The funeral of Queen Elizabeth II of Britain, who died Sept. 8 at 96, took place Monday morning in Westminster Abbey, site of the coronation and burial of English and British
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Paul Templer was living his best life.
He was 28 and conducting tours in his native Zimbabwe, with a focus on photographic safaris.
He had been away for a few years, including a stint in the British army. But he had returned to Africa’s bush country “and fell back in love with it. The wildlife, the flora, the fauna, the great outdoors, the space – just everything about it. I was at home.”
Templer said Zimbabwe’s guide certification program was rigorous, and there was a lot of pride among the guides who passed. He reveled in showing tourists the area’s majestic wildlife – including the water-loving, very territorial hippos.
“It was idyllic,” he told CNN Travel. “Life was really, really good – until one day I had a really bad day at the office.”
March 9, 1996. A Saturday. Templer learned a good friend who was to lead a canoe safari down the Zambezi River had malaria. He agreed to take his pal’s place. “I loved that stretch of the river. It was an area I know like the back of my hand.”
The expedition consisted of six safari clients (four Air France crewmembers and a couple from Germany), three apprentice guides plus Templer. They had three canoes – clients in the first two seats and a guide in the back. Then one apprentice guide was in a one-person safety kayak.
And down the famed Zambezi they went. “Things were going the way they were supposed to go. Everyone was having a pretty good time.”
Eventually, they came across a pod of about a dozen hippos. That’s not unexpected on the Zambezi, Africa’s fourth-longest river. They weren’t alarmed at first as they were at a safe distance. But “we were getting closer, and I was trying to take evasive action. … The idea was let’s just paddle safely around the hippos.”
Templer’s canoe led the way, with the other two canoes and kayak to follow. He pulled into a little channel waiting on the others. But the third canoe had fallen back from the group and was off the planned course. Templer’s not sure how that happened.
“Suddenly, there’s this big thud. And I see the canoe, like the back of it, catapulted up into the air. And Evans, the guide in the back of the canoe, catapulted out of the canoe.” The clients managed to remain in the canoe somehow.
“Evans is in the water, and the current is washing Evans toward a mama hippo and her calf 150 meters [490 feet] away. … So I know I’ve got to get him out quickly. I don’t have time to drop my clients off.” He yells to Ben, one of the other guides, to retrieve the clients who were in the canoe that had been attacked.
Ben got the clients to safety on a rock in the middle of the river that hippos couldn’t climb.
Meanwhile, Templer turned his canoe around to get Evans. The plan was to pull alongside of him and pull him into Templer’s canoe.
“I was paddling towards him … getting closer, and I saw this bow wave coming towards me. If you’ve ever seen any of those old movies with a torpedo coming toward a ship, it was kind of like that. I knew it was either a hippo or a really large crocodile coming at me,” he said.
“But I also knew that if I slapped the blade of my paddle on water … that’s really loud. And the percussion underwater seems to turn the animals away,” he said. “So I slapped the water, and as it was supposed to do, the torpedo wave stops.”
He was getting closer to Evans, but they were also getting closer to the female and calf.
“I’m leaning over – it’s kind of a made-for-Hollywood movie – Evans is reaching up. … Our fingers almost touched. And then the water between us just erupted. Happened so fast I didn’t see a thing.”
What happened next was nightmarish and surreal.
“My world went dark and strangely quiet.” Templer said it took a few seconds to figure out what was going on.
“From the waist down, I could feel the water. I could feel I was wet in the river. From my waist up, it was different. I was warm, and it wasn’t wet like the river, but it wasn’t dry either. And it was just incredible pressure on my lower back. I tried to move around; I couldn’t.
“I realized I was up to my waist down a hippo’s throat.”
Hippos: Huge, territorial and dangerous
There’s a good reason a fully grown hippopotamus can fit a large portion of a fully grown adult in its mouth. Hippos can grow up to 16.5 feet long (5 meters), 5.2 feet tall (1.6 meters) and weigh up to 4.5 tons (4 metric tonnes), according to National Geographic.
They sport enormous mouths and can open their strong jaws to 150 degrees.
Their teeth might be the most frightening thing of all. Their molars are used for eating plants, but their sharp canines, which might reach 20 inches (51 centimeters), are for defense and fighting. Their bite is almost three times stronger than that of a lion. One bite from a hippo can possibly cut a human body in half.
They’re found naturally in various parts sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in East and Southern Africa, living in or near rivers and other water sources. (And they are an invasive species in Colombia thanks to escapees from drug lord Pablo Escobar’s menagerie).
Hippos are very territorial and might aggressively attack any animal encroaching on their territory, including hyenas, lions and crocodiles.
Hippos and humans
‘If I say run, you run’: CNN goes searching for Pablo Escobar’s hippos
They also kill people. That we know for sure. Many internet sources say around 500 a year, but an exact figure is still uncertain because some attacks and deaths come in very remote regions and don’t get reported.
“The question I get asked the most when people find out I study hippos is: ‘Is it true hippos kill more people than any animal?’ Rebecca Lewison, conservation ecologist and associate professor at San Diego State University, told CNN Travel in an email interview.
“I’m not entirely sure where that started but … there is no authority or reliable data. People are surprised that hippos kill people. They look slow, and they are mostly in water. There are some nonfatal interactions, but people (or hippos) tend to fare badly from interactions.”
Dr. Philip Muruthi, chief scientist and vice president of species conservation and science of the African Wildlife Foundation, said the AWF doesn’t have a credible source on the number of attacks or fatalities either.
While more stats need to be collected, one study found that the probability of being killed by a hippopotamus attack is in the range of 29% to 87% – higher than that of a grizzly bear attack at 4.8%, shark attack at 22.7% and crocodile attack at 25%.
Those were rather bad odds of survival working against Templer.
