Bill Cosby hit with $2.75M legal bill after losing dispute

Bill Cosby has been hit with a $2.75 million legal bill as he marks the end of his first year in prison.

The 82-year-old Cosby had challenged a California arbitration award that upheld nearly $7 million of a $9 million bill submitted by just one firm in the run-up to his first sexual assault trial in Pennsylvania in 2017.

A judge sided Friday with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, of Los Angeles, rejecting Cosby’s claim that the bill was “egregious.”

Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt isn’t commenting on the fee dispute.

But he says the actor is holding up well in a suburban Philadelphia prison, mentoring other inmates as he marks a year in prison Wednesday.

Cosby is serving three to 10 years for drugging and molesting a woman in 2004. The Pennsylvania Superior Court is weighing his appeal of the 2018 conviction.

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No charges against ex-officers who mocked Black woman and made her walk home

Charges will not be filed against two white ex-Detroit police officers who were fired amid an investigation into racist comments and social media posts about a traffic stop.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Tuesday there is “insufficient evidence to criminally charge” Gary Steele or Michael Garrison.

Steele was fired in February after a video on his Snapchat account showed him saying “priceless” and “bye Felicia” as a black woman walked home. Her car was stopped for speeding and had an expired license plate. The video’s captions read “what black girl magic looks like” and “celebrating Black History Month.”

Police announced in March that Garrison, Steele’s partner, was fired after investigators found he had made disturbing comments about blacks and other minorities.
The Associated Press left a message seeking comment from the police union.

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The PlantWave Device Lets Your Houseplants Play Music

The device converts the electrical conductivity of houseplants into audio, giving plants the chance to sing.

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How to Get 150,000 Stranded People Home in 2 Weeks

The UK has a fund to bring home passengers left hanging after the collapse of travel agency Thomas Cook. In the US, travelers wouldn’t be so lucky.

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TikTok—Yes, TikToK—Is the Latest Window Into China’s Police State

Expat Uyghurs are gaming the social platform known for fluff to find loopholes in Xinjiang’s information lockdown.

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Sierra Leone given three days notice for Wafu Cup

Sierra Leone are offered a place at the regional Wafu Cup of Nations three days before kick-off after Morocco withdraw

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Baby Archie makes appearance on royal tour of Africa

It is the first time the Duke and Duchess's son has been seen during their 10-day tour of Africa.

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We’re Killing the Oceans, and We’ll Pay Dearly for It

Depending on whom you ask, the IPCC’s latest report is either startling, depressing, or dire—or more likely a combination of all three.

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South Sudan name 12 Australia-based players

South Sudan include a total of 12 Australia-based players in its initial squad for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers

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Somali journalist: 'I was the only female reporter in my city'

Maryan Seylac describes life as a reporter in one of the most dangerous countries for journalists.

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Francois Zahoui confirmed as new Central African Republic coach

Former Ivory Coast boss Francois Zahoui is confirmed as new CAR coach a week after leaving his job with Niger.

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Said Bouteflika: Brother of deposed Algerian leader sentenced to 15 years

Said Bouteflika was accused of conspiring against the state as people protested against his brother.

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How cities can leverage citizen data while protecting privacy

India is on a path with dual — and potentially conflicting — goals related to the use of citizen data.

To improve the efficiency their municipal services, many Indian cities have started enabling government-service requests, which involves collecting and sharing citizen data with government officials and, potentially, the public. But there’s also a national push to protect citizen privacy, potentially restricting data usage. Cities are now beginning to question how much citizen data, if any, they can use to track government operations.

In a new study, MIT researchers find that there is, in fact, a way for Indian cities to preserve citizen privacy while using their data to improve efficiency.

The researchers obtained and analyzed data from more than 380,000 government service requests by citizens across 112 cities in one Indian state for an entire year. They used the dataset to measure each city government’s efficiency based on how quickly they completed each service request. Based on field research in three of these cities, they also identified the citizen data that’s necessary, useful (but not critical), or unnecessary for improving efficiency when delivering the requested service.

In doing so, they identified “model” cities that performed very well in both categories, meaning they maximized privacy and efficiency. Cities worldwide could use similar methodologies to evaluate their own government services, the researchers say. The study was presented at this past weekend’s Technology Policy Research Conference.

“How do municipal governments collect citizen data to try to be transparent and efficient, and, at the same time, protect privacy? How do you find a balance?” says co-author Karen Sollins, a researcher in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), a principal investigator for the Internet Policy Research Initiative (IPRI), and a member of the Privacy, Innovation and e-Governance using Quantitative Systems (PIEQS) group. “We show there are opportunities to improve privacy and efficiency simultaneously, instead of saying you get one or the other, but not both.”

Joining Sollins on the paper are: first author Nikita Kodali, a graduate student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; and Chintan Vaishnav, a senior lecturer in the MIT Sloan School of Management, a principal investigator for IPRI, and a member PIEQS.

Intersections of privacy and efficiency

In recent years, India’s eGovernment Foundation has aimed to significantly improve the transparency, accountability, and efficiency of operations in its many municipal governments. The foundation aims to move all of these governments from paper-based systems to fully digitized systems with citizen interfaces to request and interact with government service departments.

In 2017, however, India’s Supreme Court ruled that its citizens have a constitutional right to data privacy and have a say in whether or not their personal data could be used by governments and the private sector. That could potentially limit the information that towns and cities could use to track the performance of their services.

Around that time, the researchers had started studying privacy and efficiency issues surrounding the eGovernment Foundation’s digitization efforts. That led to a report that determined which types of citizen data could be used to track government service operations.

Building on that work, the researchers were provided 383,959 anonymized citizen-government transactions from digitized modules from 112 local governments in an Indian state for all of 2018. The modules focused on three areas: new water tap tax assessment; new property tax assessment; and public grievances about sanitation, stray animals, infrastructure, schools, and other issues.

Citizens send requests to those modules via mobile or web apps by entering various types of personal and property information, and then monitor the progress of the requests. The request and related data pass through various officials that each complete an individual subtask, known as a service level agreement, within a designated time limit. Then, the request passes on to another official, and so on. But much of that citizen information is also visible to the public.

The software captured each step of each request, moving from initiation to completion, with time stamps, for each municipal government. The researchers then could rank each task within a town or city, or in aggregation across each town or city on two metrics: a government efficiency index and an information privacy index.

The government efficiency index primarily measures a service’s timeliness, compared to the predetermined service level agreement. If a service is completed before its timeframe, it’s more efficient; if it’s completed after, it’s less efficient. The information privacy index measures how responsible is a government in collecting, using, and disclosing citizen data that may be privacy sensitive, such as personally identifiable information. The more the city collects and shares inessential data, the lower its privacy rating.

Phone numbers and home addresses, for instance, aren’t needed for many of the services or grievances, yet are collected — and publicly disclosed — by many of the modules. In fact, the researchers found that some modules historically collected detailed personal and property information across dozens of data fields, yet the governments only needed about half of those fields to get the job done.

Model behavior

By analyzing the two indices, they found eight “model” municipal governments that performed in the top 25 percent for all services in both the efficiency and privacy indices. In short, they used only the essential data — and passed that essential data through fewer officials — to complete a service in a timely manner.

The researchers now plan to study how the model cities are able to get services done so quickly. They also hope to study why some cities performed so poorly, in the bottom 25 percent, for any given service. “First, we’re showing India that this is what your best cities look like and what other cities should become,” Vaishnav says. “Then we want to look at why a city becomes a model city.”

Similar studies can be conducted in places where similar citizen and government data are available and which have equivalents to India’s service level agreements — which serve as a baseline for measuring efficiency. That information isn’t common worldwide yet, but could be in the near future, especially in cities like Boston and Cambridge, Vaishnav says. “We gather a large amount of data and there’s an urge to do something with the data to improve governments and engage citizens better,” he says. “That may soon be a requirement in democracies around the globe.”

Next, the researchers want to create an innovation-based matrix, which will determine which citizen data can and cannot be made public to private parties to help develop new technologies. They’re also working on a model that provides information on a city’s government efficiency and information privacy scores in real time, as citizen requests are being processed.

