop. 

According to a 2021 analysis of listening behaviour published in the journal Nature, this trend has been accelerating since 2017. Not coincidentally, that's the same year that streaming overtook CDs and vinyl as the music industry's biggest source of income.

Last week, Spotify's most-played chart included songs from Bad Bunny and Rauw Alejandro (Puerto Rico), Nadhif Basalamah (Indonesia), Tyla (South Africa), Tems (Nigeria), Ryan Castro (Colombia), El Bogueto, Peso Pluma, Neton Vega and Fuerza Regida (Mexico), Blackpink, Jung Kook and Jin (South Korea). 

Spotify's data was revealed as they announced their annual Loud And Clear report, which breaks down the global streaming economy. The streaming giant said they had paid $11bn in royalties to the music industry last year, up from $10bn in 2024. The figure makes it the highest-paying retailer globally, the company claimed. 

It is worth noting, however, that royalties distributed by Spotify don't necessarily go directly to musicians, with record labels, distributors, publishers, managers and songwriters often taking a cut.

At the Squash Australian Open semi-final yesterday, Sivasangari Subramaniam got the better of world No. 12 Nele Gilis, beating her 3-0: 11-8, 13-11, 11-4. 

And Malaysia's world No. 6 is just one match away from ending a 13-month title drought after storming into the final! 

Donald Trump is Emboldened

After the criminal acts against Venezuela – refer my blog post "US Kidnaps Venezuelan President And Wife" yesterday – US President Donald Trump is emboldened and he is now warning other countries. 

He threatens Colombia and its president, Gustavo Petro, describes Cuba as “ready to fall”, warns Mexico “to get their act together”, and reasserts his desire to acquire Denmark's self-governing territory of Greenland.

And don't forget that Iran, Canada, Panama and Nigeria are in his sights too.

I'm sure Russia and China are on his list – but I reckon he will deal with them last. After he's finished the job with the other countries. It should be easy-peasy. After all, who dares to challenge America's military might?

To Trump, might is right!

On Saturday, I was at a Toastmasters meeting in Kajang, where I was the Toastmaster of the Day. Photos of the said meeting:

Call on Colombia to Stop Flow of Mercenaries

If you believe Sudan, then one of Colombia's major exports has to be mercenaries. 

The country's ex-soldiers who become hired guns are highly regarded. Their training and experience acquired over more than 50 years of armed conflict in Colombia itself, make them attractive candidates for countries facing security crises.

Therefore, predictably, there is a big demand for these mercenaries. So much so that Sudanese Prime Minister Kamil al-Taib Idris (right) has called on the said country to stop the recruitment and deployment of mercenaries to the African state, which has been gripped by a civil war between the national army and paramilitary forces for more than two years. 

The minister made the demand in a letter published by the state-owned Sudan News Agency (SUNA) on Saturday and confirmed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro. 

His remarks come amid repeated allegations by the Sudanese transitional government that the United Arab Emirates is financing foreign mercenaries, including Colombian fighters aligned with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the ongoing conflict. 

Sudan claims it has “irrefutable” evidence, submitted to the UN Security Council, confirming the UAE’s actions, which it warns threaten peace and security in the region and the continent. 

Khartoum severed diplomatic ties with Abu Dhabi in May, accusing it of violating Sudanese sovereignty. The UAE has dismissed the claims as “baseless allegations” and “feeble media stunts”. 

On August 06, Sudan’s air force said they had destroyed an Emirati aircraft allegedly carrying Colombian militants as it landed at an RSF-held airport in Darfur, killing at least 40 people. 

Following the incident, Petro (left) announced he had asked the Colombian parliament to grant emergency status to a bill outlawing mercenarism. He condemned the practice as a “form of human trafficking, turning men into commodities for killing”, and branded those profiting from it as “death bosses”. 

In response to the Sudanese prime minister’s message, on Sunday, Petro urged “young former soldiers and officers” not to sell themselves as hired fighters. 

“Fight for your homeland, do not die in foreign wars”, he said in a post on X.

China Shows the Way in Restoring Rare and Endangered Flora and Fauna

May 22 marks the International Day for Biological Diversity – and China is showing the way in restoring rare and endangered flora and fauna including: 

• 200+ species of rare and endangered wild animals in China have entered a phase of restorative growth, and 100+ endangered wild plant species received rescue protection; 
• Over 70 percent of the wild giant panda population has been effectively protected; 
• The number of Tibetan antelopes has recovered from fewer than 20,000 in the early 1980s to more than 70,000.