“I’m guessing I was wedged so far down its throat it must have been uncomfortable because he spat me out. So I burst to the surface, sucked a lungful of fresh air and I came face to face with Evans, the guide who I was trying to rescue. And I said, ‘We got to get out of here!’ ”
But Evans was in serious trouble. Templer started swimming back for him “and I was just moving in for your classic lifesaver’s hold when – WHAM! – I got hit from below. So once again, I’m up to my waist down the hippo’s throat. But this time my legs are trapped but my hands are free.”
He tried to go for his gun, but he was being thrashed around so much he couldn’t grab it. The hippo – which turned out to be an older, aggressive male – spat Templer out a second time.
“This time when I come to the surface I look around, there’s no sign of Evans.” Templer assumed Evans had been rescued, and he tried to escape himself.
“I’m making pretty good progress and I’m swimming along there and I come up for the stroke and swimming freestyle and I look under my arm – and until my dying day I’ll remember this – there’s this hippo charging in towards me with his mouth wide open bearing in before he scores a direct hit.”
This time, Templer was sideways in the hippo’s mouth, legs dangling out one side of the mouth, shoulders and head on the other side of its mouth.
“And then he just goes berserk. … When hippos are fighting, the way they fight is they try to tear apart and just destroy whatever it is they’re attacking,” Templer said.
“For me, fortunately everything was happening in slow motion. So when he’d go under water, I’d hold my breath. When we were on the surface, I would take a deep breath and I would try to hold onto tusks that were boring through me” to stop from being ripped apart.
Templer said one of the clients watching the horror later described it like a “vicious dog trying to rip apart a rag doll.”
He figures the whole attack took about three and a half minutes.
Meanwhile, apprentice guide Mack in the safety kayak – “showing incredible bravery, risking his life to save mine – pulls his boat in inches from my face.” Templer managed to grab a handle on the kayak, and “Mack dragged me to the relative safety of this rock.”
The expedition was still in one hell of a mess, though.
Who gets attacked and why
People living near hippo territory are more likely victims of attacks than tourists, said Lewison.
“Most of the attacks happen in the water, but because hippos raid crops on farms, there are also attacks on people trying to protect their crops. There are some tourists, but largely the attacks are happening to local residents,” Lewison said.
Human encroachment from Africa’s booming population makes matters worse, increasing the chances of deadly interactions, she said.
Despite the encounters gone bad, sub-Saharan Africa depends on hippos.
“Hippos are important ecosystem engineers of the ecology of freshwater areas they inhabit. This is through nutrient recycling from dung (they consume large amounts of vegetation),” Muruthi said.
“Hippos attack not to eat people, but to get them the hell away from them,” Lewison said. “I don’t think hippos are particularly aggressive, but I think when under pressure, they attack.”
Stuck on a rock and in a hard place
Back on the rock in the Zambezi, Templer asked Mack where Evans was. Mack said, “He’s gone, man, he’s just gone.”
Templer knew he needed to come up with a plan to get them off the rock and to the riverbank, but “first I needed to settle myself down.”
He assessed the situation: One man missing. The first aid kit, radio and gun all gone. Six scared clients, two canoes and one paddle left. And his own body was shattered.
“My left foot was especially bad; it looked as if someone had tried to beat a hole through it with a hammer.” He couldn’t move his arms. One arm from elbow down was “crushed to a pulp.”
Blood was bubbling out of his mouth. They realized his lung was punctured. Mack rolled Templer over and could see a gaping hole in his back and plugged it with Saran Wrap from a plate of snacks.
Templer made the call: No matter the risk, they had to get off that rock.
He was loaded into a canoe. Ben paddled. The hippo kept bumping the canoe. He went from being terrified to calm on that ride back.
He described “a profound spiritual experience in which I had this incredible sense of peace and realization this was my moment of choice. Like do I go, or do I stay? Do I close my eyes and drift off, or do I fight my way through this and stick around?”
“I chose to stick around, and as soon as I made that choice, it was more pain than I could ever imagine I could endure. It was so intense I thought I was going to die, and when I didn’t, I kind of wished I would.”
Ben and Templer made it out of the river, but without finding Evans. His body was found three days later. They concluded he had drowned because he didn’t have any signs of animal attack on him.
“Evans did nothing wrong. The fact that he died was purely a tragedy.”
Meanwhile, some people on shore had realized something was wrong in the river. A well-trained Zimbabwe rescue team was able to safely ferry everyone else off the rock.
“And that was my bad day at the office.”
Templer was out of the river but not out of the woods.
It took eight hours to drive him to the nearest hospital. In a month’s time, he had several major surgeries. He thought he would lose one leg and both arms. His surgeon didn’t think he’d live.
But not only did the surgeon save Templer’s life, he saved his legs and one arm. The other arm, however, was beyond salvation.
He realized that in the ICU when he woke up and was feeling for his left hand. It was gone. “I just remember feeling devastated. I spent my whole life being active and it was almost more than I could bare.”
But then he was flooded with relief to realize his right arm and legs had been saved. For the next month, he was “emotionally all over the map.”
He got physical and occupational therapy in Zimbabwe and then more in the United Kingdom. He got a prosthesis “and then just started trying to get back to life.”
Templer, Muruthi and Lewison all say safe outings start with education – and avoiding trouble in the first place.
“Hippos have no interest in dealing with people. Stay away from them, and they will leave you alone. They are not hunting humans,” Lewison said.
“Do not get close to them,” Muruthi said. “They don’t want any intrusion. … They’re not predators; it’s by accident if they’re injuring people.”
Want close-up views and photos of the creatures? Instead of venturing too close, invest in good binoculars and telephoto camera lenses.
Do not walk along well-worn hippo paths, stay close to your group and don’t approach them from behind, Muruthi said.
“Follow the rules. If you are a tourist, and it says ‘Stay in your vehicle,’ then stay in your vehicle. And even when you’re in your vehicle, don’t drive it right to the animal.”
Muruthi also advised that your party make some noise in areas known for hippos. “It’s good for them to know you’re around.”
