DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst Acquire Licensing RightsNEW YORK, Sept 25 (Reuters) - A U.S. government shutdown would negatively impact the country's credit, credit rating agency Moody's said on Monday, a stern warning coming one month after Fitch downgraded the U.S. by one notch on the back of a debt ceiling crisis. Moody's has an "Aaa" rating for the U.S. government with a stable outlook - the highest creditworthiness it assigns to borrowers. "Fiscal policymaking is less robust in the U.S. than in many Aaa-rated peers, and another shutdown would be further evidence of this weakness," Moody's said in a statement. The economic impact of a shutdown would likely be limited and short-lived, with the most direct economic impact caused by lower government spending. Of course, the longer the shutdown lasts, the more negative its impact would be on the broader economy, said Moody's.

Persons: Jonathan Ernst, Moody's, Fitch, William Foster, Foster, Davide Barbuscia, Megan Davies, Sharon Singleton, Josie Kao Organizations: U.S . Capitol, REUTERS, U.S, Reuters, P Global, Aaa, Republican Party, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S, U.S, Washington, Aaa, Moody's

☆ The Ghost in the Mirror
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Soman Chainani | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

If Hatke’s “Basement” is a quiet, haunted museum, Remy Lai’s graphic novel GHOST BOOK (Holt, 320 pp., $14.99, ages 8 to 12) is a crackle-pop of melodrama. Twelve-year-old July Chen can see ghosts that aren’t visible to anyone else — a useful skill during Hungry Ghost Month, when ghosts invade the world of the living. A boy ghost her age named William is at once friend and foe (turns out he’s not dead but in a coma; for him to live, she must die). (The bureaucracy here is worthy of New York City Building Code: a Birth Register, a Death Register, a Life Register, an Underlings Register.) All these scenes are drawn with a dreamlike zaniness, hewing closer to anime than Lai’s past work (“Pawcasso,” “Pie in the Sky,” “Fly on the Wall”).

Persons: ”, Milo, Remy Lai’s, Chen, William, he’s Organizations: New Locations: New York

Prince William flew to New York on Monday for a two-day visit during which he attended the second Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit, an event which coincides with both Climate Week NYC and the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, and where the finalists were unveiled. Prince William speaks with kids as he visits Billion Oyster Project in New York City on Monday. Cindy Ord/Getty ImagesUpon touching down at Newark Airport on Monday, the Prince of Wales said it was good to be back in the US. “No one does optimism and ingenuity like the American people, so it’s only right we unveil this year’s Earthshot finalists in New York City,” William said. And vital.”The five Earthshot categories and finalists are:Protect and Restore NatureAccion Andina - Peru: A grassroots project working across South America to protect native forest ecosystems across the Andes.

Persons: Prince, Prince William, John F, Cindy Ord, Wales, ” William, “, Kennedy Organizations: London CNN, UN, Assembly, Royal Foundation, Getty, Newark Airport, Air, US, Global, Technologies, Circ Inc Locations: Wales, New York, Singapore, United States, New York City, Peru, South America, Freetown, Tree, Sierra Leone, Council, Belterra, Brazil, Poland, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, South Africa, India

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial on corruption allegations is among several such proceedings that have occurred in U.S. history. In Texas, an impeachment charge from the House results in immediate suspension from office, as is the case for Paxton. The state Senate voted in 2011 to pardon him, but the House failed to concur. STATE ATTORNEYS GENERALPaxton has company as an impeached state attorney general. — South Dakota Republican Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg was impeached and convicted in 2022 for his involvement in a 2020 crash in which the car he was driving hit a pedestrian.

Persons: Ken Paxton’s, impeaches, Paxton, Joe Biden, Andrew Johnson, Abraham Lincoln's, Edwin Stanton, Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinsky, Paula Jones, —, — Republican Donald Trump, Trump, Evan Mecham of, William Holden of, Rod Blagojevich, Barack Obama, GENERAL Paxton, Jason Ravnsborg, Roland Boyton, William French, Alcee Hastings, Charles L, Crum of Montana, Jennifer Farrar Organizations: GOP, Democratic, U.S, Senate, Radical Republicans, — Republican, GOVERNORS, Republican Gov, — Republican Gov, GENERAL, — South, — South Dakota Republican, Republican, District, Montana Senate, AP statehouse Locations: Texas, U.S, Austin, Evan Mecham of Arizona, William Holden of North Carolina, Illinois, —, — South Dakota, — In Kansas, Paxton , Texas, Florida, Montana, New York

☆ Factbox: When is Venice Film Festival 2023 and what can we expect?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] The 79th Venice Film Festival - Awards Ceremony - Venice, Italy, September 10, 2022 - Director Laura Poitras poses with the Golden Lion Award for Best Film. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsAug 28 (Reuters) - The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest film festival in the world, with its 80th edition opening this week. WHEN IS THE VENICE FESTIVAL? The festival opens on Aug. 30 with the premiere of Italian World War Two film "Comandante", directed by Edoardo De Angelis. There are several categories making up the official selection of films shown, the top being those competing for the coveted Golden Lion award.

Persons: Laura Poitras, Guglielmo Mangiapane, Edoardo De Angelis, El Conde, Pablo Larrain, Luc Besson, Ferrari, Michael Mann, Nikolaj, Saverio Costanzo, Maestro, Bradley Cooper, Stefano, Allem, Timm Kroger, David Fincher, Bertrand Bonello, Priscilla, Sofia Coppola, Agnieszka Holland, Pietro Castellitto, Ava DuVernay, Matteo Garrone, Giorgio Diritti, Holly, Szumowska, Michal Englert, Michel Franco, Stephane Brize, William Friedkin, Woody Allen's, Roman Polanski, Henry Sugar, Wes Anderson, Harmony Korine, Travis Scott, Crispian Balmer, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: Golden, Film, REUTERS, Society, Hollywood, Thomson Locations: Venice, Italy, VENICE, Spanish, Chile, Denmark, Austria, Switz, Canada, France

Circuit Court of Appeals found that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission lacked the authority under federal law to issue permits for private, temporary nuclear waste storage sites. Circuit Judge James Ho, writing for the court, agreed with Texas that the Atomic Energy Act does not give the agency the broad authority "to license a private, away-from-reactor storage facility for spent nuclear fuel." Abbott opposed the plan, saying he would not let Texas become "America's nuclear waste dumping ground." The plan for a temporary facility was devised in order to address a growing nuclear waste problem in the United States. The Andrews County site was chosen after efforts to build a permanent storage facility in Nevada fell apart amid fierce local opposition.

Persons: James Ho, William F, Buckley, Jr, Michelle McLoughlin, Ho, Donald Trump, Greg Abbott's, Abbott, Clark Mindock, Will Dunham Organizations: Yale University, REUTERS, Republican, Circuit, Appeals, U.S . Nuclear, Commission, Partners, Atomic Energy, Waste, NRC, Thomson Locations: New Haven , Connecticut, U.S, Texas, New Orleans, Andrews County , Texas, United States, Andrews, Nevada, New York

☆ Winnie the Pooh sketch found in drawer could sell for $38,000
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Lianne Kolirin | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN —An original black and white sketch of Winnie the Pooh and his good friend Piglet which languished for decades in a drawer is expected to fetch thousands when it goes under the hammer next month. According to Dominic Winter Auctioneers, which is handling the sale, the pen and ink drawing is the same as one of the final illustrations in A.A. Milne’s first book about Winnie the Pooh, published in 1926. The picture, the same as the final drawing in the first Winnie the Pooh book, languished for years in a drawer. In a press release issued by the auctioneers, Albury said the sketch is “more valuable than the majority of books on proud display in the fine [Christopher Foyle] library” – which are also available to buy. Christina Foyle was Christopher Foyle’s aunt, and daughter of bookshop founder William Foyle.

Persons: Winnie, Pooh, Piglet, Dominic Winter Auctioneers, Milne’s, E.H, Shepard, Christopher Foyle, William Foyle, Dominic Winter, Chris Albury, Christopher Foyle’s, Catherine –, ”, “, Albury, it’s, Christina Foyle’s “, Christina Foyle, ” Albury, Christopher Organizations: London CNN, CNN, Disney, Albury Locations: A.A, British, Albury

☆ Review: Is William Finn’s ‘A New Brain’ a Stroke of Genius?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Jesse Green | More About Jesse Green | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

First comes the piano, then the bed. In between, in Barrington Stage Company’s revival of “A New Brain,” a dejected man named Gordon Schwinn plunks out the first halting notes of a song he’s writing. In this musical, with songs by William Finn and a book by him and James Lapine, the prominence of the piano and the bed is no accident; they are the poles of Schwinn’s, or any artist’s, existence. For “A New Brain,” first seen at Lincoln Center Theater in 1998, Finn shaped the givens of his idiosyncratic songwriting style and of the stroke that nearly killed him in 1992 into a show that somehow transcends both. If you could never mistake its silliness and sadness for anyone else’s work, you could never miss, in its intimations of mortality, how it inevitably speaks to everyone.

