Headlines

No, the US hasn’t ‘lost’ Vietnam

The recent purge of several apparently Western-leaning officials in Hanoi has led to some trepidation among foreign diplomats about whether Vietnam’s broader foreign policy is shifting decidedly toward Beijing. Deputy prime ministers Pham Binh Minh and Vu Duc Dam were removed

Venezuelan oil minister resigns amid corruption scandal

Venezuelan Oil Minister Tareck El Aissami Monday resigned his post on Monday after the opening of a corruption investigation involving the state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) in which two officials have already been arrested. El Aissami, a powerful ally of

Jelena’s song

‘Reclaiming myself and my image’ – one woman’s powerful, lyrical meditation on childhood trauma and personal transformation - by Aeon Video Watch at Aeon

Aeon

Why pressure is building to ban TikTok

The pressure campaign to ban TikTok is building on all fronts in the U.S., from a threat from the administration to congressional proposals and state-led efforts. The mounting scrutiny over the app is based on security risks lawmakers have raised over the app’s Chinese-based

What Is Elon Musk Building?

In early January, Elon Musk took to Twitter, the unprofitable social network that he had sunk $44 billion into purchasing two months earlier, to brag. Or maybe to whine. Maybe Musk himself didn’t know, and he was just doing what he does best: getting people to pay attention to

Trump seeks to use indictment to his political advantage

Former President Trump is seeking to take advantage of his possible indictment by the Manhattan district attorney in New York, using the threat to raise money for his presidential campaign while casting himself as a victim of a political state. Trump has used his megaphone to

The scar of identity

Alexandre Kojève was an immense influence on many French thinkers. What was so compelling about his lectures on Hegel? - by Samantha Rose Hill Read at Aeon

Aeon

How the banking crisis throws a wrench into Fed rate-hiking

Some bankers and analysts think Federal Reserve may take a break from its rate hikes after the failures of several banks in the U.S. and Europe. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the Fed's rate-setting panel, is set to meet Tuesday and Wednesday before announcing

Biden’s strategy on Trump indictment? Get out of the way

If former President Trump is indicted this week, the White House is expected to employ a simple strategy: Get out of the way. As a Trump indictment over the alleged Stormy Daniels hush-money scheme looms from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the White House has

BFI Opens $66 Million Filmmaking Fund

The U.K.’s new BFI National Lottery Filmmaking Fund, the latest iteration of its Film Fund, is now open. The fund has £36.6 million ($44.8 million) available over three years for fiction feature films and a further £17.4 million ($21.3 million) to support documentary, shorts,

'Abbott Elementary' goes all-in against charter schools

ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” has made charter schools its boogeyman. The popular sitcom, now in its sophomore season, is wrapping up an arc in which the titular institution, a chaotic but whimsical inner-city Philadelphia school, faces off against the big, bad charter company down

Enslaved Paraguayan workers freed in Rio de Janeiro

Brazil's Federal Police Monday freed 19 Paraguayan nationals who were working at a Rio de Janeiro clandestine cigarette factory in slave-like conditions, Agencia Brasil reported. The workers arrived in Brazil blindfolded and did not even know they were in the municipality of

Guterres warns climate bomb ticking

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Monday in a recorded appearance before a UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that in order to avoid a climate catastrophe, carbon emissions must be halved by 2030 because "the climate bomb is ticking."