“Hippos usually come out of water late in the evening and at night to forage, so avoid trekking along the river at that time,” Muruthi said. Also stay on high alert during the dry season when food is scarce.
Get to know the signs of disturbed hippos, Muruthi advised, in case you wander too closely. An agitated one will open its mouth wide and yawn as aggressive display. Also watch for a head thrown back, shaking of the head, grunting and snorting.
“These are signs you should have left already!” Muruthi said.
If you’ve attracted unwanted attention, Muruthi said to always remember you cannot outrun a hippo. They may look sluggish, but they can run 30 mph (almost 43 kph). Instead, you should try to climb a tree or find an obstacle to put between you and the hippo such as a rock or anthill.
Muruthi, Lewison and Templer all said never stay between a hippo and the water. If it’s charging you, run parallel to the water source. As with so many other protective female animals, never get between a mama hippo and her young, Templer said.
What if you’re in a small watercraft?
“Typically, if a hippo is going to be attacking, you’ll see it coming way before. There will be that bow wave. … If you slap the water, the percussion 99.9 times out of 100 will turn the hippo,” Templer said. “If you’re in a canoe and a hippo knocks you in the water, get away from the canoe. The hippo is going for this big shape, getting it off its territory.”
It’s also safer to view hippos on the water in a larger vessel, which the animal would have a harder time capsizing, Muruthi said.
Unlike attacks by some other wild animals, humans are almost defenseless once an attack by a large hippo begins.
“Once attacked, there is nothing you can do,” Muruthi said. “Fight for dear life and watch for any chance to escape.” He said you could try to poke at the eyes or any spot that might inflict unexpected pain. But given the size just of a hippo head, even that’s a tall order.
“Hippos typically hole punch you, so there isn’t much you can do if they get hold of you,” Lewison said.
Based on his attack, Templer said try not to panic “when dragged underwater. Remember to suck in air if on the surface.”
Another hippo attack survivor in this National Geographic video also was able to conserve her breath. She also grabbed the hippo’s snout, and one expert in the video theorizes that might have startled the hippo into letting her go.
Two years after that attack, Templer said that he and a team made the longest recorded descent of the Zambezi River to date. It took three months and covered 1,600 miles (2,575 kilometers).
How did Templer find the resilience to reclaim his life?
After a particularly rough day trying to maneuver in a wheelchair, he said that his surgeon told him: “You’re the sum of your choices. You’re exactly who, what and where you choose to be in life.”
Templer said he focused on what’s possible vs. what he’s lost. “If you look for what’s possible, it generally is.”
Templer later moved to United States; got married to the sister of a journalist on the record-setting Zambezi trip; wrote the book “What’s Left of Me”; and is a speaker.
Should people be afraid to even go on safari – especially in hippo areas – after learning of a harrowing story like Templer’s?
Muruthi said go, but go smartly. Be sure to get advice from professional tour guides – and then follow their guidance, Muruthi said. “In Kenya, for example, contact the Kenya Professional Safari Guides Association,” he said.
Templer said his attack was an “anomaly,” and he doesn’t want anyone to be dissuaded by what happened on his 1996 river run.
“My biggest counsel would be: Absolutely go and do it. But hook yourself up with someone who knows what they’re doing out there. But by all means, go out … and experience it.”
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Coco Gauff was ruthless and totally dominant in her US Open quarterfinal against Jelena Ostapenko, dropping just two games in a match that could have really troubled the young American.
Ostapenko, although blighted by inconsistency, had been expected to pose serious questions to Gauff’s title credentials after an impressive run in New York, but was easily brushed aside 6-0 6-2 in little over an hour.
Gauff has once again taken her game up a level this season – in particular during the second half of the year – as the 19-year-old continues her ascent to tennis stardom.
Those improvements were on full display against Ostapenko, with Gauff stifling her opponent’s power with booming ground strokes of her own and, crucially, a level precision and consistency the Latvian was unable to find.
The improvement in Gauff’s physical attributes have been plain for all to see at Flushing Meadows, but the world No. 6 gave an insight into the process of building the mental endurance necessary to make deep runs at grand slams.
“I think it’s unique to every person,” she told reporters. “It comes with trial and error. What I learned about myself is that in these moments, I should not put so much pressure on these matches because when you’re playing these tournaments, the pressure is always on.
“They’re so intense and you always want to win. I just learned how to cope with that better the more I’ve reached this level. You have some people who kind of do it already when they come on tour and some who need to learn.
“I think that’s just part of life and just part of learning. That’s why sometimes someone has a great result, like when they come out the gates, and then it’s tough to back it up because you’ve just never been in this position before.
“The more I’ve gotten into this position, the more I’ve just been able to learn how to handle it.”
That pressure will intensify further when Gauff faces Karolína Muchová in the US Open semifinals on Thursday.
The spotlight is never brighter on a player than when playing at a home grand slam, but Gauff has handled the occasion with a maturity that belies her years, not once appearing to suffer under the weight of expectation.
However, the teenager admits that wasn’t always the case and being able to handle the pressure as she does now was a process that took time.
Among the things that helped the most with that process, Gauff said, was putting her life “into perspective” when she started to feel overwhelmed.
“At first, I used to think negative things,” she recalled. “Like why is there so much pressure? Why is this so hard? Blah, blah, blah. I realize in a way it’s pressure but it’s not. I mean, there are people struggling to feed their families, people who don’t know where their next meal is going to come from, people who have to pay their bills.
“That’s real pressure, that’s real hardship, that’s real life. I’m in a very privileged position, I’m getting paid to do what I love and getting support to do what I love. That’s something that I don’t take for granted.
“So really I just put my life into perspective and especially in New York, I just feel like you see that perspective a lot more, especially compared to where I live,” Gauff added. “I have a lucky life and so I should enjoy it.
“I know there are millions of people who probably want to be in this position that I am now, so instead of saying, ‘Why this, why that?’ I should just be, like, ‘Why not me? Why am I not enjoying this?’ I should.”