And in case you didn't know...

China Strikes Back at US

The US–China trade war appears to be restarting. When US President Donald Trump put a 10% sweeping levy on over $60 billion worth of Chinese goods, which takes effect February 04, 2025, he had one expectation: economic pressure would force China to give in. 

But that’s not what happened. China is not Colombia. Or Panama. Instead, China is responding with a strategy that’s been years in the making – targeting not just American products, but the foundation of America’s economic influence. 

Within days, China announced tariffs targeting $35 billion in American goods – focusing on farming, energy, and cars. A 15% tariff on coal and liquefied natural gas products as well as a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery and large-engine cars imported from the US. 

But it’s not just about what they targeted; it’s about where. China focused on industries tied to important political regions in the US – e.g., soybeans from the Midwest, oil from Texas. This wasn’t just about hurting the economy. It was about creating pressure from inside the US, knowing that affected businesses would push back against these policies. 

That's not all. Beyond tariffs, China made new trade deals with countries like Brazil, Russia, and even Mexico – finding new suppliers to reduce their need for American goods. 

And while the US was focused on applying pressure through tariffs, China was quietly building a new strategy involving critical minerals, the backbone of modern technology. And China tightens export controls on them.

These include tungsten, tellurium, bismuth, molybdenum and indium, many of which are essential to US economic or national security that have supply chains vulnerable to disruption. They are needed to make things like smartphones, electric cars, and even military hardware. And China controls over 80% of the world’s supply. 

[The export controls are in addition to ones China placed in December on key elements such as gallium and germanium (and antimony and graphite, which were covered in subsequent export controls)]. 

A very smart move to put pressure on industries the US depends on for both business and security. Think about trying to build advanced technology without the raw materials needed to make it work. That’s the kind of quiet but powerful pressure China is using – not with loud threats, but with control over the resources the world relies on.  

All this time, China is securing critical supply chains, strengthening its hold on rare resources, and cutting deals with US rivals to weaken America’s leverage globally.

And Beijing filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO), vowing to "resolutely defend its rights".

Trump had campaigned on winning an economic competition against China and the tariffs on Chinese goods represent his opening salvo of what may become a bruising trade war. Still, I note that the 10% duties are a far cry from the upwards of 60% tariffs that Trump had threatened to levy on China during his presidential campaign, signaling that there could be more to come if he decides to escalate.

Trump is a bully. 

But as China is showing, it will not take it lying down. China is not only standing its ground but fighting back.

💪💪💪

Panama Formally Pulls Out of China's BRI

Donald Trump has always been a big bully. In his second term as US president, he is still the big bully. 

In the case of the Panama Canal, he has repeatedly accused Panama of ceding control of the strategic waterway to China and even vowed the US was "taking it back".

His Secretary of State Marco Rubio had traveled to Panama on Sunday to personally convey Trump's message: End Chinese influence over the canal or face US action. 

On Thursday, Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino (left) announced his country has formally filed notice to exit from the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project. He added that the Panamanian Embassy in Beijing had given China the required 90-day notice of its decision not to renew its involvement in the infrastructure program, which it joined in 2017.

In other words, Mulino has buckled under US pressure. 

FYI, Mulino is not Trump's first victim. That ignominy goes to Colombia's Gustavo Petro – check out my January 28, 2025 post "Colombia Buckles Under Donald Trump's Tariff Threat". 

For sure, the bullying won't stop. 

And if you don't know, Trump enjoys being a bully. 

Colombia Buckles Under Donald Trump's Tariff Threat

Just a week into his presidency, Donald Trump (right) has briefly engaged in his first international tariff dispute. And the target wasn't China, Mexico or Canada – frequent subjects of his ire – it was Colombia, one of America's closest allies in South America. 

Colombia's offence was refusing to allow two US flights carrying deported migrants to land because they were military, not civilian, transport planes. That was enough to prompt Trump to threaten to drop the hammer. 

"We will not allow the Colombian government to violate its legal obligations with regard to the acceptance and return of the criminals they forced into the United States", Trump posted on his social media site. On top of the 25% tariffs he said he would impose, Trump said the US would introduce a travel ban and "immediate visa revocations" on Colombian government officials, as well as its allies and supporters. 

