Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company Higher Ground has signed a deal with Spotify to create a series of podcasts for the music streaming service, which is seeking to diversify its content.

“We’re excited … because podcasts offer an extraordinary opportunity to foster productive dialogue, make people smile and make people think, and, hopefully, bring us all a little closer together,” the former U.S. president said in a statement released by Spotify and Higher Ground.

The former first lady also said she was “thrilled to have the opportunity to amplify voices that are too often ignored or silenced altogether.” 

For the past year, Spotify — better known for streaming music playlists — has been moving into the business of podcasting. In February, it paid $230 million for the respected U.S. podcast production house Gimlet Media.

Several major players in the industry are seeking to shift podcast production away from the current model, where the audio broadcasts are free and producers earn revenue from advertising, toward a platform where users pay for content.

Luminary, which has already raised $100 million from investors, launched its new platform for a monthly subscription fee of $7.99 in April.

On Tuesday, the French service Majelan was launched with programs accessible in 50 countries for a monthly fee of 4.99 euros ($5.63).

The Obamas’ production company was created in 2018 and has already signed an exclusive deal with Netflix to produce films, television series and documentaries for the streaming giant. 
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From: MeNeedIt

Carrie Underwood extended her run as the most decorated act in the history of the CMT Music Awards with her 20th win Wednesday night.

Underwood won two prizes at the fan-voted show, including video of the year for “Cry Pretty” and female video of the year for “Love Wins.”

“Fans, thank you so much. I saw you guys doing the Twitter parties and getting together and doing your thing and voting,” she said. “None of us would be able to do any of what we do if not for you guys. You guys put us here. You guys keep us going. You guys let us live out our dreams.”

When she won the first televised award of the night, Underwood acknowledged her husband’s birthday (she is married to former hockey player Mike Fisher, who sat in the audience).

“It is my husband’s birthday today — look what they got you,” she said.

The Grammy-winning country star also performed at the show honoring the year’s best country music videos, which took place at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.

Thomas Rhett, Little Big Town and Trombone Shorty kicked off the event with a performance of “Don’t Threaten Me With a Good Time.” More collaborative performances followed: Brett Young sang “Here Tonight” with Boyz II Men, even blending in some of the R&B group’s “Water Runs Dry” for the performance. Sheryl Crow and Maren Morris teamed up onstage, while Tanya Tucker — whose new album will be produced by Brandi Carlile — sang “Delta Dawn” with the Grammy-winning Americana singer, Martina McBride, Trisha Yearwood, Lauren Alaina and more acts.

Little Big Town, who also performed and returned for a second year as hosts of the show, talked about the lack of female singers on country radio ahead of the strong female performance. On this week’s Billboard country airplay chart — which tracks radio airplay — only 10 of the 60 slots belong to women or songs co-starring a woman.

“Back in December it was even worse — there were none,” Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild said. “Here’s my question, ladies in the house: ‘What do we have to do to get some airplay around here?’”

Little Big Town told jokes at the top of the show and even sang some of “Old Town Road,” the No. 1 country-rap hit from newcomer Lil Nas X that was booted from the Billboard country songs chart when the tune was deemed not country enough.

Dan + Shay — who won a Grammy this year as well as honors at the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Billboard Music Awards — kept their year of winning alive by taking home duo video of the year for “Speechless.”

Shay Mooney thanked “the real stars of the video” — their wives — when they accepted the award.

Zac Brown Band won group video of the year for “Someone I Used to Know” and its frontman was passionate as he read his speech from a paper.

“For you young artists, have courage to stand up against the machine, be yourself, work hard and one day you can stand up here and tell all the haters to ‘[expletive] off,’” Zac Brown said.

When Ashley McBryde won breakthrough video of the year, she took a drink from Luke Combs as she walked to the stage.

“I’m always awkward and I usually bring my drink with me, but I didn’t have a drink so I took Luke Combs’ drink,” said McBryde, who scored Grammy and Emmy nominations this year.

Keith Urban and Julia Michaels — the pop singer who has co-written hits for Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez and herself — won collaborative video of the year for “Coming Home,” while Kane Brown won male video of the year for “Lose It.”

Luke Combs and R&B singer Leon Bridges — who won his first Grammy this year — won CMT performance of the year for “Beautiful Crazy” from the series “CMT Crossroads.”

“First off, my beautiful fiance Nicole — thank you for inspiring this song,” Combs said.

