All posts tagged: Falling

Poll Finds Strong Support For Larger Families Despite Falling US Birth Rates

Poll Finds Strong Support For Larger Families Despite Falling US Birth Rates

Published by Jenni Sidey

Authored by Savannah Hulsey Pointer via The Epoch Times, Most respondents said having children is important to a fulfilling life, while citing faith, family values, and economic stability as key factors. The question of the declining birth rate in the United States has been weighing on many, including economists and those in the religious sector. As more Americans reach the age of qualification for Social Security, the question of how to meet that demand alone has caused some to question what the future holds if American birthrates continue their current downward trajectory. The current American fertility rate is roughly 1.6 children per woman. A poll of Epoch Times readers found most believe that children are important, and also that the nation should look for ways to support family growth. Importance Of Family With a national average of less than two children per woman, readers were asked how they feel about family size. A large majority of those polled, 87 percent, believe that having children is important to having a fulfilling life. To add to that, …

“The Value Didn’t Arrive”: Bain Finds Cost-Savings From AI Are Falling Far Short Of Projections

“The Value Didn’t Arrive”: Bain Finds Cost-Savings From AI Are Falling Far Short Of Projections

Published by Jenni Sidey

Now that attention within the AI revolution has one again firmly turned toward the cost-benefit equation (i..e., ROI) of tokens (see “From Singularity To Tokenomics: The AI Narrative Just Hit A Serious Snag”) in particular, and the trillions behind the AI spending rollout in general, and we say once again because every few months we get some iteration of the following report from Goldman published almost two years ago today… … we have more bad news: according to a global survey by Bain, cost savings from automation are broadly falling short of projections. Which means that those expecting big savings from their investments in artificial intelligence, which is most companies, will be disappointed.  The missed targets “should be making executives uncomfortable,” since many of them are approving increased spending for artificial intelligence on the basis of expected savings, the consulting firm said in a report shared exclusively with Bloomberg News. The problem is there are little actual savings to speak of.  The survey, completed in April, was based on responses from executives at 951 companies with more …

Sound of Falling Wins German Film Awards Mascha Schilinski Period Drama

Sound of Falling Wins German Film Awards Mascha Schilinski Period Drama

Published by Daniella Wilson

Sound of Falling, Mascha Schilinski’s experimental period drama tracing the lives of four young women from four different epochs in rural East Germany, swept the German Film Awards, the Lolas, winning 10 Lolas including best film and best director for Schilinski. Schilinski’s sophomore feature, which premiered in Cannes last year, winning the jury prize, was the frontrunner going into the 2026 Lolas and it won in every category where it was on the nomination sheet. İlker Çatak‘s Berlin Film Festival winner Yellow Letters, which had nine nominations to Sound of Falling‘s 11, was nearly shut out, picking up just the runner-up Silver Lola for best film and the prize for best score for composer Marvin Miller. Simon Verhoeven’s comedy Ach, diese Lücke, diese entsetzliche Lücke, picked up two acting trophies: Best Actress for 85-year-old Senta Berger, a grande dame of German cinema (and Simon Verhoeven’s mother), who accepted her first-ever Lola in Berlin Friday night, and Michael Wittenborn, another beloved veteran performer, who played her on-screen husband. Best acting honors went to August Diehl for …

'Net Migration Is Falling But The Small Boats Keep Coming'

'Net Migration Is Falling But The Small Boats Keep Coming'

Published by Sam Flores

Migrants board a small boat in an attempt to reach Britain, Wednesday, April 8, 2026 in Malo-les-Bains, northern France. The net migration figures released this week make for extraordinary reading. Net migration to the UK has fallen dramatically. Work visa applications have plummeted. Study visas no longer bring family members automatically.  And emigration is accelerating – not just British people leaving, but large numbers of immigrants departing too. For years, the political right has spoken of invasion. On the evidence of this week’s data, that invasion has gone into reverse. It is beginning to look like an exodus. There is one exception. In one category of arrival there have been no government measures, no bilateral deals, no ministerial announcements, and no number of press conferences on the docks of Dover tarmac that have made any lasting difference. Channel crossings continue. Month after month. Parliament after parliament. Home secretary after home secretary. That’s because we are not asking the right question. Instead of asking how we stop the boats, we need to consider the question why, …

It’s not just inflation. Wages are falling behind too : NPR

It’s not just inflation. Wages are falling behind too : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

A customer shops for produce in an H-E-B grocery store on May 11 in Austin, Texas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Brandon Bell/Getty Images Sign up for the Planet Money newsletter. The world is confusing. Economics can help. Affordability has been a politically potent word, but an ill-defined measure of financial pain, often used as a reference to inflated prices. But new research from the Brookings Institution released Wednesday describes affordability by comparing the rising costs of essentials against family incomes. By that measure, the report found, in 2024 45.5% of U.S. households did not earn enough to cover their necessities. The report concluded that a mere $1,000 hike in the annual cost of living would leave another 3 million households unable to make ends meet. That precarity is partly due to the gap between inflation and wages. In 2024, national wages saw just a small 1.3% bump, well below the rate of inflation of 2.9% that year, according to the Census Bureau. “My main takeaway is that when we talk about affordability, we’ve been focusing …

“They don’t like each other:” Is Russia and Iran’s alliance falling apart? | US-Israel war on Iran

