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☆ Guns N' Roses and Arctic Monkeys to headline Glastonbury along with Elton John
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Sumaya HishamLONDON, March 3 (Reuters) - Guns N' Roses and Arctic Monkeys will join Elton John as headliners at the Glastonbury Festival in June, organisers said on Friday, drawing attention to the largely male line-up of its biggest performers this year. The festival's official poster gave U.S. rapper Lizzo joint headline billing but she was the lone, high-profile female performer among the main acts this year. Paul McCartney, 80, played last year's Glastonbury, as the festival returned from a three-year absence due to the coronavirus pandemic. While English rock act Arctic Monkeys will be making their third appearance as headliners at Glastonbury following the release of a new album in October, it will be the first time for American rock legends Guns N' Roses, who will be touring Europe in June. Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar, Editing by Paul Sandle and William SchombergOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Putin's KGB past is key to grasping what he might do next in his failing Ukraine war, ex-spies say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Putin's time in the KGB helps explain his worldview and brutal approach to warfare, ex-spies say. As Western intelligence agencies vie to stay two steps ahead of the Russian leader and get inside his head, peering into Putin's KGB past may offer clues on what he's thinking. "Putin's KGB background tells us a lot about how he thinks and how he sees the war. He is a creation of the KGB, and the KGB was a terrorist organization," John Sipher, a former CIA officer who served in Russia, told Insider. The Ukraine war has seen Putin and his propagandists make a series of assertions — ranging from plausible to preposterous — to justify Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

☆ Supreme Court considers whether Twitter can be held liable for failing to remove terrorist content
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a case that will help determine whether social media platforms can be held liable for aiding and abetting terrorism for failing to remove content and accounts promoting it. The case revolves around a specific international terrorist act, and contends that Twitter should be held accountable for not taking aggressive enough action against that content on its platform. Justice Elena Kagan at one point asked Waxman whether Twitter could be held liable if it actually didn't enforce any policy against terrorist content on its site. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson asked if it would be illegal to sell Osama bin Laden a phone without knowing it would be used for a terrorist specific terrorist act. Schnapper said it would not be necessary to prove the phone was used for a specific terrorist act, because it "aids the terrorist enterprise."

☆ Three Years Into Covid, We Still Don’t Know How to Talk About It
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Jon Mooallem | Photographs Ashley Gilbertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +53 min

It will play out and reverberate for years or decades, Hagen told me. “The pathological normal,” Hagen calls it: a patchwork of homespun, bespoke realities, each one invested in a different story about what exactly happened when Covid ruptured the story of our lives. garb.”More than once, life seemed to be attaining “an uncanny resemblance to normal life,” as one man put it. But because we don’t totally understand where that experience has delivered us, we don’t know the right gloss to give it. “The days are strange,” one public-school teacher told Milstein toward the end of his first interview, in May 2020.

☆ Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee launches bid for California Senate seat held by retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein, joining crowded primary
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., announced Tuesday she will join the competitive 2024 Democratic race for the Senate seat held by retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein. "Californians deserve a strong, progressive leader who has delivered real change," Lee, 76, said in a social media post unveiling her long-rumored campaign for the coveted seat. Lee's announcement makes her the third major Democratic candidate in the running for the seat that the 89-year-old Feinstein has held since 1992. If elected in 2024, Lee would become the only Black woman serving in the U.S. Senate. "When my high school said cheerleaders couldn't be Black, I took them on," Lee said.

☆ Food Stamp Program in Political Crosshairs as Pandemic-Era Changes End
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Food stamp spending is likely to decline in March, when 35 states and territories end an extra boost in benefits lawmakers established early in the pandemic. WASHINGTON—The ending of the Covid-19 public-health emergency means a reset for the country’s food stamps program, which aids more than 41 million Americans, as lawmakers weigh whether to make more far-reaching changes as part of the next farm bill. An extra boost in the food assistance for low-income households that Congress authorized at the start of the pandemic will wind down this month, and additional leeway afforded to states around some of the program’s rules will end in May.