 
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From: MeNeedIt

Carrie Underwood extended her run as the most decorated act in the history of the CMT Music Awards with her 20th win Wednesday night.

Underwood won two prizes at the fan-voted show, including video of the year for “Cry Pretty” and female video of the year for “Love Wins.”

“Fans, thank you so much. I saw you guys doing the Twitter parties and getting together and doing your thing and voting,” she said. “None of us would be able to do any of what we do if not for you guys. You guys put us here. You guys keep us going. You guys let us live out our dreams.”

When she won the first televised award of the night, Underwood acknowledged her husband’s birthday (she is married to former hockey player Mike Fisher, who sat in the audience).

“It is my husband’s birthday today — look what they got you,” she said.

The Grammy-winning country star also performed at the show honoring the year’s best country music videos, which took place at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.

Thomas Rhett, Little Big Town and Trombone Shorty kicked off the event with a performance of “Don’t Threaten Me With a Good Time.” More collaborative performances followed: Brett Young sang “Here Tonight” with Boyz II Men, even blending in some of the R&B group’s “Water Runs Dry” for the performance. Sheryl Crow and Maren Morris teamed up onstage, while Tanya Tucker — whose new album will be produced by Brandi Carlile — sang “Delta Dawn” with the Grammy-winning Americana singer, Martina McBride, Trisha Yearwood, Lauren Alaina and more acts.

Little Big Town, who also performed and returned for a second year as hosts of the show, talked about the lack of female singers on country radio ahead of the strong female performance. On this week’s Billboard country airplay chart — which tracks radio airplay — only 10 of the 60 slots belong to women or songs co-starring a woman.

“Back in December it was even worse — there were none,” Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild said. “Here’s my question, ladies in the house: ‘What do we have to do to get some airplay around here?’”

Little Big Town told jokes at the top of the show and even sang some of “Old Town Road,” the No. 1 country-rap hit from newcomer Lil Nas X that was booted from the Billboard country songs chart when the tune was deemed not country enough.

Dan + Shay — who won a Grammy this year as well as honors at the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Billboard Music Awards — kept their year of winning alive by taking home duo video of the year for “Speechless.”

Shay Mooney thanked “the real stars of the video” — their wives — when they accepted the award.

Zac Brown Band won group video of the year for “Someone I Used to Know” and its frontman was passionate as he read his speech from a paper.

“For you young artists, have courage to stand up against the machine, be yourself, work hard and one day you can stand up here and tell all the haters to ‘[expletive] off,’” Zac Brown said.

When Ashley McBryde won breakthrough video of the year, she took a drink from Luke Combs as she walked to the stage.

“I’m always awkward and I usually bring my drink with me, but I didn’t have a drink so I took Luke Combs’ drink,” said McBryde, who scored Grammy and Emmy nominations this year.

Keith Urban and Julia Michaels — the pop singer who has co-written hits for Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez and herself — won collaborative video of the year for “Coming Home,” while Kane Brown won male video of the year for “Lose It.”

Luke Combs and R&B singer Leon Bridges — who won his first Grammy this year — won CMT performance of the year for “Beautiful Crazy” from the series “CMT Crossroads.”

“First off, my beautiful fiance Nicole — thank you for inspiring this song,” Combs said.

 
…

From: MeNeedIt

Muhammad Ali amazed the world as a champion boxer and political activist. After his death in 2016, Ali’s hometown of Louisville, Ky., is memorializing him by officially naming its airport after him on June 6. The move also highlights one of Ali’s most famous quirks. VOA’s Alam Burhanan reports from Louisville, Kentucky.
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From: MeNeedIt

Muhammad Ali amazed the world as a champion boxer and political activist. After his death in 2016, Ali’s hometown of Louisville, Ky., is memorializing him by officially naming its airport after him on June 6. The move also highlights one of Ali’s most famous quirks. VOA’s Alam Burhanan reports from Louisville, Kentucky.
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From: MeNeedIt

Wearing a white blouse and her dark hair hanging loose, Ai-Da looks like any artist at work as she studies her subject and puts pencil to paper. But the beeping from her bionic arm gives her away – Ai-Da is a robot.

Described as “the world’s first ultra-realistic AI humanoid robot artist,” Ai-Da opens her first solo exhibition of eight drawings, 20 paintings, four sculptures and two video works next week, bringing “a new voice” to the art world, her British inventor and gallery owner Aidan Meller says.

“The technological voice is the important one to focus on because it affects everybody,” he told Reuters at a preview.

