OCTOBER, 2019
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york region review
WORLD 25
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nZ man brings Cold War with China more “Violence against women!” Outrage as Kazakh outlet important than US interests, uses “murdered” models to advertise H&M collection “emotional support Clown” Soros warns Trump The world’s second-
Donald Trump wants to improve the US economy instead of shunning economic cooperation with China as part of a crusade for democracy, billionaire activist George Soros has complained in an article. The US president should be applauded for waging economic warfare against China, but he must not use restrictions placed on Huawei as a bargaining chip to cut a trade deal with Beijing, the Hungarian-American businessman wrote in the opinion piece, published by The Wall Street Journal. In it, the founder of the Open Society Foundations accuses Trump of seeking a trade deal with China as part of a cynical plot to “bolster the US stock market and economy to improve his chances at re-election.” Instead of concerning himself with the economy, Soros suggests that Trump should keep piling economic pressure on Beijing, in a bid to “open” Chinese society to liberal reforms. “My interest in defeating Xi Jinping’s China goes beyond US national interests,” Soros admits, criticizing Trump for not sharing his worldview. Soros’ work “opening societies” has made him a figurehead for a global brand of open-borders liberalism. “The EU has to accept at least a million asylum-seekers annually for the foreseeable future,” the billionaire declared in 2015, at the height of the migrant crisis. That rhetoric set him up for a clash with Europe’s more nationalist leaders, like Hungary’s Viktor Orban, who responded with a series of laws aimed at shoring up border security and at penalizing Soros’ operations in the country. On China, Soros has long been a critic of Xi Jinping. In January, he slammed Xi for investing in “machine learning and artificial intelligence” as alleged means of authoritarian control, and has slammed western tech firms for doing business in the country. Soros warned in his most recent article that, if Chinese firms such as Huawei are allowed to compete in the global market, Beijing will be able to expand its “systems of political control worldwide.” Though left unstated, this expansion of control would likely rub up against Soros’ softer approach, which involves funding liberal causes in 120 countries worldwide, some of them also aimed at controlling the flow of information online. According to Soros, winning a brewing global information war comes before the political interests of Donald Trump, and even before the US economy. Whether Trump, or the US electorate, will agree, is another story entirely.
to layoff meeting
largest clothing retailer was completely unaware about the serial crime-inspired photoshoot.
Losing a job might be sad and tough, but it rarely gets this weird: a Kiwi adman has turned to the professionals for support during his redundancy meeting, hiring a clown to brighten up the event. Proof of the bizarre incident was obtained by the New Zeland Herald, which published a photo from an internal meeting at the FCB advertising company showing two individuals, facing the soon to be fired staffer and his “support person” – a clown. During the meeting, the clown blew up balloons and folded them into animals, including a unicorn and a poodle. He also mimed crying as the man received his paperwork. As the story promptly went viral, the cheeky adman took to Facebook in
A Kazakh news outlet was forced to remove photos of models in H&M clothes portraying victims of brutal crimes. The pictures caused vast outcry. One photo featured a girl lying on the bathroom floor with a bloodied knife beside her, while in another a female victim was shown with the zipper on her pants unfastened, suggesting that she might have been raped. Photographers from the Buro 24/7 Kazakhstan website also tackled the themes of murder by gun and suffocation. The authors of the photoshoot explained their bizarre creative decision by saying that the H&M collection they were promoting was inspired by the 1970s, featuring turtlenecks, flared pants and pleated skirts in typical warm colors. They apparently only remembered this period as “the heyday of serial crimes in the US… Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, Edmund Kemper, Jerry Brudos became a sort of celebrities back then. Nowadays, films and TV shows with star actors are made about them.” Predictably, this did little to persuade potential buyers – and they made their opinions plain in comments online. “What is this horror?” one commentator wondered while browsing the photos. “Promoting violence against women?” “How could H&M greenlight this?” was another frequent question regarding the photoshoot. However, it turned out that the world’s second-largest clothing retailer was completely unaware about the serial crime-inspired photoshoot. After removing the pictures from its website and Instagram page, “Buro 24/7 Kazakhstan” issued an apology, saying “that the idea of the piece wasn’t approved by the head office of the brand and was utterly and completely the initiative of the editorial staff.” “The photoshoot is in no way trying to excuse or romanticize violence... We understand that photo-materials are of delicate nature and ask to forgive us for the possible impression they could’ve made,” the outlet said.
Everything’s at steak: Vegan takes neighbors to court over BBQ smell Aussie vegan Cilla Carden is considering further legal action after the Supreme Court of Western Australia rejected her complaints against her neighbors’ barbecues in a truly barmy case of nimbyism. Carden claims she couldn’t enjoy a quiet suburban life in the comfort of her own back garden without being assaulted by the fumes from nearby carnivores cooking their nightly feasts. The backyard back-and-forth battle with her neighbor Toan Vu, his
wife and their children has reportedly been raging since August 2017. Carden’s case seemingly went up in smoke earlier this year after her claims were rejected by a tribunal based on a lack of evidence. The Supreme Court of Western Australia subsequently turned her down in July. “Ms Carden was given a fair opportunity to present her case, and the learned tribunal member conducted the proceedings fairly and appropriately,” Supreme Court Chief Justice Peter Quinlan wrote in the judgment. Despite the ruling, Carden has vowed to continue her fight. “It’s been devastating, it’s been turmoil, it’s been unrest, I haven’t been able to sleep,” Carden said, claiming that the smell of cooking meat, poultry and fish in addition to cigarette smoke and the noise
to explain the bizarre stunt. He decided to seek emotional support after receiving an email from his nowex-bosses seeking to “discuss” his role, admitting that the pick was a “touch unusual.” “I thought it's either a promotion or worse. I thought it's best to bring in a professional and so I paid $200 and hired a clown,” the adman, who identified himself as Josh Thompson, told MediaWorks. “I mean I did get fired, but apart from that it was all smooth running.” The presence of the clown – said to be one of the best in Auckland – did not jeopardize the meeting, Thompson insisted, though the balloons folding proved to be quite squeaky. The man revealed he has since returned to his home country of Australia and has already got a new job in advertising.
of bouncing basketballs have all destroyed her quality of life. For his part, Vu claims that, in order to “keep the peace,” he removed the barbecue and forbade his kids from playing basketball in the yard. The news sparked little sympathy for Carden online. “A neighbor nightmare. Why can’t people just leave people to live in peace,” said one social media user. “If you want that much freedom move to where there are no other people,” suggested another commenter. In keeping with tradition, some jokers have set up the “Community BBQ for Cilla Carden” event on Facebook, calling on the community to help her get some pork on her fork. The event will apparently be operating a strict “no vegans” policy.