International

Oprah Winfrey helps ‘Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks’ come alive on HBO

One day, circa 2000, Rebecca Skloot was riding in a car with Deborah Lacks, whose late mother, Henrietta, had posthumously and unwittingly contributed to some of the most important medical research of the 20th century. At the time, Skloot was a scrappy but barely published young journalist, and it would take a decade for her

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Science, Medicine, & Education, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Antarctica is covered in hundreds of meltwater rivers and streams, and we had no idea this was happening

The first continent-wide survey of meltwater on Antarctica found alarming high numbers of pools, ponds, channels, rivers, and streams flowing across all sides of the continent. Scientists have always known that the Antarctic Western Peninsula is melting at an alarmingly high rate but they didn’t expect the whole continent to be awash with meltwater during

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International, The World We Share

Jehovah’s Witnesses Banned by Russia

Russia’s Supreme Court has declared Jehovah’s Witnesses an extremist organization, ordering its assets liquidated and banning all activities in the country, Russian state media reported Thursday. The ban will not come into force until after the group’s appeal is heard. The ruling upholds a claim made by Russia’s Ministry of Justice. Related: Russia: Jehovah’s Witnesses

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International

Movie review: ‘The Promise’ has real relevance

In the years around World War I, Turkey’s Ottoman government committed genocide against 1.5 million Christian minority Armenians, setting an example for Hitler to follow similar lines to exterminate European Jews. It’s a tragedy rarely observed in feature films but too important to ignore. It receives a powerful, overdue accounting in “The Promise,” a historical

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International, Middle East, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Tucker Carlson Replaces Bill O’Reilly At Fox News

After Bill O’Reilly’s ouster from Fox News on Wednesday, host Tucker Carlson is all set to take the 8 p.m. slot on the channel, starting Monday, the channel said. The decision came soon after 21st Century Fox announced that O’Reilly would not return to the network amid sexual harassment allegations. Carlson began hosting the show

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Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

US reviewing possibility of relisting N. Korea as terror sponsor: Tillerson

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Wednesday the U.S. is looking into the possibility of adding North Korea back to the list of states sponsors of terrorism as a way to bring pressure on the communist nation. “We’re reviewing all the status of North Korea both in terms of state sponsorship of terrorism as

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International, USA

A new generation learns The Partisan Song

By Tali Feinberg Reprinted from the Cape Jewish Chronicle CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Every year on Yom Hashoah, Holocaust survivors and Jewish communities sing the song Zog Nit Keynmol (‘We are Still Here’), known as the Partisan Song. However, the Yiddish lyrics and decline of survivors means that the song is being lost to

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International, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

Poor editing undercuts Israeli cuisine film

In Search of Israeli Cuisine, a film by Roger Sherman, Menemsha Films, 2016; opening April 21 at Landmark’s Ken Cinema, 4061 Adams Ave, San Diego. By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO — Good reporting can be sabotaged by haphazard editing, and that, sadly, is what happened to this film in which host Michael Solomonov, owner of

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Donald H. Harrison, Middle East, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food