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Kehinde Wiley is taking his art everywhere. But he’s still thinking about what’s next

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Kehinde Wiley was already well into his influential art career when his portrait of Barack Obama — arms crossed, perched on a chair amid brilliant foliage — was unveiled in 2018. But there’s no doubt it changed the artist’s life.Here’s one way he describes the shift: Now, should he ever show up at the bank and realize he’s forgotten his ID — which hasn’t happened yet, but still — he could say: “You know that portrait of Obama? I’m that guy, and I didn’t bring my ID, so if you could just Google that…”But Wiley, proud as he is of the groundbreaking work — an official portrait of a Black president by a Black artist — does wonder how long he’ll be referred to in that context.“I wonder if I will ever be able to do anything that lives up to the gravity of that moment,” he says. “Everybody wants to be seen in a number of different contexts … but I mean, what a great project to be involved in. So, come on, here’s the world’s smallest violin, playing just fo...

Cartier uses images of Amazon tribe devastated by illegal gold mining. Critics call that hypocrisy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:52 GMT

BOA VISTA, Brazil (AP) — Until two months ago, Cartier’s website showed Yanomami children playing in a green field.The French luxury jewelry brand said it was working to promote the culture of the Indigenous people and protect the rainforest where they live, in a vast territory straddling Brazil and Venezuela. But the project that the site described protecting the Amazon never took place. And Cartier published the photo without the approval of Yanomami leadership, violating the beliefs of a people who had been living in almost total isolation until they were contacted by outsiders in the 1970s.Some of the Yanomami and their defenders praise Cartier’s promotion of Yanomami causes. However, advertising by one of the world’s biggest jewelers with images of an Indigenous people devastated by illegal gold mining has some complaining of greenwashing, a corporation promoting its own image by supporting a cause.“How can a gold jewelry company, which we, the Yanomami people, are against, use...

What you need to know about a glass cliff and why it could put Twitter’s new CEO in danger

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:52 GMT

Less than two months into his $44 billion purchase of Twitter, Elon Musk declared that whoever took over as the company’s CEO “ must like pain a lot.” Then he promised he’d step down as soon as he found a replacement “foolish enough” to want the job.That person, Musk announced Friday, is Linda Yaccarino, a highly-regarded advertising executive from NBCUniversal. She’ll start in six weeks. How long she’ll last might depend on her pain tolerance. When Musk tweeted on Thursday that he’s found a new CEO but didn’t say who, one word stuck out: “she.” Some of his more extreme Twitter followers took immediate issue with the new CEO’s gender, but the fact that Musk hired a woman is actually notable simply because it is so rare — in business overall and especially in the tech industry — to see female chief executives. Her appointment renewed questions about the “glass cliff,” a theory that women — as well as underrepresented minorities — are more lik...

White House: Russia looks to purchase more attack drones from Iran after depleting stockpile

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Monday said Russia is looking to buy additional advanced attack drones from Iran for use in its war against Ukraine after using up most of the 400 drones it had previously purchased from Tehran.The Biden administration last year publicized satellite imagery and intelligence findings that it said indicated Iran sold hundreds of attack drones to Russia. And for months, officials have said the United States believed Iran was considering selling hundreds of ballistic missiles to Russia, but Washington did not have evidence a deal was consummated.“Iran also continues to provide Russia with one-way attack UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles). Since August, Iran has provided Russia with more than 400 UAVs primarily of the Shahed variety,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. “Russia has expended most of these UAVs, using them to target Ukrainian critical infrastructure inside Ukraine. By providing Russia with these UAVs, Iran has ...

The Weeknd changes name on social media to birth name Abel Tesfaye

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:52 GMT

TORONTO — The Weeknd is no more — and not just because it’s Monday.The Toronto-born singer has changed his display names on Instagram and Twitter to his birth name, Abel Tesfaye, though the usernames remain “theweeknd”.It comes one week after Tesfaye was quoted in W Magazine saying he was considering retiring the stage name, which he’s used for more than a decade.He told the magazine that he was ready to “close the Weeknd chapter,” though he plans to continue making music.He says he may still make music under the name, but he wants to “shed that skin and be reborn.”The shift comes just weeks before Tesfaye’s television show “The Idol” is set to debut at the Cannes Film Festival.He’s set to star in the HBO show, which he co-created with “Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson and nightlife entrepreneur-turned-producer Reza Fahim.This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 15, 2023.The Canadian P...

