DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

CNN —A serving member of the British Army awaiting trial on terror charges escaped from prison in London on Wednesday, the city’s Metropolitan Police said. Daniel Abed Khalife went missing from Wandsworth prison, in the southwest of the British capital, shortly before 8 a.m. UK time. He had been awaiting trial for terror offenses and alleged breaches of the Official Secrets Act. Khalife is a soldier accused of planting fake bombs at a military base, according to the PA Media news agency. “Khalife was on remand at HMP Wandsworth, awaiting trial in relation to terrorism and Official Secrets Act offences,” it continued.

Persons: Daniel Abed Khalife, “ Khalife, Khalife, Dominic Murphy, “, ” Murphy Organizations: CNN, British Army, city’s Metropolitan Police, PA Media, “ Police, Metropolitan Police, Police, Command Locations: London, Wandsworth, England, Wales

☆ The Soprano Ailyn Pérez Doesn’t Feel Like a Beginner Anymore
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-03 | by ( Joshua Barone | More About Joshua Barone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

It helped — a lot — that by then she had met Soloman Howard. In 2016, Pérez starred as Juliette in “Roméo,” and her colleagues included Howard, a bass-baritone, as the duke. At one point, Santa Fe Opera asked Pérez to tape herself singing “Song to the Moon” from “Rusalka,” and Howard said, “‘We are going to make a video,’” she recalled. She doesn’t really remember that night — “I was out of my body” — but others do. Gelb, who said, “You can’t fake Verdi,” remembered her sounding “absolutely magnificent.” Nézet-Séguin, called it “a performance for the ages.”

Persons: Peter Gelb, ”, Pérez, “ Simon Boccanegra ”, Soloman Howard, Juliette, “, Howard, Ball, ’ ”, Gelb, Verdi Organizations: Met, Vienna, Santa Fe Opera, Goods Locations: Santa Fe, Chicago, Santa, “

☆ A Criminal Jury May Be the Best Way to Hold Trump Accountable - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-27 | by ( Jesse Wegman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In Sidney Lumet’s 1957 film masterpiece “12 Angry Men,” two jurors nearly come to blows while deliberating over a first-degree murder case on a sweltering summer afternoon in New York City. After they are separated, one of the other jurors, a soft-spoken watchmaker played by George Voskovec, steps forward to break the awkward silence. We have a responsibility,” the juror says, in a halting, vaguely Eastern European accent. That we are, what is the word … notified! I’ve been thinking a lot about “12 Angry Men” lately, and the seriousness with which it takes the jurors’ humanity and the importance of their role.

Persons: Sidney Lumet’s, ”, George Voskovec, I’ve, Donald Trump Locations: New York City, Fulton County ,

London CNN —British police on Monday said it will take no further action following an investigation into an alleged cash-for-honors scandal linked to one of King Charles III’s charities. As is traditional when the monarch returns to the Scottish residence for the summer, a small ceremony was held outside the castle gates. King Charles inspected an honor guard formed of the Balaklava Company, 5th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland. The 4 SCOTS Pipes and Drums performed at the ceremony, and Shetland Pony Corporal Cruachan IV, the royal regiment’s mascot, was also present. The King was recently announced as Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Regiment of Scotland, taking on the role from his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

Persons: King Charles III’s, Michael Fawcett, Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz, Buckingham, ”, King, King Charles, Pipes, Cruachan IV, Queen Elizabeth II Organizations: London CNN, British, Metropolitan Police, Foundation, Saudi, Sunday Times, British Empire, Prince’s, ”, Balaklava Company, 5th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland, The Royal Regiment of Scotland Locations: British, Balmoral

☆ The 16 Best Items to Add to Your Registry—and Where to Register
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Erika Veurink | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +17 min

By Erika VeurinkA wedding registry is a couple’s chance to creatively express the kind of life you hope to create together. If you’re a bride or groom to be, you can easily add a link to these eye-catching utensils to your Zola registry. Add the link to the multipurpose pressure cookware to your registry on Zola, or shop it at Amazon or Walmart. Add this link to your Zola registry (and browse other local gift options) and your guests can send a wedding-week-pick-me-up or gift an ongoing subscription. And if you don’t know where to start, Bloomingdale’s wedding registry checklist will help you narrow down what you need.

Persons: Erika Veurink, Zola, ”, Maria Del Russo, servingware, Simone Silverman, Silverman, Del Russo, “, Margaux, Alexandra Daniel, Daniel, Dyson, Holly Liss Jammet, Jammet, Jones, Great Jones, Tricia Lowenfield, Sarah Swann, napkins Swann, Gregory Blake Sams, You’ll, you’d, Sams, Christolfe, Coffee, Anbouba, Neiman Marcus, Delaney Lundquist, she’s, Lundquist, Lily Sullivan, ” Sullivan, Hawkins, Food52, Sullivan Organizations: New, Margot Magazine, Designs, Zola, Elle, Walmart, ” Investment, ”, Farmers, tote, Courtland, Co, Target Locations: Zola, New York City, Florida, Italy, Flamingo, Los Angeles, Great, York, City, Charleston, S.C, Sur, Charlotte, N.C, Brooklyn, N.Y

☆ Everyone Thought He Had Made the Famous Gown. It Was His Wife.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Vanessa Friedman | More About Vanessa Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

That will be followed in November by “Iris van Herpen. All of which should add up to a potent reminder of the breadth and contributions of women designers — not to mention a spur for the future. They decided to team up, but the Covid-19 pandemic intervened, postponing the show to this year. The result showcases the work of about 70 designers held in the Costume Institute’s collection, which stretches from the turn of the 20th century to today and includes names both famous (Jeanne Lanvin, Claire McCardell) and little known (Augusta Bernard, Madeleine & Madeleine). And it is a reminder that once upon a time, the industry looked very different.

Persons: Gaby Aghion, ”, “ Iris van Herpen, —, Mellissa Huber, Karen Van Godtsenhoven, Huber, Van Godtsenhoven, Andrew Bolton, Jeanne Lanvin, Claire McCardell, Augusta Bernard, Madeleine Organizations: Jewish Museum, Institute Locations: New York, Paris

☆ Perseid meteor shower will peak this weekend
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( Amaya Mcdonald | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The Perseid meteor shower will reach its peak this weekend, according to the American Meteor Society. The shower began this year on July 14, and will continue until September 1, though not as many meteors will be visible after the peak. “Meteor showers result in beautiful streaks of light as debris passes through our atmosphere,” Schmoll said. So the less light around when observing the meteor shower means we are more likely to see fainter meteors.”You can catch several major meteor showers later this year, according to the American Meteor Society. They will reach their peak on the following dates:Orionids: October 21-21Southern Taurids: November 4-5Northern Taurids: November 11-12Leonids : November 17-18Geminids: December 13-14Ursids: December 21-22Autumnal equinoxThis year, the end of the Perseid meteor shower coincides with the meteorological start of the fall season in the Northern Hemisphere.

Persons: ”, Shannon Schmoll, Schmoll, it’s, Tuttle, ” Schmoll Organizations: CNN, American Meteor Society, Michigan State University, Northern, Taurids, Northern Hemisphere, Meteorological, Hemisphere, NASA Locations: Central, South America

☆ August Wilson, a Theater Titan Who Spun Gold in Diners
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( Dwight Garner | More About Dwight Garner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mamet’s title came back to me while I was reading Patti Hartigan’s biography of another essential American playwright, August Wilson. Wilson, who died in 2005, spent so much time lingering in diners that “Writing in Restaurants” is a plausible alternative subtitle for Hartigan’s “August Wilson: A Life.”Wilson was a large, bearded man, often in tweeds and a pageboy cap. He’d sit in the back with a cup of coffee and an overflowing ashtray. As his fame grew, he’d find a place in each city where his plays were staged. It was his daily slice of experimental theater.

Persons: WILSON, Patti Hartigan, David Mamet, Patti Hartigan’s, August Wilson, Wilson, Hartigan’s “, ” Wilson, He’d, “, Arthur Treacher’s Fish, he’d Locations: ”, New York City, Boston, Seattle, Caffe Ladro

☆ Persuasion, Patience and Many Permits Brought Buddhist Relics to the Met
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Rachel Sherman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

with many tons of sculpture,” Guy said. Within India alone, the negotiations included the central government, the Ministry of Culture, the Archaeological Survey of India, the National Museum and six state governments. Over the course of the discussions, the input of three U.S. ambassadors to India and two Indian ambassadors to the U.S. was called upon. In 1996, just weeks before the Met’s “Splendors of Imperial China” show, protesters demonstrated outside the National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan, demanding the museum withhold artworks meant to go to New York. Much of the displays feature panels from stupas, the religious monumental domes, which have housed the Buddha’s remains after cremation, along with other spiritual materials.