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Quantum sensing on a chip

MIT researchers have, for the first time, fabricated a diamond-based quantum sensor on a silicon chip. The advance could pave the way toward low-cost, scalable hardware for quantum computing, sensing, and communication.

“Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers” in diamonds are defects with electrons that can be manipulated by light and microwaves. In response, they emit colored photons that carry quantum information about surrounding magnetic and electric fields, which can be used for biosensing, neuroimaging, object detection, and other sensing applications. But traditional NV-based quantum sensors are about the size of a kitchen table, with expensive, discrete components that limit practicality and scalability.

In a paper published in Nature Electronics, the researchers found a way to integrate all those bulky components — including a microwave generator, optical filter, and photodetector — onto a millimeter-scale package, using traditional semiconductor fabrication techniques. Notably, the sensor operates at room temperature with capabilities for sensing the direction and magnitude of magnetic fields.

The researchers demonstrated the sensor’s use for magnetometry, meaning they were able to measure atomic-scale shifts in the frequency due to surrounding magnetic fields, which could contain information about the environment. With further refining, the sensor could have a range of applications, from mapping electrical impulses in the brain to detecting objects, even without a line of sight.

“It’s very difficult to block magnetic fields, so that’s a huge advantage for quantum sensors,” says co-author Christopher Foy, a graduate student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). “If there’s a vehicle traveling in, say, an underground tunnel below you, you’d be able to detect it even if you don’t see it there.”

Joining Foy on the paper are: Mohamed Ibrahim, a graduate student in EECS; Donggyu Kim PhD ’19; Matthew E. Trusheim, a postdoc in EECS; Ruonan Han, an associate professor in EECS and head of the Terahertz Integrated Electronics Group, which is part of MIT's Microsystems Technology Laboratories (MTL); and Dirk Englund, an MIT associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science, a researcher in Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE), and head of the Quantum Photonics Laboratory.

Shrinking and stacking

NV centers in diamonds occur where carbon atoms in two adjacent places in the lattice structure are missing — one atom is replaced by a nitrogen atom, and the other space is an empty “vacancy.” That leaves missing bonds in the structure, where the electrons are extremely sensitive to tiny variations in electrical, magnetic, and optical characteristics in the surrounding environment.

The NV center essentially functions as an atom, with a nucleus and surrounding electrons. It also has photoluminescent properties, meaning it absorbs and emits colored photons. Sweeping microwaves across the center can make it change states — positive, neutral, and negative — which in turn changes the spin of its electrons. Then, it emits different amounts of red photons, depending on the spin.

A technique, called optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR), measures how many photons are emitted by interacting with the surrounding magnetic field. That interaction produces further, quantifiable information about the field. For all of that to work, traditional sensors require bulky components, including a mounted laser, power supply, microwave generator, conductors to route the light and microwaves, an optical filter and sensor, and a readout component.

The researchers instead developed a novel chip architecture that positions and stacks tiny, inexpensive components in a certain way using standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology, so they function like those components. “CMOS technologies enable very complex 3-D structures on a chip,” Ibrahim says. “We can have a complete system on the chip, and we only need  a piece of diamond and green light source on top. But that can be a regular chip-scale LED.”

NV centers within a diamond slab are positioned in a “sensing area” of the chip. A small green pump laser excites the NV centers, while a nanowire placed close to the NV centers generates sweeping microwaves in response to current. Basically, the light and microwave work together to make the NV centers emit a different amount of red photons — with the difference being the target signal for readout in the researchers’ experiments.

Below the NV centers is a photodiode, designed to eliminate noise and measure the photons. In between the diamond and photodiode is a metal grating that acts as a filter that absorbs the green laser photons while allowing the red photons to reach the photodiode. In short, this enables an on-chip ODMR device, which measures resonance frequency shifts with the red photons that carry information about the surrounding magnetic field.

But how can one chip do the work of a large machine? A key trick is simply moving the conducting wire, which produces the microwaves, at an optimal distance from the NV centers. Even if the chip is very small, this precise distance enables the wire current to generate enough magnetic field to manipulate the electrons. The tight integration and codesign of the microwave conducting wires and generation circuitry also help. In their paper, the researchers were able to generate enough magnetic field to enable practical applications in object detection.

Only the beginning

In another paper presented earlier this year at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference, the researchers describe a second-generation sensor that makes various improvements on this design to achieve 100-fold greater sensitivity. Next, the researchers say they have a “roadmap” for how to increase sensitivity by 1,000 times. That basically involves scaling up the chip to increase the density of the NV centers, which determines sensitivity.

If they do, the sensor could be used even in neuroimaging applications. That means putting the sensor near neurons, where it can detect the intensity and direction of firing neurons. That could help researchers map connections between neurons and see which neurons trigger each other. Other future applications including a GPS replacement for vehicles and airplanes. Because the magnetic field on Earth has been mapped so well, quantum sensors can serve as extremely precise compasses, even in GPS-denied environments.

“We’re only at the beginning of what we can accomplish,” Han says. “It’s a long journey, but we already have two milestones on the track, with the first-and second-generation sensors. We plan to go from sensing to communication to computing. We know the way forward and we know how to get there.”

“I am enthusiastic about this quantum sensor technology and foresee major impact in several fields,” says Ron Walsworth, a senior lecturer at Harvard University whose group develops high-resolution magnetometry tools using NV centers.

“They have taken a key step in the integration of quantum-diamond sensors with CMOS technology, including on-chip microwave generation and delivery, as well as on-chip filtering and detection of the information-carrying fluorescent light from the quantum defects in diamond. The resulting unit is compact and relatively low-power. Next steps will be to further enhance the sensitivity and bandwidth of the quantum diamond sensor [and] integrate the CMOS-diamond sensor with wide-ranging applications, including chemical analysis, NMR spectroscopy, and materials characterization.”

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Looking under the surface of politics in Latin America

Danny Hidalgo’s research involves looking under the surface of elections and political campaigns, and probing some of their questionable elements. It turns out there’s a lot to see down there.

Hidalgo, an associate professor in MIT’s Department of Political Science, is a scholar who studies the nexus of elections, campaigns, and money in Latin America, and particularly in Brazil, hammering away at the question of who, exactly, benefits from the system.

Consider one Hidalgo study of municipal elections that were plagued by the alleged practice of “voter buying,” in which people would be brought into a city to vote illegally. Voter audits that discouraged voter buying, Hidalgo has found, shrank the electorate by 12 percentage points and lowered the chances of mayoral reelection by a whopping 18 percentage points.

Even when the rules are being followed, the influence of money in politics is evident. In another study, Hidalgo showed that firms focused on public-works projects, which donate to winning candidates from the ruling party, get a boost to their government contracts that is at least 14 times the value of their contributions.

A lot of Hidalgo’s studies focus on elections themselves. In still another study, Hidalgo and a co-author showed that local politicians who were incumbents were twice as likely as nonincumbents to be granted control over community radio stations; in turn, they also showed that radio access significantly boosts the vote share of politicians.

“Corruption and accountability are central themes of politics in Brazil,” Hidalgo says, sitting in his office, discussing his work. “Let’s try to think rigorously and bring our social science tools to bear on them.”

That rigorous thinking, as well as the exacting quantitative methods Hidalgo uses, are built on a foundation of firsthand knowledge. There is nothing like living somewhere, and learning about it in person, to spur productive research.

“I’m very much of the mind, and maybe this is more old-school, of having research questions come to you based on what’s important in the places that you’re studying,” Hidalgo says. “In some sense, you just have to spend a lot of time in Latin America.”

Travelin’ man

Indeed, many of Hidalgo’s research interests have been formed by his sense of place.

Hidalgo was born in Mexico but grew up in Los Angeles, with parents who were highly attuned to Mexican politics. During Hidalgo’s teenage years, in the 1990s, the country’s lurching transition toward a multiparty democracy was a major talking point in his household.

“Around my kitchen table there was a lot of discussion of Mexican politics, and what was going on, and that got me interested in politics in other countries, and how politics works in places where the institutions aren’t quite as strong as in the U.S.,” Hidalgo recounts. “So because of that I had an interest in Latin American politics generally.”

Hidalgo went to college at Princeton University, where he graduated with a BA in politics in 2002. His focus on Latin American politics was enhanced by an undergraduate study abroad program that landed him in Buenos Aires.

“Basically I lived there in the lead-up to the enormous depression that occurred in Argentina, before this period when they had four or five presidents in a matter of months,” Hidalgo says. “That was a very interesting time to be living in Buenos Aires.”

After graduation, though, Hidalgo departed for a different part of the world: Hangzhou, China, where he taught English while figuring out his future. Again a social crisis hit soon after Hidalgo’s arrival, this time in the form of the SARS epidemic that shut down cities and scared off travelers.

“From one day to the next, Hangzhou went from having incredibly bustling streets, to nothing,” Hidalgo remembers. And when an acquaintance of a friend contracted SARS, Hidalgo reluctantly departed. “The program that I was with essentially said, ‘You have to be under quarantine for a while, or you have to leave,’ which was too bad, because I really liked living in China and I wanted to stay.”

At loose ends back in the U.S., Hidalgo applied for a Fulbright scholarship to study in Brazil, got it, and spent his first year in Brazil doing research.

“I loved my time in Brazil. I was fascinated. It was so huge and with so much heterogeneity,” Hidalgo says. “A lot of my work stems from that.”

Hidalgo adds: “In China there’s been incredible economic development, but a complete lack of accountability. … In Brazil in some sense [it’s been] the opposite, with a long period of sluggish growth, from the late 1970s to mid-90s, but increasingly it became this vibrant democracy, very competitive. It had a traditional oligarchical conservative political class, but there emerged a working-class president [Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, from 2003 through 2010] from a left-wing party, which typically didn’t reach political power in Latin America. It was a fascinating contrast.”

Brazilian politics have since changed, rather dramatically, but Hidalgo’s interest had been sparked. Back in the U.S. again, Hidalgo attended graduate school in political science at the University of California at Berkeley, earning his PhD in 2012. He was hired out of graduate school by MIT and has been on the Institute faculty since then, embarking on many research trips in the intervening years. For his work, Hidalgo received tenure from MIT earlier this year.

The case-driven scholar

While Hidalgo’s work is clearly situated at the junction of money, politics, and power, he uses a diversity of methods to get his results. He isn’t necessarily trying to build an overarching theory of how politics works; rather, he has identified an array of ways that money and politics interact. 

“Some scholars have a theory first and look for cases,” Hidalgo says. “I care about societies and politics and try to find out what’s important. There’s an interplay between theory and cases, but I’m more case-driven.”

Hidalgo is also not set on studying Brazil to the exclusion of other countries. In fact, at the moment has embarked on a study of transparency in local U.S. governments. The study uses search technology to see how much government information is available online for residents of towns and cities in the U.S.

“In some ways the availability of basic information about the government is actually better in some parts of Latin America,” Hidalgo says, referring to the notorious case of Bell, California — a small town where in 2010 a reporter for the Los Angeles Times discovered that the city manager had a million-dollar salary. There was no local paper, however, which might have caught the inflated salaries of local officials sooner.

“The death of local media is just incredibly salient, and these are the kinds of people who care about this stuff,” Hidalgo says. “I don’t think transparency is always a salient issue for citizens. It’s really often external pressure from journalists that makes [discoveries]. I think it’s just important for information about the basic operations of government.”

All the more reason, then, for scholars like Hidalgo to look at money in politics as well.

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Shonda Rhimes readies ‘Notes on Love’ anthology series at Netflix

Shonda Rhimes is readying her ninth Netflix project and it sounds pretty cool.

Notes on Love is an episodic anthology series that will examine the “unexpected, life-changing, euphoric, hilarious, surreal, and all-consuming places where love intersects with our lives.”

The first season will focus on marriage and Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers will produce the whole season and be joined by some pretty big-named executive producers for certain episodes including Norman Lear, Aaron Shure, Steve Martin, Diane Warren, Jenny Han, Lindy West and Ahamefule J. Oluo.

Notes on Love is the ninth project resulting from Rhimes’ epic overall deal with Netflix that she inked back in 2017.

ICYMI, here are a few of the other projects on the horizon from Shondaland:

The Residence: Based on Kate Andersen Brower’s book, The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House, which offers a vividly accurate insider’s account of White House residence staffers and the upstairs-downstairs lives they share with the First Families at one of the most famous homes in history.

The Warmth of Other Suns: Based on Pulitzer-Prize winning author Isabel Wilkerson’s award-winning book of the same name, this powerful, groundbreaking series tracks the decades-long migration of African-Americans fleeing the Jim Crow South in search of a better life in the North and the West between 1916 and 1970.

Hot Chocolate Nutcracker: A documentary offers a behind-the-scenes look at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy’s award-winning reimagining of the classic ballet The Nutcracker. This staged contemporization – with its inclusive cast of all ages and its blend of dance traditions – has further cemented Debbie Allen’s legacy as one of the most significant forces for good in dance.

Pico & Sepulveda:Set in the 1840s against the surreal and sensual backdrop of the then-Mexican state of California, the series tracks the end of an idyllic era there as American forces threaten brutality and war at the border to claim this breathtaking land for its own.

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Hyundai Makes Another Match in the Self-Driving Game

Hyundai will partner with an industry supplier called Aptiv to deliver robo-taxis, in addition to an ongoing deal with Aurora.

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Newscaster out 8 months after Martin Luther King slur

A St. Louis newscaster who has been off the air since uttering what he called an unintentional racial slur while talking about Martin Luther King Jr. in January is now out of a job.

KTVI-TV general manager Kurt Krueger told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the station and Kevin Steincross parted ways “by mutual agreement.” Krueger declined to provide any additional information, citing it as a personnel matter.

Steincross does not have listed phone number.

Steincross was discussing a tribute to the black civil rights leader on Jan. 17 when he referred to King as “Martin Luther coon Jr.” He apologized a few hours later, saying he accidentally misspoke.

The NAACP had urged the station to fire Steincross.

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Florida cop who arrested 6-year-old girl over school tantrum fired

The Florida officer who was under fire for arresting and handcuffing two six-year-olds at an elementary school before hauling them off to a youth detention center, has now been fired.

—Florida cop who arrested 6-year-old girl for throwing tantrum, suspended—

Officer Dennis Turner caused outrage when he locked up a first-grader Kaia Rolle at Lucious and Emma Nixon Academy for a temper tantrum last week, without consulting his superiors over how he should handle the child.

The girl’s grandmother Meralyn Kirkland said the child was acting out because of her lack of sleep from a medical condition. She said received a disturbing call telling her that Kaia was getting locked up, WKMG reports.

“I said, ‘What do you mean, she was arrested?’ They said there was an incident and she kicked somebody and she’s being charged and she’s on her way,” Kirkland recalled.

Turner additionally arrested another 6-year-old, previously reported as age 8, on a separate incident and took both children to the Juvenile Assessment Center to be processed. One of the kids was processed, but contrary to previous reports, Kaia was not fingerprinted and instead taken back to school after a supervisor learned about the insane arrests.

On Monday, Orlando Police Chief Orlando Rolón said in a press conference he was “sick to my stomach” after hearing about the incident.

Statement from OPD Chief Orlando Rolón. pic.twitter.com/qd7msBx0Fw

— Orlando Police (@OrlandoPolice) September 23, 2019

Previously Rolon said Turner did not follow protocol.

“The Orlando Police Department has a policy that addresses the arrest of a minor, and our initial finding shows the policy was not followed,” Police Chief Orlando Rolon told the outlet.

The chief said he personally delivered a departmental message that no juvenile is to be arrested without a manager’s approval.

—Meghan Markle connects with teen girls in South Africa: ‘I a woman of color and your sister’—

“No 6-year-old child should be able to tell somebody that they had handcuffs on them,” Kirkland previously said.

