A developing theme in new music sees artists navigating the fine line between criticism and complicity - and revelling in the contradictions.  

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Herbie Hancock's soul jazz classic 'Watermelon Man' originally drew on his 1940s Chicago childhood but went on to be given funk, disco, ska, pop and hip-hop makeovers, says Mike Hobart. Credits: Roslin Records, Columbia/Legacy, Salt & Pepper, History Of RnB Records  

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Governments are fighting to keep the coronavirus pandemic at bay and their economies afloat

Death toll falls in part because of sharp decline in New York state

A celebrated journalist’s guide to crisp, accurate expression is full of sound advice

Landlords reject call for 50% reduction, saying hotel group is using Covid-19 crisis to cut costs

Company says it will be ‘several years’ before revenues return to 2019 levels

Partnership that would prioritise UK could produce 100m doses by year-end if treatment is effective

Misjudged commercial is an example of an especially troublesome type of marketing mistake

Destocking is at an end and global consumption is expected to rise this year

My love affair with the Tesla chief can’t survive the pandemic

Ambitious plans for renewable energy rarely feature in government strategy

Thanks to smartphones and their downsized keyboards, autocomplete has become a nearly ubiquitous feature of how we write these days. To save us precious seconds composing and (at least in my fat-thumbed case) correcting words, our keyboards now prompt us with suggestions of what we’re trying to write to get the job done a little […]

How to save on costs, and pay premiums to your dear leader.

The plan may be to keep the ‘pedal to the metal’ but self-funding is still out of range

“I am selling almost all physical possessions. Will own no house.”

Twitter has said that tweets posted early Tuesday morning by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk that irresponsibly call for restrictions put in place to defend against the spread of COVID-19 don’t violate its guidelines around inaccurate or disputed information about the coronavirus that could cause harm. Musk tweeted a series of things on Tuesday, […]

Twitter is making it possible for developers and researchers to study the public conversation around COVID-19 in real time with an update to its API platform. The company is introducing a new COVID-19 stream endpoint to those participating in Twitter Developer Labs — a program that offers access to new API endpoints and other features […]

Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted Friday that the company’s stock price was “too high” in his opinion, immediately sending shares into a free fall and in possible violation of an agreement reached with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last year. Tesla shares fell nearly 12% in the half hour following his stock price tweets […]

Nvidia Chief Scientist Bill Dally has released an open-source ventilator hardware design he developed in order to address the shortage resulting from the global coronavirus pandemic. The mechanical ventilator design developed by Dally can be assembled quickly, using off-the-shelf parts with a total cost of around $400 — making it an accessible and affordable alternative […]

Four years ago, Adnan Asar, the founder of the new addiction prevention service Lucid Lane, was enjoying a successful career working as the founding chief technology officer at Livongo Health. It was the serial senior tech executive’s most recent job after a long stint at Shutterfly and he was shepherding the company through the development […]

Share price surges after news breaks of deal with Games Workshop

Four years ago, Adnan Asar, the founder of the new addiction prevention service Lucid Lane, was enjoying a successful career working as the founding chief technology officer at Livongo Health. It was the serial senior tech executive’s most recent job after a long stint at Shutterfly and he was shepherding the company through the development […]

Apple and Google have provided a number of updates about the technical details of their joint contact tracing system, which they’re now exclusively referring to as an “exposure notification” technology, since the companies say this is a better way to describe what they’re offering. The system is just one part of a contact tracing system, […]

Apple and Google have released the first version of their exposure notification API, which they previously called the contact tracing API. This is a developer-focused release, and is a seed of the API in development, with the primary intent of collecting feedback from developers who will be using the API to create new contact tracing […]

23andMe. MongoDB. Eventbrite. Evernote. Bird. Square . Tumblr. Unity. YouTube. Xoom. Roelof Botha has had a seat on each of these companies’ boards, but his list of investments is much, much longer. The Sequoia partner, leading the firm’s U.S. business, is legendary in Silicon Valley and the broader tech world, and we’re very excited that […]

Sequoia’s Roelof Botha, who runs the firm’s US business, has a portfolio that’s rather impressive. It includes 23andMe, MongoDB, Eventbrite, Evernote, Bird, Square, Tumblr, Unity, YouTube, and Xoom to name just a few. And his perspective on the startup ecosystem as a whole is unique in that Sequoia invests in companies at the very early […]

The government of Canada contributed CAD 450,000 (just over CHF 300,000) in 2020 to help developing countries and least-developed countries (LDCs) comply with international food safety, animal and plant health standards, with the aim of increasing their access to agricultural markets.

Canada has contributed over CAD 90,000 (approximately CHF 60,000) in 2020 to enhance the trading capacities of developing countries and least-developed countries (LDCs). This donation to the WTO’s DDA Global Trust Fund will finance training workshops and seminars for government officials, with the aim of deepening their understanding of current trade issues and challenges and improving their negotiating skill-set.