Persons: ”, Gordon Schwinn plunks, William Finn, James Lapine, Finn, givens Organizations: Lincoln Center Theater Locations: Barrington

☆ Michael Jackson: Sexual abuse cases against star’s estate can be revived, court docs show
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-19 | by ( Keith Allen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Safechuck, at age eight, appeared with Jackson in a 1986 Pepsi commercial; and Robson, at age five, after winning a dance-alike contest when Jackson performed in Brisbane, Australia. (“Leaving Neverland” was an HBO documentary. Jackson died in 2009, but the plaintiffs are seeking damages from two entertainment companies that, over much of their existence, were solely owned and operated by Jackson. The cases, which were consolidated in the appeals court, will now go back to trial. We eagerly look forward to a trial on the merits.”CNN has reached out to attorneys for the estate of Michael Jackson.

Persons: CNN — Wade Robson, James Safechuck –, Michael Jackson, ” Robson, Safechuck, Jackson, Robson, Vince William Finaldi, ” Organizations: CNN, California’s, Pepsi, HBO, Warner Bros ., ” CNN Locations: Jackson, Brisbane, Australia, California

☆ Living with air pollution, especially from wildfires or agriculture, raises risk of dementia, US study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( Jen Christensen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The study authors said it’s the first nationally representative study of the potential effects of particle pollution on dementia in the US, and the link to dementia was most robust in areas with pollution from agriculture and wildfires. Pesticides are neurotoxins to animals, she said, so those may be the particles in agriculture pollution that are affecting human brains, as well. As for wildfires, the smoke doesn’t just come from burning trees; things like homes and gas stations burn too, becoming the particle pollution that people breathe in. The new study cannot determine the exact mechanism connecting particle pollution and dementia, but scientists have some theories. A study in England found that adults living with the highest annual concentration of air pollution had 1.4 times the dementia risk as those living with the lowest annual concentration.

Persons: it’s, ”, Sara Dubowsky Adar, Boya Zhang, Adar, Caleb Finch, William F, It’s, Masashi Kitazawa, Kitazawa, ” Kitazawa, Finch, Zhang, Dr, Sanjay Gupta, ” Zhang, “ Organizations: CNN, US Environmental Protection Agency, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Pesticides, ARCO, William, Kieschnick, University of Southern, World Health, Alzheimer’s Association, University of California, Alzheimer’s, CNN Health, World Health Organization Locations: United States, University of Southern California, Irvine, Canada, England, California

☆ William Friedkin’s Movie ‘The Exorcist’ Understands Old-Time Catholicism - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-12 | by ( Matthew Walther | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

It is one of those strange accidents of history that the best film ever made about the Roman Catholic Church was directed by a Jewish agnostic. When it came out, “The Exorcist” didn’t just shock audiences with lurid scenes of projectile vomiting and spinning heads. It also forced them to acknowledge a tension, most acutely felt in the Catholic Church but omnipresent in Western society, that had grown between two rival conceptions of religion. Is religion an expression of a transcendent moral and metaphysical order? “The Exorcist” came down on the side of tradition.

Persons: William Friedkin, ”, Friedkin Organizations: Roman Catholic Church, Catholic Church, Catholic, Vatican Council

☆ William Friedkin, Director of ‘French Connection’ and ‘Exorcist,’ Dies at 87
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( William Grimes | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Both parents were Jews who had left Ukraine early in the century with their families to escape the tsarist pogroms. His mother, who was known as Rae, was an operating room nurse; his father worked a variety of low-paying jobs. After graduating from Senn High School on Chicago’s North Side in 1953, Mr. Friedkin took a job in the mailroom of the local television station WGN. Within a few years he had worked his way up to director, turning out hundreds of shows, from “Bozo’s Circus” to live performances of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as well as documentaries. His documentary work coincided with the advent of portable cameras, a decisive influence on his style.

