Exclusive: New research identifies thousands who profited from trafficking enslaved Africans and traces some financial links to institutions still operating today
Continue reading...Wobblesome, firm or silken, tofu is a star ingredient in Chinese cooking. These dishes show why
In the west, tofu is often viewed as a substitute for meat, which may explain why firmer types that can be cut into chunks and fried or grilled like meat have become so ubiquitous. In China, however, where tofu has been eaten for at least 1,000 years, it isn’t a substitute for anything; it’s simply a protein-rich ingredient that forms part of most people’s diets, can be cooked with meat and fish, and comes in myriad forms, from the tender, wobbly tofu used to make Sichuanese mapo tofu to firm smoked tofu, sheets of tofu “skin” and the silken tofu that can be as soft as creme caramel. Many Chinese tofu recipes are so delicious that habitual meat-eaters will devour them as keenly as vegetarians.
Continue reading...Progressive politicians such as Zohran Mamdani offer answers to the bitter post-9/11 legacy of failures at home and abroad
Twenty-five years after 9/11, two pieces of journalism, describing two different phenomena in contemporary New York, tell us a great deal about a city, and indeed a world, caught between two eras. In one, New York Magazine dives into “Habibi City”, a New York where a “cultural shift is underway, led by a generation of New Yorkers coming into its own”. This new generation is labelled as originating in “SWANA” – south-west Asia and north Africa, a region that “includes countries from Palestine to Iran to Sudan”. In the other, Vanity Fair describes calls for Zohran Mamdani to not attend the 9/11 memorial ceremony as partly founded in “inchoate, emotional” impulses, that see “the city’s first Muslim mayor as a stand-in for the 19 Muslims who hijacked four planes and turned them into deadly weapons, part of the ‘them’ who attacked ‘us’.”
Together they capture what has changed over a generation, and what remains stubbornly the same. Members of a diaspora of Muslim background are indeed breaking through and accumulating, as New York Magazine says, “clout”. They are no longer simply a fixture of bodegas and halal carts, but of Saturday Night Live, upmarket dining, entertainment and politics too. Mamdani is both the expression of that cohort and the catalyst of its recognition as an emerging force. They care deeply for their local communities but also for those in Gaza and beyond.
Continue reading...Actor appears naked in ad while mock playing various sports
‘A kick in the face,’ says Olympic champion swimmer Ariarne Titmus
Olympic athletes have come out in force to condemn a sports betting advert featuring actor Sydney Sweeney in various states of undress, while showcasing the real skill, strength and beauty of women’s sport.
The campaign, for US sports prediction market company Novig, depicts Sweeney in minimal to no clothing while she pretends to play several different sports.
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Een bouwcontainer met grofvuil is in de nacht van zondag op maandag in brand gevlogen aan de Stroveer in het centrum van Rotterdam. Daarbij kwam veel rook vrij. De brandweer heeft het vuur snel geblust en niemand is gewond geraakt.
In dit liveblog houden we je op de hoogte van het belangrijkste en meest opvallende 112-nieuws van zaterdag 12 september.
niggyl :) has added a photo to the pool:
Across the snow and wind-swept Pelion Plains, the crenelated spines of Mount Oakley (1286m) emerge from another snow shower.
From New Pelion Hut.
Fabulous day to be in the wilds.
Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max, Adobe Indigo App, 9mm f/2.8 back camera lens, 1/1700th sec at f/2.8. ISO 200.
TRUE 2 DEATH has added a photo to the pool:
The local train crosses the 第二小入川橋梁 (Second Koirikawa Railway Bridge) along JR East’s Gonō Line in Happō, Akita Prefecture.
From above, the railway almost disappears into the landscape—crossing the small valley between the houses and dense summer greenery before running along the edge of the Sea of Japan. The Gonō Line is famous for its dramatic coastal scenery, but scenes like this, where the railway feels completely woven into the surrounding villages and landscape, are just as much a part of its character.
Happō, Akita Prefecture, Japan
June 2025