What Were the Russians Doing in Chornobyl?

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What Were the Russians Doing in Chornobyl?     Shortly after invading Ukraine, Russian forces took over the site of the world’s most devastating nuclear accident. Not for the first time, Chornobyl became a strategic nightmare.This article is based on interviews and research by the Reckoning Project, a multinational group of journalists and researchers collecting evidence of war crimes in Ukraine.    Continued here

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Mie Bakso: Rice noodle soup with meatballs     On a 2010 state visit to Indonesia, former US president Barack Obama delivered an unforgettable comment during his dinner speech: "Bakso, nasi goreng... semuanya enak!", or "Meatball soup, fried rice... it's all delicious!"A staple in the country where Obama spent four years of his childhood, Indonesia's mie bakso is a warm, hearty bowl of meatball noodle soup. Between his several testaments to the dish's exceptional flavour and candid shots of the politician enjoying the dish at restaurants like the Grand Garden Café in Bogor, Indonesia, mie bakso has become known as one of Obama's favourite soups. Continued here

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What's Killing Minnesota's Moose? Studies Reveal Sites of Deadly Brainworm Transmission     Carried by deer and spread by snails and slugs, a lethal parasite is infecting the large ungulates, which have recently declined dramaticallyIn recent years, Minnesota’s moose population has plummeted. Now, scientists are gaining a better understanding of one of the main drivers of the large ungulates’ demise: a devastating parasite known as brainworm. Continued here

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Venice Film Festival: The controversial directors stirring debate     Among the many big-name premieres at the Venice Film Festival this year are Roman Polanski's satirical farce, The Palace, Luc Besson's dark supervillain drama, Dogman, and Woody Allen's French-language thriller, Coup de Chance, which screened on Monday. They're just the sort of headline-grabbing, cineaste-tempting offerings you might expect from one of the world's most prestigious film festivals, but they have something else in common: all three directors have been accused of sexual assault. This raises the question of whether their films should be in Venice at all. Is the festival signalling its approval of the men by giving them so much publicity? And are journalists who write about them doing the same? Some critics told BBC Culture that they had refused to review any of the three films. At the premiere of Allen's film on Monday, scuffles broke out as protestors shouted "no rape culture" before being led away.-       David Fincher's latest film is 'a dud'-       Bradley Cooper's Bernstein biopic is a hit-       Is Hollywood self-destructing? Continued here

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The Gen Zers leading a new pro-union push     Labour unions in the United States have seen a major decline since the 1980s. According to Bureau of Labour Statistics data, more than 20% of workers belonged to a union in 1983 (the first year such data was available). In 2022, that number had fallen by half.The decline, which many experts attribute to employer-friendly policy change, an increase in right-to-work laws that weaken employees' organising and collective bargaining power and a trend towards outsourcing, has left the United States with one of the lowest union densities among major economies. Continued here

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Robots Are Already Killing People     The robot revolution began long ago, and so did the killing. One day in 1979, a robot at a Ford Motor Company casting plant malfunctioned—human workers determined that it was not going fast enough. And so 25-year-old Robert Williams was asked to climb into a storage rack to help move things along. The one-ton robot continued to work silently, smashing into Williams’s head and instantly killing him. This was reportedly the first incident in which a robot killed a human; many more would follow.At Kawasaki Heavy Industries in 1981, Kenji Urada died in similar circumstances. A malfunctioning robot he went to inspect killed him when he obstructed its path, according to Gabriel Hallevy in his 2013 book, When Robots Kill: Artificial Intelligence Under Criminal Law. As Hallevy puts it, the robot simply determined that “the most efficient way to eliminate the threat was to push the worker into an adjacent machine.” From 1992 to 2017, workplace robots were responsible for 41 recorded deaths in the United States—and that’s likely an underestimate, especially when you consider knock-on effects from automation, such as job loss. A robotic anti-aircraft cannon killed nine South African soldiers in 2007 when a possible software failure led the machine to swing itself wildly and fire dozens of lethal rounds in less than a second. In a 2018 trial, a medical robot was implicated in killing Stephen Pettitt during a routine operation that had occurred a few years earlier. Continued here