Kirkland said the officer even made light of Kaia’s medical condition.

“He says, ‘What medical condition?’ ‘She has a sleep disorder, sleep apnea,’ and he says, ‘Well, I have sleep apnea, and I don’t behave like that,”‘ Kirkland said.

Turner was initially suspended but has now been officially fired.

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Tinder Wants Users to Find Love in the Apocalypse

The dating app's new end-of-the-world, choose-your-own-adventure game, called Swipe Night, will generate new matches based on your choices.

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Google’s ‘Quantum Supremacy’ Isn’t the End of Encryption

Google said its quantum computer outperformed conventional models. But it will still be years before you can use one for anything practical.

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Ghana halts 'elaborate plot to destabilise country'

The alleged ringleaders have been taken in for questioning, their lawyer has confirmed.

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Eight infants killed in fire in Algeria hospital

Officials rescued 11 infants and more than 100 women after a fire broke out in the maternity ward.

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Sierra Leone's David Simbo happy to play in non-Fifa Northern Cyprus

Sierra Leone's David Simbo is not concerned about playing in Northern Cyprus, which is not recognised by Fifa.

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Speed Is Killing the Planet. Time to Focus on Efficiency

The climate crisis is rushing at us like a bullet train. We have to stop obsessing over velocity and become efficiency fanatics.

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All I Ever Wanted Was a One-Trick Pony

Our devices do way too much—and not always on our behalf.

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Top 3 Semiautonomous Cars for the Non-Millionaire

The newest driver-assist technology is making vehicles safer and comfier—and not just for the rich.

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Essential Gear for Every Driver-for-Hire

Rack up those five-star reviews by keeping everyone in the car safe and happy.

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The On-Demand Economy Brings Us Something Useful: Nature

Subscription services for plants could help reknit our frazzled souls, stimulate our boxed-in minds, and enliven our indoor world.

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Stop Renting E-Scooters Every Day and Just Buy One Already!

Whether you're a multimodal commuter or a hard-charging urbanite, there are now tantalizing alternatives to shared rides.

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Algorithms Are Not What You Smartypants Think They Are

Grasping algorithms just enough, thinking they're within our puny reach, only makes them more powerful.

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The Future Face of High-Speed Rail in the Northeast Corridor

Amtrak's popular Acela line is getting a $2.4 billion upgrade—and 10 mph faster. The new trains have to prove they can take the curves quickly and comfortably.

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How Amateur Video Is Helping Us Understand Deadly Tsunamis

In 2004, when a tsunami devastated communities in southern Asia, videos shot by tourists and locals became a new tool for analyzing the deadly waves.

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Zero's Latest Electric Motorcycle Makes for a Zappy Commute

The new SR/F model can rocket from 0 to 60 in under two seconds and jet an impressive 161 miles between charges.

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Game-Changing Tech Behind 'Young' Will Smith in 'Gemini Man'

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Forget Mensa! All Hail the Low IQ

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Meghan and Harry meet surfing mentors on Cape Town youth project

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Computing and artificial intelligence: Humanistic perspectives from MIT

The MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing (SCC) will reorient the Institute to bring the power of computing and artificial intelligence to all fields at MIT, and to allow the future of computing and AI to be shaped by all MIT disciplines.

To support ongoing planning for the new college, Dean Melissa Nobles invited faculty from all 14 of MIT’s humanistic disciplines in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences to respond to two questions:  

1) What domain knowledge, perspectives, and methods from your field should be integrated into the new MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, and why?

2) What are some of the meaningful opportunities that advanced computing makes possible in your field? 

As Nobles says in her foreword to the series, “Together, the following responses to these two questions offer something of a guidebook to the myriad, productive ways that technical, humanistic, and scientific fields can join forces at MIT, and elsewhere, to further human and planetary well-being.”

The following excerpts highlight faculty responses, with links to full commentaries. The excerpts are sequenced by fields in the following order: the humanities, arts, and social sciences.

Foreword by Melissa Nobles, professor of political science and the Kenan Sahin Dean of the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

“The advent of artificial intelligence presents our species with an historic opportunity — disguised as an existential challenge: Can we stay human in the age of AI?  In fact, can we grow in humanity, can we shape a more humane, more just, and sustainable world? With a sense of promise and urgency, we are embarked at MIT on an accelerated effort to more fully integrate the technical and humanistic forms of discovery in our curriculum and research, and in our habits of mind and action.” Read more >>

Comparative Media Studies: William Uricchio, professor of comparative media studies

“Given our research and practice focus, the CMS perspective can be key for understanding the implications of computation for knowledge and representation, as well as computation’s relationship to the critical process of how knowledge works in culture — the way it is formed, shared, and validated.”

Recommended action: “Bring media and computer scholars together to explore issues that require both areas of expertise: text-generating algorithms (that force us to ask what it means to be human); the nature of computational gatekeepers (that compels us to reflect on implicit cultural priorities); and personalized filters and texts (that require us to consider the shape of our own biases).” Read more >>

Global Languages: Emma J. Teng, the T.T. and Wei Fong Chao Professor of Asian Civilizations

“Language and culture learning are gateways to international experiences and an important means to develop cross-cultural understanding and sensitivity. Such understanding is essential to addressing the social and ethical implications of the expanding array of technology affecting everyday life across the globe.”

Recommended action: “We aim to create a 21st-century language center to provide a convening space for cross-cultural communication, collaboration, action research, and global classrooms. We also plan to keep the intimate size and human experience of MIT’s language classes, which only increase in value as technology saturates the world.” Read more >>

History: Jeffrey Ravel, professor of history and head of MIT History

“Emerging innovations in computational methods will continue to improve our access to the past and the tools through which we interpret evidence. But the field of history will continue to be served by older methods of scholarship as well; critical thinking by human beings is fundamental to our endeavors in the humanities.”

Recommended action: “Call on the nuanced debates in which historians engage about causality to provide a useful frame of reference for considering the issues that will inevitably emerge from new computing technologies. This methodology of the history field is a powerful way to help imagine our way out of today’s existential threats.” Read more >>

Linguistics: Faculty of MIT Linguistics

“Perhaps the most obvious opportunities for computational and linguistics research concern the interrelation between specific hypotheses about the formal properties of language and their computational implementation in the form of systems that learn, parse, and produce human language.”

Recommended action: “Critically, transformative new tools have come from researchers at institutions where linguists work side-by-side with computational researchers who are able to translate back and forth between computational properties of linguistic grammars and of other systems.” Read more >>

Literature: Shankar Raman, with Mary C. Fuller, professors of literature

“In the age of AI, we could invent new tools for reading. Making the expert reading skills we teach MIT students even partially available to readers outside the academy would widen access to our materials in profound ways.”

Recommended action: At least three priorities of current literary engagement with the digital should be integrated into the SCC’s research and curriculum: democratization of knowledge; new modes of and possibilities for knowledge production; and critical analysis of the social conditions governing what can be known and who can know it.” Read more >>

Philosophy: Alex Byrne, professor of philosophy and head of MIT Philosophy; and Tamar Schapiro, associate professor of philosophy

“Computing and AI pose many ethical problems related to: privacy (e.g., data systems design), discrimination (e.g., bias in machine learning), policing (e.g., surveillance), democracy (e.g., the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal), remote warfare, intellectual property, political regulation, and corporate responsibility.”

Recommended action: “The SCC presents an opportunity for MIT to be an intellectual leader in the ethics of technology. The ethics lab we propose could turn this opportunity into reality.” Read more >>

Science, Technology, and Society: Eden Medina and Dwaipayan Banerjee, associate professors of science, technology, and society

“A more global view of computing would demonstrate a broader range of possibilities than one centered on the American experience, while also illuminating how computer systems can reflect and respond to different needs and systems. Such experiences can prove generative for thinking about the future of computing writ large.”

