   
CEO Picks - The best that international journalism has to offer!
 S69'Ahsoka's Most Controversial Retcon Just Backfired   Romance isn’t a concern in the Star Wars series, but it might be just what Ahsoka needed to sell its biggest moment.From the moment Ahsoka brought Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) and Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) into live-action, there was one question on everyone’s minds. Were Sabine and Ezra ever romantically involved? Whether you worship at the church of Rebels or consider yourself a true novice of the animated series, it seemed like there was something going on between the star-crossed characters — even if Ahsoka itself was quick to make their relationship platonic. Why else would Sabine be so reluctant to let go of Ezra, and so determined to find her missing friend?
Continued here
|
S1
S2
S3What Great Data Analysts Do -- and Why Every Organization Needs Them  “Full-stack” data scientist means mastery of machine learning, statistics, and analytics. Today’s fashion in data science favors flashy sophistication with a dash of sci-fi, making AI and machine learning the darlings of the job market. Alternative challengers for the alpha spot come from statistics, thanks to a century-long reputation for rigor and mathematical superiority. What about analysts?Whereas excellence in statistics is about rigor and excellence in machine learning is about performance, excellence in analytics is all about speed. Analysts are your best bet for coming up with those hypotheses in the first place. As analysts mature, they’ll begin to get the hang of judging what’s important in addition to what’s interesting, allowing decision-makers to step away from the middleman role. Of the three breeds, analysts are the most likely heirs to the decision throne.
Continued here
|
S4How the 'lazy girl job' took over work TikTok  In late May, 26-year-old Gabrielle Judge sat in front of a camera in oversized glasses and pigtails to film a TikTok about what she called the “lazy girl job” – a low stress, fully remote job with little oversight and a good salary.“A lazy girl job is basically something you can just quiet quit,” she says in the two-and-a-half minute video. “There’s lots of jobs out there where you could make, like, 60 to 80 K and not do that much work and be remote.” As an example, she zeroes in on non-technical roles, where she feels the hours fall within a 9-to-5 schedule, and believes the pay is enough to allow for some financial freedom.
Continued here
|
S5The companies doling out thousands for workers' holidays  Lazing on the beach, drink in hand. Hiking with friends, a spectacular view at the summit. Exploring a foreign city, eating the most incredible food you've ever tasted. But the best part? You've barely spent a dime of your own money for these experiences.Perks have changed in the pandemic era. One emerging incentive stands out: handing out four-figure budgets for employees to see the world.
Continued here
|
S6Almuerzo and the super-sandwiches of Valencia  It is 11:00 on a Tuesday at Bodega Casa Flor, a 130-year-old restaurant in the Cabanyal neighbourhood of Valencia City, Spain, and noise levels have reached a peak. Waiters zip around bearing huge paper-wrapped sandwiches to tables strewn with peanuts and sipped beers. It's a scene that plays out daily in cafes and bars across the province of Valencia, as people take a break for this uniquely Valencian ritual.Considered a late breakfast or an early lunch (actual lunch starts around 14:30), the almuerzo in Castilian Spanish (esmorzaret in Valencian) happens between 09:00 and 11:30 on Mondays through Saturdays and always features a massive sandwich.
Continued here
|
S7Sex Education: The show that changed sex on TV forever  Since it premiered in January 2019, Sex Education has comfortably lived up to its title. The ground-breaking comedy-drama series created by Laurie Nunn, which returns to Netflix for its fourth and final season on 21 September, not only changed the way sex is depicted and discussed on screen, it helped to overhaul how sex scenes are filmed by becoming one of the first major productions to hire a dedicated intimacy co-ordinator.More like this:- 11 best TV shows to watch in September- How Suits became TV's most popular show- The overlooked 1973 Star Trek series
Continued here
|
S8Lady Gaga meat dress: The outfit that shocked the world  It takes some effort to upstage Cher at an awards show. This is the woman whose Oscar outfits alone have included towering feather headpieces, sequinned bralettes, floral bikinis and nearly naked dresses. But when the singer – wearing a sheer, sequinned bodystocking – presented the award for best video at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, even she looked a little taken aback as Lady Gaga took to the stage wearing a dress made entirely of cuts of meat.More like this: - From fetish to fashion: The rise of latex - 'I made Lady Gaga's meat dress' - Why sequins are so exhilarating to wear
Continued here
|
S9S10Russell Brand allegations are leading to renewed scrutiny of the endemic bullying and harassment in the TV industry  Principal Academic in Media Production, Faculty of Media & Communication, Bournemouth University The presenter, comedian and actor Russell Brand is at the centre of a joint investigation by The Times, The Sunday Times and Channel 4 Dispatches, which has reported allegations of abuse made against him by four women, which include emotional abuse, sexual assault and rape. Brand has denied these allegations, saying his relationships have been “always consensual”, and they have not been tested in any court of law. However, this investigation focuses attention on a problem at the heart of the culture of the UK’s television industry.
Continued here
|
S11Sex Education review: this 'kind comedy' climaxes with its most mature and progressive series yet  Netflix’s hit show Sex Education is back for its much-anticipated fourth and final series. The show follows Otis (Asa Butterfield) as he reluctantly becomes his school’s resident sex guru – despite having little experience himself – thanks to years of second-hand sex education from his mum, Jean (Gillian Anderson), a sex therapist.Over the past three seasons, we’ve watched as Otis and his friends navigate their awkward teenage years as love, life and sex present them with all sorts of obstacles.
Continued here
|
S12Invasive alien species are a serious threat to the planet: 4 key messages for Africa  Climate change has negatively – and irreversibly, in some cases – affected ecosystems around the globe. Sadly, though, it is not the only phenomenon that’s altering our natural world.In 2019, the Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Global Assessment Report confirmed invasive alien species as one of the five most important direct drivers of biodiversity loss. The others were climate change, land and sea use, direct exploitation of species, and pollution.
Continued here
|
S13S14G20 summit proved naysayers wrong - and showed Global South's potential to address world's biggest problems  Interim Director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, Boston University Skepticism was running high ahead of the 2023 summit of the Group of 20, or G20, held in New Delhi in early September. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that they would not attend. At one moment, it was touch and go whether U.S. President Joe Biden – whose wife, Jill, was ill with COVID-19 – would make the trip. The general consensus was the group would fail to come up with a final declaration, largely because of differences over the war in Ukraine.
Continued here
|
S15Traffic tickets can be profitable, and fairness isn't the bottom line in city courts where judges impose the fines  But police represent only one aspect of this revenue-generating system. Judges and their courts also use traffic citations to generate money for the cities that employ them.Traffic violations are common. Whether drivers fail to signal a turn or drive a few miles per hour above the speed limit, it is not difficult for police to find someone who violated a traffic law. Officers have the discretion to pick and choose when to ticket and can adjust the number of tickets they issue based on factors that are not related to whether someone broke the law.
Continued here
|
S16Kevin McCarthy's leadership is an open question as budget shutdown looms and GOP infighting takes center stage  What do you get when you combine a tiny legislative majority, a former president itching for influence and a rogue group of lawmakers who like making headlines? House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s hellish life these days. The pressure has been fierce on McCarthy to fashion an agreement with his caucus to stave off a government shutdown. But every day seems to bring another set of demands from hardline House Freedom Caucus members, who seem unwilling to accept a deal – and willing to risk a shutdown to make their points. The Conversation spoke with congressional expert Charles R. Hunt, a political scientist at Boise State University, about the current political standoff, its roots and what it means for people across the country.The 2022 elections were much closer than Republicans thought they were going to be. And there is a big difference between having a 20-vote margin and the nine-vote margin that McCarthy has now. A big part of the speaker’s job is to whip votes and to keep people in line, mainly in the speaker’s own party. And that becomes much more difficult when you have such a small margin.
Continued here
|
S17NASA's Mars rovers could inspire a more ethical future for AI  Since ChatGPT’s release in late 2022, many news outlets have reported on the ethical threats posed by artificial intelligence. Tech pundits have issued warnings of killer robots bent on human extinction, while the World Economic Forum predicted that machines will take away jobs. The tech sector is slashing its workforce even as it invests in AI-enhanced productivity tools. Writers and actors in Hollywood are on strike to protect their jobs and their likenesses. And scholars continue to show how these systems heighten existing biases or create meaningless jobs – amid myriad other problems.
Continued here
|
S18'Journey to the West': Why the classic Chinese novel's mischievous monkey - and his very human quest - has inspired centuries of adaptations  One summer afternoon in the late 1980s, my mother and I passed by a tea house on our trip out of town. The crowded building was usually a boisterous place filled with chatter, laughter, and the happy, clacking shuffle of mahjong tiles. At the moment we were passing, however, a great hush came over the teahouse: People were held spellbound by the black-and-white glow of a small TV in a corner, playing an episode of the series “Journey to the West.”The TV series was adapted from a 16th century Chinese novel with the same title that has undergone numerous adaptations and has captured the imagination of Chinese people to this day. Like many kids in China, I was fascinated by the magic Monkey King, the beloved superhero in the novel, who went through amazing adventures with other pilgrims in their quest for Buddhist scriptures. While I had to quickly walk by the teahouse in order to catch our bus that day, this moment flashed back to me from time to time, making me wonder what made “Journey to the West” so fascinating for people of all ages and backgrounds.
Continued here
|
S19Paying for hostages' release involves moral risks - a political philosopher explains  Five Americans held as hostages by Iran have been returned to the United States following a political deal in which President Joe Biden agreed to unfreeze US$6 billion in Iranian funds held in South Korean banks in exchange for the prisoners.Hostage-taking has been frequently used by both states and insurgent groups as a means to extract funds or concessions from more powerful states. Iran took 52 American diplomats and citizens hostage in 1979 and held them for over a year.
Continued here
|
S20Reality TV show contestants are more like unpaid interns than Hollywood stars  In December 2018, John Legend joined then-newly elected U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to criticize the exploitation of congressional interns on Capitol Hill, most of whom worked for no pay.NBC’s “The Voice” had just announced that Legend would join as a judge. He would go on to reportedly earn US$14 million per season by his third year on the show. Meanwhile, all of the participants on “The Voice,” save for the winner, earned $0 for their time, apart from a housing and food stipend – much like those congressional interns.
Continued here
|
S21Zulu land dispute: Ingonyama Trust furore highlights the problem of insecure land tenure for millions of South Africans in rural areas  The recent fallout between the Zulu king, Misuzulu, and his now late traditional prime minister, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, over the running of the Ingonyama Trust highlights a pervasive problem in South Africa: insecure land tenure in rural areas. The Ingonyama Trust administers about a third of the land in KwaZulu-Natal province. Buthelezi insinuated that the king – or those around him – wanted to corruptly sell the land for profit. He also questioned the competence of the board chairperson appointed by the king. The king denied the charge, saying the board would “never allow the sale of the land”.
Continued here
|
S22How well you do at school depends on how much your teachers know: insights from 14 French-speaking countries in Africa  Countries in sub-Saharan Africa have made remarkable progress towards reaching universal school enrolment in the past 25 years. Across the region, 8 in 10 children of primary school age are now enrolled in school, and in countries such as Benin and Madagascar this figure stands at almost 10 in 10 children. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that many children in the region are learning very little in school. This “learning crisis” means that it will be difficult to reach the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal of quality education for all by 2030.
Continued here
|
S23Zimbabwean names are still haunted by the ghosts of colonialism  In African cultures, the names given to children play an important role because they are often laden with meanings. We conclude that names make it possible to understand the effects of colonialism and, in more recent years, the importance placed on restoring tradition. Embracing traditional practices matters as a way of keeping culture alive so that people can benefit from its knowledge.
Continued here
|
S24Was the freak 'medicane' storm that devastated Libya a glimpse of North Africa's future?  Storm Daniel landed on the Libyan coastal town of Toukrah in the early hours of September 10 and started moving east. Soon the wind was rising and heavy rain falling, forcing people to stay indoors. By afternoon the rain was clearly out of the ordinary. Albaydah city on the coast would receive 80% of its annual rain before midnight, according to records from a local weather station that we have accessed. In less than 24 hours, thousands of people were dead, hundreds of thousands were missing, and towns and villages across Jebel Akhdar (the Green Mountain) in north-eastern Libya resembled a Hollywood disaster movie.
Continued here
|
S25Dumb Money really does show how the little guys won against Wall Street - a 'meme stock mania' expert explains  Drawing inspiration from the real-life 1,800% spike in the value of GameStop shares in 2021, Dumb Money deftly explains the drivers of “meme stock mania” – when groups of investors on social media herd together to cause certain stocks to rocket. The “dumb money” of the film’s title is a reference to these amateur or retail investors. At the height of the meme stock craze, these “little guys” worked together to upend the tactics of global hedge fund giants, which were using their billions to short-sell stocks. This is when investors try to drive down the value of a company’s shares because they’ve essentially bet against it rising in price.