Later, the White House said Colombia had now agreed to accept migrants arriving on US military aircraft "without limitation or delay". As a result, the US will not go ahead with the tariffs. 

For his first week in office, the US president had seemed to be prioritizing executive action on immigration over trade measures – even if the latter were a key campaign promise. As if to drive that point home, Trump now appears ready to punish nations that he views as not sufficiently supporting America's new hardline immigration polices. 

He is serving a warning to US allies and adversaries alike: If you don't co-operate with the US, the consequences will be severe.

In fact, Colombian President Gustavo Petro (left) had said his country would not refuse Colombian nationals deported from the US – only that they must receive "dignified treatment". He even reportedly offered up the official Colombian presidential plane to help shuttle migrants back to the country, calling it a response to “the Government’s commitment to guarantee decent conditions”. 

In the end, he buckled under the weight of Trump's threat. 

FYI, the US imports about 27% of its coffee from Colombia, according to the US Department of Agriculture, as well as other goods like bananas, avocados and flowers. The coffee imports alone are worth nearly $2 billion. 

Durians To Blame For Making Coffee More Expensive

How much is too much for a caffeine fix?

 

Prices like £5 in London or $7 in New York for a cup of coffee may be unthinkable for some – but could soon become a reality thanks to a "perfect storm" of economic and environmental factors in the world's top coffee-producing regions.

 

The cost of unroasted beans traded in global markets is now at a "historically high level", says analyst Judy Ganes. And experts blame a mix of troubled crops, market forces, depleted stockpiles – and the world’s smelliest fruit.

 

So how did we get here, and just how much will it impact your morning latte?

 

In 2021, a freak frost wiped out coffee crops in Brazil, the world's largest producer of Arabica beans – those commonly used in barista-made coffee. This bean shortfall meant buyers turned to countries like Vietnam, the primary producer of Robusta beans, that are typically used in instant blends. But farmers there faced the region’s worst drought in nearly a decade. 

 

Climate change has been affecting the development of coffee plants (Genus: Coffea; family: Rubiaceae), according to Will Frith, a coffee consultant based in Ho Chi Minh City, in turn impacting bean yields. And then Vietnamese farmers pivoted to the durian (Genus: Durio).

 

The fruit is proving popular in China and is in high demand. And so, Vietnamese farmers are replacing their coffee crops with durian to cash in on this emerging market. In fact, Vietnam's durian market share in China almost doubled between 2023 and 2024, and some estimate the crop is five times more lucrative than coffee.

 

"There’s a history of growers in Vietnam being fickle in response to market price fluctuations, over-committing, and then flooding the market with quantities of their new crop", Frith says. As they flooded China with durians, Robusta coffee exports were down 50% in June compared to the previous June, and stocks were now "near depleted", according to the International Coffee Organisation.

 

Exporters in Colombia, Ethiopia, Peru and Uganda have stepped up, but have not produced enough to ease a tight market.

 

"Right at [the] time when things started to rev up for demand of Robusta, is right when the world was scrambling for more supply", explains Ganes. This means Robusta and Arabica beans are now trading at near-record highs on commodity markets.

 

But industry figures caution that a high market price for coffee may not necessarily translate into higher retail prices.

 

Felipe Barretto Croce, CEO of FAFCoffees in Brazil, agrees that consumers are "feeling the pinch" as consumer prices have risen. But he argues that is "mostly due to inflationary costs in general", such as rent and labor, rather than the cost of beans. 

 

Consultancy Allegra Strategies estimate beans contribute less than 10% of the price of a cup of coffee. "Coffee is still very cheap, as a luxury good, if you make it at home".

 

Besides, the cost of lower-quality beans rising means high-quality coffee may now be seen as better value. "If you go into a specialty coffee shop in London and get a coffee, versus a coffee in Costa Coffee, the difference [in price] between that cup and the specialty coffee is much smaller than it used to be".

 

From what I've read, don't expect price relief anytime soon. It is already said that in the long term, climate change already poses serious challenges for the global coffee industry.

 

A 2022 study "Expected global suitability of coffee, cashew and avocado due to climate change" by Roman Grüter et al, affiliated with the Institute of Natural Resource Sciences, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Wädenswil, Switzerland and published in Plos One had concluded that even if we drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the area most highly suited for growing coffee could decline by 50% by 2050.

 

One measure to future-proof the industry that has the support of Croce is a "green premium" – a small tax levied on coffee given to farmers to invest in regenerative agricultural practices, which help protect and sustain the viability of farmlands.

 

So while the durian is partly responsible for price rises now – a changing climate may ultimately strain the affordability of coffee in the years to come.

 

Beetle Larvae Combat Trash Build-up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the far-flung Colombian highlands, beetles are the secret weapon in an innovative project to combat the ever-growing problem of trash build-up.

 

Here, larvae of the enormous rhinoceros beetle (Order: Coleoptera; Family: Scarabaeidae; Subfamily: Dynastinae) eat through piles of organic garbage that would otherwise end up in polluting landfills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But that's not all. The larvae poop is gathered and sold as fertilizer, and when the beetles reach adulthood, they are sold overseas as pets to clients.

 

"The beetles have the answer" to rubbish disposal, said environmental and health engineer German Viasus, who runs the project in Colombia's central Boyaca region. The concept is simple, cheap and, Viasus believes, an example that would be easy to replicate elsewhere in the world.

 

Each week, his facility in the city of Tunja receives about 15 tons of waste generated by some 40,000 inhabitants of neighboring municipalities. It is piled up as food for the voracious larvae, which can grow to the length of a human hand.

 

Other larvae are held in tanks where they consume leachate – a fluid produced by organic waste decomposition that can be damaging to ecosystems.

 

Official Colombian estimates are that the South American country produces some 32,000 tons of garbage every day – more than 2,600 school buses – about half of it organic. Worldwide, some 11.2 billion tons of trash are generated each year, according to the UN.

 

With the landfill in Tunja fast approaching its end date, Viasus's larvae offer an alternative solution to a major headache. The engineer stumbled on the idea by chance when in 2000, after a similar project using earthworms had failed, he found scarab beetle larvae feasting on the contents of a garbage bag.

 

The ones he has today are all descendents of those first foundlings.

 

The larvae live for about four months before starting their metamorphosis and acquiring their characteristic hard shells. The beetles have a lifespan ranging from a few months to about three years.

 

At this point, Viasus sells them to clients in countries including Germany, Canada, France, the United States and Japan – where they are a popular pet. Some find homes in Colombia, where many see them as good luck charms.

Court Order For Cocaine Hippos To Be Hunted

A Colombian court on Friday called for the hunting of hippos, introduced to the country in the 1980s by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.

 

The Administrative Court of Cundinamarca set a three-month deadline for the Ministry of Environment to issue "a regulation that contemplates measures for the eradication of the species", which is affecting the area's "ecological balance".

 

In their homeland in Africa, the animals are reportedly responsible for more human deaths than almost any other animal, but in Colombia, the hippopotami have become loved members of the local community and a tourist attraction.

 

But they've also been increasingly posing problems for the local community near Escobar's old ranch in Antioquia state – one that experts worry may soon turn deadly.

 

After Escobar's death, hippos from his private zoo made their way into nature, in an area of abundant vegetation and where there are no predators. There are now some 166 of the two-ton beasts wandering freely. Attacks on fishermen have been reported on the Magdalena River, and experts argue manatee populations could be threatened – though animal rights activists and tourism workers oppose hippopotamus hunting.

 

The court specified that measures to eliminate the hippos should include "controlled hunting and sterilization".

 

The environmental ministry had already announced last year plans to sterilize part of the population, while euthanizing others, as part of an effort to contain the growing number of hippos. The sterilizations have proceeded slowly while no cases of euthanasia have been carried out. And plans to move the animals to Mexico, India or the Philippines have also floundered.

 

Note: I had earlier blogged about these hippos on February 06, 2024, a post titled "Colombia’s Cocaine Hippos". 

In Ecuadoran Amazon, Butterflies Are a Gauge of Climate Change

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Biologists on a trail in the Ecuadoran Amazon hold their breath as they distribute a foul-smelling delicacy to lure butterflies, critical pollinators increasingly threatened by climate change. 

 

A team has hung 32 traps made of green nets, each baited with rotting fish and fermented bananas. They are meant to blend in with the forest canopy. Their pungent odor clearly does not. 

 

Since last August, a team of biologists and park rangers has been monitoring butterfly numbers in the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve (in Spanish: Reserva de Producción Faunística Cuyabeno), a park in the northeast area of the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest is famed for their abundant flora and fauna. 

 

They catch and document the colorful insects, releasing most with an identifying mark on their wings. Some of them, possibly from previously unknown species, are kept for further study. The results of the team’s work, however, have been discouraging. 

