The year 2018 was one of box office successes and awards of artistic recognition for black films, from Marvel Comic’s action flick Black Panther to the fact-based drama Blackkklansman.

Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther, about a fictional African king with superhero powers and his technologically advanced country, Wakanda, has received dozens of awards, including three Golden Globe nominations. The American Film Institute recognized it as one of the year’s ten best movies for its social and artistic significance celebrating African and African-American cultures.

Musing about the film’s power, producer Nate Moore told VOA, “I think that for African-American audiences there is a lot to pull from. And hopefully there is some inspiration again learning about the roots where African-Americans came from.”

Black Panther, with the first black Superhero lead actor, grossed over a billion dollars domestically and internationally, making it the third highest grossing film ever in the U.S. It has been projected as an Oscar winner. But does its critical and financial success mean that Black films are becoming a Hollywood staple?

A turning point for black films?

It may be too soon to tell, says media expert Richard Craig, an associate professor of communication at George Mason University. “I think Hollywood is processing that as the way that Hollywood processes most things, and that’s looking at the bottom line, the profit margin. If a film does well in the box office and beyond the box office — because we have the opportunity of the merchandise, spinoffs in terms of shows, field games etc. Hollywood is going to say, ‘you know what? Maybe we can do another one, maybe we can do another two.’”

As long as audiences pay to see films with minorities as leads, