Author: damazah@gmail.com

On a brilliantly bright afternoon in his gallery and studio in Bolinas, a small town on the northern California coast, Keith Hansen was putting the finishing touches on a watercolor of an almost improbably flamboyant painted bunting.With an ultra-fine sable brush, he made a few intricate additions to the cobalt blue plumage on the bunting’s head, and, satisfied with his work, slipped the watercolor into a stout binder that every few days welcomes a new addition.“That was number 420,” he said. Or to put it another way, just 584 to go.Hansen, a renowned ornithological illustrator and author, has a monumental…

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Most people think Britain is not working as it should. For young people, the situation is at its most acute: Only one in four believe that everyone in society has a fair crack. Most think the game is rigged.It is clear why the generation who grew up during the post-2008 crash austerity years and in the shadow of the Covid pandemic are downbeat: the level of public service provision their parents enjoyed is gone, living costs are rising, the AI revolution is changing everything, and the planet is on fire.That is why Alan Milburn’s review into youth unemployment is vital.…

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The Kaiama community in Kwara State has called for sustained government support to rehabilitate and reintegrate victims of the February 3 attack on Woro, following the release of 163 of the victims after about six months in captivity. A retired permanent secretary in Kwara State and vice president of the Kaiama Development Association, Yakub Jaja, made the call during an interview with PREMIUM TIMES in Ilorin on Saturday. Mr Jaja thanked President Bola Tinubu, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara, security agencies and local vigilantes for the release of the abductees. Governor AbdulRazaq during a visit to some of the rescued…

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In 1993, a sci-fi blockbuster about an animal theme park that resurrected the dinosaurs sparked more than a flurry of interest in those long-extinct beasts. It left audiences jonesing for the next best thing: a close encounter with a bearded dragon or a ball python. Jeremy McBride, the Emmy-winning film-maker was one of them. “I wanted a pet iguana,” he said. In the wake of the Spielberg classic, reptiles have become fixtures of the modern imagination, adorning zoo exhibits, living room terrariums and every corner of pop culture while underpinning a multibillion-dollar pet trade.But just as in Jurassic Park, the…

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Trends at Copenhagen fashion week are usually easy to spot. The so-called “fifth fashion week”, a laidback sibling to the other four main fashion cities, has previously popularised everything from romantic floaty dresses with practical trainers to giant hair scrunchies. But during its latest iteration that wrapped up on Friday, a much more subtle trend had emerged – naked nails.From the models on the catwalks to show-goers and passersby, fingers and toes featured short and unvarnished nails. The trend is a sharp shift away from the long, bright and glossy mani/pedis that have more recently dominated beauty standards.Saffron Goddard, a…

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Andy Burnham is to undertake a national tour this coming week as he aims to improve the government’s connection with the British public during his premiership.The prime minister is expected to announce a set of policies that will help people financially as many struggle with the cost of living, as well as indicate his intent to improve high streets across the country.Burnham has previously given the public “breathing space” since succeeding Keir Starmer in the role last month, but is said to be in “listening mode” as he tours Britain and pushes his “10-year plan to bring back hope”.While an…

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Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has called for an end to what he describes as a state of “neither war nor peace” with the United States as negotiators seek an agreement to end the war.Pezeshkian said on Saturday that Iran was in a position of strength and he believed it was the right time to reach an agreement with the US.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listThe president’s remarks came as Iran and Oman pursue an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway through which about one-fifth of global oil shipments transited in peacetime.Tehran has de facto…

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Oliver Burkhard does not like champagne. Even if he did, the chief executive of German shipbuilder TKMS would not be popping corks, despite just having been picked for what promises to be the biggest deal in the company’s history. Although TKMS was named the “preferred supplier” of up to 12 new submarines last month by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in a deal worth some tens of billions of euros, Burkhard says it is too early to celebrate.“The real work starts now,” he told the FT. “We must negotiate to reach a contract. We don’t have it yet.”It is a typically…

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The rating agency Moody’s has said the race to adopt AI is putting big banks at the mercy of a small group of Silicon Valley firms, leaving them vulnerable to widespread outages and price gouging by profit-hungry tech bosses.The financial sector’s efforts to integrate AI into day-to-day operations will eventually cut costs and increase revenues across the City and Wall Street, Moody’s said.But that will require “substantial investments”, and with so many rivals racing towards the same goal, many of those benefits will end up being “competed away”.AI will also create bigger risks around data privacy, cybersecurity, fraud and so-called…

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