Persons: Friedkin, ” Peter Biskind, “, ” William Friedkin, Billy, Louis, Rachel, Green, Rae, ”, Gene Siskel, Paul Crump, David Wolper Organizations: Riders, Raging Bulls, ‘ Star, ‘ Raiders, Senn High, WGN, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Chicago Tribune, Jail, San Francisco Film Locations: Chicago, Ukraine, Cook, Los Angeles

☆ William Friedkin, acclaimed 'Exorcist' director, dead at 87
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/3] Director William Friedkin attends a walking tour around Georgetown that focused on some of the film locations from the original Exorcist in Washington D.C., U.S. April 17, 2018. "The French Connection" won five Academy Awards, including best picture, best director for Friedkin and best actor for Gene Hackman, who Friedkin initially did not want in the memorable role of New York narcotics detective Popeye Doyle. "The Exorcist" was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including best picture and best director for Friedkin. In "The French Connection," cops played by Hackman and Roy Scheider in the decaying New York City of the early 1970s track a French heroin smuggler. William David Friedkin was born on Aug. 29, 1935, and grew up in Chicago, the son of poor Ukrainian immigrants.

Persons: William Friedkin, Carlos Barria, ", Friedkin, Sonny, Cher, Gene Hackman, Popeye Doyle, Linda Blair, Tom Huddleston, they're, William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, Ashley Judd, Joe, Matthew McConaughey, Billy, Hackman, Roy Scheider, William Peter Blatty's, Blair, Oscar, levitates, Mercedes McCambridge, Al Pacino, Gay, William David Friedkin, Sherry Lansing, Jeanne Moreau, Lesley, Anne Down, Kelly Lange, Will Dunham, Danielle Broadway, Bill Trott, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Washington D.C, REUTERS, Creative Artists Agency, Chicago TV, Thomson Locations: Georgetown, Washington, York, L.A, New York City, Chicago, Hollywood, Los Angeles

☆ William Friedkin, director of 'The Exorcist' and 'The French Connection,' dies at 87
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( Daniel Arkin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

William Friedkin, the maverick film director who helped revolutionize 1970s Hollywood with the electrifying, era-defining classics "The French Connection" and "The Exorcist," died Monday, a representative from his office told the Associated Press. Friedkin won an Academy Award for directing "The French Connection," a white-knuckle 1971 crime thriller about a brash New York City narcotics detective played by Gene Hackman. Friedkin got his big break in 1971 with "The French Connection," a smash with audiences and critics alike. "The French Connection" catapulted Friedkin to the top ranks of American filmmakers, putting him in league with other New Hollywood rising stars like Martin Scorsese, Peter Bogdanovich and Francis Ford Coppola. Friedkin leaped from "The French Connection" to "The Exorcist," adapted from William Peter Blatty's novel of the same name.

Persons: William Friedkin, Sherry Lansing, Friedkin's, Friedkin, Gene Hackman, didn't, That's, Satan, Al Pacino, Sonny, Pauline Kael, Martin Scorsese, Peter Bogdanovich, Francis Ford Coppola, William Peter Blatty's, Linda Blair, Ellen Burstyn, Roger Ebert, Joe, —, Kiefer Sutherland Organizations: Associated Press, Paramount Pictures, New, New York, NBC News, Venice Locations: Venice, Italy, New, New York City, L.A, Chicago, Manhattan, Hollywood, New York

☆ William Friedkin, ‘Exorcist’ director, dead at 87
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( Dan Heching | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —William Friedkin, director of iconic 1970s films including “The French Connection” and “The Exorcist,” has died, his wife Sherry Lansing, the former CEO of Paramount Pictures, told The Hollywood Reporter on Monday. Friedkin won the Oscar for best director for “French Connection” in 1972, going on to be nominated for the same trophy again two years later for occult horror “Exorcist,” the genre-defying hit that racked up ten nominations and two statuettes. Curiously, Friedkin once told Cinephilia Beyond that his original intention wasn’t even to make a horror film with “The Exorcist.”“I recognize that audiences for generations have considered it a horror film,” he observed. “I won’t deny that, but when I set out to make it, the writer and I never had any concept of it as a horror film. He is survived by his wife, along with two sons, Jackson and Cedric Friedkin.