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Are employers hiring or firing this autumn?     September is traditionally the time when the leaves turn brown, workers return refreshed from summer vacations and firms ramp up their hiring. The job market is generally slow during summer, and active in the autumn: as the weather cools, recruitment heats up. "There's typically seasonality to hiring, with companies focusing on the fall as the period to build their labour forces," explains Selcuk Eren, senior economist at global economic think-tank The Conference Board, based in New York. "In the US, Labor Day is normally followed by a cross-sector spike in hiring." Continued here

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See Keith Haring's Computer Drawings, Hidden on Floppy Discs Since the 1980s     In 1987, the American artist Keith Haring, known for his signature bright, cartoonish style, created five digital drawings on a chunky personal computer. Since then, these images have been stored on floppy disks and hidden from public view.Now, for the first time, NFTs (short for non-fungible tokens) of these works will be sold at an upcoming Christie's auction. Continued here

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AI-generated child sex imagery has every US attorney general calling for action     On Wednesday, American attorneys general from all 50 states and four territories sent a letter to Congress urging lawmakers to establish an expert commission to study how generative AI can be used to exploit children through child sexual abuse material (CSAM). They also call for expanding existing laws against CSAM to explicitly cover AI-generated materials. Continued here

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The Potency of Shortcuts in Decision-Making     Our summer special report helps leaders gain a comprehensive view of risks, learn how to overcome market disrupters, and manage the analytical tools that provide predictive insight for decision-making.Our summer special report helps leaders gain a comprehensive view of risks, learn how to overcome market disrupters, and manage the analytical tools that provide predictive insight for decision-making.How do CEOs make good decisions? At a time when senior leaders have access to more data and sophisticated analytics tools than ever before, the central challenge of making good decisions about hiring, product development, and resource allocation is increasingly not a lack of information. Rather, it is knowing how much information is enough, and how to use it. Continued here

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The Metaphor That Explains Why America Needs to Prosecute Trump     Worrying about the dangers ahead is a bit like focusing on the risk that chemotherapy poses to a cancer patient’s health.With four separate criminal cases moving forward against Donald Trump, the rule of law in America appears both commanding and startlingly fragile. Small scenes at courthouses from Florida to New York underline the ever-present threat of violence. In Fulton County, Georgia, officials set up bright-orange security barriers around the courthouse in advance of Trump’s indictment there. In Washington, D.C., fences and yellow tape surrounded the U.S. district court. Judge Tanya Chutkan, who will oversee the federal case against Trump for his efforts to overturn the election, has received increased protection from U.S. marshals—and perhaps not a moment too soon, as a Texas woman was recently arrested for calling in death threats against the judge. Trump, meanwhile, has been busy attacking Chutkan and other judges on social media, smearing the prosecutors bringing the cases against him as a “fraud squad” doing the bidding of President Joe Biden, and promising to turn the Justice Department against his foes should he win a second term. Continued here

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Kate Sessions and the Devotion to Delight: The Forgotten Woman Who Covered California with Trees and Flowers     In May 1941, next to news of the Nazi savagely bombing London, The Los Angeles Times published a memorial profile of “California’s Mother of Gardens” — a hopeful antidote to… Continued here

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Fiction on Trial     Is there anything worse than a novel? Is there anyone more vain, more laughable, more exploitative yet morally self-serious than the novelist? Or, as the protagonist of Zadie Smith’s sixth novel puts it: “ ‘Oh what does it matter what that man thinks of anything? He’s a novelist!’ Without meaning to, she had spoken in the same tone with which one might say He’s a child.”The Fraud opens with an uneasy meeting on a novelist’s doorstep in 19th-century London. A “filthy boy” stands at the entrance to a respectable home in Tunbridge Wells, face-to-face with a formidable, black-haired Scottish woman. She is Eliza Touchet, the cousin of William Ainsworth, the novelist, and she has called the boy to fix a crater that has opened up in the house. The second-floor library has caved in under the weight of an absurd number of books, dumping plaster and volumes of British history all over the downstairs parlor. Continued here

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The Thrill of Defeat     My life has been shaped by watching the Detroit Lions lose. Who will I be if they start winning?Even now I can still see him, the man in gold and white, streaking down the sideline all alone. Continued here

