Month: August 2023
Los Angeles’s deepest anxieties after the Hollywood strikes
Two stories emerge from talking to writers and actors on the picket lines at studios around Los Angeles. The first is of an industry in chaos as workers fret about the effects of technological change on their pay-cheques, and studios balk at Wall Street demanding profits, not just subscriber growth, from their streaming platforms. The
Zimdollar stability
The S.I. 133 of 2019 officially brought to an end the multi-currency regime, which had allowed the Zimbabwean economy to transact with the USD and had been running for a decade.This made the Zimbabwean dollar, called RTGS dollar by then, the sole legal tender in the country. Fast-forward, Covid-19 hit and the monetary authorities allowed
ECOWAS Army chiefs asked t declare their loyalty
ECOWAS had initially given Niger’s military junta a seven-day ultimatum to reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum, but an intervention by stand-by force is now being explored. Army chiefs from West African countries have been urged to remain loyal to their heads of state and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) during discussions aimed at
Israel raid on Palestine police
Nearly 180 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire across the West Bank in 2023, almost half of them affiliated with militant groups, On July 3, Israeli special forces entered the camp under the cover of drone strikes, killing 12 Palestinians, at least eight of them militants, wounding dozens and leaving a trail of destruction.
The new COVID-19 variant in the United Kingdom
The World Health Organisation and the US health authorities had on Thursday said they were closely monitoring a new variant of Covid-19, although the potential impact of BA.2.86 is currently unknown. WHO designated the COVID-19 variant BA.2.86 as a ‘variant under monitoring’ due to the large number of mutations it carries. There is currently insufficient
X, to remove blocking feature
Currently, when users “block” an account, it stops that account’s posts from appearing in the blocker’s timeline, and vice versa. An account that is blocked can no longer send messages to the blocker, nor can it view their posts. Removing a blocking feature could also potentially violate the terms and conditions of stores like Apple’s
Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu’s visit to Belarus
Belarus, meanwhile, has been targeted with Western sanctions for its role assisting Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Russia, with the approval of Lukashenko, has used Belarus to launch attacks on Ukraine, with Russian soldiers also positioned on Belarusian territory. China has asserted that it plays a neutral role in Russia’s assault on its neighbor. Lukashenko
The use of Fentanyl in America’s big cities
When opioids first started killing Americans in very large numbers, it was disproportionately white people, often in rural areas, who were the victims. Cities and ethnic minorities generally suffered lightly. Yet a far worse wave of death is under way now, caused almost entirely by fentanyl, an incredibly powerful synthetic opioid that can be used
sinking Russia rouble against dollar
The currency is one of the world’s worst performers this year, outdone only by perennially troublesome peers like the Argentine peso, Venezuelan bolivar and Turkish lira. On august 14th Russia’s rouble slipped past the value of 100 to the American dollar, meaning it was worth less than a solitary cent and was the cheapest it
Exportation of Modern Islam in Indonesia
Despite being the world’s most populous Muslim majority country, Indonesia has long punched below its weight in the big Islamic debates. The dominant Muslim ideas, spiritual and political, long emanated from the conservative Middle East. 22 years ago, jihadist terrorists planted bombs at churches in cities across Indonesia, killing 18 people. Every Christmas since then,