23andMe. MongoDB. Eventbrite. Evernote. Bird. Square . Tumblr. Unity. YouTube. Xoom. Roelof Botha has had a seat on each of these companies’ boards, but his list of investments is much, much longer. The Sequoia partner, leading the firm’s U.S. business, is legendary in Silicon Valley and the broader tech world, and we’re very excited that […]

The Cloud Foundry Foundation (CFF) just went through a major leadership change, with executive director Abby Kearns stepping down after five years (and becoming a CTO at Puppet) and the CFF’s CTO Chip Childers stepping into the top leadership role in the organization. For the most part, though, these changes are only accelerating some of […]

Microsoft has now opened registration for the virtual edition of its online-only Build 2020 developer conference, which will take place from May 19 to 20. Typically, the event draws more than 6,000 developers, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, that’s obviously not an option. In contrast to Google, which completely scrapped its I/O developer conference […]

On Monday, April 20, 2020, New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil front-month futures prices fell below zero dollars per barrel (b)—at one point, trading at -$40.32/b (Figure 1)—and remained below zero for part of the following trading day. Monday marked the first time the price for the WTI futures contract fell below zero since trading began in 1983. Negative prices in commodity markets are very rare, but when they occur they typically indicate high transactions costs and significant infrastructure constraints. In this case, the WTI front-month futures contract was for May 2020 delivery, and the contract was set to expire on April 21, 2020. Unless they have made other arrangements ahead of time, market participants that hold WTI futures contracts to expiration must take physical delivery of WTI crude oil in Cushing, Oklahoma. Typically, most market participants close any futures contracts ahead of expiration through cash settlement in order to avoid taking physical delivery, and only about 1% of contracts are physically settled. The extreme market events of April 20 and April 21 were driven by several factors, including the inability of contract holders to find other market participants to sell the futures contracts. In addition, in this case, the scarcity of available crude oil storage meant several market participants sold their futures contracts at negative prices, in effect paying a counterparty to close out of the contracts. ...

1. India will not face serious coronavirus COVID-19 situation like some developed countries: Health Minister H...  Zee News
2. Health ministry says learn to live with coronavirus as India's COVID-19 count crosses 56,000  Livemint
3. ‘We’re prepared for the worst’: Health minister on Covid-19 crisis  Top Live News
4. 80 per cent of Telangana will be rid of coronavirus soon: Eatala  The New Indian Express
5. Do not anticipate worst case situation like developed countries in India: Harsh Vardhan  Times of India
6. View Full coverage on Google News

Apple and Google have provided a number of updates about the technical details of their joint contact tracing system, which they’re now exclusively referring to as an “exposure notification” technology, since the companies say this is a better way to describe what they’re offering. The system is just one part of a contact tracing system, […]

U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions declined by 2.8% in 2019 to 5,130 million metric tons (MMmt), according to data in the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Monthly Energy Review. CO2 emissions had increased by 2.9% in 2018, the only annual increase in the past five years. Because of continuing trends in how much energy the U.S economy uses and how much CO2 that energy use generates, energy-related CO2 emissions in 2019 fell more than energy consumption, which declined by 0.9% in 2019, and gross domestic product, which increased by 2.3% in 2019.

The 73-year-old said the #MeToo campaign, which supports female victims of sexual harassment and assault, risked linking harmless behaviour with that of sex offender Harvey Weinstein.

Lionel Messi begged Neymar to return to Barcelona after their embarrassing 4-0 defeat by Liverpool in the Champions League semi-final last season according to France Football. 

Despite rumours of a return to the Camp Nou, Neymar now believes he is owed £2.9m (€3.5m) in unpaid wages in addition to the £36.2m (€43.6m) he thinks he is owed via a renewal bonus.

Barcelona have not given up hope of re-signing Neymar. Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu and director Eric Abidal are unlikely to sanction a move in January.

The 27-year-old, who is regularly named as one of the wealthiest and most marketable athletes in the world, was in Sao Paulo to celebrate the birthday of pal Gabriel Medina at a psychedelic-themed party.

The Brazilian superstar is having his legal team look at potential routes back to Camp Nou after he left the Catalan giants back in 2017.

The Barcelona legend, who now plies his trade with Vissel Kobe in Japan, called Neymar 'one of the best forwards out there' and said he would be a great addition to the team.

The Brazilian has long been linked with a reunion with his former club, having endured a tumultuous spell in the French capital where his relationship with the PSG faithful has hit rock bottom.

Neymar insists there is 'immense affection and great respect' between him and Paris Saint-Germain fans despite beeing booed by supporters earlier this season after trying to force a return to Barcelona.

Former Barcelona chief Jordi Mestre has called for the club to re-sign Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain - but admits the manner of his world-record £200million departure in 2017 still stings. 

Lionel Messi wants both Neymar and Lautaro Martinez to join Barcelona. The Argentine legend is spoke openly about his desire for Neymar to return.

Neymar has reportedly launched a third legal case against Barcelona in pursuit of £5.6 million in what is his third claim against his former club, but the Catalans have no intention of paying up.

Neymar has taken another step towards rejoining Barcelona after a complete breakdown in his relationship with PSG sporting director Leonardo, according to Mundo Deportivo.

Neymar continues to be linked with a return to the Nou Camp following his world-record £198million move in the summer of 2017 to French giants PSG, where he has struggled to settle in.