“They don’t like each other:” Is Russia and Iran’s alliance falling apart? | US-Israel war on Iran

Published by Sam Flores

Iranian-build drones that Russia has used to hit Kyiv [Iranian Army via AP] Drones over Ukraine When Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, Iran reiterated its “neutrality,” abstaining or voting against UN resolutions condemning the war. But Iran’s supreme leader sounded far from neutral. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared that Washington’s “mafia regime” needed “crisis spots all over the world” and made Ukraine its “victim”. “Support by Western governments for administrations and politicians that have been installed by them is a mirage,” he said in an hour-long speech on March 1, 2022, referring to Ukraine’s pro-Western government. Four months later, Putin visited Tehran, where he heard another anti-Western barb. “In case of Ukraine, had you not shown your initiative, the other side would have started the war,” Khamenei told Putin, echoing Moscow’s narrative about NATO and the collective West that “instigated” the war. “If [NATO] had not been stopped in Ukraine, it would have started a war [with Russia], using [annexed] Crimea as a pretext,” he said. Putin seemed pleased with the remarks …

The Building Blocks Of A Global Stagflationary Shock Are Falling Into Place

The Building Blocks Of A Global Stagflationary Shock Are Falling Into Place

Published by Jenni Sidey

By Peter de Groot, Head of Macro Strategy at Rabobank The Inflation Regime That Doesn’t Fade As we noted at the outset of the Gulf conflict, history rarely repeats – but it often rhymes. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is increasingly revealing a familiar pattern: the building blocks of a global stagflationary shock are falling into place. A closer look across inflation indicators in advanced economies shows a clear and consistent structure. The upstream impact has been immediate and forceful – exactly as expected in an energy-driven shock. The surge in oil and gas prices has translated into sharp increases in petroleum products such as diesel, and into key industrial inputs like sulphur and fertilisers. Producer price expectations – particularly in energy-intensive sectors such as chemicals, base metals, and wood – have risen rapidly, in many cases outpacing the (initial) post-Covid surge. European industrial surveys point to strong repricing at the start of the production chain. But further downstream, the picture is more nuanced, for now. While higher input costs are being passed …

Viewers hail new drama Falling as ‘TV gem’

Viewers hail new drama Falling as ‘TV gem’

Published by Daniella Wilson

Channel 4’s new romance drama, Falling, debuted on Tuesday night, and viewers have hailed the show as “brilliant” and a TV “gem”.  Starring Keeley Hawes and Paapa Essiedu, the six-part series explores the forbidden and unexpected romance between a devoted nun and a Catholic priest.  © Channel 4Keeley Hawes stars as a devoted nun in Falling This poignant exploration of forbidden love has rightfully claimed the top spot on my watchlist this week. Beyond the brilliance of its lead actors Keeley and Paapa, the series boasts a script penned by BAFTA-winning writer Jack Thorne. Renowned for his gripping storytelling in the acclaimed psychological drama Adolescence and the hard-hitting 2021 film Help, Jack never fails to deliver deeply emotional, character-driven television. Keep reading to find out what viewers and TV critics have said about the show. What is Falling about?  The story centres on devoted nun Anna (Hawes) and Catholic priest David (Essiedu), who are both deeply committed to their work in the church and in their community.  © Channel 4/The Forge/Robert ViglaskyThe series explores the forbidden …

Donald Trump And Republicans Are Falling Into A Trap

Donald Trump And Republicans Are Falling Into A Trap

Published by Sam Flores

As President Trump went on a winning streak in the news, his electoral standing continued to crumble.  President Donald Trump has spent much of 2025 and 2026 speedrunning his predecessor’s arc in office: Like Joe Biden, he returned to power with grand ideological goals – but then high prices and a focus on issues he deemed inessential soured the American public on his leadership. And now, like Biden, Trump has scored a series of election wins, imbuing his party with false confidence. With Biden, those wins came in the 2022 midterms, when Democrats did unexpectedly well and hushed intraparty conversations about whether he should run for re-election. Biden ultimately dropped out far too late, and the Democrats were doomed in 2024. Trump’s successes in the courtroom and Republican primaries over the past month are having a similar effect, seemingly convincing a party staring at potential doom in November that there is little reason to change course or break with a president whose popularity continues to steadily decline amid a horrendously unpopular decision to attack Iran …

Falling review: Paapa Essiedu and Keeley Hawes in Channel 4 love drama

Falling review: Paapa Essiedu and Keeley Hawes in Channel 4 love drama

Published by Daniella Wilson

A star rating of 4 out of 5. Adultery is a common enough trope in television drama. But what about when the injured party is the Almighty? While “a nun and a priest fall in love”, sounds like the set-up for a one-line gag, Falling is in fact very loosely inspired by a true story, and Jack Thorne fully exploits the dramatic potential over six hours. In contrast to so much television drama, it is content to lure the viewer in slowly rather than unduly impose itself, making the emotional peaks and troughs hit all the harder when they come. David (Paapa Essiedu) is funny, approachable and has not long moved to Bristol – the sort of priest who believes in active intervention to make an immediate, tangible impact on people’s lives. This is addressed both indirectly, as he references campaigns to establish a needle exchange and install a basketball hoop, and head-on when his overtures to Tina (newcomer Holly Rhys) – a gentle teen with problems at home – about joining a convent are …