☆ Nestlé, the world's biggest consumer food company, says it will keep hiking prices in 2023, and that its rivals will have to do the same
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Food and drinks conglomerate Nestlé says it will continue putting up prices in 2023. The Swiss conglomerate said at its fourth-quarter earnings call on Thursday that the price increases would be targeted rather than across the board. Pet care, prepared dishes, cooking aids, milk products, and ice cream had the largest price increases globally. "In 2022, pricing became the largest contributor to growth," CFO François Roger said, meaning that price increases led to more growth in revenues as sales growth declined. Nestlé's upcoming rises will be justified by data "otherwise retail partners and consumers will simply not accept price increases," Schneider said.

☆ 'The Last of Us' is based on real science: A fungus pandemic is unlikely, but not impossible
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

"The Last of Us" on HBO Max depicts a zombie apocalypse caused by a fungus pandemic. Here's the science fact and fiction behind the show, and the possibility of a fungal pandemic. The new scenario, first realized in the video game that the show is based on, is making viewers wonder whether a fungus pandemic can happen in real life. "A fungal pandemic is definitely possible," Norman Van Rhijn, a mycologist researching fungal infections at the University of Manchester, told Insider in an email. Still, fungal infections are on the rise worldwide, and researchers are concerned that more and more people are at risk.

☆ Analysis: In China, Tesla could win electric vehicle price battle – but lose the war
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

[1/5] Visitors check a Tesla Model 3 car next to a Model Y displayed at a showroom of the U.S. electric vehicle (EV) maker in Beijing, China February 4, 2023. REUTERS/Florence LoSummarySummary Companies Tesla price cuts have jumpstarted sales in world no. Most immediately, Tesla's January price cuts drove deliveries of its China-made vehicles up 18% from December. From 15% in 2020, its share of the China EV market fell by a third to just 10% in 2022, according to data from the CPCA. After the latest price cuts, the Model 3 starts at about $34,000 and the Model Y at $38,000.

☆ The 25 Tweets That Show How Twitter Changed the World - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

On Wednesday, Twitter announced that users who pay extra will be able to send their thoughts into the world in tweets of up to 4,000 characters, instead of 280 or less. We wanted to capture the ways that Twitter — a platform used by a tiny percentage of the world’s population — changed how we protest, consume news, joke and, of course, argue. What you see below is our list, compiled with the help of experts, of the 25 most important tweets. Like all such rankings, we hope it can serve as a starting point for discussions and arguments, both on Twitter and off. We asked them to submit tweets they thought were good candidates for the most important of all time, with the only criterion being that the tweets had to be in English.

Biden will deliver his second State of the Union address at about 9 p.m. (0200 GMT Wednesday). It will be broadcast live on major U.S. broadcast television networks and online by the White House and the House of Representatives. The speech could deliver Biden his largest television audience of the year. The White House has also invited Brandon Tsay, who disarmed a gunman responsible for a mass shooting in Monterey Park, California. Republicans have picked Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as White House press secretary under Donald Trump, to deliver their response.

Following are some of the guests expected to attend:* Brandon Tsay: Tsay was called a hero by authorities for disarming a gunman who shot dead 11 people during a celebration of the Lunar New Year in Monterey Park, California. The White House called it a "recognition of sustained U.S. support for Ukraine nearly a year after Russia launched its unprovoked attack." * The White House has also invited Paul Pelosi, husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "The attack reportedly was politically motivated, with the intruder's alleged intent to harm and kidnap the former Speaker," the White House said. The United States completed the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan in August 2021 after a 20-year war.

☆ China Aids Russia’s War in Ukraine, Trade Data Shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Ian Talley | Anthony Debarros | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—China is providing technology that Moscow’s military needs to prosecute the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine despite an international cordon of sanctions and export controls, according to a Wall Street Journal review of Russian customs data. The customs records show Chinese state-owned defense companies shipping navigation equipment, jamming technology, and fighter-jet parts to sanctioned Russian government-owned defense companies.

☆ Why I'd buy a Tesla Model Y over the Mercedes EQB after driving both electric SUVs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The Tesla Model Y. Tim Levin/InsiderTesla's always been the one to beat when it comes to range. The Model Y serves up an EPA-estimated 330 miles of driving per charge, making it one of the industry leaders. The 2022 EQB carries a comparatively weak 243-mile rating, which drops to 227 miles in the quicker EQB 350 model I tested. The Tesla Model Y. Tim Levin/InsiderTeslas are refreshingly minimalist and uncluttered, but not nearly as conventionally luxurious as BMWs and Benzes. The Tesla Model Y. Tim Levin/InsiderIn the Model Y, technology takes center stage in the form of a big, feature-packed display.

☆ Anti-LGBTQ+ protests are at an all-time high. A Proud Boys war on drag is a big reason why.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Once a week on average in 2022, Proud Boys joined or led anti-LGBTQ+ protests held across the US. Proud Boys joined in seven anti-LGBTQ+ protests in September, 10 in October and 6 in November. In December, they protested at 13 anti-LGBTQ+ protests, more than in any other month last year, ACLED data shows. And the group's anti-LGBTQ+ push is continuing, said Kaufman, who tracks the Proud Boys' estimated 119 chapters in 46 states. Proud Boys are turning up these days at nearly half of all anti-LGBTQ+ activity across the country, she told Insider.

☆ Working 11-hour days backstage on Broadway: 'You have to be a little bit crazy' but 'I love it'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Gili Malinsky | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

On a Wednesday matinee performance of Broadway's "& Juliet," assistant company manager Annie Schroeder is making the rounds backstage. Schroeder's school hosted an annual drag show that raised money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. 'I kind of describe [Broadway] as like a food chain'It takes dozens of people to put on a Broadway show. This includes hiring the company managers, who are responsible for payroll, policy enforcement and meeting the day-to-day needs of select patrons, cast and crew. "& Juliet" stage as seen from behind the sound booth.

☆ George Michael, Willie Nelson among Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Dylan Martinez/FilesFeb 1 (Reuters) - Late pop singer George Michael, 89-year-old country music icon Willie Nelson and rapper Missy Elliott are among the first-time nominees announced on Wednesday for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's class of 2023. Of the 14 nominees on this year's list, eight are first-timers, including singers Sheryl Crow, Cyndi Lauper and the late singer/songwriter Warren Zevon, alongside rock band Joy Division/New Order and rock duo The White Stripes. Singer Kate Bush, heavy metal band Iron Maiden, rock band Rage Against the Machine, rock group Soundgarden, R&B vocal group The Spinners and hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest are returning nominees. “These artists have created their own sounds that have impacted generations and influenced countless others that have followed in their footsteps,” said John Sykes, chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation. She did promise to earn the honor and has announced a forthcoming record with covers of rock classics entitled "Rock Star."

☆ A fungus pandemic is unlikely, but not impossible. There's real science behind the mushroom zombies in HBO's new series 'The Last of Us.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

The new HBO Max series "The Last of Us" depicts a zombie apocalypse caused by a fungus pandemic. Here's the science fact and fiction behind the show, and the possibility of a fungal pandemic. The new scenario, first realized in the video game that the show is based on, is making viewers wonder whether a fungus pandemic can happen in real life. "A fungal pandemic is definitely possible," Norman Van Rhijn, a mycologist researching fungal infections at the University of Manchester, told Insider in an email. Still, fungal infections are on the rise worldwide, and researchers are concerned that more and more people are at risk.

☆ FDA proposal would allow gay men in monogamous relationships to donate blood
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Under the guidelines proposed on Friday, gay and bisexual men who are in monogamous relationships would be allowed to donate blood. The FDA had imposed a lifetime ban on men who have sex with men donating blood during the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. The agency had eased the ban in 2015, allowing gay and bisexual men to donate blood if they had not had sex in the previous year. The American Medical Association had criticized the FDA's restrictions on gay men donating as discriminatory. Those taking injections to prevent HIV would not be allowed to donate blood for two years following their most recent injection.