Persons: William Friedkin, ”, Sherry Lansing, Friedkin, Oscar, Friedkin’s, —, Al Pacino, Willem Dafoe, Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon, Harry Connick Jr, Tommy Lee Jones, Samuel L, Jackson, Jade, David Caruso, Linda Fiorentino, Amort, Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Clarke, Jake Lacy, William Peter Blatty –, Ellen Burstyn, Cinephilia, Exorcist’s, Stanley Kubrick, Arthur Penn, Mike Nichols, ’ ” Friedkin, Jeanne Moreau, Lesley, Anne Down, Kelly Lange, Lansing, Cedric Friedkin Organizations: CNN, Paramount Pictures, Hollywood, NPR Locations: L.A, ”, French, British

☆ William Friedkin’s Final Film to Premiere at the Venice Film Festival
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( Kyle Buchanan | More About Kyle Buchanan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Herman Wouk, “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial” follows the trial of a naval officer (played by Jake Lacy) who is accused of leading a mutiny against his unstable commander (Kiefer Sutherland). The story was first adapted for the 1954 film “The Caine Mutiny,” which was nominated for seven Oscars including best picture. Though that film and Wouk’s novel take place during World War II, Friedkin contemporized the story and relocated the action to the Persian Gulf. “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial” is Friedkin’s 20th narrative film and his first since 2011’s “Killer Joe,” which starred Matthew McConaughey. In the interim, Friedkin directed a documentary, “The Devil and Father Amorth,” about a purported real-life exorcism.

Persons: William Friedkin, Friedkin, “, ”, Herman Wouk, Jake Lacy, Kiefer Sutherland, Joe, Matthew McConaughey, Amorth Organizations: Paramount, Showtime, Venice Film Locations: Venice, Persian

☆ Why it's so hard to build homes in your neighborhood
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-05 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

Single-family homes in Arlington, Massachusetts. Around 75% of residential land in the United States is zoned for single-family homes only. This has had the effect of encouraging ever-larger single-family homes and limiting housing options, like smaller houses. “You can’t just do it all with zoning reform,” Walla Walla City Manager Elizabeth Chamberlain told CNN. The second wave of single-family zoning laws spread during the 1970s, historians say, and the policies became more restrictive.

Persons: Suzanne Kreiter, ”, Jenny Schuetz, “, —, Ben McCanna, Joe Biden’s, Richard Kahlenberg, Kathy Hochul’s, Elizabeth Chamberlain, “ It’s, Nancy Kaye, William Fischel, Fischel, Carlos Avila Gonzalez, Yonah Freemark, we’re, ” Freemark Organizations: New, New York CNN, Boston Globe, Brookings Metro, Republicans, Portland Press Herald, Getty Images, ”, CNN, Homes, “, Dartmouth University, Homeowners, San Francisco Chronicle, AP, Pew Charitable Locations: New York, Arlington , Massachusetts, United States, “, Maine, Getty Images Minneapolis, Arlington , Gainesville, Charlotte, Walla Walla , Washington, Oregon , California, Washington , Montana, Connecticut , Arizona, ” Walla Walla City, Cities, Louisville , Kentucky, Flushing , Queens, America, San Francisco, Los Angeles , New York City, Seattle, Chicago , Philadelphia, Portland, Washington, Walnut Creek , California, Minneapolis, Portland , New Rochelle , New York, , Virginia, Towns, Walla, Walla Walla

☆ Appeals court allows Biden asylum restrictions to temporarily stay in place as case plays out
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty ImagesAn appeals court Thursday allowed a rule restricting asylum at the southern border to temporarily stay in place. The government had gone quickly to the appeals court asking for the rule to be allowed to remain in use while the larger court battles surrounding its legality play out. The new asylum rule was put in place back in May. The government said the new asylum rule was an important tool to control migration. One of the groups, the American Civil Liberties Union, noted in a news release Thursday that the ruling didn't weigh the legality of the asylum rule and that they were confident they'd ultimately prevail.

