Hello, welcome to the post-Emmys editing of The Monitor, WIRED's pop culture news roundup. Yes, we have some Emmys news, but there are also a few tidbits about Frozen 2 and some high fashion coming to League of Legends. Here we go!After years of congratulating people-pleasers and prestige TV, the Television Academy seems to have finally gotten wise to the folks at the outcasts table. Last night, Amazon's Fleabag took home four statues, including Outstanding Comedy Series, while groundbreaking performances like Billy Porter's on Pose and Jodie Comer's on Killing Eve also received the recognition they deserved. Game of Thrones of course won a predictable amount of awards for its final season, but beyond that the future belonged to the new casts.Despite the snubs at last night's Emmys, the event's biggest loser was actually the telecast itself. Up against Sunday Night Football, ratings for the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards hit an all-time low on Fox. We can't help but wonder whether it should've been broadcast on a streaming service...Need some fanciness in your League of Legends? You're in luck. French fashion house Louis Vuitton is now designing skins for the fantasy videogame. The new outfits, made in partnership with Riot Games, will be unveiled during the League of Legends World Championships in Paris this November and will be attainable through gameplay or available for purchase.You know you want to watch.Jack Conte, Patreon, and the plight of the creative classWhat happened to Urban Dictionary?Six reasons to ditch Chrome for the Vivaldi browser on AndroidHow tech firms like Uber hide behind the “platform defense”Uncertainty isn't always a problem—it can be the solution👁 How do machines learn? Plus, read the latest news on artificial intelligence💻 Upgrade your work game with our Gear team’s favorite laptops, keyboards, typing alternatives, and noise-canceling headphones

It was a British invasion at the 71st Emmy awards, with Game of Thrones taking home the prize for best drama and Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag sweeping most of the comedy awards in a night that saw numerous nods to stars from across the pond.The biggest question heading into the night was whether Emmy voters would reward perennial juggernaut Game of Thrones for its divisive final season. The show was nominated for 32 awards – the most for any single season of television ever – and had already won 10 Creative Arts Emmys last week. Game of Thrones took home the night’s final prize for outstanding drama series and a best supporting actor nod for American star Peter Dinklage – bringing its total to 12 awards and breaking its own 2015 record for the most awards given to a series – but was otherwise shut out of the telecast.Instead, Fleabag emerged as the night’s big winner, upstaging Veep, HBO’s other Emmys mainstay in its final season, and last year’s darling The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. Fleabag, which originated as Waller-Bridge’s one-woman show at the Edinburgh festival fringe, took home the awards for outstanding writing, best comedy series and best directing. Waller-Bridge also claimed lead actress in a comedy series – a surprise win over Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who would have become the most decorated Emmys performer of all time had she won a ninth award for her role as Selina Meyer on Veep.Waller-Bridge, who began her third acceptance speech by saying “This is just getting ridiculous”, was the crest of what amounted to a British wave at the Emmys, with wins for several stars: Ben Whishaw (A Very English Scandal) won for outstanding supporting actor in a limited series, while Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) apologized to her Liverpudlian parents for not inviting them because she “didn’t think it was my time” in her speech for lead actress in a drama series. Chernobyl, HBO and Sky Television’s brutal, critically acclaimed limited series on the 1986 nuclear disaster, won for best outstanding writing, best directing and limited series. John Oliver won his fourth consecutive Emmy for best variety series for Last Week Tonight, and Jesse Armstrong took home best drama writing for HBO’s upstart Succession. Black Mirror’s choose-your-own-adventure flick Bandersnatch also won for best television movie.In a hostless awards show packed with more awards than anything else, perhaps the most stirring moment of the night was Michelle Williams’ speech for outstanding lead actress in a limited series (Fosse/Verdon), in which she heralded gender pay equity. “My bosses never presumed to know better than I did about what I needed in order to do my job and honor Gwen Verdon,” said Williams, now an outspoken activist for gender pay equity following the revelation – to herself and the public – that she was paid significantly less than costar Mark Wahlberg in the movie All the Money in the World. “The next time a woman, and especially a woman of color – because she stands to make 52 cents on the dollar compared to her white male counterpart – tells you what she needs in order to do her job, listen to her,” Williams said to some tears from the audience.“Believe her, because one day she might stand in front of you and say thank you for allowing [her] to succeed because of her workplace environment and not in spite of it.”The night’s other highlight was an inspiring win for Jharrel Jerome as lead actor in a limited series for When They See Us, Ava DuVernay’s Netflix series on the wrongly convicted Central Park Five that was otherwise shut out of awards by Chernobyl. “This is for the men we know as the exonerated five,” Jerome said as the real Central Park Five, now exonerated, raised their fists in solidarity.Representation and tolerance were also the themes of speeches by Billy Porter (Pose), who took home the prize for lead actor in a drama series – “The category is love, y’all, love!” he shouted – and Patricia Arquette (The Act), who won outstanding supporting actress in a limited series. Arquette dedicated the award to her sister Alexis, a trans woman who died in 2016, and urged an end to discrimination of trans people. “Give them jobs. Let’s get rid of this bias that we have everywhere,” she said.Outside of the British winners, other highlights of the evening included two nods to The Marvelous Mrs Maisel – Tony Shalhoub and Alex Borstein for supporting actor and actress in a comedy series, respectively – and an underdog win for Ozark’s Julia Garner as outstanding supporting actress, besting Daenerys Targaryen herself, Emilia Clarke.Game of Thrones still got its recognition, however, as a portion of its massive cast and crew took the stage for the night’s biggest honor. Given all the fire and ice, dragons and long shoots, “it is amazing that all of you are still alive”, said co-showrunner DB Weiss. “I can’t believe we finished it.” Topics Emmys 2019 Emmys US television Fleabag Game of Thrones Phoebe Waller-Bridge Michelle Williams news

closeVideoFashion from the 71st Emmy AwardsA look at the fashion worn by the biggest celebrities from the 2019 Emmy AwardsChristina Applegate got curt with Jenny McCarthy and Giuliana Rancic on the 2019 Emmys red carpet.McCarthy, 46, apparently forgot Applegate's Emmy pedigree from the past, asking the actress if she was excited about her first Emmy nod for the Netflix hit "Dead to Me" ... except, well, it wasn't her first Emmy nod.A visibly miffed Applegate replied, "Mmm, no. 'Samantha Who?' a couple times, but that's OK. We don't have to talk about that." Jenny McCarthy flubbed her interview with Christina Applegate at the 2019 Emmys red carpet. The same night, Applegate shaded E! red carpet host Giuliana Rancic. (Getty)Applegate, 47, was previously nominated for sitcom "Samantha Who?" as well as twice for guest stints on "Friends." She won one award for the latter in 2003.McCarthy also inadvertently shaded the "Married with Children" star's age.McCarthy told Applegate, "I grew up watching you of course, and I was like, 'Oh my God, I want to be her when I get older!' Unfortunately, I didn't get that lucky."SARAH SILVERMAN SLAMS 'CANCEL CULTURE' AT 2019 EMMYS AS 'RIGHTEOUSNESS PORN'With each star having a November birthday, Applegate is just under one year older than McCarthy.Twitter went wild over the former "View" host's gaffes with the "Anchorman" actress.EMMYS 2019: BILLY PORTER MAKES HISTORY, 'GAME OF THRONES' AND 'FLEABAG' WIN BIGIt wasn't Applegate's only uncomfortable interview of the night.Later, she was slightly short with E! red carpet host Giuliana Rancic, making it a point that her daughter likely wasn't watching E!

Constitutional integrity test.A new challenge to Congress's ability to check the executive branch took shape this weekend. On Sunday, President Donald Trump appeared to confirm media reports that he had urged Ukraine to reopen an investigation into the son of former Vice President Joe Biden in a July 25 phone call. "...we don't want our people, like Vice President Biden and his son, creating to the corruption already in the Ukraine," Mr. Trump told reporters on his way to a rally for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Houston. He said there was "no quid pro quo" and he would consider releasing a copy of the transcript of the call. Democrats say the call was an attempt to get a foreign nation to help Mr. Trump win re-election. They've also said that U.S. law requires that the details of a whistleblower complaint about the call be turned over to congressional intelligence committees. But the acting director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire, has refused, citing executive privilege. Some legal experts say that a classified conversation with a foreign leader would normally fall under presidential privilege. In Iowa, a poll Saturday showed Elizabeth Warren ahead of Joe Biden for the first time, and Bernie Sanders a distant third. 2. Historic shift in Israel. For the first time in nearly three decades, a bloc of Arab parties endorsed a candidate for prime minister, in this case, former military chief Benny Gantz. The reluctant endorsement by the Joint List, a bloc of four small Arab parties that controls 13 seats, marks a turning point in Israeli politics. As The Monitor reported on Sept. 10, "Arab citizens have had the right to vote since Israel’s founding, but even the leaders of liberal Jewish parties have ruled out forming a governing coalition that relies on an Arab party to secure a parliamentary majority. And, in a nod to the often-awkward contortions of political life here, so have the Arab parties themselves." Until now. Adam Schiff and the credibility of impeachment3. Equality and diversity celebrated. Michelle Williams took the best actress Emmy Sunday night for her portrayal of dancer Gwen Verdon in "Fosse/Verdon." But it was her call for equal pay that stole the night. "... when you put value into a person it empowers that person to get in touch with their own inherent value. And then where do they put that value? They put it into their work," she said, noting that a woman of color makes 52 cents on the dollar compared to her white, male counterpart. Other big winners included Billy Porter for best actor, the first openly gay actor to win that Emmy. Jharrel Jerome won for "When They See Us," the Netflix series about the Central Park Five. Peter Dinklage won his fourth Best Supporting Actor Emmy for playing Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones. REUTERS/Mike Blake Michelle Williams accepts the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for "Fosse/Verdon" at the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards, Sept.r 22, 2019. Monday, Sept. 23A climate summit today introduces a week of events in New York as leaders from more than 90 nations gather for the annual United Nations General Assembly. The U.N. Secretary General told speakers to come with "concrete and transformative plans" to stop rising global temperatures. Tuesday, Sept. 24Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro will speak first at the official opening of the The U.N. general session. He'll followed by U.S. President Donald Trump. Sideline meetings (through Thursday) between heads of state are often more newsworthy than the speeches. The recent attack on Saudi oil fields, and the presence of all the key leaders in the Sunni-Shiite Middle East conflict, will lead to speculation about sideline meetings between key players, including Mr. Trump and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani.Wednesday, Sept. 25Expect calls for a ban on "military style assault weapons" at a House committee hearing scheduled for today. Presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke said at recent TV debate: "Hell, yes, we're going to take your AR-15."Thursday, Sept. 26If he hasn't already, expect Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire to be asked to turn over the details of a whistleblower’s complaint involving a phone call between President Trump and the President of Ukraine. Mr. Maguire is scheduled to appear before the House Intelligence committee today.Saturday, Sept. 28The 45th season of Saturday Night Live will debut with actor Woody Harrelson as the host. The featured musical guest: Billie Eilish. Courtesy of Daryn Sturch Gratitude in a lemonade cup. A year ago, Daryn Sturch, a nurse in Chili, Indiana, stopped to help when she spotted an accident involving five motorcyclists. Ms. Sturch and members of the Milwaukee Iron biker club kept in touch on Facebook. On Sept. 7, her 8-year-old daughter Bryanne planned to set up a lemonade stand, but she got rained out. Members of the biker club suggested Bryanne try again. The next weekend. 30 bikers showed up. Ms. Sturch was overwhelmed. "It was a good thing I wore waterproof mascara that day," she told CNN. "I think it's a perfect example of how just because you don't look the same way or dress the same way or have the same hobbies or interests doesn't mean we don't have the same core values inside us," Ms. Sturch said. "We shouldn't make assumptions about people, we should just love each other."Start your week with a recent story that inspired Monitor editors and readers:Melinda Gates: What she’s learned Courtesy of Gates Archive Melinda Gates meets in eastern India with women from Pradan, an Indian nonprofit that works with poor people in rural communities. In tonight’s Daily Edition, watch for our story about tackling climate change: If multilateralism is waning, how can the U.N. make progress on this global issue? Get the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox. Finally, the Monitor’s five best stories in Friday’s subscription-only Daily Edition: To impeach or not? Here’s why Democrats have been keeping things fuzzy. Does Hungary education reform mean more patriotism, but less democracy? How these scientists are uniting the world around climate change (video) These dogs get second chances. Just like their inmate caretakers. Beyond birthday cards and hugs: The rise of intensive grandparenting This is a beta test. This is an experiment with an early Monday morning news update. Please give us your feedback via the link below and let us know what you think. Thank you!

The 71st primetime Emmy Awards are on Sunday (Sept. 22) at 8pm eastern on Fox in the United States. (Here’s where it will air in other countries.) This may be the last time that the annual TV showcase is so thoroughly dominated by one series.That’s because Game of Thrones, which earned a record 32 nominations this year, is finally over. HBO hopes the fantasy drama can win some big awards—namely its fourth best drama series trophy—to wash away the bad aftertaste from the show’s divisive finale. Just as likely, Thrones winning best drama again could make viewers even angrier.Emmy voters like to honor shows in their final years of eligibility, so don’t be surprised if Game of Thrones is the night’s big winner even if it doesn’t win the ultimate prize. Other series with several nominations include the Netflix miniseries When They See Us, HBO comedy Barry, FX miniseries Fosse/Verdon, and Amazon comedy The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.Like the Oscars in February, Sunday’s Emmys won’t officially have a host. Instead, it’ll show off a revolving door of presenters and performers to help keep the telecast moving. The Emmys last went host-less in 2003.Here’s what else to watch for during the big night:Thrones has been nominated for the best drama Emmy every year of its existence, winning it in 2015, 2016, and 2018. Awards handicappers are unanimously predicting a fourth victory in the category this year, for the show’s final season—critical reception be damned. As the most popular show in the world in its last hurrah, Game of Thrones is in a great position to win the night’s biggest award, even though it doesn’t deserve it.If Thrones doesn’t deserve it, then what does? For starters, HBO has another show in the running, one that’s caught fire with critics in its second season (currently airing): Succession, the comedic drama about a dysfunctional American media dynasty. Succession is probably the best drama on TV right now, but it’s not exactly a hit with audiences. (It averages about 500,000 US viewers per episode, which is about 5% of a Game of Thrones episode.) Succession has won over critics, but Emmy voters like to vote for the buzzy show, and it may not have quite enough in the buzz department. Maybe next year.Some dark horses in the drama category include BBC America’s Killing Eve and FX’s Pose. They’re unlikely to win, but if it shockingly doesn’t go to Game of Thrones or Succession, we think it’ll be one of those two.Last year, Netflix briefly stole HBO’s long-running spot as the most-nominated network. But HBO won the title back this year with a whopping 137 total nominations (20 more than Netflix)—mostly thanks to Game of Thrones, which wasn’t eligible in 2018. NBC placed a distant third in the nominations rankings this year with 58.After last weekend’s Creative Arts Emmys (the section of the Emmys that honors behind-the-scenes categories like editing, costumes, production design, etc.), HBO narrowly leads Netflix in wins, 25 to 23—again, thanks to Thrones, which won 10 on its own.Netflix’s best chance of surpassing HBO’s number of total wins will be if its miniseries When They See Us cleans up in the 11 categories it’s nominated for. The streaming service could also use strong showings from the comedy Russian Doll and drama Ozark, though, to be honest, does anyone remember what happened on the last season of Ozark? When did that even air?You can’t really go wrong with any of the shows nominated in the best comedy category, comprised of HBO’s Barry; Amazon’s Fleabag; NBC’s The Good Place; Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; Netflix’s Russian Doll; Pop TV’s Schitt’s Creek; and finally HBO’s Veep for its seventh and final season.Prognosticators appear to think Veep is the tentative favorite, though this category is much less predictable than drama. Fleabag, Barry, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (last year’s winner) are all legitimate possibilities.But just like its dragon-centric drama counterpart at HBO, Veep has the narrative going for it. It has won the award three times already (2015-2017), and Emmy voters might relish the opportunity to give it one more trophy on its way out the door. While it might not have been the best comedy on TV this year, it would be hard to argue with the TV Academy if they vote to honor one of the greatest political satires of our time.The drama and comedy categories get most of the attention, but limited series is quietly one of the strongest groups every year, and 2019 is no different. In addition to the aforementioned When They See Us, the category includes HBO’s Chernobyl—one of the most critically acclaimed series of all time—and Showtime’s criminally under-appreciated Escape at Dannemora.And that’s to say nothing of HBO’s Sharp Objects, though that aired so long ago (August 2018) that it seems strange to be going up against series that aired just a few months ago. Alas, that’s how Emmy eligibility works. (The window is from June 1, 2018 to May 31 of this year.)The Veep star already owns the record for the most Emmy wins for the same role for her turn as US vice president Selina Meyer on the HBO comedy. But with one more win, she will become the winningest performer in Emmy history. She’s currently tied with Cloris Leachman with eight total acting wins. (Louis-Dreyfus has won once for Seinfeld, once for The New Adventures of Old Christine, and six times for Veep.)Frankly, it’d be a surprise if Emmy voters don’t ensure the legendary actor breaks the record Sunday night. If anyone spoils her coronation, it’ll probably be either Rachel Brosnahan (last year’s winner for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; Veep and Louis-Dreyfus weren’t eligible) or Fleabag creator and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge.After all that brouhaha over the Oscars electing to air without a host, it doesn’t seem like anyone particularly cares that the Emmys will do the same this year. Perhaps that’s because the Oscars showed that not having a host might not be such a bad thing. Or perhaps it’s because not as many people care about the Emmys as they do the Oscars. Perhaps it’s a mix of both.In any event, Fox and the TV Academy decided to follow the Oscars’ lead and try to produce a seamless, entertaining show without a single host to guide the evening’s events. It could get messy, but it could also give some of the presenters more moments to shine on stage. This year, they include Lin-Manuel Miranda, Zendaya, Amy Poehler, and many, many more.

The point of an official emcee, who introduces an awards show with a long, jokey monologue and then occasionally bursts in to pep things up throughout the night, was much debated earlier this year. The Academy Awards, after struggling to find a host, hired and quickly dismissed Kevin Hart, then decided to go without an emcee for the first time in decades. The result was a little dry, but brisk by Oscar standards and free of catastrophe, so it was largely deemed a success. But that decision made more sense for the Academy Awards; the movie industry doesn’t have the wide talent pool that the TV world has when it comes to hosting personalities. This year’s Emmys featured a procession of people who could easily have taken the emcee gig. Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel took the stage together and joked at length about the importance of their jobs and what they could have brought to the show had they been hired. Ike Barinholtz and Maya Rudolph did an iffy, malapropism-filled double act as they pretended to be temporarily blind from LASIK surgery. Ken Jeong spent his five minutes onstage filming a TikTok. Seth Meyers was, somewhat bizarrely, called out only to eulogize the dearly departed HBO series Game of Thrones (the show’s cast then lined up onstage to awkwardly convey their thanks as a group).Half of this year’s jokes were about how the Emmys needed saving, and that became a self-fulfilling prophecy. If any of the comedians I mentioned in the last paragraph had been handed a hosting gig, they could have brought in their own writers, crafted a real monologue, and given the broadcast some cohesion and personality. Instead, those performers were trotted out for a few minutes, handed some rote zingers, and forced to move on to the next thing. The ceremony didn’t get shorter as a result; it only became more bloated, thanks in part to a slew of dull montages, salutes to shows such as Thrones and Veep, and appearances from the new cast of the Fox series The Masked Singer.Last night’s Emmys should be a crucial lesson for awards shows going forward, especially with the Oscars race beginning this fall. Live television events such as these work only if they’re memorable; people don’t tune in just to see which group of millionaires got the golden statues and remembered to thank their agent this year. Proper hosts have a much better chance of generating well-crafted, enduring moments. Lin-Manuel Miranda taking the stage to present a trophy and reading the dictionary definition of the word variety isn’t one of them. David Simsis a staff writer atThe Atlantic, where he covers culture. Twitter Email

Game of Thrones tied its own record last night for most Emmys won by a series in a single season, scoring 12 trophies in total. Yet the show lost in most of the major categories: Its finale failed to win for writing and directing, and among its 10 performance nominees, only one triumphed. In the end, 10 of its 12 record-tying honors had been picked up at the Creative Arts Emmys the weekend before.The Emmys delivered a clear message: Game of Thrones was a cultural monolith, but it wouldn’t be awarded for its final season’s technical and storytelling chops. Even the showrunners, David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, seemed relieved while collecting their final trophies for the series: “I can’t believe we finished it,” Benioff marveled. “It’s over.” Added Weiss, addressing his family: “We’re sorry we were gone for so long. We hope someday you decide it was all worth it.” For a win that had the audience deliver a standing ovation, the remarks felt subdued, rather than celebratory.Then again, that speech arrived immediately after perhaps the most electric of acceptance of the night. The address Phoebe Waller-Bridge gave when her series Fleabag won Outstanding Comedy Series was an elated, vibrant, and welcome game-changer late into the ceremony. (She even yielded the floor to her co-stars and crew, to hilarious effect, as the director Harry Bradbeer gamely stepped up to the mic to apologize to his wife for forgetting to thank her in his earlier speech.) The comedy arena had been a toss-up leading up to the show. Even awards prognosticators had been uncertain of whether Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel would repeat its success or if Fleabag would break through; the odds for either winning had been projected to be the same, along with Veep’s.With those final speeches, the Emmys demonstrated a truth about the way Hollywood awards its own—as satisfying as it was to watch an objectively excellent series win its honors, it was just as important for a mainstream project to be accepted by the filmmaking community and cemented as an influential show, regardless of the quality of its finale. Fleabag’s win was delightful; Game of Thrones’ felt perfunctory—but if Thrones hadn’t been awarded at all, the Emmys would have seemed out of touch.Plus, it’s not like Thrones bombed on Emmys night. It broke the record for number of nods with its 32 nominations. Peter Dinklage won his fourth Emmy for playing the troubled Tyrion Lannister, and the series itself walked away with the top prize. But the real victory lap for the show took place months ago, when fans tuned in to the final season.Still, to the cast and crew behind the show, being together to celebrate their series meant more than any amount of awards. “Coming from another country, you know, to be [a part of] the ‘best’ show, it’s such a nice experience,” the Emmy-nominated Dutch actor Carice Van Houten, who played Melisandre on Thrones, told me as the party wound down. Being onstage and getting to read a few scripted lines with her peers felt “pretty good,” she said, smiling. “I was very happy.” Minutes later, she slipped out of the party with other members of the cast as they wandered off to drop by more after-parties. The first stop, allegedly? Netflix’s bash, just a few minutes of a car ride away. Shirley Liis a staff writer atThe Atlantic​, where she covers culture. Twitter Email

The show’s second season presented a refreshing exploration of the sisters’ relationship, and that tenderness extended beyond the script. Soon after Waller-Bridge’s writing win, the show’s director, Harry Bradbeer, was awarded a trophy of his own. After noting that “something like Fleabag only comes along once in your life,” he expressed gratitude toward Waller-Bridge for trusting him with her vision: “Thank you for coming into my life like some kind of glorious grenade.”Waller-Bridge and Fleabag (co-produced by the BBC) managed to land two more surprising wins tonight. The auteur claimed the award for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series, beating out Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the much heralded star of Veep, and Rachel Brosnahan, of the Emmy favorite The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Naturally, Waller-Bridge approached this win with the same irreverence that animates her series: “I find acting really hard and really painful, but it’s all about this,” Waller-Bridge said, jokingly echoing her earlier acceptance speech.Before the end of the night, Fleabag won the biggest award it was nominated for: Outstanding Comedy Series, beating out heavyweights including The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Barry, The Good Place, and Veep. “This is just getting ridiculous,” Waller-Bridge quipped after taking the stage yet again, this time with her cast and crew. “Fleabag says thanks,” she added.The actor and writer has never seemed naive about the importance of her work in a television landscape that remains dominated by men. As she said early in the ceremony, “It’s really wonderful to know a dirty, pervy, angry, messed-up woman can make it to the Emmys.” Whether she was talking about herself or Fleabag was for viewers to decide. Hannah Giorgisis a staff writer atThe Atlantic, where she covers culture. Twitter

Mark Zuckerberg came to Washington, DC, on Thursday to claim the mantle of Martin Luther King and the Founding Fathers as a champion of free speech. Standing in the stately Gaston Hall auditorium at Georgetown University—which has hosted the likes of Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Bono—the Facebook CEO declared, “I’m here today because I believe we must continue to stand for free expression.”And a city full of regulation-hungry politicians and foes of Big Tech undoubtedly thought: How’s that working out?Zuckerberg’s highly promoted speech introduced no new Facebook features or initiatives, but was a defiant reply to critics of Facebook’s destructive effects on global society—manipulating voters, fomenting division, and even aiding genocide. He doubled down on Facebook’s handling of the treacherous business of implementing free expression at an unprecedented global scale. Despite considerable evidence that the approach has often fallen short, Zuckerberg still professes optimism: Giving people a voice and connecting the world, he believes, are transformationally positive actions. Essentially, he’s saying—as he always has—that Facebook is essentially positive.What’s more, he was claiming high ground for Facebook’s values. If you disagree with him on speech, he implied, you’re siding with the forces of censorship and elitism. He described a “countertrend … to pull back on free expression.” His foes, he implied, are the same kind of people who wanted Eugene Debs in prison, who wanted Vietnam protesters stopped. But the people whose Facebook presence is more disturbing include the likes of Alex Jones (whom Facebook ultimately banned) or … Donald Trump. The speech didn’t really take on those kinds of choices.Furthermore, rejecting his point of view will align you with the oppressive overlords of China! He pointedly noted that his dreams of taking Facebook to that country have been stalemated by that country’s demands on data and censorship. While Facebook’s encrypted WhatsApp service is a boon to protesters, he says, the Chinese TikTok app censors mentions of protests even for users in the US.Zuckerberg clearly believed in what he was saying: Though his presentation was sometimes halting (maybe reflecting that he was tinkering with the speech until his deadline), his voice grew stronger when invoking Facebook as an instrument of empowerment. He spoke for almost 40 minutes, which is what happens when senators aren’t interrupting you.LEARN MOREThe WIRED Guide to Internet AddictionBut while he constantly described Facebook as giving voice to everyday people and underrepresented groups, he gave short shrift to the way that powerful forces are using his platform to manipulate people. In the past two years, Zuckerberg and his leadership team have admitted that they were late to recognize the downside of free expression: political extremism, intentional misinformation, and political ads that baldly lie.At every turn, the company has avoided becoming an arbiter of what is news and what political utterances are destructive. “I don’t think it’s right for a private company to censor politicians or the news in a democracy,” he said, a sentiment he often expresses. But neither does that mean that a private company has to promote outright lies and divisive content. It would have been interesting if he’d grappled with that concept more in his Georgetown address.Maybe the most powerful part of the speech was when he said, “I’m not going to be around forever,” and so he thinks it essential to deeply embed free speech values into Facebook so the company continues giving voice to people long after he’s gone.Zuckerberg’s foray into the belly of the Beltway to deliver a message of free speech was, in a sense, a daring gambit. It’s hard to disagree with the First Amendment, and even less attractive to align with censors. But his critics—and a lot of people who are simply unhappy with Facebook—are asking for more. Boosting speech at global scale is a tricky and unprecedented practice. Though Zuckerberg constantly cites the army he now employs in matters of security and safety (up to 35,000), it’s not clear that a “community” of almost 3 billion people can be purged of truly destructive content. Facebook is a huge experiment that constantly tests Zuckerberg’s deeply felt claim that connecting the world will yield a net positive. The results are far from settled.After the speech, Zuckerberg took a few questions from Georgetown students in the audience (which were submitted in writing, not offered spontaneously). One questioned whether Facebook was favoring conservatives with its green light to misinformation in political ads. Zuckerberg agreed with Georgetown’s moderator that liberals are angry, too. “Right now, we’re doing a very good job of making everyone angry at us,” he said.No one seemed to disagree with that. And things won’t change after Zuckerberg’s Tom Paine moment.The first smartphone war7 cybersecurity threats that can sneak up on you“Forever chemicals” are in your popcorn—and your bloodEVs fire up pyroswitches to cut risk of shock after a crashThe spellbinding allure of Seoul's fake urban mountains👁 Prepare for the deepfake era of video; plus, check out the latest news on AI✨ Optimize your home life with our Gear team’s best picks, from robot vacuums to affordable mattresses to smart speakers.

“There’s been a traditional sense around the politics of D.C. that these companies are progressive,” Mr. Stoller said. “Their employees give to Democrats, they’re friendly to social liberalism, there’s an idealism to how they talk about the world. That’s been the traditional sense.”“But these companies have the moral frame of Big Tobacco,” he added. “They don’t care.”Carl Szabo, who is vice president at an e-commerce trade association called NetChoice, said he felt Ms. Warren’s plan was unnecessary. He warned that it could lead to weaponization of antitrust laws, as legislators target companies deemed to be their enemies.“Politicizing and weaponizing antitrust law is ripe for abuse,” said Mr. Szabo, who is a professor of privacy law at George Mason University’s law school. “We’ve already seen how politics can inject itself into antitrust reviews, and I don’t think our legislators should be encouraging this precedent.”Though tech giants have experienced several controversies in recent years, it is unclear how popular Ms. Warren’s antitrust proposal would be with voters. Rob Atkinson, president of Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, an industry-sponsored group, defended the power of big companies in the technology sector for what he described as benefits to consumers.“The Warren campaign’s call to break up big tech companies reflects a ‘big is bad, small is beautiful’ ideology run amok,” Mr. Atkinson said. “The proposal ignores the fact that many of the services big tech companies now provide free used to cost consumers money.”Matt McIlwain, a partner at the Seattle venture capital firm Madrona Venture Group, which was an early Amazon investor, said in an email, “Senator Warren and others with a similar mind-set are misguided on the need to break up larger tech companies.”“Companies in the innovation economy have a strong track record of creating quality products and services that are often free or at dramatically lower costs than previous services,” Mr. McIlwain said.

