All posts tagged: shadow

Michael Jackson’s shadow of doubt : NPR

Michael Jackson’s shadow of doubt : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

A sanded-down biopic about the King of pop and propaganda has resurfaced his music on the charts — along with questions about how his enduring magic became make-believe As Michael Jackson: The Verdict, a docuseries on the late artist’s 2005 abuse trial, arrives on Netflix this week, his music continues to climb the charts following renewed interest from his biopic. Carlo Allegri/Getty Images/Getty Images North America hide caption toggle caption Carlo Allegri/Getty Images/Getty Images North America “Remember guys Michael Jackson has fans that aren’t even born yet.”  It’s a pretty innocuous prediction. Or a deeply disturbing one, depending on how you read it. The comment, recently posted under the music video for “Billie Jean,” jumped out at me after watching it on YouTube, where it’s amassed two billion-plus views, including mine, since it was uploaded 16 years ago. Like a lot of metrics, it’s proof that we’re still spellbound by Michael Jackson’s tragic magic. Since its April 24 release, the feature film Michael has grossed more than $850 million worldwide, fast on its way to …

France and allies intercept uncompliant Russian shadow fleet tanker, Kremlin calls it ‘piracy’

France and allies intercept uncompliant Russian shadow fleet tanker, Kremlin calls it ‘piracy’

Published by Sam Flores

France and its allies detained a sanctioned Russian oil tanker in the Atlantic over the weekend, President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday. According to a prosecutor, the Russian captain of the seized tanker refused to comply with the French navy’s orders, and “taking control of the vessel proved necessary”. The Brest prosecutor’s office said that a criminal investigation had been opened over failure to prove a vessel’s nationality, absence of a flag and refusal to comply. The Tagor was detained on Sunday morning in international waters with the help of the United Kingdom and other partners, he said in a social media post. “It is unacceptable for ships to circumvent international sanctions, violate the law of the sea, and fund the war that Russia has been waging against Ukraine for more than four years,” he said. In response, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov challenged the seizure by France and other navies, calling it “illegal” and comparing the move to “piracy”. Since September, France has boarded three other ships believed to belong to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet. …

Prestige Drama by Séamas O’Reilly review – brilliant wry comedy of Derry and the shadow of the past | Fiction

Prestige Drama by Séamas O’Reilly review – brilliant wry comedy of Derry and the shadow of the past | Fiction

Published by Sam Flores

The premise of Séamas O’Reilly’s brilliant debut novel is that a Hollywood actor has flown into Derry to star in a new TV series about the Troubles called Dead City, then mysteriously disappeared. But its real interest lies in what happens when a place becomes defined by a particular historical moment, to the extent that stories told about it lapse into formula. As one character says of the TV series: “A young lad coming of age in a time of violence, will he get caught up in everything or find another way through blah blah blah.” O’Reilly is determined to show us that the people of Derry are not so easily stereotyped. He uses Dead City as a starting point to circle through different characters connected to the series, from a stressed scriptwriter to a local historian who wonders, “How do you talk about the past as a person still living it, in a place that barely survived it?” As we move through the novel, we discover the links between them, creating a patchwork portrait …

Sevastopol Governor Says Ukraine Used Storm Shadow Missiles in Attack

Sevastopol Governor Says Ukraine Used Storm Shadow Missiles in Attack

Published by Sam Flores

May 27 (Reuters) – Air defence units in ⁠the ⁠port of Sevastopol in ⁠Russian-occupied Crimea downed more than 20 Ukrainian drones ​early on Wednesday, with Ukraine also using Storm Shadow missiles, the city’s ‌governor said on Telegram. There were ‌no injuries, according to preliminary data, Mikhail Razvozhayev said, ⁠adding that ⁠a few buildings, including a regional office of the central ​bank and an eight-story apartment block, were damaged in the attack. Storm Shadow missiles are made by a Franco-British consortium. Russia, which annexed Crimea ​from Ukraine in 2014, has previously summoned the British and French ⁠ambassadors ⁠to protest Ukraine’s use ⁠of the ​weapons. There was no comment from Ukraine on the attacks. On Monday, ​Ukraine’s military said it ⁠used Storm Shadow missiles to destroy a Russian command-and-control and communications post in Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region. Separately, two people were wounded in the southern Russian port city of Taganrog, ⁠east of the border with Ukraine, after Russia downed a missile ⁠early on Wednesday, Taganrog Mayor Svetlana Kambulova said on Telegram. Overall, Russia downed …

We live in shadow of giant ‘megashed’ vibrations from the work damages our homes

We live in shadow of giant ‘megashed’ vibrations from the work damages our homes

Published by Sam Flores

Residents living beside a partially constructed enormous “mega-shed” claim their lives have become a nightmare due to disruptive noise from the “monster metal skeleton”, which rattles their properties and causes damage to their rooftops. The massive 90,000sqm commercial facility is currently under construction in Bentley, Walsall, on the location of a former Holiday Inn hotel, which burned down seven years ago in 2019. However, the new project – equivalent in size to approximately 12 football pitches – has sparked outrage amongst locals after it emerged at the bottom of their gardens “without any warning.” Homeowners claim their quality of life has been destroyed by the enormous structure as it obscures their sunlight and spoils their outlook – leaving them feeling as though they now reside beside a “prison camp”. READ MORE: Midlands motorway drivers fall foul of 71mph rule Get the latest court and crime news direct via our WhatsApp community here They allege drilling operations have caused their properties to shake throughout the day, leading to roof tiles tumbling from their homes, and they …