Recommended action: “Adopt a global approach to the research and teaching in the SCC, an approach that views the U.S. experience as one among many.” Read more >>

Women's and Gender Studies: Ruth Perry, the Ann Friedlaender Professor of Literature; with Sally Haslanger, the Ford Professor of Philosophy, and Elizabeth Wood, professor of history

“The SCC presents MIT with a unique opportunity to take a leadership role in addressing some of most pressing challenges that have emerged from the role computing technologies play in our society — including how these technologies are reinforcing social inequalities.”

Recommended action: “Ensure that women’s voices are heard and that coursework and research is designed with a keen awareness of the difference that gender makes. This is the single-most powerful way that MIT can address the inequities in the computing fields.” Read more >>

Writing: Tom Levenson, professor of science writing

“Computation and its applications in fields that directly affect society cannot be an unexamined good. Professional science and technology writers are a crucial resource for the mission of new college of computing, and they need to be embedded within its research apparatus.”

Recommended action: “Intertwine writing and the ideas in coursework to provide conceptual depth that purely technical mastery cannot offer.” Read more >>

Music: Eran Egozy, professor of the practice in music technology

“Creating tomorrow’s music systems responsibly will require a truly multidisciplinary education, one that covers everything from scientific models and engineering challenges to artistic practice and societal implications. The new music technology will be accompanied by difficult questions. Who owns the output of generative music algorithms that are trained on human compositions? How do we ensure that music, an art form intrinsic to all humans, does not become controlled by only a few?”

Recommended action: Through the SCC, our responsibility will be not only to develop the new technologies of music creation, distribution, and interaction, but also to study their cultural implications and define the parameters of a harmonious outcome for all.” Read more >>

Theater Arts: Sara Brown, assistant professor of theater arts and MIT Theater Arts director of design

“As a subject, AI problematizes what is means to be human. There are an unending series of questions posed by the presence of an intelligent machine. The theater, as a synthetic art form that values and exploits liveness, is an ideal place to explore the complex and layered problems posed by AI and advanced computing.”

Recommended action: “There are myriad opportunities for advanced computing to be integrated into theater, both as a tool and as a subject of exploration. As a tool, advanced computing can be used to develop performance systems that respond directly to a live performer in real time, or to integrate virtual reality as a previsualization tool for designers.” Read more >>

Anthropology: Heather Paxson, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Anthropology

“The methods used in anthropology — a field that systematically studies human cultural beliefs and practices — are uniquely suited to studying the effects of automation and digital technologies in human cultures. For anthropologists, ‘Can artificial intelligence be ethical?’ is an empirical, not a hypothetical, question. Ethical for what? To whom? Under what circumstances?”

Recommended action: “Incorporate anthropological thinking into the new college to prepare students to live and work effectively and responsibly in a world of technological, demographic, and cultural exchanges. We envision an ethnography lab that will provide digital and computing tools tailored to anthropological research and projects.” Read more >>

Economics: Nancy L. Rose, the Charles P. Kindleberger Professor of Applied Economics and head of the Department of Economics; and David Autor, the Ford Professor of Economics and co-director of the MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future

“The intellectual affinity between economics and computer science traces back almost a century, to the founding of game theory in 1928. Today, the practical synergies between economics and computer science are flourishing. We outline some of the many opportunities for the two disciplines to engage more deeply through the new SCC.”

Recommended action: “Research that engages the tools and expertise of economics on matters of fairness, expertise, and cognitive biases in machine-supported and machine-delegated decision-making; and on market design, industrial organization, and the future of work. Scholarship at the intersection of data science, econometrics, and causal inference. Cultivate depth in network science, algorithmic game theory and mechanism design, and online learning. Develop tools for rapid, cost-effective, and ongoing education and retraining for workers.” Read more >>

Political Science: Faculty of the Department of Political Science

“The advance of computation gives rise to a number of conceptual and normative questions that are political, rather than ethical in character. Political science and theory have a significant role in addressing such questions as: How do major players in the technology sector seek to legitimate their authority to make decisions that affect us all? And where should that authority actually reside in a democratic polity?”

Recommended action: “Incorporate the research and perspectives of political science in SCC research and education to help ensure that computational research is socially aware, especially with issues involving governing institutions, the relations between nations, and human rights.” Read more >>

Series prepared by SHASS Communications
Series Editor and Designer: Emily Hiestand
Series Co-Editor: Kathryn O’Neill

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Boeing to pay bereaved 737 families $144,500 each

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Why These Geese Wear Tiny Backpacks and Fly in a Wind Tunnel

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Peex Review: I Remixed Elton John's Live Show Using my Phone

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Florida cop who arrested 6-year-old girl for throwing tantrum, suspended

After a 6-year-old child was handcuffed and arrested by a Florida police officer for throwing a tantrum at school, that cop has now been suspended pending a full investigation.

—H&M responds to backlash over ad with Black child model’s natural hair—

It all began on Thursday, when police were called to Lucious and Emma Nixon Academy elementary school because 6-year-old Kaia Rolle was kicking someone and throwing a tantrum, her grandmother Meralyn Kirkland told reporters.

Reportedly school Resource Officer Dennis Turner took matters into his own hands and handcuffing Kaia and removing child from the school without seeking prior approval, The NY Post reports.

There is a standing departmental policy that requires officers to get approval first before handcuffing children.

“The Orlando Police Department has a policy that addresses the arrest of a minor, and our initial finding shows the policy was not followed,” Police Chief Orlando Rolon told the outlet.

Turner has been suspended and reassigned from the school to the Reserve Officer Program while the investigation is underway.

Kaia was not only handcuffed but she was fingerprinted and charged with battery.

“No six-year-old child should be able to tell somebody that they had handcuffs on them and they were riding in the back of a police car and taken to a juvenile center to be fingerprinted, mug shot,” Kirkland said.

—Miami mother arrested for leaving 3-year-old in a car while working in strip club—

“As a grandparent of three children less than 11 years old, this is very concerning to me,” Rolon added.

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‘Pose’ star Billy Porter makes Emmys history and the category is ‘love’

And the category, a jubilant Billy Porter said as he made Emmys history, “is love, y’all, love.”

Porter, known for making fashion statements on red carpets, became the first openly gay man to win an Emmy for best actor in a drama series for his role of Pray Tell on FX’s “Pose.”

“I am so overwhelmed and so overjoyed that I have lived long enough to see this day,” said Porter, rocking a towering asymmetrical cowboy hat and sparkling striped trousers.
He quoted James Baldwin, speaking on stage of the many years it took of “vomiting up filth that I had been taught about myself and halfway believed before I could walk around this Earth like I had a right to be here.”

Porter added: “I have the right, you have the right, we all have the right.”

As the crowd listened intently, Porter thanked his mother, Clorinda, saying “there’s no stronger, more resilient woman who has graced this earth. I love you mommy.”
He also thanked his show’s co-creator, Ryan Murphy: “Ryan Murphy, you saw me! You believed in us.”

The LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD congratulated Porter in a statement “for this well-deserved honor and for always using his work and platform to showcase the power of being authentic.”

“Pose,” set in the 1980s and 1990s, illuminates New York’s African American and Latino LGBTQ ballroom culture and the houses formed among the dancers and models as they compete for trophies. Porter, who already had Grammy and Tony awards, beat out nominees Jason Bateman, Sterling K. Brown, Bob Odenkirk, Kit Harington and Milo Ventimiglia.

“I gotta breathe” Porter said. “God bless you all. The category is love, ya’ll, love.”
He urged his fellow actors to work for change.

“We are the people. We as artists are the people who get to change the molecular structure of the hearts and minds of the people who live on this planet,” Porter said. “Please don’t ever stop doing that. Please don’t ever stop telling the truth.”

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Trial begins for ex-Dallas cop who shot Botham Jean in his apartment

Opening statements are set to begin Monday in the murder trial of a white police officer accused of shooting her black neighbor in his Dallas apartment.

Amber Guyger, 31, is expected in a city courthouse Monday morning, where she will stand trial for the fatal shooting of 26-year-old Botham Jean last year.

The case has attracted intense national scrutiny for its strange circumstances and as one in a chain of shootings of black men by white police officers.

Lawyers for Guyger are likely to argue she fired in self-defense based on the mistaken belief that she was in her own apartment and that Jean, an accountant from the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia, was a burglar.