Persons: ”, John Guy, ” Guy Organizations: Met, Ministry of Culture, Survey, National Museum, Museum Locations: J.F.K, India, Italy, United States, England, Germany, Imperial China, Taipei, Taiwan, New York

☆ ‘Wonka’ director teases all singing, all dancing Timothée Chalamet in new teaser trailer
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Thomas Page | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The chocolatier and torturer of naughty children is getting the prequel treatment in a new film starring Timothée Chalamet, coming to cinemas in December. Chalamet steps into shoes previously filled by Gene Wilder in 1971 and Johnny Depp in 2005. Speaking in London ahead of the teaser trailer release, King promised an all singing, all dancing Chalamet and a film that “answers all the questions you never had” about Wonka. The director shared that he’d accessed Dahl’s personal archives and read early drafts of the novel, gleaning ideas from there. CNN and Warner Bros. Pictures are units of Warner Bros.

Persons: Willy Wonka’s, Timothée Chalamet, Roald Dahl, Wonka, Gene Wilder, Johnny Depp, Charlie, Paul King, King, ”, ” King, Sally Hawkins, Tom Davis, Simon Farnaby, Olivia Colman, Rowan Atkinson, Keegan, Michael Key, Calah Lane, Hugh Grant, Grant, I’ve, “, chuckling, Chalamet, ” “ Organizations: CNN, Paddington ”, “ Paddington, Warner Bros . Locations: London, “, American

☆ Alan Arkin Could Do It All. In ‘Glengarry Glen Ross,’ He Did.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Jason Bailey | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Moss and Levene push back against his generalizations, accusations and abuse; Aaronow does not. The bullish Moss baits the hook and reels the weaker man in, planting the idea and prompting further inquiry. And then watch the way he registers that, merely by listening, he has become an accessory to the crime. Mamet’s hyper-stylized dialogue isn’t easy to act; if the rhythm is off, it can feel unbearably phony, “written” rather than spoken. But Arkin more than holds his own against Harris here, and in later duets with Pacino, a similarly heavyweight dramatic actor.

Persons: Moss, Levene, ” Blake thunders, he’s, “ Glengarry Glen, ”, Lemmon’s Levene, Harris’s Moss, “, Blake, moans, Arkin, Harris, Pacino, He’s Locations: “ Glengarry, “ Glengarry Glen Ross, Glengarry

☆ Stephen Lawrence: New suspect named in racist murder of Black British teenager
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Caolán Magee | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

London CNN —A new suspect has been named in the racist murder of Black teenager Stephen Lawrence in southeast London over 30 years ago. The statement, issued in response to a BBC investigation released Monday into the Met’s mishandling of key inquiries, added that too many “mistakes” were made in the initial investigation of the murder. Two men were sentenced to life in jail in 2012 for the murder, but “three or four other killers of Stephen Lawrence (are) at large,” according to the statement from the Met’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner Matt Ward. Lawrence, an 18-year-old architecture student, was fatally stabbed at a bus stop by a gang of youths in April 1993. He died in August 2021, months before the police declared the murder investigation inactive and said there were no further lines of inquiry.

Persons: Black, Stephen Lawrence, Matthew White, White, ”, Matt Ward, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Stephen’s, “, Lawrence, Duwayne Brooks, Lawrence’s, Jeff Spicer, Ward, Sir Mark Rowley, ” Baroness Lawrence Organizations: London CNN, London’s Metropolitan Police Service, BBC, CNN, Met Locations: London

☆ Joni Mitchell Finally Returned. Her Fans Were Waiting.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Lindsay Zoladz | Justin J Wee | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On the night of June 10 at the majestic Gorge Amphitheater in George, Wash., on the lip of the Columbia River, the 79-year-old singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell played her first headlining show in 23 years. Her appearance had the air of a comet’s return: rare, breathlessly awaited and well worth camping out all night. That many concertgoers had traveled long distances made the experience feel all the more like a Mitchell song — perhaps one of the poetic highway travelogues recorded on her 1976 album “Hejira,” or even one of the romantic, intercontinental voyages she sang about on her 1971 landmark “Blue.” It was a crowd dotted with tie-dye and graying braids, yes, but also one full of lifelong friends reunited, mothers and children bonding over intergenerational musical tastes and enough homemade Mitchell T-shirts to rival Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. As Mitchell said to the adoring crowd as it held glowing cellphone lights aloft, paraphrasing one of her most memorable songs, “You’re stardust, and golden.”

Persons: Joni Mitchell, breathlessly, concertgoers, Mitchell, Taylor, “ You’re Locations: George, Columbia

☆ After Seizures, the Met Sets a Plan to Scour Collections for Looted Art
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Robin Pogrebin | Graham Bowley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Cambodian officials have said in recent years that at least 45 artifacts at the Met were stolen from ancient sites there. Instead, the Met has requested evidence from Cambodia demonstrating that the works were stolen. The British Museum has been in talks with Greek officials, who have long sought the return of the Parthenon marbles. The Vatican announced last year that it would give fragments of the Parthenon that were long held in the Vatican Museum to the Greek Orthodox Church. Some critics want museums to do far more than simply ensure that ancient objects were not stolen.

Abuja, Nigeria CNN —A Nigerian senator, his wife and a doctor were on Friday jailed in the UK over an organ harvesting plot, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in a statement. Senator Ike Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice and Dr. Obinna Obeta were sentenced at the UK’s Old Bailey court to nine years and eight months, four years and six months, and 10 years in prison respectively. Some of the country’s political class wrote to the UK court appealing for leniency ahead of his sentencing, including Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Ekweremadu served as speaker of the ECOWAS parliament between 2011 and 2015. But the calls for clemency failed to hold sway over the UK court and some in Nigeria questioned why high profile politicians were using their influence to advocate for a convicted criminal.

☆ Opinion | The Met Gala, or When Fashion Consumes Art
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Natasha Degen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Met Gala began in 1948 as a $50 fund-raising dinner. The fanfare surrounding the event takes center stage: celebrity selfies, red-carpet gossip and attention-seeking fashion stunts. The Met Gala is perhaps the most high-profile example of a much broader phenomenon: the accelerating convergence of art and fashion. It raises millions for the Met ($17.4 million last year) and generates more “media impact value” than the Super Bowl. Michael Burke has called the Met Gala “the pinnacle of our business.”

☆ The Maestro Wore Blue: Bringing Pizazz to the Pit at the Met
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Javier C. Hernández | Landon Nordeman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Metropolitan Opera’s music director, dressed in a blazing sapphire jacket and trim black pants, stood before a mirror backstage on a recent afternoon and smiled. “Oh my God, it’s so good,” he said, waving his baton. His outfit was modeled on one worn onstage by a band leader in Franco Zeffirelli’s classic production. Could the golden braid that dangled from his right shoulder be fastened, so it did not create a distraction in the pit? Was the jacket comfortable enough to accommodate the sweeping gestures that the music demanded?

☆ London police failed to learn from serial killer case, review finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, April 27 (Reuters) - London's police force has failed to learn enough from its failures in a 2016 serial killer case to stop similar crimes happening again, a police watchdog said on Thursday in a damning report. The review of the case of serial killer Stephen Port, who was jailed for life for the murder of four men he met on dating websites between 2014 and 2015, said the force had failed to recognise the deaths were connected until too late, despite obvious similarities. "The Met has still not learned enough from the calamitous litany of failures in that (Port) case," Inspector of the Constabulary Matt Parr said. However, the Met’s problems with competence and professionalism run even deeper: too often, they don’t get the basics right. The report said despite some improvements made since the case, police officers at the Met acknowledged they still rely on luck to identify links between deaths at a local level.

☆ A Black teen’s murder sparked a crisis over racism in British policing. Thirty years on, little has changed
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Katie Polglase Sarah El Sirgany Ivana Kottasová Martin Bourke Oscar Featherstone | Katie Polglase | Sarah El Sirgany | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

His killing and the subsequent failure of the London Metropolitan Police Service to properly investigate the crime sparked a national outcry. Within days of his killing at a bus stop in southeast London, five White teens were identified as being involved. It took years of campaigning by the Lawrence family — and public support from the likes of Nelson Mandela and the national press — to get the investigation moving. While an initial investigation by then-police watchdog the Independent Police Complaints Commission cleared the police of any wrongdoing, the Rigg family kept fighting. Matthew Brealey/CNNFinding peaceAs the Lawrence family and their supporters mark the 30th anniversary of Stephen’s killing, they are still fighting for his killers to face justice.

☆ How to see the Lyrids April meteor shower
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Taylor Nicioli | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —After no major annual meteor showers for months, the Lyrids are here to end the drought. Known as one of the oldest-recorded meteor showers, the Lyrids are expected to produce 10 to 15 meteors per hour for three nights centered around its peak of 9:06 p.m. Lyrids’ history dates back centuriesThe Lyrids were first recorded in 687 BC, according to NASA, making this meteor shower to be one of the oldest recorded. “Only in the 19th century was when we kind of understood that they actually came from space.”Every meteor shower has a parent comet from which comes the debris that makes up the shower. For those in Africa, Asia and Australia, a penumbral lunar eclipse will occur on May 5, and on October 28, a partial lunar eclipse will be viewable in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, parts of North America and much of South America.

☆ BASF, Eramet to finalise $2.6 bln partnership on Indonesia nickel smelter -Indonesia
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JAKARTA, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Germany's BASF (BASFn.DE) and French mining firm Eramet (ERMT.PA) are finalising a $2.6 billion partnership deal to invest in a nickel smelting facility in Indonesia, Indonesia's investment ministry said, citing the CEO of BASF. The project investment deal would be worth around 2.4 billion euros ($2.59 billion), the investment ministry said, citing BASF chief executive Martin Brudermüller. The project will make materials to be used in batteries for electric vehicles. Eramet would own 51% of the project, while BASF would hold 49%, the presentation showed. BASF and Eramet could not immediately be reached for comment.

☆ Fans Search for Coveted Film Merch—Five Decades After a Movie’s Release
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Jacob Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

It’s been 48 years since “Dog Day Afternoon” hit theaters. But as of last week, you could purchase a brand-new hat reprising the film’s all-caps poster, down to its memorable tagline: “Incredible But True!”This hat is not officially licensed merch for Sidney Lumet’s twisty crime drama. It is an unsanctioned homage made by And After That, a teensy McAllen, Tx.-based clothing company that inventively—and often cheekily—pays homage to movies and bands with shirts, T-shirts and hoodies. Warner Bros. Discovery , the merchandising rights holder of “Dog Day Afternoon,” did not comment.

☆ ‘The Hours’ Review: A Woolf Pack of Divas at the Met
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Heidi Waleson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

New York‘The Hours,” by composer Kevin Puts and librettist Greg Pierce , which had its world-premiere staged production at the Metropolitan Opera last Tuesday, is clever in concept. Its sources—the 1998 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Cunningham and the 2002 all-star film by Stephen Daldry —supply juicy roles for three women playing characters experiencing traumas in three separate eras, related through Virginia Woolf’s novel “Mrs. Dalloway.” The structure of opera permits techniques of simultaneity and overlap that exist in no other medium. From a marketing standpoint, the creation of “The Hours” was driven by soprano Renée Fleming , once the Met’s most beloved diva, whose 2017 “Der Rosenkavalier” at the house supposedly marked her retirement from staged opera. On Tuesday, she returned in the role of Clarissa Vaughan, custom tailored for her voice.

☆ 'Bones and All' review: Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell star in Luca Guadagnino's tale of fine young cannibals
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Review Brian Lowry | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

A road movie about youthful flesh-eaters finding love (the title “Fine Young Cannibals” comes to mind), it’s a strange and intriguing but ultimately unsatisfying stew. There’s an unavoidably episodic quality to the pair’s travels, and strictly in terms of screen time, Chalamet plays a significant but relatively modest role. It’s that rare movie that despite its flaws leaves you wanting more, where the limited series version would potentially be more rewarding. Russell nevertheless delivers a breakthrough performance, anchoring the movie in Maren’s uncertainty and vulnerability, which provides necessary ballast given the florid nature of the characters around her. “Bones and All” just takes that dynamic more literally than most, while narratively speaking, feeling more like an appetizer than a meal.

☆ Leaving New York for Cleveland? Here’s How Far Their Money Went.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Debra Kamin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Mr. McGlinchey had been to Cleveland only once, years before. “People in the museum world know Cleveland, and know the Cleveland Museum of Art’s quality of programming,” said Ms. Scaturro, 46. So Ms. Scaturro went on her own, renting a house in Shaker Heights, a leafy Cleveland suburb. In Cleveland, house hunting proved more manageable than in New York. Ms. Scaturro, an avid cook, wanted a big kitchen and space for entertaining.

Search resuls for: "Met’s"

25 mentions found