Melinda Gates is co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which she set up with her husband, Bill Gates. It is the largest private charitable organisation in the world and uses Microsoft’s billions in diverse philanthropic drives: supplying vaccines and birth control to developing countries and working to get the world’s 130 million girls…
Month: May 2019
Saturday Night Live: Adam Sandler returns for a ‘Family Reunion’ and reprises Opera Man
A returning Saturday Night Live initially opens with live C-SPAN coverage of Capitol Hill, but since attorney general William Barr disobeyed congressional Democrats’ and refused to give testimony last week, we cut to Celebrity Family Feud: Avengers v Game of Thrones edition. The Marvel team is comprises “Scientologist” Thor (Alex Moffat), “swole Grimace” Thanos (Beck…
Apple finds wearable ‘gimmicks’ really count as iPhone slips
If Apple wants to prove to doubters that there is life beyond the iPhone, then the wrists and ears of millions of customers could provide the answer. Twelve years from the launch of Steve Jobs’s signature product, Apple wearables – and the services that tie in to them – have emerged as an important component…
German parents face fine for refusing measles vaccination
Parents who refuse to vaccinate their children against measles in Germany could be punished with fines of up to €250,000 (£213,000), according to a draft law presented by the health minister, Jens Spahn. The law, which is set to come into effect from 1 March 2022 if it passes through parliament before the end of…
‘Our ticket to Europe’: North Macedonia elects pro-western president
North Macedonia’s pro-western candidate, Stevo Pendarovski, won a run-off presidential vote after a campaign dominated by divisions over a change to the country’s name that was agreed to mollify Greece and open the way for EU and Nato membership. The State Election Commission results based on 99.5% the votes counted showed 51.7% of the votes…
‘Battle for America’s soul’: Biden comes out swinging at first 2020 event
In the inaugural speech of his third campaign for the White House, the former vice-president Joe Biden returned to his native state of Pennsylvania and implored voters to reject Donald Trump’s presidency in what he framed as a “battle for America’s soul”. “If I’m going to beat Donald Trump in 2020, it’s going to happen…
Comically surreal: how Dali’s film with Marx brothers came to life
Giraffes on Horseback Salad, an improbable project dreamed up by the most unorthodox of creative talents, Salvador Dalí and the Marx Brothers, still features regularly on lists of the most tantalising movies never made. But now the feature film that would have marked the only collaboration between the great Spanish surrealist and the most popular…
Trump tweets support for far-right figures banned by Facebook
Donald Trump criticized social media companies after Facebook banned a number of far-right and other extremist figures, declaring that he was “monitoring and watching, closely!!” The president, who at the weekend tweeted and retweeted complaints, including complaints from rightwing figures themselves, said he would “monitor the censorship of AMERICAN CITIZENS on social media platforms”. Meanwhile,…
Pompeo insists North Korea nuclear deal still possible despite weapons test
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted Sunday that a nuclear disarmament deal between the US and North Korea was still possible, despite the country’s launch of several short-range projectiles into the sea one day earlier. “There’s an opportunity to get a negotiated outcome, where we get fully verified denuclearization” and said the US hopes to…