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Entertainment

Baryshnikov Arts Middle to Proceed On-line Programming This Fall

Baryshnikov Arts Center to Continue Online Programming This Fall

Baryshnikov Arts Center will hold another free online season before welcoming audiences back to its theaters in spring. Mikhail Baryshnikov, who founded the institution in 2005, said the main reason for remaining virtual was a long-planned replacement of its building’s heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system, which is to get underway in fall.

The coming season will include the premieres of commissioned pieces by River L. Ramirez, a comedian and musician (Oct. 18 to Nov. 1); the dancer Sooraj Subramaniam (Nov. 1-15); Jordan Demetrius Lloyd, a New York City dance artist (Nov. 29 to Dec. 13); and the dance duo Molly Lieber and Eleanor Smith (Jan. 10-24).

This is the second round of new work that the center has supported during the pandemic. The first was streamed during its spring 2021 season, and featured pieces by Stefanie Batten Bland, Mariana Valencia and Bijayini Satpathy.

“Instead of doing virtual galas, we decided to celebrate artists and their creativity,” Baryshnikov said of the choice to focus on commissioning. This emphasis, he added, is in keeping with the center’s primary mission, which is to help artists develop and experiment “without commercial pressure.”

The choreographers Kyle Abraham and Liz Gerring will also present new dances through the center this fall. Each has made a duet in response to Merce Cunningham’s “Landrover” (1972). Their contributions, commissioned by the center and the Merce Cunningham Trust, will stream Sept. 20-30 in an online program alongside solos and duets from Cunningham’s work performed by Jacquelin Harris and Chalvar Monteiro of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

Two filmed solos by the Swedish choreographer Mats Ek (streaming Oct. 4-14); and “Pigulim,” a filmed dance-theater work by Ella Rothschild, an Israeli choreographer and former Batsheva Dance Company performer (available Dec. 13-23), round out the announced slate.

For Baryshnikov, it has been “a pleasant surprise” to see that the performing arts can be successfully created, shared and enjoyed in digital forms. “Thousands of people have been watching the online programming and we got so many responses from all over the world,” he said.

There are creative benefits to filming work that would otherwise be presented live onstage as well. “We gave artists the opportunity to really be in charge of their own presentation,” he said. “It’s a new medium — you have to be a cameraman or a director besides being a choreographer or a composer or an instrumentalist or a singer.”

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Health

WHO urges absolutely vaccinated individuals to proceed to put on masks as variant spreads

Biden administration set to relax outdoor mask guidance

People wear face masks in Central Park on April 10, 2021 in New York City.

Noam Galai | Getty Images

The World Health Organization on Friday urged fully vaccinated people to continue to wear masks, social distance and practice other Covid-19 pandemic safety measures as the highly contagious delta variant spreads rapidly across the globe.

“People cannot feel safe just because they had the two doses. They still need to protect themselves,” Dr. Mariangela Simao, WHO assistant director-general for access to medicines and health products, said during a news briefing from the agency’s Geneva headquarters.

“Vaccine alone won’t stop community transmission,” Simao added. “People need to continue to use masks consistently, be in ventilated spaces, hand hygiene … the physical distance, avoid crowding. This still continues to be extremely important, even if you’re vaccinated when you have a community transmission ongoing.”

The health organization’s comments come as some countries, including the United States, have largely done away with masks and pandemic-related restrictions as the Covid vaccines have helped drive down the number of new infections and deaths.

The number of new infections in the U.S. has held steady over the last week at an average of 11,659 new cases per day, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Still, new infections have been plummeting over the last several months.

WHO officials said they are asking fully vaccinated people to continue to “play it safe” because a large portion of the world remains unvaccinated and highly contagious variants, like delta, are spreading in many countries, spurring outbreaks.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that about half of adults infected in an outbreak of the delta variant in Israel were fully vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, prompting the government there to reimpose an indoor mask requirement and other measures.

“Yes, you can reduce some measures and different countries have different recommendations in that regard. But there’s still the need for caution,” Dr. Bruce Aylward, a senior advisor to the WHO’s director-general, said at the briefing. “As we are seeing, there are new variants emerging.”

The WHO said last week that delta is becoming the dominant variant of the disease worldwide.

WHO officials have said the variant, first found in India but now in at least 92 countries, is the fastest and fittest coronavirus strain yet, and it will “pick off” the most vulnerable people, especially in places with low Covid vaccination rates.

They said there were reports that the delta variant also causes more severe symptoms, but that more research is needed to confirm those conclusions. Still, there are signs the delta strain could provoke different symptoms than other variants.

It has the potential “to be more lethal because it’s more efficient in the way it transmits between humans and it will eventually find those vulnerable individuals who will become severely ill, have to be hospitalized and potentially die,” Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies program, said Monday.

In the U.S., President Joe Biden said Covid deaths nationwide will continue to rise due to the spread of the “dangerous” delta variant, calling it a “serious concern.”

He warned that Americans who are still unvaccinated are especially at risk.

“Six hundred thousand-plus Americans have died, and with this delta variant you know there’s going to be others as well. You know it’s going to happen. We’ve got to get young people vaccinated,” Biden said Thursday at a community center in Raleigh, North Carolina

Categories
Politics

Capitol riot protests proceed 4 months after lethal revolt

Capitol riot protests continue four months after deadly insurrection

A man breaks a window as a crowd of US President Donald Trump’s supporters storm the US Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021.

Leah Millis | Reuters

Suspects in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol continue to be arrested as the Justice Department presses its investigation into the most significant federal violation in modern American history.

At least three supporters of former President Donald Trump were only arrested on Monday and charged with federal crimes related to the riot, according to court records.

Abram Markofski and Brandon Nelson from Wisconsin and John Douglas Wright from Ohio were arrested on Monday and charged with breaking into the Capitol.

Federal Bureau of Investigation files show that Markofski and Nelson have been investigated since shortly after a tipster contacted the FBI the day after the riot.

An indictment in Wright’s case involves four unnamed cooperating witnesses who each confirmed that he was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, based on Wright’s own posts on Facebook.

On January 16, 2021, the FBI posted Photo No. 104-AFO (“Attack on Federal Officials”) on its website and asked the public for assistance in identifying the individuals involved in the Capitol riot. Stör is in the top row on the far right.

Source: FBI | Ministry of Justice

The arrests come as federal prosecutors wrestle with the approach to the far-reaching investigation, in which more than 400 defendants are now involved.

At the end of April, prosecutors said they would indict at least 100 more people and described the investigation as “one of the largest in American history, both in terms of the number of prosecuted defendants and the nature and extent of the evidence.”

Officials have estimated that up to 800 people could have participated in efforts to forcibly prevent Congress from confirming President Joe Biden’s election victory in November, meaning that despite the large number of arrests, many of those who died on Nov. Having entered the Capitol on January 1st, will not be charged at all.

Proud boys and oath keepers

The most serious charges were brought against alleged members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, two right-wing groups. The Oath Guards emphasize the recruitment of military and law enforcement officers, while the Proud Boys have described themselves as “Western chauvinists”.

Prosecutors have alleged that members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys worked together prior to the uprising to plan the attack. In court records, they cited news from Kelly Meggs, a suspected member of the Oath Keepers, referring to an “alliance” between the two groups and apparently discussing plans for the uprising.

“We have decided to work together and solve this problem,” wrote Meggs allegedly in a post on December 19 on Facebook, quoted by investigators. In another message a few days later, Meggs allegedly wrote to an unnamed person to “wait for the sixth when we’re all in DC for the riot”.

So far, at least 25 alleged proud boys and a dozen alleged oath guards have been charged. Defense lawyers for those charged have denied there was any plan to attack the Capitol.

Lower fees

The majority of those arrested so far on the probe have been hit with lesser charges. More than 350 people are charged with entering or leaving a restricted building, the Justice Department said. According to a CBS News tally, more than 100 people were accused of assaulting, resisting, or interfering with an officer.

So far, one of the central legal disputes has been whether or not defendants will be forced to remain in prison while their charges are pending. In March, the Washington federal appeals court gave prosecutors a setback in a ruling that suggested that non-violent rioters should not be jailed before sentenced.

“In our view, those who actually attacked police officers and broke windows, doors and barricades, and those who supported, conspired, planned or coordinated such actions are in a different category of danger than those who fueled the violence or entered the Capitol after others cleared the way, “wrote Judge Robert Wilkins, an Obama-appointed agent, for a three-judge panel on the DC Court of Appeals.

The appeals court ruling paved the way for many alleged rioters to wait from home for the trial. This happened in connection with a case against Eric Munchel and his mother Lisa Marie Eisenhart, who were later released from prison. Munchel is allegedly the subject of viral photos of a man wearing military gear and zippered handcuffs in the Capitol.

A federal judge in Washington Tuesday ordered the release of Connecticut, 23-year-old Patrick McCaughey, who is accused of assaulting a police officer trapped in a doorway by rioters. McCaughey had been detained since mid-January.

McCaughey attorney Lindy Urso said, “We are grateful that common sense and the law take precedence over politics.”

Urso had argued that when the judge had previously denied the loan, the judge had incriminated the defense to show that McCaughey posed no escape or danger to the public, rather than incriminating prosecutors to show that it was him .

Despite the March ruling by the US Circuit Court of Appeals, lower court judges agreed with prosecutors that some protesters may be detained on January 6, despite the lack of evidence of violence. For example, last month a federal district judge in Washington ordered two suspected Proud Boys leaders to be detained pending trial.

Judge Timothy Kelly admitted that Ethan Nordean of Seattle and Joseph Biggs of Florida lacked “the usual signs of dangerousness” but wrote that the two were accused of “trying, in a sense, to steal one of our country’s crown jewels, by intervening “the peaceful transfer of power. “

Kelly wrote that the men allegedly “facilitated political violence” even though prosecutors had no evidence that they personally committed acts of violence.

Pushing for a plea agreement

Experts have said prosecutors are likely to try to convince participants to plead guilty and agree to cooperate with the investigation.

So far, only one person, Jon Ryan Schaffer, has done this. Schaffer was a member of the Oath Keepers but is not one of the 12 people allegedly belonging to the group charged with conspiracy.

Schaffer pleaded guilty to two charges last month, with a possible maximum sentence of 30 years in prison: obstructing an official process and entering and remaining in a restricted building or compound with a deadly or dangerous weapon.

In a press release announcing Schaffer’s confession of guilt, released 100 days after Jan. 6, then-incumbent Assistant Attorney General John Carlin noted the Justice Department’s progress in the investigation and said Schaffer had admitted to being a “founding member.” Lifetime of “To be the Oath Keepers.” “

“The FBI has made an average of more than four arrests a day, seven days a week since January 6,” Carlin said.

Categories
Business

Walmart’s use of TikTok will doubtless proceed, even when Oracle deal unravels

Walmart's use of TikTok will likely continue, even if Oracle deal unravels

Walmart’s hopes of owning a stake in TikTok may be dashed, but don’t expect interest in the viral video app to wane.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, the company’s plan to buy the US social media app operations from Oracle has been put on hold indefinitely as the Biden administration investigates security concerns with Chinese tech companies. Nameless people who were familiar with the matter were quoted.

Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove declined to comment on Wednesday’s report, referring questions to the Biden administration about a possible TikTok sale. Oracle did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Speaking at a press conference at the White House on Wednesday, press secretary Jen Psaki said the government had not taken any new measures regarding the TikTok deal. She said that apps like TikTok continue to assess potential risks to US data.

Walmart is one of many retailers who have viewed the popular app as a way to follow trends, create shippable content, and build their brand among teenagers and 20 year olds. Walmart shoppers consulted TikTok when deciding which toys to order for the holiday season. In December there was a one-hour livestream event in the app. Those efforts will likely continue – even if Walmart doesn’t have a front row seat.

“We were really excited about what we saw, customer engagement and experience,” said Janey Whiteside, Walmart’s chief customer officer, in a recent interview about the livestream TikTok event. “Expect more of these things from us in the days, weeks, months ahead.”

She said events like this “really create more interesting places to work with brands.” This is gaining traction as the retailer plans to grow its advertising business more than 10x over the next five years and to compete better with Amazon in this industry.

Jefferies analyst Steph Wissink said a stake in TikTok would give Walmart an edge over competitors who also use the social media app. She likened it to being an auto mechanic versus an enthusiast. As a partial owner of TikTok, Walmart was able to open the hood and better understand the powerful social media app. It could collect more data on how advertising campaigns or videos can get more powerful. It could even tinker with how the app works to improve it or take other retailers out, she said.

“Right now, Walmart is an enthusiast as an outsider,” she said. “They use TikTok, they use social media, they use new advertising platforms in ways that appreciate a new way of connecting with consumers – but having the ability would give them an in-depth knowledge of how it works, the architecture and the mechanics of the motor. “

Still, she said, the app will remain an important media platform for Walmart by “creating brand awareness and relevance in a generation that will eventually age into their purchasing power years.” With the use of the app, she said, Walmart is thinking a decade ahead.

Walmart’s quest for TikTok began last year after President Donald Trump urged TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, to find an American buyer or face a national ban. He said the popular video app raised security concerns because it could leak US users’ data to the Chinese government – a claim TikTok denied.

The retailer partnered with Microsoft, and later Oracle, last summer to acquire part of the social media company’s US operations. As part of the Oracle deal, Walmart would acquire a 7.5% stake in TikTok’s US operations, and its CEO, Doug McMillon, would get a seat on the board of the newly formed company.

In an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in October, McMillon said Walmart viewed TikTok as a “discovery opportunity” that could inspire shoppers to shop.

“If you’re watching a TikTok video and someone has a piece of clothing or an item on it that you really like, what if you could just and quickly purchase that item?” he said. “This is what we see in countries all over the world. And it fascinates us and we want to be part of it.”

Livestream events are already increasing sales for brands in China and other parts of Asia. They’re a core part of Alibaba’s Singles Day, a huge shopping festival that’s popular outside of the United States. According to a survey conducted by AlixPartners in the fall, two-thirds of Chinese consumers said they had bought products via live streaming in the past 12 months.

And it has become a sales tool that more US brands want to dominate too. Last month, for example, a heart-shaped bag by Kate Spade went viral on TikTok – another reminder of the app’s power.

“We were able to use that,” said Joanne Crevoiserat, CEO of Kate Spade’s parent company Tapestry, in an interview on CNBC’s “Closing Bell”. “The bag is sold out.”

– CNBC’s Lauren Feiner contributed to this report.