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Emmentaler: Switzerland's king of cheeses     Switzerland is a nation of cheese. With a population of just under nine million, it produces 207,000 tons a year – and of the more than 450 kinds of cheese produced, there's one that's known as the "king of cheese", a food so famous it has become synonymous with the country itself. That cheese, of course, is Emmentaler – or "Swiss cheese", as it's known in North America.It's hard not to overstate Emmentaler's ubiquity. Along with Swiss army knives, cuckoo clocks and cowbells, the cheese with holes is one of Switzerland's most immediately recognisable symbols. Souvenir shops sell Emmentaler-shaped key rings and Emmentaler-inspired socks. For six years, the speed suits of the Swiss ski team looked like Emmentaler, earning international attention at the 1994 Olympic Games. The cheese's international fame even starts in childhood: from the The Very Hungry Caterpillar book to the cartoon Peppa Pig, when there's cheese, it is yellow with holes. Continued here

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TurboTax-maker Intuit offers an AI agent that provides financial tips     On Wednesday, TurboTax-maker Intuit launched an AI assistant called "Intuit Assist" that can provide AI-generated financial recommendations and assist with decision-making when using the company's software, Reuters reports. Inuit Assist uses a custom large language model platform called GenOS, and it is available now to all TurboTax customers and select users of Intuit's other products, including Credit Karma, QuickBooks, and Mailchimp, with a wider rollout planned in the coming months. Continued here

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Hip-Hop's Fiercest Critic     One sunny day in 1995, the Notorious B.I.G. sat in the passenger seat of a black Mercedes-Benz, smoking joints and talking shit. Of course, Biggie did these things on many days during his short lifetime, but on this particular day, a neighborhood friend named dream hampton was in the back seat with a video camera. Wearing Versace sunglasses and a checked purple shirt, the 23-year-old rapper—whose breakout album, Ready to Die, had come out the year before—held a chunky cellphone to his ear. He was making plans and talking about girls, riffing in his lisped woof of a voice. He laughed and brought a square of rolling paper, full of pot leaves, to his lips.From behind the camera, hampton asked whether he intended to consume their entire bag of weed. Annoyed at the interruption, Biggie mocked her question. Hampton’s voice turned sharp. “Why are you going at me today?” she asked. “What’s the problem? Do we need to do something before we go on the road? Take this outside?” The video cut to static. Continued here

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London is a major reason for the UK's inequality problem. Unfortunately, City leaders don't want to talk about it     In recent years, there has been growing evidence that the UK economy is in poor shape. While the latest economic figures suggest it performed better as the COVID pandemic receded than was previously reported, the performance of sectors such as manufacturing, construction and agriculture has been revised downwards, leading some experts to warn of a greater risk of a recession to come.Alongside these economic challenges, the UK faces many societal issues – including rising levels of inequality, with the country’s Gini coefficient projected to reach a record high of 40.8% in 2027-28. In 2022, the richest fifth of the UK population had an income more than 12 times that of the poorest fifth. Continued here

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Priscilla review: Sofia Coppola has directed a 'sympathetic tribute' to Elvis's wife     A year on from Baz Luhrmann's Elvis Presley biopic, here's the same story again from the perspective of Elvis's wife. Adapted from Priscilla Presley's memoir, Elvis and Me, it's written and directed by Sofia Coppola (Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette), a specialist in capturing the ennui of wealthy people in luxurious surroundings. Her approach could hardly be in starker contrast with Luhrmann's. Priscilla is a subdued domestic drama, all soft lighting and soft voices, with no more than a glimpse of Elvis's concerts or a note of his records – and, mercifully, no sign at all of Tom Hanks's Colonel Tom Parker.More like this:-     Mulligan has 'never been better'-     'Daringly outrageous and hilarious'-     Ferrari is 'stuck in the slow lane' Continued here

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American Democracy Perseveres--For Now     Antibodies against authoritarianism are still working, but the U.S. system remains under immense strain.This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Continued here

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BA.2.86 fears fizzle as other variants drive up hospitalizations, deaths     Concern over the highly evolved omicron subvariant BA.2.86 is easing as the first batch of preliminary studies on the virus suggests it may not be as immune evasive or dangerous as its numerous mutations suggest. Continued here