On January 4, 2018, The Tribune of India, a news outlet based out of Chandigarh, created a firestorm when it reported that people were selling access to Aadhaar data on WhatsApp, for alarmingly low prices. — The Tribune (@thetribunechd) January 3, 2018The investigation followed a man named Bharat Bhushan Gupta, a village-level entrepreneur who was lured into buying access to the database by people who approached him on WhatsApp. Gupta later realized that he had access to much more information than he’d asked for.Concerned about what this might mean for ID holders, Gupta attempted to notify the Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI), the agency responsible for issuing Aadhaar numbers, about the problem, but was unable to confirm that UIDAI was aware of or addressing the problem. Gupta is one of 270,000 such village-level entrepreneurs who operate Common Service Centres responsible for various e-services between governments, businesses, and citizens.He then approached Tribune journalist Rachna Khaira, who undertook the investigation.Following the investigation, India Today conducted a “sting operation” of their own to confirm the findings of the Tribune reporter. — India Today (@IndiaToday) January 5, 2018Inconsistent Responses From Government — Rahul Kanwal (@rahulkanwal) January 7, 2018The Information Technology Minister, Ravishankar Prasad made a statement: Govt. is fully committed to freedom of Press as well as to maintaining security & sanctity of #Aadhaar for India’s development. FIR is against unknown. I’ve suggested @UIDAI to request Tribune & it’s journalist to give all assistance to police in investigating real offenders. — Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) January 8, 2018This is not the first time that the UIDAI has “shot the messenger,” so to speak. In early 2017, UIDAI filed a criminal complaint against CNN-News 18 journalist Debayan Ray for conducting an investigation in which he created two Aadhaar enrollment IDs using the same set of biometrics.UIDAI filed a second complaint against entrepreneur Sameer Kochchar after he blogged about how Aadhaar can be hacked through a “biometric replay attack.” In all three cases, the UIDAI says that the claims made are “misleading.”“Leaky” By DesignThe Aadhaar unique identification number ties together several pieces of a person’s demographic and biometric information, including their photograph, fingerprints, home address, and other personal information. This information is all stored in a centralized database, which is then made accessible to a long list of government agencies who can access that information in administrating public services.Although centralizing this information could increase efficiency, it also creates a highly vulnerable situation in which one simple breach could result in millions of India’s residents’ data becoming exposed.In June 2017, twiterrati warned of the dangers of giving database login credentials and e-Aadhaar download capabilities to state officials for this very reason: UIDAI’s response: deleting files related to DSDV & SRDH from its website — Anivar Aravind (@anivar) January 4, 2018[Editor’s note: 1 lakh = 100,000]The Annual Report 2015-16 of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology speaks of a facility called DBT Seeding Data Viewer (DSDV) that “permits the departments/agencies to view the demographic details of Aadhaar holder.”According to @databaazi, DSDV logins allowed third parties to access Aadhaar data (without UID holder’s consent) from a white-listed IP address. This meant that anyone with the right IP address could access the system. Screenshots of DSDV (basic licence), which allows third parties (both public and private) to access Aadhaar data (1/2) pic.twitter.com/0Wi4s1EvVz — india subsidy data (@databaazi) April 3, 2017The UIDAI confirmed as much on Twitter: — Aadhaar (@UIDAI) January 4, 2018This design flaw puts personal details of millions of Aadhaar holders at risk of broad exposure, in clear violation of the Aadhaar Act.#AadhaarLeaks By Government EntitiesThe Aadhaar Act forbids the public display of Aadhaar numbers. Yet there is irrefutable evidence that both state and central government departments have exposed bank account and Aadhaar numbers of pensioners, minors, scholarship grantees and others.In October 2017, @iam_anandv pointed out how even a simple Google search for the UIDAI’s tagline reveals hundreds of Aadhaar details. — Anand V (@iam_anandv) October 19, 2017In November last year, it was proven that more than 200 government websites were showing Aadhaar details. The UIDAI admitted this, after they were compelled to release this information in response to a Right to Information (RTI) request.UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey has repeatedly maintained that the exposure of Aadhaar numbers alone poses little risk as “Aadhaar numbers are like bank account numbers.” But this has been proven to leave people vulnerable to phishing, identity fraud, and corporate malfeasance, as seen in December 2017, when telecom giant Airtel opened three million payment accounts for customers without obtaining their informed consent.Screenshot from the Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI) website displaying warning against sharing Aadhar Numbers publicly.In spite of the furor, the leaks continue. The trend has not gone unnoticed among international technology privacy experts. Professor Graham Greenleaf recently identified it as one of the world’s most “dangerous privacy developments”: — Graham Greenleaf (@grahamgreenleaf) January 9, 2018While the UIDAI’s actions offer little optimism, the last hope may be with the Supreme Court of India which will hear main Aadhaar petitions for the last time beginning on January 17, 2018.Rohith Jyothish is a researcher and writer on issues concerning information & communication technology and society in India. Follow him at @rohithjyo. This story originally appeared at Global Voices.

Jair Bolsonaro, far-right lawmaker and presidential candidate of the Social Liberal Party (PSL), casts his vote, in Rio de Janeiro. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes/Pool/File PhotoSAO PAULO (Reuters) - President-elect Jair Bolsonaro backed Brazil’s ethanol industry and pledged to be a partner of the biofuel sector, according to remarks aired on Monday during an international sugar conference in Sao Paulo. Right-wing Bolsonaro, who beat leftist Fernando Haddad in a run-off vote on Sunday, said in a video that he would like to see Brazil retake global leadership in ethanol production, which it lost to the United States some years ago. “In the past, we were leaders on this front and we will once again lead, certainly,” he said in the video presented by congressman Evandro Gussi, who authored the bill passed in Congress this year that implements Brazil’s new policy to boost consumption of renewable fuels called RenovaBio. This industry “is very important. It reduces carbon emissions, and from something that is ours, gives energy to Brazil. You can count on us, we are partners on this issue,” Bolsonaro said. Gussi said he recorded the video some days ago, before the run-off vote. The RenovaBio program is seen by many in Brazil’s sugar and ethanol industry as a lifeline to mills that are in a difficult financial situation after several years of low prices for the biofuel and the sweetener. The new policy, which has yet to be fully regulated by the federal government that will take power on Jan. 1, gives fuel distributors growing targets for annual traded volumes of biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. There were doubts in the ethanol industry if Bolsonaro, who at one point threatened to pull out of the Paris climate treaty, would back the policy and go ahead with its implementation. Some days before the second round of the election, he did a U-turn, saying that Brazil would honor the treaty it has signed. Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira; Editing by Peter Cooney and Leslie AdlerOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

RICHMOND, Va. (Reuters) - Virginia Democrats pressured Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax to resign on Monday over accusations of sexual assault, which he denies, but held off on pursuing impeachment, with the Republican speaker of the state House urging restraint. Fairfax is one of three top state Democrats engulfed by scandal this month. Governor Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring have also faced criticism after admitting they wore blackface in the 1980s. Patrick Hope, a Democratic member of Virginia’s House of Delegates, said he believed Fairfax should have resigned already after two women accused him of sexual assault but added he would not move immediately on his weekend call for impeachment proceedings. Adding to the pressure, much of the lieutenant governor’s staff have resigned since the second accuser came forward on Friday, according to his spokeswoman, Lauren Burke. They included his policy director and his scheduling director, as well as the executive director and a fundraiser at his political action committee, the Richmond Times-Dispatch newspaper reported. The accusations of racist behavior or sexual assault against the three men have rattled party leadership in a swing state that likely will play a pivotal role in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Democrats have been gaining power in the Southern state in the last few election years. Party leaders in Virginia and across the nation have called for Northam and Fairfax to resign. They have been more forgiving toward Herring, largely because he came forward on his own to admit having performed in blackface at a 1980 college party, rather than waiting for someone to accuse him. Northam and Herring are white; Fairfax is black. Hope, the white Democratic lawmaker who had called for Fairfax’s impeachment, renewed his call for the lieutenant governor to resign while saying he was discussing whether impeachment was the best solution. “Fairfax should have already resigned,” Hope said in a statement. “The message being sent to victims of sexual assault is chilling.” He said he believed Fairfax’s two accusers. Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax is framed by the doors of the state's senate as he presides over it in Richmond, Virginia, U.S., February 11, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan DrakeThe scandals may cost the Democrats their chance to take over control of the legislature in November’s elections, said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. He said the scandals have eroded voters’ faith in the party to put forward good candidates, and any perceived racial disparities in consequences may cause further harm. “You’ve got three of them in trouble, and then potentially the African-American goes and the two whites stay,” he said in a telephone interview. “There could be complete justification for that, but it looks terrible.” House Speaker Kirk Cox, the Republican who would become governor if all three Democrats resigned, said it was too soon to say whether he would support impeachment. “We need to be very careful with the high standards of impeachment,” he told reporters. A majority of House members would have to vote to impeach for the proceedings to move to the Senate. A two-thirds majority in the upper chamber would be needed to remove someone from office. Northam has insisted he would not resign over a 1984 medical school yearbook picture, which showed a person in blackface next to another wearing the robes and hood of the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan. Northam denied being in that picture but admitted to dressing in blackface for a social event that same year. Blackface traces its history to 19th-century minstrel shows that mocked African-Americans, and is seen as offensive by many Americans - though its use continued in U.S. popular culture through to the early 21st century. About 39 percent of white Americans say it is at least sometimes acceptable to don blackface for a Halloween costume, while 37 percent believed it was never acceptable, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted mostly before Northam's admission and released on Monday. Only 18 percent of black Americans agreed it was at least sometimes acceptable, while 53 percent said it was never acceptable. (pewrsr.ch/2tgHl88) Fairfax has said sexual encounters with both women were consensual. Slideshow (7 Images)Members of the legislature’s black caucus are also seeking an investigation that does not immediately involve impeachment. “We don’t know how to do that yet,” Delegate Lamont Bagby, the caucus chairman, said in an interview. Reporting by Gary Robertson, additional reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; editing by Scott Malone, Steve Orlofsky and Jonathan OatisOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese e-commerce sites have removed Dolce & Gabbana products amid a spiralling backlash against an advertising campaign that was decried as racist by celebrities and on social media. The ads - released earlier this week to drum up interest in a Shanghai fashion show the Italian brand later canceled - featured a Chinese woman struggling to eat spaghetti and pizza with chopsticks, sparking criticism from consumers. The blunder was compounded when screenshots were circulated online of a private Instagram conversation, in which the brand’s designer Stefano Gabbana makes a reference to “China Ignorant Dirty Smelling Mafia” and uses the smiling poo emoji to describe the country. The brand said Gabbana’s account had been hacked. Amid calls for a boycott, the furore threatened to grow into a big setback for one of Italy’s best-known fashion brands in a crucial market, where rivals from Louis Vuitton of LVMH to Kering’s Gucci are vying to expand. Chinese customers account for more than a third of spending on luxury products worldwide, and are increasingly shopping for these in their home market rather than on overseas trips. China’s Kaola, an e-commerce platform belonging to China’s NetEase Inc confirmed it had removed Dolce & Gabbana products while luxury goods retailer Secoo said it removed the brand’s listings on Wednesday evening. On Yoox Net-A-Porter - owned by Cartier parent Richemont and a leading online high-end retailer - the label’s wares were no longer available on its platforms within China. The company declined to comment. Checks done by Reuters on Thursday morning also showed pages that previously linked to Dolce & Gabbana items on the e-commerce sites hosted by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and JD.com Inc were no longer available and searches for the brand returned no products. Alibaba and JD.com did not respond to requests for comment, and Dolce & Gabbana did not comment on the retailers’ moves. After its China missteps quickly went viral on China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform, it apologised in a statement on the site. Celebrities including “Memoirs of a Geisha” movie star Zhang Ziyi criticized the brand, while singer Wang Junkai said he had terminated an agreement to be the brand’s ambassador. An airport duty fee shop in the southern Chinese city of Haikou said on Weibo it had removed all Dolce & Gabbana products from its shelves. The Communist Party Youth League, the youth wing of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, said on Weibo “we welcome foreign companies to invest and develop in China ... companies working in the country should respect China and Chinese people”. The gaffe is not the first by Dolce & Gabbana in China, even as it pushes to increase its appeal there. It came under fire on social media last year for another series of ads showing the grungy side of Chinese life. The unlisted firm does not publish earnings or disclose how much revenue it derives from China. Other uproars have come and gone in China without appearing to cause lasting damage, including at brands like Kering’s Balenciaga, which apologised in April amid a backlash over how some Chinese customers had been treated in Paris. But there was an increased chance such controversies could affect sales as buyers became more discerning about brands, some analysts said. FILE PHOTO: People walk past a Dolce & Gabbana store at a shopping complex in Shanghai, China November 22, 2018. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo“It’s a different market now – Chinese customers are more savvy, and there’s so much more choice,” said Sindy Liu, a London-based luxury marketing consultant. “A lot of western brands don’t really understand China that well when it comes to cultural sensitivities. But most brands are quite careful, they don’t do things that are humorous.” Controversial comments by designers can be devastating for luxury brands. In one of the worst fallouts from in the fashion world, Christian Dior, now fully part of LVMH, fired designer John Galliano in 2011 after a video of him surfaced hurling anti-Semitic abuse at people in a bar in Paris. Reporting by Pei Li and Cate Cadell in Beijing; Additional reporting by Sarah White in Paris and Claudia Cristoferi in Milan, Editing by Himani SarkarOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Enlarge this image The South Cumberland Elementary School mural before it was altered. Cumberland County personnel changed it Monday after the painting was called racist in a social media post Friday. Courtesy of David Clark hide caption toggle caption Courtesy of David Clark The South Cumberland Elementary School mural before it was altered. Cumberland County personnel changed it Monday after the painting was called racist in a social media post Friday. Courtesy of David Clark A controversial mural depicting what some are calling a lynching has been modified at an elementary school in Tennessee.South Cumberland Elementary School and Cumberland County personnel altered the mural Monday after the painting was called racist in a social media post on Friday.The original mural depicted a man wearing what appears to be a blue basketball uniform strung from a tree by the straps of his jersey, while another man dressed in a red uniform stands nearby holding the Confederate battle flag. A larger Confederate flag was painted on another wall. The Two-Way Walmart Pulls T-Shirts That Hint At Lynching Journalists The mural was supposed to illustrate a school rivalry, where the men in blue and red represent North Cumberland Elementary and South Cumberland Elementary, respectively.But concerned citizens took issue with the Confederate flag and lynching imagery being on the walls of an elementary school.David Clark, a member of the group Shelbyville Loves, an organization that formed as a response to white supremacy in Shelbyville, Tenn., says when a friend sent him pictures of the elementary school mural he knew he had to do something.Clark says he reached out to members of the school board in early December and "didn't hear anything from them." Around Christmas break, he decided to reach out to the superintendent directly."I got a response from her in five minutes," he says. The Two-Way In Apology For Decades-Old Lynching, Police Chief Aims To 'Interrupt The Past' Clark says the superintendent told him that they were looking into solutions for the mural and that it would be dealt with in February, once the original artist was available to make changes to it."But February came and went," he says, "and I decided to shine a light on it."Clark posted about the Confederate mural on Facebook, and the response was instantaneous, he says. Within 24 hours, the post had garnered 500 likes and about 200 shares. Soon after, the Confederate flags in the mural at South Cumberland Elementary were painted over, as were the straps suspending the man from the tree. The larger Confederate flag was replaced with a mural saying "Dread the Red," and the smaller was replaced with a simple "SCE" flag. "Concerns regarding graphics in our gymnasium have been dealt with by removing the rebel flags painted on the wall, and by modifying the mural on the wall as well," said a statement from school principal Darrell Threet.Director of Schools Janet Graham told the Crossville Chronicle that she had received emails applauding the modifications. Graham could not be reached immediately for response.But some are not as happy with the changes, calling them unnecessary."It was meant to represent South Elementary beating North Elementary and 'hanging them out to dry.' I know because I watched it get painted on the wall," one commenter wrote on Facebook.But Clark says that the changes were necessary to keep the racist imagery "out of public places where kids can see it and show it as being accepted.""I really hate that people are upset, but I couldn't bear to see that up any longer than necessary," Clark says of the mural, which he calls racist. "There are kids in all these elementary schools that don't need to see that. The people that innocently allow it to go on, we can't have that."