The case may hang on whether the jury believes that this was a reasonable mistake, according to legal experts. Twelve jurors and four alternatives were selected to hear the case earlier this month, but their demographics aren’t yet public.

Guyger was off duty but still in uniform when she shot Jean in his home. She told investigators that after a 15-hour shift she parked on the fourth floor of her apartment complex’s garage — rather than the third floor, where she lived — and found the apartment’s door ajar.

Three days after the shooting, Guyger was arrested for manslaughter. She was subsequently fired from the Dallas police department and charged by a grand jury with murder.

The jury will have to decide whether Guyger committed murder, a lesser offense such as manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide, or no crime at all.

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Cleaner Ships May Mean More Expensive Holidays

New rules designed to reduce sulfur pollution from ocean-going ships will increase demand for low-sulfur fuel, boosting the cost of some imported goods.

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Today’s Cartoon: VR Pets Unleashed

Sit. Stream. Stay.

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Aston Villa's Marvelous Nakamba wants to promote Zimbabwe

Marvelous Nakamba wants to use his time at English club Aston Villa to promote a better image of Zimbabwe and inspire a new generation of players.

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How Cities Reshape the Evolutionary Path of Urban Wildlife

If researchers can figure out how pigeons and rats evolve to thrive in hostile city habitats, it could help other beasts—including us—adapt to climate change.

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BBC Gahuza reunited families who had fled Rwanda in 1994

Families were split fleeing the fighting in Rwandan in 1994. BBC Gahuza's lifeline service reunited many of them.

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Algeria set to play friendly in France after 11 years

Algeria will play a friendly in France for the first time in 11 years when they take on Colombia in Lille on 15 October.

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Tesla May Soon Have a Battery That Can Last a Million Miles

Elon Musk promised Tesla would soon have a million-mile battery, more than double what drivers can expect today. A new paper suggests he wasn't exaggerating.

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Google Tightens Its Voice Assistant Rules Amid Privacy Backlash

Following Apple, Amazon, and others, Google will put in new safeguards against accidental voice assistant collection and transcription.

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At least seven dead after Kenyan classroom collapses

The wooden structure collapsed just minutes after the start of the school day on Monday.

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Blue plaques for Ethiopia's emperor unveiled in UK

Haile Selassie lived in Bath from 1936 to 1940 after being rescued from Ethiopia by the Royal Navy.

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Duke and Duchess of Sussex to begin Africa tour with baby Archie

Prince Harry, Meghan and their son Archie are making their first official trip as a family.

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Thomas Cook customers say they were 'held hostage' at Tunisian hotel

Thomas Cook customers in Tunisia say a hotel is demanding extra fees before letting them leave.

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Egypt: Protests and clashes enter second day

Dozens are reportedly arrested in Suez as protests continue against President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.

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Did ‘When They See Us’ get robbed at the Emmys?

The 2019 Emmy Awards went down on Sunday night in Los Angeles and we have mixed emotions about TV’s biggest night.

There were some groundbreaking moments throughout the night, including Billy Porter making history as the first openly gay actor to nab an Emmy for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for his role of Pray Tell in POSE.

Despite that glimmering moment, it seems like the academy may have missed the mark when it came to the second most-nominated project of the year, When They See Us.

Although it earned 16 nominations (including Outstanding Limited Series), with several of the series’ stars going up against each other in acting categories, it only managed to score one win.

PHOTOS: Black beauty on full display at the Emmy Awards

Of course we cheered when Jharrel Jerome got a well-deserved win for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his portrayal of Korey Wise in the four-part Netflix series, but that’s where the trophies ended and we’re not sure why.

Aunjanue Ellis and Niecy Nash are nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for their roles in the film; but both lost to Michelle Williams who won for her role in Fosse/Verdon.  Marsha Stephanie Blake and Vera Farmiga were both up for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie but they were defeated by Patricia Arquette for her role in The Act.

John Leguizamo, Asante Blackk, and Michael K. Williams are all competing in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie category but all three failed to win over Ben Whishaw for his turn in A Very British Scandal. 

All five of the exonerated men who used to be known as the Central Park Five were at the Emmys, and we can’t stop imagining how powerful it would have been to see them on that stage together, accepting an award in front of the world.

SNUBBED? Beyonce gets no Emmy love for ‘Homecoming’

Considering the magnitude of the impact When They See Us has had and the undeniably incredible performances delivered by so many of its actors, something doesn’t feel right about the lack of shine it received.

 

 

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Billy Porter makes Emmy history with Best Actor win for his role in ‘POSE’

Billy Porter just made history as the first openly gay actor to win the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Pray Tell in FX’s groundbreaking series, POSE. 

Kerry Washington presented the award, noting “And once again we watch history unfold,” before announcing Porter as the winner.

Billy Porter makes history with Emmy nod for ‘Pose’: ‘The sky is the limit now, honey!’

“Oh my God I gotta read. Oh my God. God Bless you all. In a nod to his beloved POSW character, he said, “The category is LOVE, y’all, LOVE!”

The actor went on to quote James Baldwin in his acceptance speech.

“I am so overwhelmed and so overjoyed to have lived long enough to see this day. James Baldwin said, ‘It took many years of vomiting up all of the filth that I had been taught about myself and halfway believed before I could walk around this earth like I had the right to be here.’ I have the right, you have the right, we ALL have the right.”

He went on to thank his fellow nominees as well as his mother and husband as well as his manager of 29 years. He also shouted out his cast mates and the show’s creator, Ryan Murphy. “You saw me. You believed in us. Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he said.

‘POSE’ star Billy Porter: “Conservatives are human beings too”

Porter, who plays outspoken ballroom emcee, Pray Tell, said that when he found out that he was nominated, he could finally exhale.

“I just haven’t been breathing for the past day,” he said in anticipation for the Tuesday announcements of nominees. “So today, I was able to breathe — that was my first reaction!”

Though Porter is no stranger to making headlines, he noted that he never thought that a show like Pose would ever be a reality, but now he believes anything is possible.

“There was no context for this,” he went on to say. “I said the same thing about marriage equality. When we were growing up, there was no context because you could never see it. I’ve always had huge dreams but I realized now that my dreams have been springboarded off of things I have already seen. They weren’t about dreaming the impossible. They weren’t about dreaming things that didn’t exist. Ryan Murphy, Steven Canals, Brad Falchuk, FX  — everybody involved in the show taught me how to dream the impossible. The sky is the limit now, honey!”

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Jharrel Jerome wins Emmy for his portrayal of Korey Wise in ‘When They See Us’

2019 Emmy Awards: The complete winners list (UPDATING)

The 71st annual Emmy Awards are upon us and we will be updating you on all of the winners as they’re announced.

Ava DuVernay‘s When They See Us made a major mark earning 16 nominations (including Outstanding Limited Series), with several of the series’ stars going up against each other in acting categories.

Jharrel Jerome got a well-deserved nod for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie and Aunjanue Ellis and Niecy Nash are nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for their roles in the film. Marsha Stephanie Blake and Vera Farmiga are both up for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie andJohn Leguizamo, Asante Blackk, and Michael K. Williams are all competing in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie category.

5 Things to Know about ‘When They See Us’ breakout star Jharrel Jerome

Pose and This Is Us earned five nominations each with Sterling K. Brown getting another nod for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role of Randall Pearson. Billy Porter is nominated in the same category for his role on Pose.

Viola Davis is up for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role on How To Get Away With Murder and Don Cheadle earned a nod for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his starring role in Showtime’s Black Monday. Anthony Anderson is also nominated in the category for his role on black-ish.