Gauff said she is now “having so much fun” playing tennis, and that enjoyment is evident when she takes to the court. “I just told myself: ‘Man, I should enjoy this,’” she explained.
That enjoyment spills over into her interviews and press conferences, too, where Gauff is affable, authentic and funny, traits that are increasingly endearing her to not only US fans, but those around the world.
It helps, Gauff said, to “not think about the results” and instead only focus on having fun.
“I’m living a lucky life and I’m so blessed. I don’t want to take it for granted,” she said. “So that’s the reason why, I think it’s just putting my life in perspective and realizing how grateful and blessed I am.”
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The escalating climate crisis is shifting many people’s purchasing patterns and this extends to the $500 billion dollar global beauty industry which is grappling with a range of sustainability challenges across product manufacturing, packaging and disposal.
Strategy and consulting firm Simon Kucher’s Global Sustainability Study 2021 found 60% of consumers around the world rated sustainability as an important purchase criterion, and 35% were willing to pay more for sustainable products or services.
This shift in consumer preferences has propelled many beauty brands to set environmental goals: to move away from single-use and virgin plastics, provide recyclable, reusable and refillable packaging and offer more transparency around products’ ingredients so customers can ascertain how “green” their purchase is.
However, consumers still struggle to understand the sustainability credentials of many products, according to the British Beauty Council. This is because the industry’s clean-up efforts have been inconsistent, and fall short of making a recognizable impact in the absence of collective goal-setting, global strategy and standardized regulations.
Ingredient and branding transparency
There is no international standard for the beauty industry on how much product ingredient information to share with customers — or how to do so. Brands can set their own rules and goals, giving rise to confusion and “greenwashing,” where sustainability claims are often touted but not substantiated.
Companies often use marketing language like “clean beauty” to make it seem like their products are natural, for example, when they may not actually be organic, sustainable or ethically made.
“The term ‘clean beauty’ has become quite dangerous. It’s used to sell more products,” according to British Beauty Council CEO Millie Kendall, who added that such buzzwords are losing traction in the UK as British customers wise up to their shortcomings. “Customers need better marketing information and certification information.”
In a 2021 report calling on the industry to have “the courage to change” their business practices, the British Beauty Council wrote that, all too often, even natural ingredients involved in manufacturing products give way to “over-consumption, non-regenerative farming practices, pollution, waste and neglect.”
“The only way out of this is transparency,” Kendall told CNN.
Jen Lee, chief impact officer at US-based brand Beautycounter, said she continues to see confusion over ingredients among consumers. (In 2013, the company launched and published “The Never List,” which currently cites more than 2,800 chemicals — including heavy metals, parabens and formaldehyde — it claims to never use in its products.)
“Natural vs. synthetic ingredients has been a conversation. People think natural is safer, but it’s not always the case,” Lee explained. “Natural ingredients formulated in the industry can have toxic load. Heavy metals can occur in natural components of the earth.”
“We used to be more natural and organic,” added Sasha Plavsic, founder of makeup brand ILIA Beauty. “What was challenging is (that) raw materials were difficult to source or would come in inconsistently or products wouldn’t perform.”
Most makeup is created and molded at high temperatures, Plavsic explained. Purely organic materials often fall apart in this heat, leading to inconsistent results and subpar product performance. “Not every synthetic is bad,” Plavsic said. “Sometimes, it helps create the best in class formula.”
The industry’s plastic packaging is a particular sustainability challenge — 95% is thrown away and the vast majority is not recycled, according to the British Beauty Council.
The cosmetics business is the fourth biggest plastic packaging user globally — after food and beverage, industrial packaging and pharmaceuticals — and plastic is about 67% of the industry’s packaging volume, according to Vantage Market Research. Beauty giant L’Oreal used 144,430 metric tons of plastic in its packaging material in 2021, for example, according to the Ellen Macarthur Foundation (EMF). Estee Lauder Companies reported its brands produced 71,600 metric tons of plastic in product packaging that same year.
And only 9% of the global plastic waste is recycled, according to a report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The United States only recycles 4% of its plastic waste.
Many brands are trying to phase out harmful plastics from their operations and adopt post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic. (L’Oreal has set a target of 50% PCR plastic usage by 2025, while Estee Lauder is targeting 25% “or more” PCR plastic — but both are far from achieving their targets.)
“Between 60-70 major global brands have made unprecedented progress” in PCR plastic usage across industries, EMF’s Plastic Initiative Lead Sander DeFruyt told CNN. But DeFruyt stressed that PCR plastic must be adopted in conjunction with brands removing single and virgin plastics from their usage cycles to truly make a difference.
However, PCR plastic is not easy to find — low recycling rates around the world mean there is limited supply. Meanwhile, demand for it is growing demand across industries, DeFruyt said. This competition hikes up its price, which is already higher than virgin plastic.
Hair care brand FEKKAI claims that it used up to 95% PCR content in its packaging, but pricing and supply issues posed a challenge, forcing it to currently aim for containers and packaging that feature at least 50% PCR in its packaging.
“PCR plastic is more expensive than stock plastic. The cost is hard and then sourcing it is too,” founder Frédéric Fekkai told CNN. “PCR is close to our heart, but there is a massive demand, so finding recycled plastic is difficult.”
Beauty retailers plays a pivotal — and under-utilized — role, with control over stocking decisions and supply chains. But many vary when it comes to the standards they set for brands they sell.
“Smaller businesses do more, full stop,” said Jessi Baker, founder of the technology platform Provenance, which helps brands display their sustainability credentials for customers. “They move more nimbly. Some of them are born-good brands — climate friendliness was part of their setup. They don’t need to restructure their entire supply chain. Their culture already has it compared to the larger brands who need to work hard to change.”