Diego Maradona has given his version of an exchange with a fan at Moscow’s Spartak Stadium that witnesses perceived as racist.British TV staff including ITV’s Jacqui Oatley reported seeing Maradona interact with South Korea fans during Argentina’s Group D match with Iceland.Oatley tweeted on Saturday that after the fans called Maradona’s name, the 57-year-old “obliged with a smile, kiss and wave. Then pulled his eyes to the side in a clearly racist gesture.”In a Facebook message posted early on Sunday, Maradona gave his version of the story – although he did not deny making the gesture.“Today, in the stadium, among so many demonstrations of affection from the people, I was struck by a group of people around a fan who filmed us,” Maradona wrote.“I saw an Asian boy wearing an Argentina T-shirt,” he added. “I, from afar, tried to tell them how nice it seemed to me that even the Asians cheer for us. And that’s all, guys, come on.”Fifa statutes prohibit acts of discrimination by teams, officials and supporters at games it organises. Football’s governing body have not made any comment beyond referring to their existing anti-discrimination rules.Maradona has also apologised for smoking a cigar in the VIP seats during Argentina’s 1-1 draw, in contravention of a Fifa ban on smoking at World Cup stadiums. “I honestly did not know that no one can smoke in the stadiums. I apologise to everyone,” he wrote on Facebook.The former World Cup winner is working as a pundit for Italian and Venezuelan television during the tournament in Russia. Topics Diego Maradona World Cup 2018 World Cup Argentina Race news

Donald Trump faces a potential roadblock to his appointment of rightwing judges to federal courts after the retiring Republican US senator Jeff Flake threatened to withhold support from judicial confirmations unless his bill to protect special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia collusion is allowed to proceed.Flake issued his threat after his bipartisan bill to protect the Mueller investigation, drafted alongside the Democratic senator Chris Coons, received a frosty reception from the Republican leadership. The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, refused to allow a vote on the bill because, he said, he could see no such threat to Mueller’s inquiry that is investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential race.Flake responded furiously, saying: “Why are we so sanguine about this? Why do we protect a man who seemingly is so incurious about what Russia did during the 2016 elections?”The senator from Arizona has the potential to cause considerable trouble for Trump until he stands down from his seat on 3 January. In the lame-duck Senate, the Republicans continue to enjoy the slimmest of margins, 51 to 49, meaning that if Flake goes ahead with his threat to block nominees Vice-President Mike Pence would be forced to cast his vote to force confirmations through.A hiatus in the appointment of federal judges would be a blow to Trump as packing the courts with rightwingers has been one of the signature acts of his presidency so far. He bragged about the rate at which he had confirmed new judges at his rallies during the midterm election campaign.Flake’s final stand is likely to further irritate the already agitated mood of the US president in the wake of Republicans’ patchy performance in the midterm elections, his ugly contretemps with France following his visit to Paris last weekend and the ongoing Mueller inquiry that is likely to flare up again now that election season is over. On Thursday morning Trump went on another Twitter foray in which he claimed the Mueller team had gone “absolutely nuts”.Minutes later he leveled the harshest criticism that exists in Trumpland at Mueller – pointing out that he worked for President Obama for eight years.Mueller, who is a Republican, was appointed as director of the FBI by the Republican president George Bush in 2001. When Obama succeeded Bush he kept Mueller on in that position until he stepped down in 2013 having become the longest-serving FBI director since J Edgar Hoover.Flake and Coons introduced the Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act with the support of other senators from both main parties earlier this month. It would ensure that Mueller could only be fired for “good cause” by a senior justice department official, with the justification put in writing.It would also set up a 10-day period in which Mueller could call for a judicial review by a panel of judges to check whether the dismissal had indeed been for “good cause”.The proposed legislation was given renewed urgency by Trump’s decision to sack the US attorney general, Jeff Sessions, on 7 November and replace him with Matthew Whitaker who in the past has been openly critical of the Russia investigation and called for it to be whittled down. Democratic leaders have been applying pressure on Whitaker to recuse himself as the new DoJ official in charge of the Mueller inquiry on grounds of conflict of interest given his previous remarks about defunding and restricting the special counsel’s investigation. Topics Trump-Russia investigation US Senate Donald Trump Robert Mueller Trump administration news

The Financial Times has pulled its involvement in an event honouring Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, after a campaign by LGBT rights activists against the celebration of the self-declared homophobe.The recently elected South American leader is due to be honoured at the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce’s person of the year gala dinner, which is scheduled to take place in New York later this month.The FT is one of several prominent sponsors and partners of the event, including the management consultancy Bain & Company and Delta Airlines, who have pulled their involvement after pressure from the campaigning organisation GLAAD.A spokesperson for the the newspaper confirmed it would no longer be a media partner for the ceremony to honouring Bolsonaro, but added it intended to “maintain a partnership with the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce” on other events.The growing boycott leaves the dozens of remaining British and American sponsors in a tricky position, as they have to choose between their desire to match public statements of support for LGBT rights with their desire to do business in one of the world’s most important emerging economies.Many multinationals, including banks such as Morgan Stanley, Santander, and HSBC, remain listed as sponsors of the event, which was originally due to be held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York but had to change venue after protests.The debate surrounding the event has echoes of the corporate boycott of Brunei-owned hotels which came about after protests against laws criminalising LGBT people under threat of the death penalty, and has shown how placing pressure on corporations to live up to their public statements on diversity can cause them to pull their accounts.The gala boycott also underlines the damage done to Brazil’s international reputation by Bolsonaro, a populist known for his hostility to human rights, LGBT people and the environment.Last week he said he wanted to stop Brazil being a “gay tourism paradise”.“If you want to come here and have sex with a woman, go for your life,” Bolsonaro reportedly told journalists. “But we can’t let this place become known as a gay tourism paradise. Brazil can’t be a country of the gay world, of gay tourism. We have families.”He has previously said he would rather his son died than be gay and that same-sex couples living in an apartment block can cause house prices to fall.Bolsonaro has managed to become “almost a pariah”, according to a former Brazilian ambassador to the US. “People see him as a dangerous man,” Rubens Ricupero told the Guardian.In the 21st century, a country’s international image was based largely on issues such as tolerance, human rights, respect for the environment and equality, Ricupero said. “And in all of these areas the current Brazilian government has odious positions. This will have serious consequences, even in terms of the economy and trade.”Sarah Kate Ellis, the chief executive of GLAAD, said her organisation would continue to campaign against businesses associated with the gala to honour Bolsonaro.“It’s imperative that the companies and organisations associated with this event understand the egregious anti-LGBTQ record and rhetoric of the Brazilian president and stand by LGBTQ people in Brazil and everywhere by withdrawing their support. His brand of anti-LGBTQ activism is actively harming LGBTQ Brazilians and companies that host or participate in this celebration of him need to take a stand,” she said. Topics Financial Times Jair Bolsonaro LGBT rights Brazil Americas Newspapers & magazines news

