June 25, 2023 – Monocle’s editorial director, Tyler Brûlé, Oliver Strijbis and Marcus Schögel discuss the weekend’s biggest news stories.
Plus: we check in with our friends and correspondents in London, Oslo and Lisbon.
Monthly Archives: June 2023
The New York Times – Sunday, June 25, 2023
Rebel Wagner Forces, Threatening March to Moscow, Abruptly Stand Down
The mercenary group had seized the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, the center of Moscow’s military operations in Ukraine, posing a grave threat to President Vladimir Putin’s government.
Putin embraced turmoil, and now it is rattling his leadership.
For more than two decades, the system helped President Vladimir V. Putin secure his unrivaled authority, ensuring that he personally held the keys to wealth and influence in modern Russia.
How a Year Without Roe Shifted American Views on Abortion
New and extensive polling shows public opinion increasingly supports legal abortion, with potential political consequences for 2024.
He Tried to Save a Friend. They Charged Him With Murder.
They bought $30 worth of fentanyl before making it into rehab. One overdosed. The other was charged in his death.
Travel: Landscapes And Cities Of Bangladesh (4K)
The riverine country of Bangladesh (“Land of the Bengals”) is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, and its people are predominantly Muslim. As the eastern portion of the historical region of Bengal, the area once formed, along with what is now the Indian state of West Bengal, the province of Bengal in British India. With the partition of India in 1947, it became the Pakistani province of East Bengal (later renamed East Pakistan), one of five provinces of Pakistan, separated from the other four by 1,100 miles (1,800 km) of Indian territory. In 1971 it became the independent country of Bangladesh, with its capital at Dhaka.
South America Travel: A Hike Up Mount Roraima
Braving cold, cramps, and exhaustion, he’s rewarded with a breathtaking experience in the great outdoors, amidst an out-of-this-world landscape. Is It all worth it in the end? Take a look for yourself!
Mount Roraima is the highest of the Pakaraima chain of tepuis or plateaux in South America. It is located at the junction of Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana. A characteristic large flat-topped mountain surrounded by cliffs 400 to 1,000 meters high.
World Economic Forum: Top Stories- June 24, 2023
0:15 Can granny flats solve the housing crisis? – Granny flats are an extra residential unit beside a main house. They’re known by many names, including backyard homes and in-law suites. They’re often small but have their own kitchen, bathroom and entry. Their official title is accessory dwelling units, or ADUs. ADUs are more sustainable because they increase housing density without demolishing existing neighbourhoods to construct new homes.
1:54 This educator is changing the way Palestinian kids learn – Aref Husseini founded Al-Nayzak, an educational charity, in 2003. He believes the traditional Palestinian education model is broken. It’s based, he says, on memorizing facts and passing exams and it’s no longer fit for purpose “So all the skills needed for analyzing this content, for critical thinking, for innovation, for creativity, unfortunately, it’s still missing in the general educational system. There are many initiatives, informal initiatives here and there, but still the system is not producing what we need for flourishing our economy.”
5:34 5 Things to know about the energy transition – Bringing green rail freight one step closer. The zero-emission trains can reach 90km per hour and the hydrogen tanks hold enough for 24 hours of shunting operations.
7:12 IKEA is retraining its call centre staff as interior designers – An AI chatbot answers nearly half of customer inquiries. But rather than losing their jobs, call-handlers are reskilling to offer advice as part of IKEA’s interior design service. Customers pay for a video call with a design adviser who can order floorplans and other design tools to help them. 8,500 call-handlers have made the leap to design advisers since 2021.
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The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. The Forum engages the foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. We believe that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to make positive change.
Nature Reviews: Top New Science Books – June 2023
Blue Machine
By Helen Czerski (2023)
Few scientific subjects are so vast, and yet oceans “often seem invisible”, remarks physicist and broadcaster Helen Czerski; the workings of the seas got no mention in her physics training. Her profound, sparkling global ocean voyage mingles history and culture, natural history, geography, animals and people, to understand the “blue machine”: the ocean engine powered by sunlight that shunts energy from Equator to poles.