Sephora launched its “Clean + Planet Positive” initiative in 2021, which labeled products that met its set criteria. (This is separate from the French retailer’s “Clean at Sephora” program, which is currently facing a consumer lawsuit alleging it carries a significant percentage of products understood by customers to be harmful.) Target launched a similar program in 2022, featuring a “Target Zero” icon for both online and in-store offerings that either have reusable, recyclable, compostable or reduced plastic packaging, or feature waterless or concentrated products.
Still, many steps taken by brands and retailers do not even begin to touch on the waste and pollution generated throughout supply chains, manufacturing and shipping, all huge problems for the industry to grapple with.
The gaps in standardization in the beauty ecosystem can, to some extent, be filled by certifications such as the US-born B Corporation, or B Corp. This accreditation, one of the most well-known in the beauty space, is issued by the non-profit B Lab, which scores a company on a variety of criteria around ethics and sustainability. However beneficial it may be among eco-conscious consumers, though, it is currently completely voluntary for brands to apply for.
Governments and multinationals enforcing regulations and setting a base line for brands to operate from when making sustainability claims would go a long way to making change, many experts and business leaders believe.
Susanne Kaufmann, founder of her namesake beauty brand, says her efforts in Austria would reap better results if more countries around the world had stricter, more uniform garbage disposal laws.
“I package our product in a recyclable material,” Kaufmann said. (Her products’ packaging, which is refillable and reusable, is made from 75% recycled plastic — and is 100% recyclable.) If I send this to the US, the garbage is not separated… and it’s not recyclable,” she explained, referring to inconsistencies in recycling laws across the United States.
And when it comes to ingredients, the European Chemicals Agency lists 2,495 substances banned from use in cosmetic products marketed for sale or use in the bloc. But the US Food and Drug administration only lists 11, making it more challenging for American consumers to find safer, greener options. The Environmental Working Group, a non-profit watchdog, studied lab tests of 51 sunscreen products in 2021 and found that only 35% of products met the EU standard, compared with 94% that passed the US standard.
However, while government can set minimum requirements, Mia Davis, vice president of sustainability and impact at beauty retailer Credo Beauty, says the needle will move in the private sector.
“Regulation can raise the floor a bit. A person who doesn’t know about any (sustainability issues) should still be able to walk into a bodega and get clean products… But that’s never going to be what the market can do,” she said. “Market leadership is key.”
In the absence of bold regulations or global standards on sustainability practices, this “leadership” — undertaken both by brands and customers in the beauty marketplace — is likely to be the most immediately impactful vector for addressing the industry’s climate shortcomings. It will take continued collective advocacy and initiative to see meaningful climate-conscious change.
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Before a ball was even hit at this year’s US Open, many would have predicted three of the four semifinalists in the men’s draw.
Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev have all been at this stage before. All have won at least one grand slam and the trio occupy the top three ranks in the world.
Then there is American hopeful Ben Shelton. In truth, not many would have predicted the 20-year-old would make it this far in New York, but his place in the semifinals has been no fluke.
With his booming serve and powerful ground strokes, the world No. 47 has certainly demonstrated his potential to sit among the sport’s elite, but he will have to find new levels to book his place in the final.
Djokovic and Shelton kick off proceedings in Arthur Ashe Stadium at 3 p.m. ET on Friday, with Medvedev taking on Alcaraz afterwards.
Viewers in the US can watch all the action on ESPN, while Sky Sports will broadcast the matches in the UK.
After beating compatriot Frances Tiafoe in the last round, Shelton set up a tie with arguably the greatest player to ever play the game, Djokovic.
The Serbian is bidding to win his fourth US Open title and his 24th grand slam overall. Once again, he’s been in superior form at the tournament and will likely test Shelton like he’s never been tested before as they meet for the first time.
However, with the home crowd behind him, Shelton is hoping he can surprise a few people in Friday’s semifinal.
“I think that whenever you play somebody for the first time and someone who has been in this situation so many times and come out victorious so many times, that’s in the back of your head,” Shelton admitted.
“I also think it’s an advantage with my game style playing someone who’s never played me before.
“I think that I can bring some things to the table that maybe you don’t see in your normal match.”
Shelton has enjoyed a quite remarkable 12 months since making his grand slam debut at last year’s US Open, where he lost in the first round.
He broke into the world top 100 later that year without ever playing outside of the US, before starting his 2023 with a quarterfinal run at the Australian Open.
Coached by his father, the youngster has only continued to improve and is now the youngest American man to reach a singles semifinal since 1992.
“I think the mental has improved more than the physical,” Shelton told reporters, speaking about his development.
“There’s plenty of times where I could have gone over to my box today and said, ‘Guys, I’m cooked. I’m tired. I don’t know if I can go anymore.’
“Instead, I told myself, ‘I’m fine and he’s feeling it too.’ I think being able to flip it in your head is more than half the battle.”
Djokovic, playing in his 47th grand slam semifinal, will be the favorite to progress on Friday, but he’ll certainly be made to work for it.
The carefree Shelton, who is 16 years younger than his opponent, has nothing to lose and will therefore have license to take it to Djokovic.
With the “brutal” heat already testing players at this stage of the tournament, veteran Djokovic knows he needs to plan for a battle.
“I have to have an approach that is different from what it was 10 years ago,” he told reporters about adapting his game as a 36-year-old.
“I’m the father of two children, a lot of things are happening off the court that are obviously part of my life that affect me in one way or another, my mental state, my emotional state.
“I need to know how to handle all of these things and create a formula that works. So far, so good.”
The other semifinal will see world No. 1 Alcaraz face Russian third seed Medvedev.
The pair have won the last two US Open titles between them, Alcaraz last year and Medvedev in 2021, and have both looked sharp over the last two weeks.
Spain’s Alcaraz will have the added pressure of being reigning champion, but it’s something he’s had to quickly get used to over the past 12 months.
His win at Flushing Meadows in 2022 announced the Spaniard as a global superstar and he’s gone from contender to favorite in almost every tournament he plays.
“Last year, I was facing my first semifinal of a grand slam. Now, I’m facing my fourth one,” Alcaraz told reporters.