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There's a Word for Blaming Jews for Anti-Semitism     Elon Musk’s conceit that Jews cause themselves to be persecuted is as old as anti-Jewish bigotry itself.For most people, Labor Day weekend was a time for rest and relaxation with friends and family. But for Elon Musk and countless users on Twitter, it was an opportunity to denounce a Jewish organization as the source of their sorrows. Continued here

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Hit Man review: Linklater's latest is full of 'humanity and charm'     If you're looking for a laidback, heartwarming comedy that happens to be about deceit, corruption and murder, then Hit Man is the film for you. Directed and co-written by Richard Linklater, the maker of Boyhood, School of Rock and the Before trilogy, it may be too relaxed and slight to match his finest work, and it may not win any prizes at the Venice Film Festival, where it had its premiere this week. But this delightful New Orleans crime yarn has all of Linklater's customary humanity and charm, as well as a quality that is scarce in cinemas today: it's genuinely fun.More like this: - A dark fairy tale about Elvis's wife - Daringly outrageous and hilarious - 'Mulligan has never been better’ Continued here

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Yes, you can play Starfield on Steam Deck, but really, you shouldn't     Starfield, Bethesda's epic planet-hopping first-person RPG, is now widely available, and that includes on handheld gaming PCs. Both Valve's Steam Deck and the Asus ROG Ally picked up recent system updates that made it possible to play the game without crashes. Continued here

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Scent of the afterlife? Scientists re-create recipe for Egyptian mummification balm     Trying to re-create the scents and smells of the past is a daunting challenge, given the ephemeral nature of these olfactory cues. Now scientists have identified the compounds in the balms used to mummify the organs of an ancient Egyptian noblewoman, according to a recent paper published in the journal Scientific Reports, suggesting that the recipes were unusually complex and used ingredients not native to the region. The authors also partnered with a perfumer to re-create what co-author Barbara Huber calls "the scent of eternity." Continued here

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Magnetism May Have Given Life Its Molecular Asymmetry | Quanta Magazine     Living things are asymmetrical, even at the molecular level: Although many essential biomolecules exist in distinct mirror-image forms, cells tend to use just one of those forms exclusively.In 1848, when Louis Pasteur was a young chemist still years away from discovering how to sterilize milk, he discovered something peculiar about crystals that accidentally formed when an industrial chemist boiled wine for too long. Half of the crystals were recognizably tartaric acid, an industrially useful salt that grew naturally on the walls of wine barrels. The other crystals had exactly the same shape and symmetry, but one face was oriented in the opposite direction. Continued here

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Microsoft finally explains cause of Azure breach: An engineer's account was hacked     Microsoft said the corporate account of one of its engineers was hacked by a highly skilled threat actor that acquired a signing key used to hack dozens of Azure and Exchange accounts belonging to high-profile users. Continued here

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See When Brilliant Fall Foliage Will Peak With This Interactive Map     Kids are back in school. Temperatures are starting to drop. As summer fades into fall, it’s time to start preparing for leaf-peeping season—and, fortunately, a new interactive map is here to help you make the most of this year’s fall foliage.For the past decade, the team behind the tourism site SmokyMountains.com has crunched the numbers to produce county-by-county predictions of when the leaves will change colors across the United States. This year, they’re also allowing users to submit real-time foliage reports, which they’ll incorporate into their interactive map, reports the Washington Post's Natalie B. Compton. Continued here

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Toyota's Japanese production was halted due to insufficient disk space     Toyota's 14 Japanese factories all shut down for about two days last week due to a production order system malfunction caused by a lack of disk space, the company announced today. Continued here

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Women Report Rampant Sexual Harassment and Assault at Antarctica's McMurdo Research Station     Speaking publicly for the first time, women detailed incidents of violence that had been minimized by employers, per an exposé in the Associated PressA recent investigation from the Associated Press (AP) has revealed more details on a longstanding culture of sexual harassment and assault at McMurdo Research Station in Antarctica. Employers have been consistently downplaying the situation for years, as sources told the publication. But for the first time, several women spoke publicly about their experiences to the AP's Nick Perry, describing an isolated environment and macho culture that enable rampant harassment and assault.  Continued here