Beyonce, Jharrel Jerome, Niecy Nash, Viola Davis, Don Cheadle, and more nab Emmy nominations + full list

Check out the full list of winners:

Check out the full list of Emmy nominees:

Drama Series

“Better Call Saul” (AMC)
“Bodyguard” (Netflix)
“Game of Thrones” (HBO)
“Killing Eve” (AMC/BBC America)
“Ozark” (Netflix)
“Pose” (FX)
“Succession” (HBO)
“This Is Us” (NBC)

Comedy Series

“Barry” (HBO)
“Fleabag” (Amazon Prime)
“The Good Place” (NBC)
“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (Amazon Prime)
“Russian Doll” (Netflix)
“Schitt’s Creek” (Pop)
“Veep” (HBO)

Limited Series

“Chernobyl” (HBO)
“Escape at Dannemora” (Showtime)
“Fosse/Verdon” (FX)
“Sharp Objects” (HBO)
“When They See Us” (Netflix)

Television Movie

“Black Mirror: Bandersnatch” (Netflix)
“Brexit” (HBO)
“Deadwood: The Movie” (HBO)
“King Lear” (Amazon Prime)
“My Dinner with Herve” (HBO)

Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Jason Bateman (“Ozark”)
Sterling K. Brown (“This Is Us”)
Kit Harington (“Game of Thrones”)
Bob Odenkirk (“Better Call Saul”)
Billy Porter (“Pose”)
Milo Ventimiglia (“This Is Us”)

Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Emilia Clarke (“Game of Thrones”)
Jodie Comer (“Killing Eve”)
Viola Davis (“How to Get Away With Murder”)
Laura Linney (“Ozark”)
Mandy Moore (“This Is Us”)
Sandra Oh (“Killing Eve”)
Robin Wright (“House of Cards”)

Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

Anthony Anderson (“Black-ish”)
Don Cheadle (“Black Monday”)
Ted Danson (“The Good Place”)
Michael Douglas (“The Kominsky Method”)
Bill Hader (“Barry”)
Eugene Levy (“Schitt’s Creek”)

Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

Christina Applegate (“Dead to Me”)
Rachel Brosnahan (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (“Veep”)
Natasha Lyonne (“Russian Doll”)
Catherine O’Hara (“Schitt’s Creek”)
Phoebe Waller-Bridge (“Fleabag”)

Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie

Mahershala Ali (“True Detective”)
Benicio Del Toro (“Escape at Dannemora”)
Hugh Grant (“A Very English Scandal”)
Jared Harris (“Chernobyl”)
Jharrel Jerome (“When They See Us”)
Sam Rockwell (“Fosse/Verdon”)

Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

Amy Adams (“Sharp Objects”)
Patricia Arquette (“Escape at Dannemora”)
Aunjanue Ellis (“When They See Us”)
Joey King (“The Act”)
Niecy Nash (“When They See Us”)
Michelle Williams (“Fosse/Verdon”)

Competition Program

“The Amazing Race” (CBS)
“American Ninja Warrior” (NBC)
“Nailed It” (Netflix)
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” (VH1)
“Top Chef” (Bravo)
“The Voice” (NBC)

Variety Talk Series

“The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” (Comedy Central)
“Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” (TBS)
“Jimmy Kimmel Live” (ABC)
“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” (HBO)
“Late Late Show with James Corden” (CBS)
“Late Show with Stephen Colbert” (CBS)

Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Gwendoline Christie (“Game of Thrones”)
Julia Garner (“Ozark”)
Lena Headey (“Game of Thrones”)
Fiona Shaw (“Killing Eve”)
Sophie Turner (“Game of Thrones”)
Maisie Williams (“Game of Thrones”)

Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Alfie Allen (“Game of Thrones”)
Jonathan Banks (“Better Call Saul”)
Nikolaj Coster-Waldeau (“Game of Thrones”)
Peter Dinklage (“Game of Thrones”)
Giancarlo Esposito (“Better Call Saul”)
Michael Kelly (“House of Cards”)
Chris Sullivan (“This Is Us”)

Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

Alex Borstein (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
Anna Chlumsky (“Veep”)
Sian Clifford (“Fleabag”)
Olivia Colman (“Fleabag”)
Betty Gilpin (“GLOW”)
Sarah Goldberg (“Barry”)
Marin Hinkle (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
Kate McKinnon (“Saturday Night Live”)

Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

Alan Arkin (“The Kominsky Method”)
Anthony Carrigan (“Barry”)
Tony Hale (“Veep”)
Stephen Root (“Barry”)
Tony Shalhoub (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
Henry Winkler (“Barry”)

Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie

Patricia Arquette (“The Act”)
Marsha Stephanie Blake (“When They See Us”)
Patricia Clarkson (“Sharp Objects”)
Vera Farmiga (“When They See Us”)
Margaret Qualley (“Fosse/Verdon”)
Emily Watson (“Chernobyl”)

Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie

Asante Blackk (“When They See Us”)
Paul Dano (“Escape at Dannemora”)
John Leguizamo (“When They See Us”)
Stellan Skarsgård (“Chernobyl”)
Ben Whishaw (“A Very English Scandal”)
Michael K. Williams (“When They See Us”)

Guest Actress in a Drama Series

Laverne Cox (“Orange Is the New Black”)
Cherry Jones (“The Handmaid’s Tale”)
Jessica Lange (“American Horror Story: Apocalypse”)
Phylicia Rashad (“This Is Us”)
Cicely Tyson (“How to Get Away With Murder”)
Carice van Houten (“Game of Thrones”)

Guest Actor in a Drama Series

Michael Angarano (“This Is Us”)
Ron Cephas Jones (“This Is Us”)
Michael McKean (“Better Call Saul”)
Kumail Nanjiani (“The Twilight Zone”)
Glynn Turman (“How to Get Away With Murder”)
Bradley Whitford (“The Handmaid’s Tale”)

Guest Actress in a Comedy Series

Jane Lynch (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
Sandra Oh (“Saturday Night Live”)
Maya Rudolph (“The Good Place”)
Kristin Scott Thomas (“Fleabag”)
Fiona Shaw (“Fleabag”)
Emma Thompson (“Saturday Night Live”)

Guest Actor in a Comedy Series

Matt Damon (“Saturday Night Live”)
Robert De Niro (“Saturday Night Live”)
Luke Kirby (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)
Peter MacNicol (“Veep”)
John Mulaney (“Saturday Night Live”)
Adam Sandler (“Saturday Night Live”)
Rufus Sewell (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”)

Structured Reality Program

“Antiques Roadshow” (PBS)
“Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives” (Food Network)
“Queer Eye” (Netflix)
“Shark Tank” (ABC)
“Tidying Up With Marie Kondo” (Netflix)
“Who Do You Think You Are?” (TLC)

Unstructured Reality Program

“Born This Way” (A&E)
“Deadliest Catch” (Discovery Channel)
“Life Below Zero” (National Geographic)
“RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked” (VH1)
“Somebody Feed Phil” (Netflix)
“United Shades Of America With W. Kamau
Bell” (CNN)

Host for a Reality or Competition Program

James Corden (“The World’s Best”)
Ellen DeGeneres (“Ellen’s Game Of Games”)
Marie Kondo (“Tidying Up With Marie Kondo”)
Amy Poehler & Nick Offerman (“Making It”)
RuPaul (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”)

Variety Sketch Series

“At Home With Amy Sedaris” (truTV)
“Documentary Now!” (IFC)
“Drunk History” (Comedy Central)
“I Love You, America With Sarah Silverman” (Hulu)
“Saturday Night Live” (NBC)
“Who Is America?” (Showtime)

Variety Special (Live)

“The 76th Annual Golden Globe Awards” (NBC)
“The 61st Grammy Awards” (CBS)
“Live In Front Of A Studio Audience: Norman
Lear’s ‘All In The Family’ And ‘The
Jeffersons’” (ABC)
“The Oscars” (ABC)
“RENT” (Fox)
“72nd Annual Tony Awards” (CBS)

Variety Special (Pre-Recorded)

“Carpool Karaoke: When Corden Met
McCartney Live From Liverpool” (CBS)
“Hannah Gadsby: Nanette” (Netflix)
“Homecoming: A Film By Beyoncé” (Netflix)
“Springsteen On Broadway” (Netflix)
“Wanda Sykes: Not Normal” (Netflix)

Informational Series or Special

“Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown” (CNN)
“Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee” (Netflix)
“Leah Remini: Scientology And The Aftermath” (A&E)
“My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With
David Letterman” (Netflix)
“Surviving R. Kelly” (Lifetime)

The post 2019 Emmy Awards: The complete winners list (UPDATING) appeared first on theGrio.

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PHOTOS: Black beauty on full display at the Emmy Awards

The country that wants refugees

Uganda - with more than a million refugees - is renowned for the way it welcomes those fleeing violence.

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The Rwandan radio show which brought children back from the dead

How the BBC helped to find thousands of children who got lost during the Rwandan genocide.

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After 10 season MasterChef has a Black Woman as the winner

For the first time in MasterChef history, the winner is a Black woman.

Contestant Dorian Hunter was announced as the season 10 winner on the show’s season finale last week.

Although Hunter’s win should have been a surprise to fans. Before the finale aired a leaked Facebook post showed Hunter posing with host Gordon Ramsay, judges Aarón Sanchez and Joe Bastianich and previous competition winners, including Jennifer Behm (Season 2), Courtney Lapresi (Season 5), Gerron Hurt (Season 9), Whitney Miller (Season 1), Dino Angelo Luciano (Season 8) and Shaun O’Neale (Season 7), according to Deadline.

Due to the absence of other Season 10 finalists Sarah Faherty of San Diego and Nick DiGiovanni from Rhode Island, this photo was a dead giveaway to fans that Hunter was indeed the winner.

Read More: Chef Kwame Onwuachi’s memoir dishes on racism in fine dining

Hunter is originally from Cartersville, Georgia, a town right outside of Atlanta. Her victory aired on the show’s 200th episode. Along with being crowned as the champion of season 10, she will also intern at restaurants of the three chef judges, Gordon Ramsay, Joe Bastianich and Aaron Sanchez.

Hunter also won $250,000 to go towards a menu that included seared sea scallops with cornmeal tuille, sweet corn puree and pickled Swiss chard, an entree of Applewood smoked short rib with potato and horseradish gratin; and a dessert of lemon blueberry tart with blueberry and cream cheese filling, toasted meringue and pecan crust, Deadline reported.

Hunter also was very nervous about what foods to pick in the finale, but she said what saved her was listening to her own intuition.

Read More: Cop who tasered 11-year-old girl stealing food and told her ‘this is why there’s no grocery stores in Black community’ wins back pay

“You have to step out of your comfort zone enough to show your growth, but you also have to show what you know. I can’t be somebody else. I can’t be Sarah and I couldn’t be Nick. Our gifts are very individual,” she told Parade.com.

“Nick is very innovative; Sarah is a plater out of this world. I come in with flavor and technique geared toward the form of cooking that I cook. I didn’t look at what they were cooking. I think that, for me, I showed my growth. That was the most important to me.”

The post After 10 season MasterChef has a Black Woman as the winner appeared first on theGrio.

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Snoop Dogg jokes about Tekashi 69, and drags R. Kelly into it

Will Smith Being Eyed to Play in Fantastic Four Reboot

The Fantastic Four is known as the first family of Marvel Comics, but the franchise has not always had great success in the box office.

But a reboot of the film series may be on the horizon, and could feature some new faces.

Read More: Cast of ‘Fantastic Four’ let loose with impromptu performance of Rihanna’s ‘BBHMM’

The buzz around the new film is that Marvel wants to cast a person of color as Mr. Fantastic, and allegedly the man for the job is Will Smith, according to WeGotThisCovered.

Although nothing is set in stone the idea of Mr.Fantastic being a person of color the conversation is exciting for many Black comic fans. Another possibility for the role is John Krasinski, who is not Black. But the decision has yet to be made by Marvel.

The official word on the plans and direction of the Fantastic Four are still up in the air. But according to WeGotThisCovered, at the Marvel company retreat movies like Phase 5 and others will be discussed and mapped out. They will also decide on who will play other characters in the film later.

Read More: Tessa Thompson to portray Marvel’s first LGBTQ superhero in ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’

Names like Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen are said to be on the list of potentials for the character “The Thing”.

If Will Smith is selected for the role he would be coming off of a great momentum from playing the Genie in Disney’s Aladdin that debuted earlier this Spring. He’s proven to bring numbers to the box office with Aladdin raking in over $508 million while in theaters worldwide. This surpasses the original Aladdin from 1992 bringing in $472 million according to Forbes.

The last Fantastic Four film was released in 2015 only bringing in $1.6 million worldwide according to BoxOfficeMojo. The film series also released a Fantastic Four in 2007 and 2005.

Read More: Will Smith & Martin Lawrence are BACK in ‘Bad Boys For Life’ trailer

If Smith gets on board with Fantastic Four maybe he can bring fans to the theaters and boost Fantastic Four sales. What do you think?

The post Will Smith Being Eyed to Play in Fantastic Four Reboot appeared first on theGrio.

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African-American college loan debt at an all time high

Black college students are borrowing, owing, and defaulting on educational loans more often than any other racial group. Reports say that it is currently at an all time high.

The racial gap in student debt is the result of wealth inequality, and not much funding provided at colleges and universities that enroll the largest number of Black students, according to The Washington Post.

Read More: Jemele Hill slammed as ‘racist’ and ‘pro-segregationist’ for urging Black athletes to attend HBCUs

In order to figure out what can be done, some higher education experts shared their own solutions with The Washington Post on how to address the unfair impact that student loan debt is having on Black students during and after college.

Jalil Mustaffa Bishop, a postdoctoral scholar in the higher education division at the University of Pennsylvania believes the following, “The problem is that student loans were presented as a false solution for current and future workers enduring racial capitalism, particularly black people. Black degree earners, however, are uniquely underpaid, underemployed and unprotected.”

Believing that the government has some responsibility to help graduates, he also stated. “This is a call for legislation to create good jobs — increase the minimum wage to a living wage, federally guarantee employment, provide universal health care and strengthen workers’ organizing power.We need labor policies that explicitly focus on empowering workers in sectors like care-taking and service work where black people already are.”

Read More: Billionaire Robert F. Smith also promises to pay off parents debt of Morehouse College graduates

Bishop is not the only academician with an idea on what needs to be done. William A. Darity, a professor of economics at the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University conducted a study with Fenaba Addo, who is an assistant professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and found that student loan debt disparities are due to racial wealth disparities. That while government could be helpful, it is much deeper. This is about systemic racism.

They issued a joint statement saying, “We believe that in order to address the black student debt crisis, we need to eliminate racial wealth inequality. The first approach will tackle the existing debt overhang that disproportionately burdens black young adults. This can be accomplished via a program of loan forgiveness for all students holding loan debt associated with their college years.”

Read More: Bernie Sanders, liberals, out with bill to cancel student debt

An alternative view was expressed by assistant professor at the University of Alabama, Krystal L. Williams, believes colleges and universities need more scholarship opportunities for students. “A holistic approach is needed to address the student debt crisis.” Williams continued. “Initiatives that focus on higher education finance should be central to this holistic approach. More institutional support could help to buffer the need for tuition increases and allow institutions to increase allocations to scholarships that help to reduce college financial burden.”

There are so many why the African-American college debt statistics are through the roof. Perhaps some of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates should take heed. While many have already suggested more funding to historically Black colleges & universities and public institutions, only one has a person has presented a plan to reduce 80% of Black borrowers. That according to the Washington Post is Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.).

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The ‘godfather’ of the Houston rap scene, J. Prince, calls Tekashi 69 a ‘rat’

AS Roma sign first African partnership with Nigeria

Italian club AS Roma sign an agreement with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to become their first African partner.

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Kana-Biyik: Cameroon defender ends international career

Cameroon defender Jean Armel Kana-Biyik announces his international retirement to focus on his club commitments in Turkey.

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The Symmetry and Chaos of the World's Megacities

Architectural photographer Ryan Koopmans spent the past decade shooting hi-res photographs of the world's biggest cities. The results are mind-blowing.

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Knives Made of Frozen Feces Are Kinda Crappy

Anthropologists have disproved the urban legend once and for all.

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