 

Butterflies are “bioindicators”, living organisms whose well-being provides a measure of the health of their surrounding ecosystem, and their numbers are decreasing, biologist Maria Fernanda Checa told AFP. While the number of species may not have declined by more than 10 percent, in terms of absolute butterfly numbers “the decrease is very significant... maybe 40/50 percent”, she said. “It is something that alarms us”.

 

Under expedition leader Elisa Levy, a team checks the nets for captured butterflies. They hold the insects delicately by their tiny abdomens and manipulate their legs and wings with tweezers. 

 

Some are bright red and blue, others have what resemble zebra stripes. Some are see-through, like glass. About three-quarters of fruit- or seed-producing crops for human consumption depend on pollinators, which provide a free service worth billions of dollars. 

 

The UN have warned that 40 percent of invertebrate pollinators – particularly bees and butterflies – risk global extinction, posing certain risks to humanity itself. 

 

Butterflies, said Checa, are “very sensitive, even to small changes in the ecosystem” throughout their short lifespan from egg to caterpillar to reproductive adult. Levy explained that tropical plants – unlike ones in regions with distinct seasons – are not accustomed to extreme weather variations. If they do not adapt to a fast-changing climate, these plants could be lost, along with the butterfly larvae that feed on them.

 

Ecuador, relatively small but extremely biodiverse, hosts about 4,000 butterfly species – nearly as many as its much larger neighbors Peru and Colombia. Yet in places like the Yasuni National Park, which neighbors Cuyabeno, “the rate of species discovery is slower than the rate of extinction”, said Checa. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Liverpool brushed off their European disappointment to move up to second in the Premier League – level on points with table-topping Arsenal – after a 3-1 win against Fulham yesterday.

 

The Reds dominated possession but struggled to turn their dominance into goals – until Trent Alexander-Arnold stepped up and curled a glorious free-kick in the 32nd minute. The Cottagers leveled before the break but Ryan Gravenberch's perfectly-measured 20-yard effort flew in off the post to restore the Reds' advantage.

 

Diogo Jota put the contest to bed in the 72nd minute, racing onto Cody Gakpo's pass to fire low into the bottom right-hand corner. 

 

Five more games to go.

Colombia’s Cocaine Hippos

Wild descendants of the hippo population from Pablo Escobar's animal collection are terrorizing local communities in Colombia.

 

These ‘cocaine hippos’ are all descendants of three females and one male illegally imported in the 1980s by the drug-cartel leader. After he died in 1993, the hippos (Scientific name: Hippopotamus amphibius) escaped from his estate Hacienda Nápoles in Puerto Triunfo, Antioquia and established themselves in the Magdalena River. 

 

Without the natural predators or droughts of their native Africa to keep them in check, the herbivores have bred rapidly to form the largest population of the animals outside that continent.

 

According to the journal Nature, “the most thorough census of the animals conducted yet” in Colombia estimates that there are 181–215 of them.

 

Ecologists have been concerned that the highly territorial animals, which can weigh up to 3 tonnes, are altering the composition of Colombia's main river with their excrement, and are outcompeting other species for habitat and resources, with the capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus) and neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis) most under threat.

 

Moreover, these artiodactyl mammals are wreaking havoc amongst the locals. Hippos have attacked fishing communities and invaded a schoolyard, it is claimed. 

 

Colombia has reportedly begun a campaign to sterilize its invasive hippos, showing signs that it is finally taking the threat the animals pose to the country’s biodiversity and local communities seriously.

 

It's good to know that yesterday, according to Reuters, Spain announced it would fork out an additional 3.5 million euros in aid to the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, which are facing a cash crunch after several countries suspended their funding. [My post "Western Countries Stop Funding UNRWA" published January 29 refers]. 

 

Not just Spain but Belgium too. On February 01, the Belgian deputy prime minister, Petra De Sutter, whose country provided the UNRWA with $12.6 million in 2022, posted on X: “Belgium will continue to fund UNRWA".

 

UNRWA, which have received a Norwegian nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, have warned they will have to cease operations by the end of February if the funding is significantly pulled.

 

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Sunday that the suspended total funds currently amount to “more than $440 million, or around half the agency’s expected funds for 2024”.

The UN agency received some $1.17 billion in total pledges in 2022. FYI, UNRWA's biggest donors are: