   
CEO Picks - The best that international journalism has to offer!
 S19Even if Israel can completely eliminate Hamas, does it have a long-term plan for Gaza?   Not counting periodic cross-border skirmishes, Israel has fought three major wars against Hamas since withdrawing its forces from Gaza in 2005 – in 2008, 2014 and 2021. Each involved limited ground incursions, with Israeli soldiers in Gaza for about a fortnight.In the past couple weeks, Israel has put together a huge force to mount another ground invasion in retaliation for the Hamas cross-border attacks that killed around 1,400 Israelis on October 7. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have called up their entire armoured corps – more than 1,000 tanks. Around 360,000 reservists will also join the force’s full-time personnel of about 170,000.
Continued here
|
S5Gaza: first aid deliveries cross into the strip as Israeli troops mass on the border  The population of the Gaza Strip remains cut off from basic supplies like water, food, and electricity since Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, ordered a “complete siege”. No aid has been able to reach Gaza and the first promised convoy has just been delayed further. While sieges are not illegal under international humanitarian law, there are rules prohibiting the starvation of civilians and regulating humanitarian relief operations.
Continued here
|
S35Does Cannabis Actually Help With Sleep? Experts Say It Isn't Risk-Free  Sleep — something all humans need — can be surprisingly elusive. In 2022, the global sleep aids market was valued at $78 billion. Whether it comes in the form of a drug, a tea, a new regimen, or something else, there are many products that claim to help you get a better night’s rest.In recent years, many people have come to stand by cannabis as a solid sleep aid. While we know which receptors cannabis acts on in the brain, we still don’t know the biological mechanisms behind how it impacts sleep, experts say.
Continued here
|
S20
S25S8
S29How Long Does Wildfire Smoke Stay In Your Home? New Study Reveals the Answer  Getting rid of these gases isn’t as simple as turning on an air purifier or opening a window on a clear day.When wildfire smoke turns the air brown and hazy, you might think about heading indoors with the windows closed, running an air purifier, or even wearing a mask. These are all good strategies to reduce exposure to the particles in wildfire smoke, but smoky air is also filled with potentially harmful gases. Those gases can get into buildings and remain in the walls and floors for weeks.
Continued here
|
S7
S4Ellen von Unwerth: Intimate images capturing star quality  Ellen von Unwerth is the grande dame of fashion-and-portrait photography who has captured Britney Spears, Beyoncé and Miley Cyrus – in all their near-nude, high-glam gloriousness. She is also one of the cameos in TV series Emily In Paris, where the platinum-blonde image-maker plays herself in a photoshoot scene. Despite decades of high-profile work in the fashion industry, it is Darren Star's Netflix series that has turned the 69-year-old photographer into an instantly identifiable celebrity for the under-30s fashion audience. Now, Von Unwerth's images are being celebrated in a US exhibition, Ellen von Unwerth: This Side of Paradise, at SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film in Atlanta. "[The cameo role] was a very fun experience and I was surprised by the impact it had," Von Unwerth tells BBC Culture. "People recognised me in the street after the episode had aired… it has a really wide audience, and it has made a lot of people dream about Paris and fashion."
Continued here
|
S22Victims of the green energy boom? The Indonesians facing eviction over a China-backed plan to turn their island into a solar panel 'ecocity'  I first visited Rempang island in Summer 2022. Greeting me were lush fields lined with coconut and banana trees, picture-book fishing villages with houses jutting into the water on stilts, and boats carrying people between the dozens of islands that dot the Riau archipelago in western Indonesia. I had made the pleasant, one-hour ferry trip from bustling, glass-and-chrome Singapore. This felt like another world.My hosts (an environmental lawyer and an indigenous Melayu community organiser) and I had reached Rempang from the economic hub of Riau Islands province: the special manufacturing, trade and logistics zone of Batam. We had gone from Batam to Rempang by crossing one of the six metal bridges that connect the islands of Batam, Rempang and Galang. This network of bridges has turned the islands into an economic zone, now called the Barelang region.
Continued here
|
S27One of 2023's Best New Indies Defies a Classic Video Game Rule  It makes sense that most video games cast you as the story’s hero. You’re going to spend a lot of time as one character, so why not make it the most important person in that particular universe? Even in games like Mass Effect where there’s a central crew of adventurers instead of one lone savior, you’re still the leader of the pack.Saltsea Chronicles is different. Instead of honing in on a hero, it explores what happens in the vacuum of one, and how the supporting cast of an adventure can rise to the occasion. In the process, the game tells a powerful story about collective action that feels perfectly tailored to our current times — even if the story takes place in a post-apocalypse.
Continued here
|
S24Reorienting "Madama Butterfly"  When Japanese audiences encountered Puccini's "Madama Butterfly"âa sumptuous Italianate treatment of a geisha's doomed love for an American naval officerâthey found it implausible, insulting, and riotously funny. In 1925, two decades after the opera's première, the Japan Times reported "screams of hearty laughter" as spectators took in the posturings of a touring foreign troupe. Puccini's habit of citing popular Japanese songs did not help matters. As Arthur Groos points out in "Madama Butterfly/Madamu Batafurai," a new book about the opera's Japanese sources and reception, the composer ignored advice about how to use his material appropriately. When Suzuki, Butterfly's maid, prays at an alleged Buddhist shrine, she sings to the tune of "Takai Yama," a song that extols cucumbers and eggplants. Furthermore, she garbles the names of Shinto gods, who don't belong in a Buddhist setting to begin with. It's similar, Groos writes, to "having a Catholic pray to Adam and Eve in front of a menorah."Nevertheless, Japanese audiences and artists have continued to engage with "Butterfly," not least because it has influenced Western perceptions of Japan for generations. In the fifties, the Fujiwara Opera, based in Tokyo, collaborated with New York City Opera on a bilingual production: Japanese singers took the Japanese roles, and white singers portrayed the callous Lieutenant Pinkerton and the more sympathetic consul Sharpless. The 1953 musical "ChÅchÅ-san Sandaiki" ("Three-Generation Butterfly") wove Puccini's characters and music into a tale of Japan under Allied occupation; the fact that the opera is set in Nagasaki added a shuddering layer of significance to that retelling. The scholar Mari Yoshihara, in a 2004 essay about the pioneering Japanese soprano Tamaki Miura, who won international fame as Butterfly, notes that the singer challenged restricted ideas of femininity at home.
Continued here
|
S26You Need to Watch the Darkest Assassin Thriller on Netflix ASAP  Few Hollywood actors have built as impressive of a career as Tom Cruise. One of the world’s last great movie stars, Cruise has spent the past 40 years working with some of the greatest filmmakers of his time and cementing his place as one of the entertainment industry’s most accomplished stunt performers. While he’s dedicated recent years to franchises like Mission: Impossible, Cruise’s filmography is a lot more diverse than some moviegoers may think.No film showcases Cruise’s range or charisma as well as Collateral. The Michael Mann-directed thriller has slowly but surely become regarded as one of the best and most interesting movies Cruise has made, and for good reason. Not only is the film one of Mann’s most stylistically accomplished genre exercises, but it gives Cruise the rare chance to play a villain. And as anyone who’s seen Collateral will attest, he doesn’t let the opportunity pass him by.
Continued here
|
S2817 Years Later, Superhero Movies Still Can't Overcome Hollywood's Worst Sin  Kingsman director Matthew Vaughn has never been coy about his distaste for Hollywood’s shadier practices. Over the years, he’s been pretty candid about his experiences with the X-Men franchise at Fox, and the times he’s had to walk away from the property altogether. But a recent anecdote the Kingsman director told from New York Comic-Con might just be the most shocking yet — not only because it unearths even more behind-the-scenes drama, but because it reaffirms an unspoken truth about Hollywood’s most overlooked stories.“Hollywood is really political and odd,” Vaughn remarked. It was industry politics that forced him to resign from X-Men: The Last Stand, after discovering the fake script that Fox execs intended to send to Halle Berry. “I asked, ‘What is this draft?’ They were like, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ So I grabbed it, and opened the first page, and it said, ‘Africa. Kids dying from no water, and Storm creates a thunderstorm to save all these children.’”
Continued here
|
S49S30The Moon's Craters May Help Humans Predict Our Chances Of Extinction  We can estimate the chances of an extinction-sized asteroid hitting Earth by examining how many such space rocks have hit the Moon over its history.In 2020, Oxford-based philosopher Toby Ord published a book called The Precipice about the risk of human extinction. He put the chances of “existential catastrophe” for our species during the next century at one in six.
Continued here
|
S18From meerkat school to whale-tail slapping and oyster smashing, how clever predators shape their world  In the 1980s a single humpback whale in the Gulf of Maine developed the “lobtail feeding method”. This unique hunting method of slapping the water’s surface appears to drive fish into dense schools, making it easier to consume them. Lobtail feeding caught on. Now many humpback whales are doing it.Ecologists have long thought animals acted on instinct alone. But a growing body of evidence shows many animals, much like us, have complex brains and social lives.
Continued here
|
S3365 Weird but Genius Gifts That Are Best-Sellers on Amazon  Giving gifts people will actually appreciate can be challenging. Even though the recipient will likely smile and nod while they’re unboxing, it can be hard to know if they’re genuinely thrilled or just putting on a good show. So if you’re looking to avoid those strained exchanges, look no further than these weird and genius gifts perfect for everyone on your shopping list. And you know they’re bound to be a smash, because they’re among some of Amazon’s best-sellers — with immaculate ratings and reviews to boot. They’re so good, in fact, you’ll want to snag some for yourself.Whether it’s food bits, loose change, or your phone, this seat gap filler prevents it from falling into the crevice between your seat and center console. Simply feed your seatbelt buckle through the slot, and press the stopper into place to stop spills in their tracks. You get two stoppers per set, so you can ensure both front seat gaps of your car are totally covered.
Continued here
|
S46S12S32These 4 tablet PCs have a wild trick: they can bend into laptops  Laptop designs have become somewhat predictable over the years. Tried-and-true clamshells like MacBooks and 2-in-1 convertibles like the Microsoft Surface devices are here to stay. But what comes next? All signs point to foldable laptop PCs.Foldable laptop PCs are basically giant tablets that bend in half into a clamshell form factor. PC makers seem to have settled around a 17-inch display that becomes a 13-inch clamshell, with the bottom half turning into a touchscreen keyboard.
Continued here
|
S17As treasurer, Bill Hayden set Labor on the path to economic rationalism  John Hawkins formerly worked in the Australian Treasury where he wrote a series of biographical essays on Australian treasurers.Former Labor leader and governor-general Bill Hayden, whose death was announced on Saturday, is rightly being remembered for introducing Australia’s first universal healthcare scheme Medibank, which lives on today as Medicare.
Continued here
|
S60The End of Netanyahu  Benjamin Netanyahu has always known what he wants his political epitaph to be. “I would like to be remembered as the protector of Israel,” he told the journalist Fareed Zakaria in 2016. “That’s enough for me.” The longest-serving Israeli prime minister has repeated this refrain for more than a decade, in English and Hebrew. It is the core case he has made for himself to the Israeli people, part of a winning electoral argument begrudgingly credited even by some of his critics. You may not like me and you may not trust me, he would imply, but only I can keep you safe.“The ability to spot danger in advance and prepare for it is the test of a body’s functioning,” Netanyahu once said on an Israeli talk show. “The Jewish nation has never excelled at foreseeing danger. We were surprised again and again—and the last time was the most awful one. That won’t happen under my leadership.” He concluded to applause: “This is what the state of Israel expects from me, and this is what I’ll do.”
Continued here
|
S70The Balanced Scorecard--Measures that Drive Performance  In the same way that you can’t fly an airplane with just one instrument gauge, you can’t manage a company with just one kind of performance measure. Think of a balanced scorecard as the instrument panel in the cockpit of an airplane. It’s a set of interrelated gauges that links seemingly disparate information about a company’s finances and operations. Together, they give you a more complete view of how your company has been performing, as well as where it’s headed.
Continued here
|
S342 Years Later, 'Rick and Morty' Brings Back Its Cleverest Sci-Fi Twist  Who can save the multiverse from the monstrosity that is Jerricky? Only Memory Rick, apparently.Rick and Morty Season 7, Episode 2, “The Jerrick Trap” delivers a fun and mostly satisfying Rick and Jerry adventure with lots of body horror. But it’s the post-credits stinger, featuring the return of a Rick variant we haven’t seen since Season 5, that raises the most questions. What’s the deal with Memory Rick? And could he return in a future episode? Let’s dive in.
Continued here
|
S70Lenovo's Flex 5i Chromebook Plus Is a Cheap, Superfast Machine  If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Please also consider subscribing to WIREDThe Chromebook Plus parade continues as a bevy of manufacturers jump aboard the biggest upgrade to the category since it launched. For those who missed the news, Chromebook Plus is a new enhanced version of Chromebooks certified by Google, featuring faster CPUs, more RAM and storage, sharper displays, and nicer cameras. Basically, they're just better Chromebooks.
Continued here
|
S51S14Novel drugs are leading to rising overdose deaths in Victoria - drug checking services could help  Many of the harms people experience from using illegal drugs are a result of unregulated supply. Drugs may be contaminated, or completely substituted with something unexpected. They may also be of variable and unknown dosage or strength. Any of these factors can and do lead to overdoses. That’s why 77 health and community organisations are urging the Victorian government to implement drug checking services. These could reduce overdose deaths, and provide an early warning system to flag any unusually dangerous substances in circulation.
Continued here
|
S50S23
 |
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 |