PingWest品玩7月10讯，根据The Verge报道，Google 旗下YouTube服务将恢复在亚马逊Fire TV设备上使用。而亚马逊旗下的Prime视频服务也将重返Chromecast等Google设备。此前，在Google和亚马逊的竞争中，双方取消了自家视频媒体平台在对方设备上使用的权限。值得注意的是，该声明中没有提及亚马逊的Echo Show设备。自从Fire TV失去了YouTube之后，不得不用浏览器来解决这个问题，但不能提供完整的观看体验。在重新开放之后，新的YouTube应用程序将支持4K HDR流媒体，用户可以要求Alexa语音助手播放来自该服务的视频或控制内容。

RIO DE JANEIRO — Had it gone as planned, an exhibition that opened last year in Brazil — which included a drawing of smiling children with the words “transvestite” and “gay child” stenciled across them — would likely have been a mere blip in the country’s lively art scene.Gaudêncio Fidélis, the curator who assembled the 264 pieces that made up the “Queer Museum” exhibition, had expected at least a whiff of criticism for the art show. But nothing could have prepared him for the torrent of controversy that set off protests and shut down the exhibition within days.Even after the show was closed, the storm of criticism kept the project in the news, inciting a heated, monthslong national debate about freedom of expression and what qualifies as art.After nearly a year of arguments, the exhibition — which also included a painting of the Virgin Mary cradling a monkey, and sacramental wafers with words like “vagina” and “penis” written on them in neat cursive — reopened this month in Parque Lage, a public park in Rio de Janeiro that is also home to a renowned art school.As he stepped to the podium earlier this month to preside over the opening ceremony, Mr. Fidélis looked ebullient as he flashed a victory sign.“In the face of censorship and the shutdown of ‘Queer Museum,’ there was no alternative but to react and believe the future had this victory in store for us,” he said before a jubilant crowd, awash in the colors of the gay pride flag.Despite his claim of an outright win, the opposition has no intention of surrendering the fight. Even as he spoke, a small group of protesters heckled him from a few feet away. They held Brazilian flags and religious signs, including one showing a smiling, white couple with three children under the words: “God created man in his image; he created a man and a woman.”The contentious exhibition has cast a spotlight on the battle over gay and transgender rights in Brazil, Latin America’s largest nation.Over the past decade, the region has marked notable gains for the movement for legal equality for gay and transgender people. Brazil, which began recognizing same-sex unions in 2004, became in 2013 one of the first countries in the Americas to legalize same-sex marriage.São Paulo, the country’s largest city, hosts the world’s largest gay pride parade, and Rio de Janeiro has long been a popular destination for gay tourists.But in Brazil, gay and transgender advocates have made inroads mainly through litigation, rather than legislation, while voters have elected increasingly conservative politicians.There is one openly gay lawmaker in Brazil’s Congress, while 199 of the 513 representatives in the lower House belong to the so-called Evangelical caucus, which includes members who have championed conversion therapy for gays.“The correlation between legal changes and greater social acceptance of L.G.B.T.I. people is not straightforward,” said Fabrice Houdart, a human rights officer at the United Nations who focuses on sexual orientation and gender identity issues like intersexuality. “In several places in Latin America, legal rights have changed much more quickly than attitudes.”As the political arena has become increasingly hostile to the gay rights movement, activists have turned to the arts and the private sector to build grass-roots support.That was one of the motivating factors that drove Fabio Szwarcwald, the head of Parque Lage art school, to resurrect the “Queer Museum” exhibition.The school has never shied away from controversy. Founded in the 1970s while Brazil was under military rule, it became a hub for artists and intellectuals who pushed the boundaries of criticism during an era in which the press and speech were heavily censored.To fund the show, Mr. Szwarcwald started a crowdfunding campaign, which raised more than $327,000, a record in Brazil.The first fight over the “Queer Museum” exhibition erupted just days after it opened in early September last year at the cultural center of Banco Santander, one of the largest banks in Brazil, in Porto Alegre, a city in southern Brazil.Many of the protesters were from the Free Brazil Movement, a conservative group that played a leading role in calling for the impeachment of leftist president Dilma Rousseff in 2016. They denounced artwork they saw as demeaning Catholic symbols and promoting zoophilia and pedophilia.The church took up the cause, too.The archdiocese of Porto Alegre issued a statement calling the works an “attack on the Judeo-Christian culture that contributed to the cultural formation of the West.” It added: “In times of terrorism and intolerance, you do not build bridges with aggression and disrespect for what is most intimate and sacred in the other: their faith and their body.”As dueling camps of protesters gathered outside the cultural center last year, and the bank’s inboxes were flooded with critical messages, executives at Banco Santander decided to pull the plug on the show.“We offer sincere apologies to those who saw disrespect for faith and symbols in the exhibit ‘Queer Museum,’” the bank said in a statement to its customers. “This is not part of our worldview or the values we support.”Federal prosecutors took the bank to task for shutting down the exhibition and called on it to reopen it at once.“Freedom of expression constitutes a constitutionally guaranteed right that is vital to human dignity,” prosecutors wrote in an opinion. But prosecutors could not compel the bank to act, and the opinion was disregarded.If the bank had enjoyed the final word, Mr. Fidélis said, it would have set a dangerous precedent for freedom of expression in Brazil at a moment when its democracy is under strain amid deep political polarization. He argued that it would have also sent a chilling message to gay and transgender Brazilians, who are often the victims of hate crimes.Mr. Fidélis first tried to move the exhibition to the Rio Art Museum. But soon after Mr. Fidélis began negotiating with museum officials, Marcelo Crivella, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro and an evangelical preacher, said the institution, which receives public funding, would not host it.That is when the art school stepped in.At an evening preview of the exhibition inside its new home in Rio de Janeiro, Bianca Kalutor, 30, a transgender woman, beamed with pride.The provocative, transgressive pieces surrounding her made her feel at home — and safe, she said, giving her a sense of belonging that has eluded her from childhood.“There are all these spaces in which queer people are questioned,” she said. “Being trans, you develop an ability to enter and leave spaces without being noticed.”The following morning, on the day of the exhibition’s formal opening, a couple dozen protesters were among the first to arrive at Parque Lage. Carrying signs that said “zoophilia” and “pedophilia,” they chanted: “blasphemy cannot hide in art.”Their chants were soon drowned out by a collective of female drummers.Anticipating the possibility of violence, Parque Lage had hired additional security personnel and had an ambulance on standby. David Miranda, the city’s sole openly gay council member, took the opportunity to hand out campaign fliers seeking support for his bid for a seat in Congress.“The L.G.B.T. population is starting to awaken politically,” Mr. Miranda said. “We need people to take notice of the violence that is happening on a daily basis.”By the time the speeches were over, shortly after noon, the line to enter the exhibition stretched for well over a block. During its inaugural weekend, “Queer Museum,” which will be on display until Sept. 16, drew nearly 7,000 visitors.“This turnout is evidence that Cariocas are not going to accept censorship,” Mr. Szwarcwald said, using the term for Rio de Janeiro residents.But there was one final obstacle that troubled Mr. Szwarcwald, a father of two young boys. At the request of an evangelical City Council member, a judge had issued an order the day before the opening banning children 14 and under from visiting the exhibit.On Tuesday, after another judge suspended that order, Mr. Szwarcwald and Mr. Fidélis smiled as they tore up the sign noting the prohibition.