Continued here
|
S26S27A brief history of abortion - from ancient Egyptian herbs to fighting stigma today  You might be forgiven for thinking of abortion as a particularly modern phenomenon. But there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that abortion has been a constant feature of social life for thousands of years. The history of abortion is often told as a legal one, yet abortion has continued regardless of, perhaps even in spite of, legal regulation. The need to regulate fertility before or after sex has existed for as long as pregnancy has. The Ancient Egyptian Papyrus Ebers is often seen as some of the first written evidence of abortion practice.
Continued here
|
S28The Canterville Ghost: Oscar Wilde's ghost story gets new life in this funny and stylish animated adaptation  Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost feels quite ghostly itself, doomed to walk the earth through its many adaptations. There have been at least 14 television versions, the most recent in 2021, and it has not been long since cinemagoers encountered director Yann Samuell’s French-Belgian version, Le Fantôme de Canterville (2016). Yet Oscar Wilde’s comic ghost story of 1887 was something of a late developer in this respect. While there was a comic opera in 1905 (Das Gespenst von Matschatsch) and a Spanish play in 1929 (El Fantasma de Canterville), no film version appeared until MGM’s loosely-adapted 1944 production.
Continued here
|
S29How BookTok trends are influencing what you read - whether you use TikTok or not  If you’ve been in a bookshop recently, you may have seen references to BookTok – whether it’s stickers on books or whole tables dedicated to “BookTok favourites”.BookTok is a community on the social media app TikTok. Creators make short videos recommending, reviewing, or just generally chatting about books. This community has become one of the biggest on the platform and its hashtag (#BookTok) has been used on over 60 billion videos. BookTok’s influence over the publishing industry and what young people are reading is staggering.
Continued here
|
S30Rupert Murdoch and the rise and fall of the press barons: how much power do newspapers still have?  Global media tycoon Rupert Murdoch has announced his retirement as chairman of Fox and News Corp, making way for his son Lachlan. He has been demonised as a puppet master who would pull the strings of politicians behind the scenes, as a man with too much power. But what influence did he and his fellow media moguls really wield?The day after the 1992 UK general election, Murdoch’s tabloid The Sun claimed credit for the Tory victory with the notorious headline “It Was The Sun What Won it”. Murdoch subsequently denied he had such influence.
Continued here
|
S31How Sunak's back-pedalling on net zero could damage efforts to decarbonise Britain's homes  Rishi Sunak, the UK prime minister, has announced his government will scrap or delay a number of measures designed to help the UK reach net zero by 2050, with a particular focus on housing. This includes getting rid of impending requirements for landlords and property owners to upgrade the energy efficiency of their homes with insulation and other measures. And the ban on installing gas boilers in new homes will be pushed from 2025 until 2035. Instead, the government will rely more heavily on schemes to encourage people to make energy-efficiency improvements, such as grants to replace boilers have increased by 50% to £7,500 alongside other. But what effect is this likely to have on efforts to decarbonise Britain’s housing stock?
Continued here
|
S32S33A Nasa spacecraft is on course to deliver material from an asteroid to Earth - here's what we could learn  Around 15 years ago, I was on a European Space Agency (Esa) committee, looking at Esa’s strategy for proposed forthcoming space missions. Under consideration was a mission to an asteroid. Over dinner, one of the committee members, an astrophysicist, quizzed me on why we needed to visit one of these objects. “Nasa has already been to one and the Japanese Space Agency to another. Why do you need to go to another one? They’re all the same aren’t they, just lumps of rock?” My deliberately less-than-polite response was: “Why do astronomers keep wanting to launch more telescopes into space to look at stars? They’re all the same aren’t they, just balls of burning gas?” Our meal continued in frosty silence.
Continued here
|
S34S35What the *#@%?! How to respond when your child swears  Parents can often find themselves staring in bewilderment at the little human they helped to create. Sometimes this bewilderment is centred around awe and amazement. Sometimes it is firmly entrenched in shock and embarrassment about a specific behaviour they have just witnessed.
Continued here
|
S36'Nature positive' isn't just planting a few trees -  The idea is simple: rather than continually erode the natural world, nature positive envisions a future with more nature than we have now.Created by an environmental alliance, the nature positive concept has been embraced by industry, world leaders and conservationists.
Continued here
|
S37S38Why you're probably paying more interest on your mortgage than you think  I currently have a mortgage that is impacted by the elements covered in this story (as do all mortgage holders in Australia).That’s supposed to be the case even where taxes and fees are involved. Australian law requires anyone selling anything to display a total price that includes all “taxes, duties and all unavoidable or pre-selected extra fees”.
Continued here
|
S39Why we should stop using acronyms like BIPOC  When I first heard the acronym BIPOC, my stomach tightened and I immediately felt resistance. It was a gut reaction at having my identities seemingly collapsed into an acronym. Exploring this discomfort, I read an article by American author Kearie Daniel. She shared similar unease from her perspective as a Black woman. Reading Daniel’s words, I knew I was not alone in my reaction to the abbreviation.
Continued here
|
S40S41S42S43S44S45How the Peach Blossom Jellyfish is spreading across North America  Invasive species are a real problem in Canada, and one species in particular, the freshwater jellyfish species of the genus Craspedacusta sowerbii — C. sowerbii, or the Peach Blossom Jellyfish — are as widespread as they are also poorly understood. There is anecdotal evidence that the invasive jellyfish had been present in British Columbia lakes and ponds for decades. Still, compiled data suggest that the number of sightings has increased considerably since the year 2000.
Continued here
|
S46S47S48Carbon removal: why ambitious 'no nonsense' plans are vital to limit global heating to 2  2023 is proving to be a year of climate and weather extremes. Record-busting global air and ocean temperatures, unprecedented low levels of Antarctic sea ice, and devastating fires and floods have been reported across the world. Less discussed by the world media is the continuing rise in atmospheric greenhouse gases driving these changes. Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is at a level not seen since the hothouse world of the Pliocene, 3 million years ago. On top of that, an El Niño event is now likely, so widespread extreme events may intensify in coming months.
Continued here
|
S49Doug Ford reverses Greenbelt plans: Construction would never have provided affordable housing  Ontario Premier Doug Ford has announced a reversal of his government’s decision to allow developers to construct residential properties on parts of Ontario’s Greenbelt. While this is a positive outcome for an ongoing saga, let’s be clear: paving Ontario’s Greenbelt was never actually about providing affordable housing. Sure, there would have been houses where farms once stood, adding to the province’s overall supply. While housing experts would agree that our housing supply needs to grow as our population grows, we also need to ask questions: What kind of housing do we need? For whom? And where?
Continued here
|
S50S51Why is Rupert Murdoch stepping aside now and what does it mean for the company?  At age 92, media mogul Rupert Murdoch is stepping down as chairman of Fox Corporation and News Corp but will stay on in the role of chairman emeritus, presumably to help guide his eldest son Lachlan as the new head of the firm.In many ways, the news was inevitable. The company is clearly planning its succession and how it manages Rupert’s decline. It has one eye on the market and one on ensuring the company maintains its direction.
Continued here
|
S52S53S54No, the RBA review won't mean handing the bank's decisions to part-time outsiders  Misinformation is circulating about recommendations concerning the Reserve Bank board made by the RBA Review, of which I was a member.Among the claims are that the new monetary policy board we have proposed would “weaken” incoming governor Michele Bullock’s power over interest rates, and that giving part-time appointees majority control over important decisions would be a “dangerous mistake”.
Continued here
|
S55S56Khartoum's burning tower: architects on the destruction of a city - and what it'll take to rebuild  Amira Osman: The 18-floor skyscraper was constructed in 2010, the first of two towers originally proposed by the local Alsunut Development Company. As architect Hassan Mahmoud told me, “It’s the headquarters of the Greater Nile Petroleum Company, the consortium that in 1997 led the exploration and export of oil in Sudan. Its glass sides and dramatic, curved bullet shape made it a distinctive building. The design was meant to be iconic, with the steel structure and glazing shaped to resemble a flame representing the oil blaze in the fields.” Another local architect, Arwa Ahmed, said: “Since its construction, there was hardly a photo, painting or a graphic design piece about Khartoum that did not include this building in its skyline. It had become a symbol of the region … I remember the day when I was an architectural student and our lecturer introduced us to the Alsunut project as a vision for new hope for the Sudan.” Akram Elkhalifa: The tower lies in the heart of Khartoum in the area known as Al-Mogran (The Meeting Points) as it’s located at the confluence of the White and the Blue Nile rivers. It was one of the few high-rise buildings in the city and reflected the stylistic direction taken by the modern architecture in Khartoum in that era.
Continued here
|
S57Will taxing short stays boost long-term rental supply? Other policies would achieve more  The Victorian government, like many governments around the world, has announced new regulations on short-stay accommodation. The government says Victoria has more than 36,000 short-stay places, which are reducing the number of homes available for long-term rental. Other states have capped the number of nights a dwelling can be used for short-stay accommodation. The Victorian response has been to introduce a levy set at 7.5% of the short-stay platform’s revenue.
Continued here
|
S58Honest Wedding-Dress Styles  Follow @newyorkercartoons on Instagram and sign up for the Daily Humor newsletter for more funny stuff.By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Continued here
|
S59"Swing State" and "Dig" Put Down Roots Off Broadway  Technically, there are only four characters in Rebecca Gilman's "Swing State," a melancholy new drama, now at the Minetta Lane. There's a retired guidance counsellor, Peg (Mary Beth Fisher); her troubled young neighbor, Ryan (Bubba Weiler); the local sheriff, Kris (Kirsten Fitzgerald); and Kris's niece and deferential new deputy, Dani (Anne E. Thompson). They all cause problems for one another, even as they try their clumsy best to offer help. But the fifth characterâand the one we should really be worrying aboutâis Wisconsin. Is anyone doing anything for Wisconsin? In 2021, the swing state of the title is teetering, both socially and ecologically, and Gilman deposits us in that trembling landscape, even though her play takes place entirely indoors.Peg's sprawling house sits on more than forty acres of so-called remnant prairie, a rare sliver of the tallgrass Plains, an endangered ecosystem that dates back roughly ten thousand years. "There used to be millions and millions of acres of it, all down the middle of the country, but there's only about four per cent left now," she tells Dani. Sheriff Kris hankers after the untilled propertyâshe's dying to see it "put to good use" as productive croplandâbut Peg is committed to protecting her wild remnant from the corn and soybean monocultures that threaten it on all sides. A biome doesn't necessarily obey boundary markers, however, and nitrates from huge farms are leaching into Peg's groundwater, as pesticides drip over her fence line.
Continued here
|
S60Rishi Sunak's Self-Serving Climate Retreat  Since Rishi Sunak became Britain's Prime Minister, almost a year ago, in the middle of a national financial breakdown, his premiership has been defined by trying to make things go away. He wants inflation to halve. He wants the gigantic waiting lists for treatment on the National Health Service to shrink. He wants refugees to stop risking their lives by crossing the English Channel in unsafe inflatable boats. He wants to make the climate crisis somebody else's problem. On Tuesday evening, the BBC reported that Sunak was preparing to either renounce, or soft-pedal, some of the country's most important policies to reduce its carbon emissions: a ban on the sale of new gas- and diesel-driven cars would slide to 2035, from 2030, while other plans to phase out gas-and-oil-fired boilers would be relaxed. In an unusual, late-night response to the leaked information, Sunak insisted that Britain was still committed to reaching "Net Zero by 2050 . . . but doing so in a better, more proportionate way."If Sunak's track record on climate is anything to go by, then "proportionate" means new licenses for oil-and-gas exploration in the North Sea; Britain's first new deep coal mine for thirty years, which was approved last December; and the scrapping of a range of incentives to improve home insulation or to switch to electric vehicles, which Sunak oversaw as Boris Johnson's Chancellor of the Exchequer. Sunak has never seemed to take the future of the planet seriously. Johnson, to give him his due, brought his customary, shallow bluster. In 2021, Johnson treated the COP26 climate-change summit, in Glasgow, to the joys of his egomania and manic charm. In 2022, weeks after becoming Prime Minister, Sunak had to be shamed by party colleagues and international criticism into attending COP27, in Sharm el-Sheikh, at all.
Continued here
|
S61Sikh Separatism and the Brewing Conflict Between Canada and India  On Monday, Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada, accused India’s government of having a role in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen and Sikh separatist who was gunned down in Surrey, British Columbia, in June. Sikhs make up less than two per cent of the population of India, but are a majority in the northwestern state of Punjab. During the past half century, the struggle for a Sikh homeland—usually referred to as the Khalistan movement—has occasionally turned violent, and has been met by an equally violent response from the Indian authorities. But an assassination on foreign soil would constitute a serious escalation of the campaign against Sikh separatists.India’s Ministry of External Affairs has denied having anything to do with the murder, but also said that Canada’s approach to terrorism, which it characterized as laissez-faire, would “continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Trudeau’s allegations coincide with an attempt by Narendra Modi, India’s Prime Minister, to portray the country as an increasingly important player on the global stage; this era, in his words, marks “the first time the world has come to know that India can take a stand for herself.” The allegations also coincide with a general willingness by the Biden Administration to overlook India’s worsening human-rights record during Modi’s nearly decade-long premiership, in part because the U.S. values India’s role as a counterweight to China.
Continued here
|
S62House Republicans Refuse to Host Zelensky Because They're Too Busy Fighting One Another  In an age when absolutely anything can be politicized, perhaps it was inevitable that the attire of John Fetterman would become a cause célèbre in the Republicans' culture wars. The hulking Democratic senator from Pennsylvania, who suffered a campaign-season stroke during his 2022 race, has since then preferred to wear an unorthodox uniform of baggy gym shorts and hoodies, even in the august halls of the U.S. Senate. After it was revealed this past weekend that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had quietly decided he would no longer enforce the chamber's long-standing but unofficial dress code, thus permitting Fetterman to vote on the floor and even preside over the Senate in his informal getup, numerous hyperventilating op-eds, tweets, and Fox News segments followed. (A sampling: "Fetterman dress code fail begs big question about America's deep decline"; "Does John Fetterman really want to be a senator?") Senator Susan Collins, of Maine, threatened to wear a bikini on the Senate floor in protest. Senator Bill Hagerty, of Tennessee, accused Democrats of trying to "transform America."Soon enough, Fetterman was selling campaign merchandise making fun of his sanctimonious critics, touting a fifty-dollar "I vote in this hoodie" sweatshirt, among other slouchy apparel. When Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor whose Republican Presidential campaign has been foundering in the polls, attacked Fetterman for "dumbing down" the country, the Pennsylvania senator clapped back: "I dress like he campaigns." By Wednesday, Fetterman clearly was having too much fun to let the story die. In a tweet seemingly designed for maximum viral impact, Fetterman made an offer: "If those jagoffs in the House stop trying to shut our government down, and fully support Ukraine," he vowed, "then I will save democracy by wearing a suit on the Senate floor next week." (A jagoff, according to Dictionary.com, is Pittsburgh slang, used to refer to "a jerk, idiot, or really any kind of irritating or unlikeable person.")
Continued here
|
S63The Real Message of "The Real Housewives"  They gathered twenty miles outside our nation's capital. Many of the attendees were dressed in the traditional fashions of India: gauzy lehengas and bright saris. Other guests wore clothes that represented the diverse dress of the African continent: caftans made from atiku cloth, kufi hats, and braided turbans for women. Bhangra rhythms and African drums played late into the night, as the guests squealed with pleasure, their faces illuminated by the torches of fire eaters. This was the twentieth wedding anniversary of Ray Huger, known as the Black Bill Gates, and his wife, Karen, styled the Grande Dame of Potomac, a title bestowed on her, according to her. The couple are African American (not African or Indian), but Karen, a cast member of the Bravo series "The Real Housewives of Potomac" ("R.H.O.P.") stated that the theme of the night was "exotic." "It's inclusive," she told the cameras filming her for the show's Season 2 finale.The evening was, to put it mildly, a bit over the top, and some wondered if that was not the point. "Karen is trying to distract us from the fact that she moved to the middle of bumfuck," Ashley Darby, another "R.H.O.P." star, speculated. The show is set around Potomac, Maryland, a tony suburb of Washington, D.C., and features a cast of affluent Black women, including the wives of former N.B.A. players and megachurch pastors. But Karen and Ray had hosted the party at their new fourteen-thousand-square-foot home in the relatively less exclusive town of Great Falls, Virginiaâcoördinates that, previously unknown to me, were suddenly fused with new, dramatic meaning.
Continued here
|
S64'Ahsoka' Easter Egg Redefines Everything We Know About Star Wars  After five fateful weeks of Ahsoka, Professor Huyang (David Tennant) might just be the series’ most valuable player. He’s proven his worth in battles, mentored Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) and Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), and provided much-needed moments of levity. And though he doesn’t appear in the series’ sixth episode for very long, one casual line ensures we’ll be thinking about Huyang — and his role in the Star Wars saga — long after Ahsoka ends.When we catch up with Ahsoka and Huyang in Episode 6, they’re on their way to the fabled planet of Peridea. They have a long journey ahead of them, even with the help of the lightspeed-capable purrgil, so the duo’s been filling the hours with idle chitchat. When their conversation steers to less comfortable topics, Ahsoka changes the subject by asking Huyang for a story. The millennia-old droid has the entire history of the Jedi Order in his memory archives, so he’s happy to oblige. As Ahsoka settles in, Huyang recites a preamble that any Star Wars fan knows as well as their own names: “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...”