“I feel like I’m a totally different player. I feel like I’m more mature. I deal better with the pressure.”
Medvedev, meanwhile, has been around much longer, but is also surfing a wave of momentum in recent weeks.
After a disappointing third-round exit at the Australian Open, the 27-year-old has turned around his form and has gone on to win five titles so far in 2023.
Despite struggling with the extreme heat during his semifinal battle with Andrey Rublev, Medvedev is producing some impressive performances and looks to be a very real threat to Alcaraz.
“That’s how tennis is. I think that’s how sometimes it can be in life, many things can happen, and you can be disappointed,” Medvedev told reporters.
“Then the next day is a new day and something good can happen.”
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Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s famous yellow pumpkin sculpture was reinstalled on October 4th on Naoshima island after it was swept into the sea and badly damaged during a typhoon last summer.
Local residents, students and officials gathered to celebrate the art island’s trademark sculpture as it was placed back on the pier on Naoshima Island, which is in the Seto Inland Sea. It had been there since 1994.
“Since (the pumpkin) was a symbol of Naoshima, it is great to see the same artwork installed again at the same spot. We are happy to share the joy with residents in Naoshima,” said Yukari Stenlund, a spokeswoman from Benesse Holdings, the company that manages the sculpture and the rest of the island’s art offerings, told CNN Travel.
The sculpture, which is two meters tall, 2.5 meters wide and made of fiberglass-reinforced plastic, was swept away into the sea and broken into three pieces in August 2021.
According to Stenlund, Kusama’s production team opted to create a brand new yellow pumpkin sculpture – while staying true to the original – after evaluating the extent of the damage.
The artist’s production team started working on a new pumpkin earlier this spring and made the sculpture’s outer shell 10% thicker than the original so it could withstand strong waves and wind in the future. In addition, a hook was embedded into its stem so it could be easily dragged to safety if another typhoon hits.
“We hope to exhibit the pumpkin as a symbol of the connection between Naoshima and the world,” Stenlund added, saying that message underpinned the 1994 “Out of Bounds” exhibition, which saw the sculpture first installed on the island.
Naoshima: Japan’s ‘art island’
Naoshima is a quiet with 3,200 residents, located in the Setouchi Sea, north of Shikoku. With three modern and contemporary art museums, it is known as an “art island,” The yellow pumpkin, which contrasts with the blue sea, has long been a popular site for Instagram photos.
The main way to access the island is a 20-minute ferry ride from Okayama city, which is 50 minutes away by bullet train from Osaka.
The pumpkin’s timing couldn’t be better. Japan opens its borders to leisure tourists on October 11, and the Setouchi Art festival runs until November 2022.
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When Lovie Smith was hired by the Houston Texans in February 2022 as the team’s new head coach, he said the NFL had “a problem” with hiring Black coaches and diversity.
“I realize the amount of Black head coaches there are in the National Football League,” Smith told reporters just under a year ago.
“There’s Mike Tomlin and I think there’s me, I don’t know of many more. So there’s a problem, and it’s obvious for us. And after there’s a problem, what are you going to do about it?”
Smith was fired Monday at the end of his one and only season at the helm of the Texans, finishing with a record of 3-13-1.
Smith is the second Black coach in two years to be relieved of his duties by the Texans, which fired David Culley at the end of the 2021 season.
Smith’s time in charge wasn’t full of wins and high points – though his parting gift to the organization was a last-minute Hail Mary victory over the Indianapolis Colts, which saw them relinquish the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL draft to the Chicago Bears. But his Texans team showed togetherness and competence, traits often desired by outfits undergoing a rebuild.
Houston general manager Nick Caserio said Smith’s firing was the best decision for the team right now.
“On behalf of the entire organization, I would like to thank Lovie Smith for everything he has contributed to our team over the last two seasons as a coach and a leader,” Caserio said in a statement.
“I’m constantly evaluating our football operation and believe this is the best decision for us at this time. It is my responsibility to build a comprehensive and competitive program that can sustain success over a long period of time. We aren’t there right now, however, with the support of the McNair family and the resources available to us, I’m confident in the direction of our football program moving forward.”
But the firing of the 64-year-old coach, the Texans organization as a whole, and the measures implemented by the league to promote diversity have been heavily criticized by former players and TV pundits.
“The Houston Texans have fired Lovie Smith after 1 year. Using 2 Black Head Coaches to tank and then firing them after 1 year shouldn’t sit right with anyone,” former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III tweeted Sunday, when news of Smith’s firing broke.
On ESPN, Stephen A. Smith and NFL Hall of Famer Michael Irvin also condemned the decision. Smith called the Texans organization an “atrocity.”
“They are an embarrassment. And as far as I’m concerned, if you’re an African American, and you aspire to be a head coach in the National Football League, there are 31 teams you should hope for. You should hope beyond God that the Houston Texans never call you,” Smith said.
Irvin said Black coaches are being used as “scapegoats” by the Texans.
“It’s a mess in Houston and they bring these guys in and they use them as scapegoats. And this is what African American coaches have been yelling about for a while and it’s blatant, right in our face,” he said.
When CNN contacted the Texans for comment, the team highlighted the moment at Monday’s news conference when Caserio was asked why any Black coach would consider working for the team, and his response was that individual candidates would have to make their own choices.
“In the end it’s not about race. It’s about finding quality coaches,” the general manager said. “There’s a lot of quality coaches. David (Culley) is a quality coach. Lovie (Smith) is a quality coach.
“In the end, each coach has their own beliefs. Each coach has their own philosophy. Each coach has their comfort level about what we’re doing. That’s all I can do is just be honest and forthright, which I’ve done from the day that I took this job, and I’m going to continue to do that and try to find a coach that we feel makes the most sense for this organization. That’s the simplest way I can answer it, and that’s my commitment.
“That’s what I’m hired to do, and that’s what I’m in the position to do. At some point, if somebody feels that that’s not the right decision for this organization, then I have to respect that, and I have to accept it.”
CNN has reached out to Lovie Smith for comment.
At the beginning of the 2022 season, NFL.com reported Smith was one one of just six minority head coaches in the NFL, a low number in a league where nearly 70% of the players are Black.
Since Art Shell was hired by the Los Angeles Raiders in 1989 as the first Black head coach in modern history, there have been 191 people hired as head coaches, but just 24 have been Black.
However, the NFL has taken steps to increase diversity in the coaching ranks.
Notably, in 2003, the NFL introduced the Rooney Rule to improve hiring practices in a bid to “increase the number of minorities hired in head coach, general manager, and executive positions.”
But the Rooney Rule hasn’t been an unqualified success.
In 2003, the Detroit Lions were fined $200,000 for not interviewing any minority coaches before hiring Steve Mariucci as their new head coach.
In response to criticism, the NFL announced it was setting up a diversity advisory committee of outside experts to review its hiring practices last March. Teams would also be required to hire minority coaches as offensive assistants.
Despite changes to the rule being implemented in recent years to strengthen it, a 2022 lawsuit alleges that some teams have implemented “sham” interviews to fulfill the league’s diversity requirements.
Last February, former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed a federal civil lawsuit against the NFL, the New York Giants, the Denver Broncos and the Miami Dolphins organizations alleging racial discrimination.
Flores, who is Black, said in his lawsuit that the Giants interviewed him for their vacant head coaching job under disingenuous circumstances.
Two months after submitting the initial lawsuit, Flores added the Texans to it, alleging the organization declined to hire him this offseason as head coach “due to his decision to file this action and speak publicly about systemic discrimination in the NFL.”
In response to the lawsuit, the Texans said their “search for our head coach was very thorough and inclusive.”
The NFL called Flores’ allegations meritless.
“The NFL and our clubs are deeply committed to ensuring equitable employment practices and continue to make progress in providing equitable opportunities throughout our organizations,” the league said in response to the lawsuit.
“Diversity is core to everything we do, and there are few issues on which our clubs and our internal leadership team spend more time. We will defend against these claims, which are without merit.”
But 12 months after firing their last Black head coach, the Texans have fired another one.
“How do you hire two African Americans, leave them one year and then get rid them?” questioned NFL Hall of Famer Irvin.
“You know the mess that Houston is,” Irvin added. “We get the worst jobs and we don’t get the opportunity to fix the worst jobs, just like this.
“I don’t know any great White coach that would take the (Texans) job unless you give them some guarantees. ‘You’re going to have to guarantee me four years to turn this place around.’ But the African American coaches can’t come in with that power because Lovie wouldn’t have got another job.
“This was his last chance to get back into the NFL and you have to take what’s on the table to try to change that.”
The Texans are now searching for a new head coach under general manager Caserio. The new appointment will be Caserio’s third coach in the role: It is almost unprecedented for a general manager to get the opportunity to hire a third head coach with the same team.
Texans chairman and CEO Cal McNair said he would take on a more active role in the hiring process. The next head coach will be the organization’s fourth in three years.
According to the NFL, the Texans have requested to speak to five candidates already about filling Smith’s position, a list that includes two Black coaches.
After Smith was hired in March 2021, McNair said: “I’ve never seen a more thorough, inclusive, and in-depth process than what Nick (Caserio) just went through with our coaching search.”
At that introductory news conference, Smith spoke candidly about how to bring greater diversity to the NFL coaching ranks.
“People in positions of authority throughout – head coaches, general managers – you’ve got to be deliberate about trying to get more Black athletes in some of the quality control positions just throughout your program. If you get that, they can move up, that’s one way to get more.”
Smith continued: “It’s not just an interview, if you’re interviewing a Black guy. It’s about having a whole lot of guys to choose from that look like me. And it’s just not about talk. You look at my staff, that’s what I believe in. And letting those guys show you who they are. That’s how we can increase it, then it’s left up to people to choose. We all have an opportunity to choose, and that’s how I think we’ll get it done.”
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Here’s a look at the life of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Birth date: November 23, 1962
Birth place: Caracas, Venezuela
Birth name: Nicolás Maduro Moros
Father: Nicolás Maduro García
Mother: Teresa de Jesús Moros
Marriage: Cilia Flores
Children: Nicolás Jr.
Worked as a bus driver for Caracas Metro and belonged to the transit union.
Maduro campaigned for Hugo Chavez’s release from prison for the 1992 attempted coup to overthrow President Carlos Andres Perez.
After Chavez’s release, Maduro helped him found the political party Fifth Republic Movement.
1999 – Maduro is elected to the National Constituent Assembly, the body convened to draft a new constitution.
2000 – Is elected to the National Assembly, the country’s legislative branch of government
2005-2006 – Serves as Speaker of the National Assembly.
2006-2013 – Serves as foreign minister.
October 12, 2012 – Is selected by Chavez to serve as vice president.
December 9, 2012 – Facing his fourth surgery for cancer, Chavez endorses Maduro to succeed him.
March 8, 2013 – Is sworn in as interim president following the death of Chavez.
April 14, 2013 – Wins the presidential election by fewer than two percentage points. Maduro’s opponent, Henrique Capriles Radonski demands a recount. On April 17, a manual recount is ruled as unconstitutional by the country’s chief justice.
April 19, 2013 – Maduro is sworn in.
September 30, 2013 – Maduro announces on state-run TV that he is expelling three US diplomats. He claims they were involved in a widespread power outage earlier in the month. “Get out of Venezuela,” he says, listing several names. “Yankee go home. Enough abuses already.”
February 12, 2014 – Ongoing student protests attract global attention when three people are killed. Major social and economic problems have fueled the protests, with some blaming the government for those problems.
February 20, 2014 – Venezuela revokes press credentials for CNN journalists in the country and denies them for other CNN journalists entering the country, following Maduro’s announcement that he would expel CNN if it did not “rectify” its coverage of anti-government protests, calling it war propaganda. On February 22, Venezuela reissues press credentials for CNN journalists in the country.
February 21, 2014 – Maduro calls for US President Barack Obama to “accept the challenge” of holding direct talks with Venezuela.
January 15, 2016 – Following the release of years of economic data, Maduro declares a state of economic emergency.
May 1, 2017 – Maduro announces that he has signed an executive order paving the way for changes in the constitution that will reshape the legislature and redefine his executive powers.
May 13, 2016 – Maduro declares a constitutional state of emergency, which expands on the economic emergency he declared in January.
October 30, 2016 – Maduro participates in talks with political opponents for the first time in two years.
July 30, 2017 – An election is held to replace the National Assembly with a new pro-Maduro legislative body called the National Constituent Assembly. Amid clashes between police and protestors, at least six people are killed. Although Maduro claims victory, opposition leaders say the vote is fraudulent.
July 31, 2017 – The US Treasury Department sanctions Maduro’s assets and bars US citizens from dealing with him. This comes a day after elections are held for a new lawmaking body.
January 24, 2018 – Announces he will run for reelection.
May 20, 2018 – During an election denounced by opposition leaders and the international community, Maduro wins another six-year term. Voter turnout falls to 46%, down from an 80% participation rate in 2013. The next day, an alliance of 14 Latin American nations and Canada, known as the Lima Group, releases a statement calling the vote illegitimate.
August 4, 2018 – Several drones armed with explosives fly towards Maduro in an apparent assassination attempt during a military parade. The next day, the interior minister announces that six people have been arrested in connection with the attack. Maduro is not injured.
August 5, 2018 – Interior Minister Néstor Reverol says that six people have been arrested after the apparent assassination attempt on Maduro.
September 8, 2018 – The New York Times reports secret meetings between US officials and Venezuelan military officers planning a coup against Maduro. CNN confirms the report, which describes a series of meetings over the course of a year.
September 17, 2018 – Maduro is criticized for eating a lavish meal by celebrity chef Nusret Gökçe, also known as Salt Bae, in the midst of a food crisis.
September 25, 2018 – The United States imposes sanctions on Maduro’s wife and three other members of his inner circle, as an attempt to weaken his grip on power.
September 26, 2018 – Maduro speaks at the UN General Assembly, calling the humanitarian crisis in his country a “fabrication.” He accuses the United States and its Latin American allies of “trying to put their hands in our country.”
October 8, 2018 – One of the suspects in the apparent assassination attempt dies in a fall from the tenth floor of a building. Intelligence officials say the death was a suicide.
January 10, 2019 – Maduro is sworn in for his second term, although most democratic countries in the region refuse to recognize him as president. The Organization of American States says its member nations voted 19-6, with eight abstentions, to not recognize the legitimacy of Maduro’s government.
January 23, 2019 – Juan Guaido, who leads the National Assembly, declares himself the interim president amid anti-government protests. Following Guaido’s announcement, US President Donald Trump says that the United States recognizes him as the legitimate president. Maduro accuses the United States of backing an attempted coup and gives US diplomats 72 hours to leave the country.
April 30, 2019 – During a live televised address, Maduro claims troops loyal to him defeated a “coup-de-etat attempt” by Trump and national security adviser John Bolton. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tells CNN that Maduro had been preparing to depart the country via airplane, but Russians convinced him to stay. A spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry says Pompeo’s claim is false.
July 4, 2019 – The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights publishes a report highly critical of the Maduro regime. Based on research conducted January 2018 to May 2019, the report “highlights patterns of violations directly and indirectly affecting all human rights.” Responding a few days later, Maduro says the report contains manipulations and inaccurate data.
March 26, 2020 – The Justice Department announces narco-terrorism and other criminal charges against Maduro and senior leaders from his government. Federal prosecutors in New York’s Southern District, Miami and Washington, DC, allege the officials are the leaders of the so-called Cartel de los Soles and coordinate with the Colombian rebel group FARC to traffic cocaine to the United States.
May 4, 2020 – In a live address on state television, Maduro reports that two American “mercenaries” have been apprehended after a failed coup attempt to capture and remove him. He identifies the captured Americans as Luke Denman, 34, and Airan Berry, 41. He shows what he claims are the US passports and driver’s licenses of the men, along with their ID cards from Silvercorp, a Florida-based security services company. On August 8, the men are sentenced to 20 years in prison.
July 24, 2021 – During an interview with Venezuela’s state-run television, Maduro says he is ready to open negotiations with the Venezuelan opposition in August.
October 16, 2021 – Venezuela suspends on-going negotiations with the opposition following the Cape Verde extradition of Colombian businessman Alex Saab, alleged financier to Maduro, to the United States on money laundering charges.
September 20, 2022 – A new UN report documents the crimes against humanity, including acts of torture committed by the Venezuelan security forces. The report says the orders for the crimes came from Maduro and other high level officials.
In photos: Venezuela in crisis
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Pelé is carried off the field by fans after Brazil defeated Italy in the final of the 1970 World Cup.
Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images
Updated 2039 GMT (0439 HKT) April 16, 2023
By Kyle Almond and Will Lanzoni, CNN
Pelé, the Brazilian soccer star who became a global icon, has died at the age of 82.
Pelé, born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, is the only man in history to win three World Cups.
He was just 17 years old when he starred in the 1958 World Cup, scoring two goals in the final over Sweden. He would go on to add titles in 1962 and 1970, thrilling fans with his extraordinary dribbling skills and his prolific goalscoring ability.
For much of his career, Pelé played professionally for the Brazilian club Santos. In the last few years before his retirement, he signed a multimillion-dollar deal to play in the North American Soccer League, where he won a title with the New York Cosmos.
In 2000, FIFA named him Player of the Century along with Argentine great Diego Maradona. Many still consider him the greatest player of all time.
“I was born to play football, just like Beethoven was born to write music and Michelangelo was born to paint,” Pelé once said.
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