“We’ve got a very clear message we want to explore: the uses and abuses of A.I. today, because this next decade is coming in dramatically and we’re concerned about that and we want to have ethical considerations in all of that.”

Named after British mathematician and computer pioneer Ada Lovelace, Ai-Da can draw from sight thanks to cameras in her eyeballs and AI algorithms created by scientists at the University of Oxford that help produce coordinates for her arm to create art.

She uses a pencil or pen for sketches, but the plan is for Ai-Da to paint and create pottery. Her paint works now are printed onto canvas with a human painting over.

“From those coordinates from the drawing we’ve been able to take that into a algorithm that is then able to output it through a Cartesian graph that then produces a final image,” Meller said.

“It’s a really exciting process never been done before in the way that we’ve done it…We don’t know exactly how the drawings are going to turn out and that’s really important.”

On show at the “Unsecured Futures” exhibition are drawings paying tribute to Lovelace and mathematician Alan Turing, abstract paintings of trees, sculptures based on Ai-Da’s drawings of a bee and video works, one of which, “Privacy” pays homage to Yoko Ono’s 1965 “Cut Piece.”

Ai-Da, whose construction was completed in April, has already seen her art snapped up.

“It’s a sold out show with over a million pounds worth of artworks sold,” Meller said.

The exhibition, which opens on June 12 at the Barn Gallery at St John’s College, looks at the boundaries between technology, AI and organic life.

Asked by Meller about “all the AI going on at the moment,” Ai-Da, who has pre-programmed speech, replied: “New technologies bring the potential for good and evil. It is a great responsibility to try to curb excesses of negative use, something that we all must consider.”
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From: MeNeedIt

The International Basketball Federation, known as FIBA, is expecting the professional African league due to launch in 2020 to be a showcase and breeding ground for new talents. With the support of Africa-born former NBA stars like Dikembo Mutombo, young talents are already getting support to move up to the next level. Elizabete Casimiro reports for VOA news in Luanda.
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From: MeNeedIt

The International Basketball Federation, known as FIBA, is expecting the professional African league due to launch in 2020 to be a showcase and breeding ground for new talents. With the support of Africa-born former NBA stars like Dikembo Mutombo, young talents are already getting support to move up to the next level. Elizabete Casimiro reports for VOA news in Luanda.
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From: MeNeedIt

China on Wednesday launched a rocket from a mobile platform at sea for the first time, sending a five commercial satellites and two others containing experimental technology into space.

The Long March 11 rocket blasted off from a launch pad aboard a commercial ship in the Yellow Sea off the coast of Shandong province, marking the 306th launch of a rocket in the Long March series, but the first one at sea.

China is the third country after the U.S. and Russia to master sea launch technology.

Sea launches offer advantages such as the ability to position closer to the equator, requiring less fuel to reach orbit and thereby lowering overall launch costs. It also reduces the possibility of damage on the ground from falling rocket debris.

The official Xinhua News Agency cited experts as saying seaborne launch technology will meet the growing demand for launches of low inclination satellites.

China’s space program has developed rapidly, especially since it conducted its first crewed mission in 2003, becoming just the third country following Russia and the U.S. to put humans into space using its own technology.

It has put two space stations into orbit and plans to launch a Mars rover in the mid-2020s. Its space program suffered a rare setback last year with the failed launch of a Long March 5 rocket.

 
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From: MeNeedIt

China on Wednesday launched a rocket from a mobile platform at sea for the first time, sending a five commercial satellites and two others containing experimental technology into space.

The Long March 11 rocket blasted off from a launch pad aboard a commercial ship in the Yellow Sea off the coast of Shandong province, marking the 306th launch of a rocket in the Long March series, but the first one at sea.

China is the third country after the U.S. and Russia to master sea launch technology.

Sea launches offer advantages such as the ability to position closer to the equator, requiring less fuel to reach orbit and thereby lowering overall launch costs. It also reduces the possibility of damage on the ground from falling rocket debris.

The official Xinhua News Agency cited experts as saying seaborne launch technology will meet the growing demand for launches of low inclination satellites.

China’s space program has developed rapidly, especially since it conducted its first crewed mission in 2003, becoming just the third country following Russia and the U.S. to put humans into space using its own technology.

It has put two space stations into orbit and plans to launch a Mars rover in the mid-2020s. Its space program suffered a rare setback last year with the failed launch of a Long March 5 rocket.