Continued here
|
S659 Years Ago, John Wick Resurrected an Underrated Movie Genre -- and Saved its Stars  More than a comeback vehicle for Keanu Reeves, John Wick became a launch pad for the greatest DTV stars.DTV, or direct-to-video, films don’t have the most glowing reputation. Often, they’re films you’ll find at Walmart or RedBox, where you can see stars of days gone by, like Nicolas Cage or John Travolta, swinging guns for a paycheck. But what many might not realize is that the DTV market is home to some of the finest action around.
Continued here
|
S665 Years Ago, Netflix Released Its Most Audacious Sci-Fi Series -- And Never Topped It  In its race to conquer Hollywood, Netflix has produced more movies, TV shows, and limited series than it’s known what to do with. While some of those originals have been given the chance to shine and endure, many have been lost or forgotten in the decade-long grind of the platform’s constantly churning release machine. Even seemingly high-profile, acclaimed limited series like Unbelievable and Maid have failed to secure lasting places in the pop cultural conversion.The same fate has befallen Maniac. The ambitious, Emma Stone-led sci-fi miniseries premiered on Netflix five years ago to near-universal acclaim, but it’s since been forgotten by most viewers. That’s a shame because Maniac is a rare thing. It’s a big-budget, star and filmmaker-driven sci-fi series that’s messy, ambitious, uneven, visually stunning, and shockingly moving — and it’s all of those things at once.
Continued here
|
S67'Ahsoka' Episode 6 is the Show's Best For One Cinematic Reason  For most of its run, Ahsoka has looked like a live-action cartoon. That was somewhat inevitable: the Disney+ series is a quasi-sequel to Rebels that continues where the series left off while bringing many of its characters to live-action for the first time. From its slightly cartoonish sets to its bright, vibrant color palette, aspects of Ahsoka have further heightened its animated roots.That’s part of why Ahsoka Episode 6 stands out so much from the five installments that preceded it. Not only does “Far, Far Away” finally pay off the initial two promises of Ahsoka’s space race premise, but it also looks and feels decidedly different from every other chapter. In short, it’s the first episode of Ahsoka that doesn’t look like a live-action cartoon.
Continued here
|
S68'Ahsoka' Episode 6 Theory Introduces a Canon-Destroying Star Wars Villain  Baylan Skoll has been a mysterious character from day one of Ahsoka. He’s gone from a hooded murder machine, to a master persuader who captured Sabine and brought her to Peridea without a fight, to a philosopher opining on the Jed Order. But it’s still not clear why he’s hanging out with Morgan Elsbeth. As neither Jedi nor Sith, he doesn’t really have a vested interest in Thrawn coming back, and for all the talk of him being a mercenary, he doesn’t exactly seem motivated by money. In Episode 6, we finally got an inkling of his true agenda: he’s searching for “a new beginning.” But what form will that take? Once Baylan and Shin arrive in the new galaxy, Shin asks exactly how helping Morgan will advance his agenda. “What I seek is the beginning, so I may finally bring this cycle to an end,” he says, referring to the constant power struggle between the Empire and the Republic, the Jedi and the Sith. “And that beginning is here?” Shin asks. “If the old stories are true,” Baylan says.
Continued here
|
S70'Mortal Kombat 1' Review: A Near-Flawless Victory for the Iconic Series  I’ve grown up with the Mortal Kombat series. Mortal Kombat 9 was the first fighting game I actually learned combos in. Mortal Kombat X is the first one I won a tournament for. Once I went into the training room for Mortal Kombat 1, I realized that this would be the next game that steals hundreds of hours from my life. (Yes, I purposefully didn’t mention Mortal Kombat 11.)Mortal Kombat 1 does everything we’ve been wanting fighting games to do for a long time. And it does it all nearly flawlessly. NetherRealm’s latest takes notes from every success and failure of the series thus far and creates something new, yet very familiar. This is the first time in decades we’ve seen so much love shown to characters, storylines, and stages. That love also shows up in the form of a new single-player adventure mode, Invasion, which is similar to Konquest in Deadly Alliance and Armageddon.
Continued here
|
 |
TradeBriefs Publications are read by over 10,00,000 Industry Executives About Us | Advertise Privacy Policy Unsubscribe (one-click) You are receiving this mail because of your subscription with TradeBriefs.
Our mailing address is GF 25/39, West Patel Nagar, New Delhi 110008, India |