Persons: Patrick T, Fallon, Biden, William Fletcher, Richard Paez, Bill Clinton, Judge Lawrence VanDyke, Donald Trump, VanDyke, Trump, David Peinado, they'd, Eiland, John Moore Organizations: Customs, Border Protection, Border Patrol, AFP, Getty, U.S, Appeals, US Border Patrol, Bloomberg, Texas Governor, Texas National Guard, Ciudad Juarez, Anadolu Agency, CBP, American Civil Liberties Union Locations: Rio Grande, Mexico, El Paso , Texas, U.S, Yuma , Arizona, United States, Rio, El Paso Texas, Matamoros , Mexico

☆ Americans' wages are finally outpacing inflation. But could it last?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-16 | by ( Alicia Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

For more than two years, persistent and pervasive inflation has taken big bites out of Americans’ paychecks. Annual real weekly wages were up 0.6% last month, a rate that’s a tick below the 0.7% gain seen in February 2020. June also marked the second consecutive month of year-over-year real hourly wage growth — the first back-to-back months of gains since early 2021. Fears of a dreaded “wage-price spiral” — when rising wages and prices feed into each other — have made a bogeyman out of wage growth. And finally, supply-side inflation has drastically cooled to the point where annual inflation is practically flat — which, ideally, gives firms more wiggle room to pay workers, she said.

Persons: hasn’t, ’, That’s, ”, William Ferguson, Gertrude B, Austin, it’s, Alex Pelle, “, Sung Won Sohn, Ben Bernanke, ” Pelle, Julia Pollak, they’ve Organizations: Minneapolis CNN, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Grinnell College, stoke, Mizuho Securities, Loyola Marymount University, SS, San Francisco Fed, BLS Locations: Minneapolis, Iowa

☆ A French Festival Focuses (Timidly) on English
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Laura Cappelle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As soon as the Portuguese director Tiago Rodrigues took over at the Avignon Festival, France’s biggest theater event, he announced a symbolic move: Under his direction, there would be a special focus on a different language every year, starting, this summer, with English. There was wincing from some quarters: To many in France, English is already far too culturally dominant. Of several dozen productions in the official lineup of this year’s festival, which runs through July 25, only six plays are predominantly in English. So far, however, the most intriguing discovery has been the sole American entry, “Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge,” from Elevator Repair Service. From tables on opposite sides of the stage, Greig Sargeant (Baldwin) and Ben Williams (Buckley) spar with effective solemnity.

Persons: Tiago Rodrigues, hasn’t, Tim Etchells, Alexander Zeldin, “ Baldwin, Buckley, James Baldwin, William F, Buckley Jr, Greig Sargeant, Baldwin, Ben Williams Organizations: Avignon, France’s, Royal Court, Cambridge, Repair Service Locations: Portuguese, France, Avignon, British, ”, United States

MOSCOW, July 12 (Reuters) - Russia is decaying in a potent brew of absurdity and repression that is comparable to the Leonid Brezhnev-era of the Soviet Union, Oleg Orlov, one of the Russia's most respected human rights campaigners, told Reuters. One of the leaders of the Memorial rights group, which won a share of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 a year after being banned and dissolved in Russia, Orlov stood by his articles and cast Russia as a country gripped by the demons of history. "Russia is going backwards," Orlov told Reuters in his Moscow flat over a glass of the traditional fermented kvas. "For Putin, war is his political technology," Orlov said. Current Russian levels of repression, he said, could be compared to the Brezhnev era of the Soviet Union after the arrest of writers Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel in 1965.

Persons: Leonid Brezhnev, Oleg Orlov, Orlov, Wagner, Russia, Vladimir Putin's, Putin, Brezhnev, Andrei Sinyavsky, Yuli Daniel, unpatriotic, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's, William Faulkner, Fyodor Dostoevsky's, Tatiana, Guy Faulconbridge, Filipp Lebedev, Nick Macfie Organizations: Reuters, Memorial, Solidarity, West, Thomson Locations: MOSCOW, Russia, Soviet Union, Moscow, Ukraine, Soviet, Afghanistan, Chechen, Russian, Tbilisi

☆ US inflation cooled in June for the 12th straight month
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Alicia Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

US annual inflation slowed to 3% last month, according to the latest Consumer Price Index released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The June annual rate is down from 4% in May and landed slightly below economists’ expectations for a 3.1% increase, according to Refinitiv. Starting in March 2022, the central bank rolled out 10 consecutive interest rate hikes to tame inflation, finally hitting pause last month. And June of last year was monumental: Annual inflation soared to 9.1%, the highest in more than 40 years largely because of record-high energy costs. So the Fed and economists have been keyed in on what’s happening with core inflation, particularly core services.

Persons: Olivia Newton, ” William Ferguson, “, Joe Biden, ” Sung Won Sohn, Lael Brainard, ” Brainard, Brainard, ” Julia Pollak, ZipRecruiter, Sohn, ”, —, Nicole Goodkind Organizations: Minneapolis CNN, Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI, Grinnell College, CNN, Federal Reserve, Loyola Marymount University, SS Economics, Core PCE, National Economic Council, Economic, of New, BLS, Kansas City Fed Locations: Minneapolis, Iowa, of New York

MONTPELIER, Vermont, July 11 (Reuters) - A Vermont reservoir threatened to overwhelm a dam protecting the state's capital on Tuesday and exacerbate "catastrophic" flooding that has already shut roadways leading out of town and trapped people in their homes. The North Branch converges with a second, larger branch of the Winooski near the Vermont statehouse. "Make no mistake, the devastation and flooding we're experiencing across Vermont is historic and catastrophic," Vermont Governor Phil Scott said at a briefing Tuesday. [1/8]People paddle a kayak down a street flooded by recent rain storms in Montpelier, Vermont, U.S., July 11, 2023. The city's topography - bordered by hills with the downtown in a valley - increases the potential for flooding, Montpelier City Council member Conor Casey said.

Persons: Phil Scott, William Fraser, Brian Snyder, Jack McCullough, McCullough, Mike Cannon, Irene, Conor Casey, Casey, Janet Boyd, Boyd, Brendan O'Brien, Rich McKay, Rachel Nostrant, Daniel Trotta, Devika Syamnath, Bill Berkrot, Sandra Maler Organizations: Branch, National Weather Service, Vermont statehouse, REUTERS, CNN, Thomson Locations: MONTPELIER , Vermont, Vermont, Montpelier, United States, Florida , Texas, California, U.S, New York , Massachusetts, Connecticut, Montpelier City, Montpelier , Vermont, New England, Wilmington , Vermont, Chicago, Atlanta

☆ Prigozhin might want to 'steer clear of any upper floor windows' for now, says military expert: 'When you strike at a king, you must kill him'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Kwan Wei Kevin Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A military expert says Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin "may want to steer clear" of windows. Wechsler added that Prigozhin should remember: "When you strike at a king, you must kill him." Two critics of Putin's war in Ukraine have died in the last year after falling from building windows. He came to an agreement because Putin has long been his patron, not his adversary — the Russian military elite is his adversary," Wechsler told Insider. "In the end, Putin and Prigozhin avoided the kind of conflict that would have risked each or both of them losing everything, but the resulting agreement has diminished them both.

Persons: Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wechsler, —, Yevgeny Prigozhin's, Ralph Waldo Emerson's, William F, Prigozhin, Obama, Vladimir Putin, Pavel Antov, Antov, Ravil Maganov, Maganov's, Putin, " Wechsler Organizations: Service, Wagner Group, Rafik Hariri Center and Middle, Atlantic Council, Associated Press, Russian Defense Ministry, BBC, Russian Locations: Rafik, Moscow, Belarus, Ukraine, India, Russia

☆ A brand new dinosaur species with spiky armor was recently discovered to have roamed England during the Cretaceous period
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A new species of dinosaur, Vectipelta barretti, was discovered on England's Isle of Wight. The new species is an ankylosaur, with dorsal armor made up of plates, spikes, and curved spines. Researchers will have to examine other ankylosaur fossils to see if they belong to the new species. But the newly-discovered species, Vectipelta, is thought to have been between 6 and 8 million years older than Polacanthus and has a few anatomical differences. Since 2019, at least four other new dinosaur species have been discovered there and scientists aren't holding back with some of the names.

Persons: barretti, —, Vectipelta, Polacanthus, we've, Stuart Pond, Ankylosaurs, William Fox, ankylosaurs, Ceratosuchops inferodios Organizations: Service, Privacy, Scientists, CNN Locations: Isle of Wight, England's Isle of Wight, China, Asia, Europe

Search resuls for: "William F"

25 mentions found