The Brighter the Light The Darker the Shadow by Verlin Darrow

The Brighter the Light The Darker the Shadow by Verlin Darrow

Published by Jenni Sidey

There is something quietly subversive about a murder mystery that begins with its narrator asking whether he can fully experience a horrific moment without losing his center. Most thrillers open with adrenaline. The Brighter the Light, The Darker the Shadow by Verlin Darrow opens with mindfulness — a yurt at dawn, a dewy Santa Cruz meadow, a Newfoundland-malamute mix named Zeus, and a corpse the protagonist would rather not look at. Within a page, you know you are not reading a standard whodunit. You are reading a procedural conducted by a man whose first instinct is to meditate on his own flinching. Verlin Darrow, a working psychotherapist with a former life as a spiritual teacher, has spent decades observing how people behave under pressure, and that watchful, slightly amused gaze suffuses every chapter. The result is a courtroom-tinged thriller that earns its suspense by refusing to chase it. The Premise, Without Giving the Game Away Kade Tobin leads a rural spiritual community called the Brethren of Congruence, tucked into the redwood mountains north of Watsonville. …

French media tycoon Vincent Bolloré casts shadow over Cannes opening – arts24

French media tycoon Vincent Bolloré casts shadow over Cannes opening – arts24

Published by Sam Flores

As the 79th Cannes Film Festival opens on the Croisette, politics is competing with glamour for attention. Hundreds of figures from the French film industry have signed an open letter warning about what they describe as the growing influence of the far right within French cinema and media. At the centre of the controversy is French billionaire and media tycoon Vincent Bolloré, owner of Canal+, the powerful television group that plays a major role in financing French films. The letter, published in French daily Libération and signed by figures including actress Juliette Binoche, reflects wider tensions in France over Vincent Bolloré’s expanding media empire and perceived political influence. Read moreCannes 2026 rolls out red carpet amid AI spat, absence of major US studios The debate comes as international stars begin arriving in Cannes for a festival that will welcome big names including Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver and John Travolta. FRANCE 24’s Culture Editor Eve Jackson reports from Cannes. Source link

Putin’s shadow fleet faces fresh EU sanctions blitz – POLITICO

Putin’s shadow fleet faces fresh EU sanctions blitz – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Expected in late June or early July, the 21st sanctions package will also likely target Russian banks, financial institutions and military-industrial companies as well as firms selling stolen Ukrainian grain, according to seven EU officials and diplomats with knowledge of the discussions, who were granted anonymity to discuss the preparations. Officials also see a chance to move ahead with sanctions previously blocked by the government of Viktor Orbán, the former Hungarian prime minister. Among them are measures targeting senior members of the Russian Orthodox Church, notably its leader Patriarch Kirill, a close ally of Putin’s who has lauded the Ukraine invasion. The European Commission may also revive the idea of a ban on maritime services for Russian vessels, which has so far been blocked by Malta and Greece, one of the diplomats argued. “Following Hungarian elections, there is a new momentum” for sanctions, chief EU diplomat Kaja Kallas told reporters after a recent gathering of ministers in Luxembourg. “We should revisit sanctions that have been on the table and not agreed before, but also we should move on …

5,000 vibe-coded apps just proved shadow AI is the new S3 bucket crisis

5,000 vibe-coded apps just proved shadow AI is the new S3 bucket crisis

Published by skeptic

Most enterprise security programs were built to protect servers, endpoints, and cloud accounts. None of them was built to find a customer intake form that a product manager vibe coded on Lovable over a weekend, connected to a live Supabase database, and deployed on a public URL indexed by Google. That gap now has a price tag. New research from Israeli cybersecurity firm RedAccess quantifies the scale. The firm discovered 380,000 publicly accessible assets, including applications, databases, and related infrastructure, built with vibe coding tools from Lovable, Base44, and Replit, as well as deployment platform Netlify. Roughly 5,000 of those assets, about 1.3%, contained sensitive corporate information. CEO Dor Zvi said his team found the exposure while researching shadow AI for customers. Axios independently verified multiple exposed apps, and Wired confirmed the findings separately. Among the verified exposures: a shipping company app detailed which vessels were expected at which ports. An internal health company application listed active clinical trials across the U.K. Full, unredacted customer service conversations for a British cabinet supplier sat on the …

“When it finally happens”: The weaponization of euphemism in MAGA’s shadow

“When it finally happens”: The weaponization of euphemism in MAGA’s shadow

Published by Sam Flores

Every so often, the internet becomes abuzz with vague statements that everyone instantly understands. “Is he dead yet?” or “When it happens” flood the feeds, with nearly everyone exactly aware of who “he” is and what “it” is. Webcomics have made “he’s still alive” a punchline, with similar humor embedded in long-winded McSweeney’s essays. This makes for good business, too. A Wisconsin brewery went viral recently for promising free beer “all day long, the day he dies” without mentioning anyone by name. It is no coincidence these phrases and memes pop up every time President Donald Trump makes an unexpected trip to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, among other surprise medical exams that have been occurring since his first term. Yes, the death of Trump, who will turn 80 this June, has been a popular topic for some time, not solely due to the torrent of alleged health concerns surrounding the president, whose swollen ankles, discolored skin, spontaneous naps and incoherent rambling has sparked online rumors that he is seriously ailing. Whether you agree …