The Science of Reading
By Adrian Johns (2023)
Starting in the 1880s with US psychologist James Cattell, the experimental study of reading dealt in extremes, notes information historian Adrian Johns in his intriguing analysis. Researchers devised mechanical ways to measure quantities that were nearly imperceptible, such as pauses in motion as an eye scans prose. Today, scanners can measure brain activity, but the reading process remains mostly imponderable.
Meetings with Moths
By Katty Baird (2023)
Ecologist Katty Baird’s fly-specialist friend grumbles that butterflies should be renamed ‘butter-moths’. Butterflies and moths belong to one order, and are not always easy to tell apart. However, most butterflies rest with wings shut, whereas resting moths display theirs. The garden tiger moth (Arctia caja), for example, has “forewings a mosaic of darkest brown and white which conceal shocking scarlet underwings spotted with denim blue”.
A History of Ancient Egypt, Volume 3
By John Romer (2023)
This deeply informed history by Egyptologist John Romer focuses on the New Kingdom, 1550–1185 bc, including rulers Nefertiti, Tutankhamun and Ramesses II: crucial figures in popular perception. Calling it the “most fantasized period in all of ancient history”, Romer criticizes much scholarship on the era for being “firmly stuck” in the nineteenth-century European vision of ancient Egypt, launched by Jean-François Champollion in the 1820s.
In the Herbarium
By Maura C. Flannery (2023)
London’s Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew are open to all. Not so Kew’s Herbarium, a collection of more than seven million plant specimens reserved for academic visitors. Access to most herbaria is restricted: biologist Maura Flannery knew “almost nothing” about them until 2010, when a US curator took her behind the scenes at one and she fell in love with them.
Saturday Morning: News And Stories From London
Monocle on Saturday, June 17, 2023: Putin calls Prigoshin and Wagner’s mutiny ‘treason’; Monocle’s contributing editor Andrew Mueller reviews the morning’s newspapers and we discuss what’s next for Nato.
Plus: a look ahead at the next episode of ‘The Foreign Desk’ and the Ukrainian women making craft, not war.
The New York Times – Saturday, June 24, 2023
Wagner Chief Accused Of Fomenting A Coup, Putting Russia On Edge
The claims from Yevgeny V. Prigozhin including a veiled threat of an uprising against Russia, prompted the F.S.B. to open a criminal investigation.
Supreme Court Revives Biden Immigration Guidelines
The guidelines, setting priorities for which unauthorized immigrants should be detained, were blocked by a federal judge in Texas.
Facing Brutal Heat, the Texas Electric Grid Has a New Ally: Solar Power
The amount of solar energy generated in Texas has grown exponentially. Some Republicans question the state’s increasing reliance on renewable power.
Garland Pushes Back at G.O.P. Claims of Bias in Hunter Biden Investigation
The attorney general denied assertions that he had interfered with the case and blocked a prosecutor from lodging more charges.
Finance Preview: Barron’s Magazine – June 26, 2023
BARRON’S MAGAZINE – JUNE 26, 2023 ISSUE – The top CEOs of 2023; The Age of Oil will Endure; A Volatile Market is good news for Savers, and more…
Here Are Barron’s Top CEOs of 2023
From tech to tortillas, these 25 innovative leaders found ways to thrive through the mayhem and prepare their companies for the challenges ahead.
The Age of Oil Will Endure. These Drilling Stocks Could Be Gushers.
The industry looks headed for a major rebound, defying expectations of a long-term decline. Stocks such as Diamond Offshore Drilling and Noble could surge 50% or more.
A Volatile Market Comes With Good News for Savers
It’s likely to be a bumpy ride, but the long-term outlook for a globally diversified portfolio has meaningfully improved, writes Gregory Davis.
Preview: New York Times Magazine – June 25, 2023
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (June 23, 2023) – In this issue, Christopher Cox on the risk that California’s dams will fail; Charlie Savage on his connection to Pink Floyd and “The Wizard of Oz”; Dan Kois on Lorrie Moore; and more.
Suddenly, It Looks Like We’re in a Golden Age for Medicine
We may be on the cusp of an era of astonishing innovation — the limits of which aren’t even clear yet.
By DAVID WALLACE-WELLS
The Trillion-Gallon Question: What if California’s Dams Fail?
One superstorm could send walls of water sweeping through populated areas. There’s not much time to act.
Boomers Daily 