 
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From: MeNeedIt

Rapper Chhun Dymey seems to have struck a chord in Cambodia. He was somewhat of an unknown until his song, “This Society,” went viral last month, shared on social media platforms that included opposition leader Sam Rainsy’s YouTube channel.

Since then, police have visited Chhun Dymey’s parents’ home and his workplace and the 24-year-old artist, also known as Dymey-Cambo, has deleted it from his social media accounts. (At the time of this story’s publication it remained viewable online on Cambodian activist and politician Sam Rainsy’s account.)

The song touches on a range of social and political issues and is seen as critical of the government.

“I will stop composing such songs and turn to write sentimental songs that encourage the younger generation to love and unite in solidarity with one another,” Dymey told The Phnom Penh Post.

In an email, Sam Rainsy described the developments as “very worrying.”

“Even artists and musicians are now afraid in this repressive society,” he said. “We must not accept that even artists are held hostage by the Hun Sen regime.” Sam Rainsy was referring to the prime minister.

Musician Vartey Ganiva understands Chhun Dymey’s decision to delete his song and turn to less critical music. In her songs, she has addressed issues that include women’s rights and the environment, but is careful to not take it too far.

In an interview with VOA, Vartey Ganiva said she was worried police would also show up at her home if she wasn’t cautious with her choice of words.

“I write in a good way,” she said, explaining her strategy to avoid encounters with authorities. “I don’t go to the main problem, like, I don’t write about government stuff. [I] just [write] about the problem that happened. But I’m not going directly to the government. [I] just make people understand why the environment has problems right now. Because of what? Because of cutting trees, or [that] they have used so much plastic.”

Asked whether she thought of herself as conducting self-censorship, she replied in the affirmative.

“I mean you can understand I cannot go to the government, because I also protect myself too. I want to stay longer with this kind of music … so if I write something about the government then [this] can cause problems,” she said.

Vartey Ganiva said she had to be mindful as she felt that the Camdodian legal system did not adequately protect artists.

Naly Pilorge, director of human rights organization Licadho, took it a step further, and said that laws were often used against those who criticized the government.

“Dymey’s case illustrates a worrying trend where the government’s attempts to intimidate and criminally charge Cambodians for expressing dissent has increased significantly. This is especially true of online expression,” she said in a message to VOA. “While art is a strong platform to express oneself and should be protected as free speech, we can also see that authoritarian regimes are threatened by them and are quick to ban anything critical of the establishment.”

Culture and Fine Arts Minister Phoerung Sackona did not respond to requests for comment.

Despite feeling that she had to be careful about the way she addressed social issues in her lyrics, Vartey Ganiva said she derived satisfaction about her work by having clear and meaningful messages. “[It makes me] a little bit sad, but…I am still writing some stuff that’s good,” she said.

“I really want [new artists] to focus on real music, not copy stuff… They could be writing more songs that can give more messages than love songs,” she said.

 
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From: MeNeedIt

Cameroon’s forest tribes have long depended on insects to supplement their diets. The palm weevil grub, a fat worm found in palm trees, is such a popular source of protein that it has squirmed out of the forests and onto the plates at popular restaurants.

In Cameroon’s capital, some unusual ingredients are wiggling into city kitchens.

At Le Cercle Municipal restaurant, Chef Emile Engoulou cooks palm weevil grubs to create dishes of international standard.

Engoulou says they are the best protein that exist and they have not even finished making an inventory of all the benefits they obtain by eating the palm tree worms.

For people used to eating meat and fish, finding worms on their dinner plate can be a shock.

But the palm weevil grub can also be a pleasant surprise for many consumers like Paul Ndom.

He says the service is very well done, the dish well prepared and they are enjoying it. He says he hadn’t seen this way of cooking yet, but that it is great.

The high demand from chefs has led to a shortage of palm weevil grubs.

Villagers like Valentin Bidja, who used to gather the grubs in the forest, see it as an opportunity for people in rural areas.

Bidja says when they raise worms in the village, it is less stressful and more profitable and that in the village, they spend less energy.

The growing popularity of the grub in Cameroon, Chef Engoulou says, has made it several times more expensive than beef.

“When we do gastronomy in Cameroon, we need authentic, natural, organic and precious ingredients. I often like to say that the palm tree worm is the equivalent in Africa of caviar in Europe,” he said.

People already eat palm weevil in other African countries and in South America and Southeast Asia. Only time will tell if it climbs onto menus in Europe and beyond.

 
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From: MeNeedIt