Review: Is the IHG Premier card the best credit card for you? The IHG® Rewards Premier Credit Card offers tremendous value, making it one of the best credit cards for hotel stays. The IHG® Rewards Premier Credit Card delivers on that front and offers plenty of options for redeeming those rewards. IHG Premier card benefits and featuresThe IHG® Rewards Premier Credit Card offers lots of impressive benefits — in fact, for an annual fee of $99, it's hard to beat the range and value of perks you'll receive as a cardholder. IHG elite statusThe IHG® Rewards Premier Credit Card comes with automatic IHG Platinum elite status — one of the chain's middle elite tiers.

☆ One of the best Tesla alternatives just became an even bigger thorn in Elon Musk's side
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The base 2024 Polestar 2 gets 300 miles of range and 299 horsepower. With longer range, enhanced performance, and updated looks, the sporty electric sedan has become an even fiercer competitor to Tesla's popular Model 3. PolestarThe refreshed Polestar 2 gets an upgraded battery pack that boosts range to an estimated 300 miles for the single-motor, rear-wheel-drive version. The base, $44,000 Model 3 is rated for 272 miles of range, while the longest-range version gets 338 miles on a full charge. PolestarNew, more powerful motors mean the single-motor Polestar 2 now makes 299 horsepower (up from 231) and hits 60 mph in 5.9 seconds.

As Africa struggles with economic headwinds caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and, notably, Washington's own monetary policy, Africans are asking for proof the United States will stay the course this time. African countries have become collateral victims of this year's rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve, aimed at curbing inflation at home. African countries are also finding it harder to access capital markets to meet their fiscal needs and refinance maturing debt. The United States, meanwhile, has largely failed to offer viable alternatives to cheap Chinese credit, officials said. One senior U.S. Treasury official said the United States had long been engaged in Africa, funding anti-HIV work and working on other health issues.

☆ 'No Straight Lines' unearths the hidden history of queer comic books
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Dan Avery | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

Independent Lens“No Straight Lines” also profiles Mary Wings, who is credited with publishing the first known queer comic book, “Come Out Comics,” in 1973. San Francisco, where Wings now lives, was home to many of the earliest LGBTQ comic books and strips — most of which were made by queer women. “Stuck Rubber Baby” was one of the first queer comics to get mainstream critical acclaim. His generosity of spirit and intellect brought this community together.”Cruse died of cancer in 2019, while “No Straight Lines” was still in development. “It’s very exciting.”“No Straight Lines” premieres on PBS’ “Independent Lens” Monday at 10 p.m.

☆ The Digital Workplace Is Designed to Bring You Down
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +15 min

Mamadi Doumbouya for The New York Times Talk The Digital Workplace Is Designed to Bring You DownWe’ve been given no shortage of digital tools that should, in theory, help us work better, with more focus and efficiency, and connect us more easily with our colleagues. Your brain can’t have your inbox open next to the memo you’re writing while you’re also on the phone. The only way to get out of that suboptimal equilibrium is to completely change the way the organization collaborates. You can’t have a small number of executives figure out the right way to do the work and then dispense it. But zoom out to John McPhee’s career, and you’re like, you’re one of the most productive and impactful writers of all time.

Between '97 and '02, HBO released TV series like "Sex and the City," "The Wire," and "The Sopranos." Counterprogram, counterprogram, counterprogramFrom its very inception in the early 1970s, HBO executives came to believe that if HBO was to thrive in the long-run, it would have to focus on doing things differently than the big three commercial TV networks: ABC, CBS, and NBC. When HBO executives sent the first episode of "The Sopranos" to a focus group, it scored horribly. The screening was attended by the film's cast, HBO executives, and a collection of Russian dignitaries. Anybody could watch a new TV series from the comfort of their home, and the actors starring in new TV shows were rarely famous.

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