Oakland students to return to class after district, striking teachers reach deal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:52 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Students in the Oakland Unified School District will return to full classroom instruction Tuesday after the district and striking teachers announced a tentative deal that includes a reparations task force for Black students and more say from parents and teachers in school decisions.Monday’s announcement ends a strike that had kept 34,000 students out of school for more than a week. The last day of school for the district east of San Francisco is May 25. The union representing 3,000 educators, counselors and other workers walked out May 4 in a bid for traditional demands such as higher salaries. But they also wanted “common good” changes, such as reparations and resources for students who are homeless. Common good clauses that address community issues have become more of a bargaining issue, starting with Chicago in 2012 when teachers went on strike and demanded a voice in improving schools. In Oakland, the two sides agreed to a shared governance model of ...

Palestinian leader commemorates 1948 flight of Palestinians from Israel at first UN commemoration

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:52 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged the United Nations on Monday to suspend Israel’s membership unless it implements resolutions establishing separate Jewish and Arab states and the return of Palestinian refugees.Abbas spoke during the first official U.N. commemoration of the flight of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from what is now Israel following the U.N.’s partition of British-ruled Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states 75 years ago.Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Gilad Erdan, had sent letters to General Assembly ambassadors condemning the commemoration and urging them not to attend what he called an “abominable event” and a “blatant attempt to distort history.” He said those who attended would be condoning antisemitism and giving a green light to Palestinians “to continue exploiting international organs to promote their libelous narrative.”Israel and the United States boycotted the commemoration of what is known as the Nakba, or catas...

Stock market today: Wall Street rises ahead of updates on U.S. shoppers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:52 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is edging higher Monday ahead of reports that will show how much a slowing economy is hurting what’s prevented a recession so far: solid spending by U.S. households.The S&P 500 rose 0.4% in its first trading after closing out a second straight down week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 85 points, or 0.3%, to 33,385, as of 1:12 p.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.7% higher.Some of the sharper moves came from companies announcing takeovers of rivals, including an 8.1% drop for energy company Oneok after it said it’s buying Magellan Midstream Partners. Magellan jumped 14.2%. But the larger market was relatively quiet as several concerns continue to drag on Wall Street.Chief among them is the fear of a recession hitting later this year, in large part because of high interest rates meant to knock down inflation. But concerns are also rising about cracks in the U.S. banking system and the U.S. government’s inching toward a possible d...

Green Party deputy leader to run in upcoming Montreal byelection

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:52 GMT

OTTAWA — Green Party deputy leader Jonathan Pedneault is planning to run for a seat in the House of Commons in an upcoming byelection in Montreal’s Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount riding.The 32-year-old ran on a joint ticket to share the party leadership in November with longtime member of Parliament Elizabeth May. The party’s constitution has not yet been changed to make the pair co-leaders so Pedneault is the deputy leader.The Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount seat was created in 2015 and the area has long been considered a Liberal stronghold.It was last held by Liberal MP Marc Garneau, who announced his retirement earlier this year.A victory for Pedneault in the June 19 vote would see him join May and Mike Morrice as Green Party MPs in Ottawa.This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 15, 2023. The Canadian Press

Biden chooses cancer expert to lead National Institutes of Health

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:34:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden announced Monday that he plans to nominate cancer specialist Dr. Monica Bertagnolli to become director of the National Institutes of Health.Bertagnolli is a cancer surgeon and researcher who last fall became the first female head of the NIH’s National Cancer Institute. If confirmed by the Senate, she would become the second woman named permanent director of the NIH, one of the world’s leading biomedical research agencies.“Dr. Bertagnolli has spent her career pioneering scientific discovery and pushing the boundaries of what is possible to improve cancer prevention and treatment,” Biden said in a statement. She “will ensure NIH continues to be an engine of innovation to improve the health of the American people.”Bertagnolli also would bring a patient’s perspective to the job. Shortly after becoming NCI director, she was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer.“It’s one thing to know about cancer as a physician but it is another to experience it ...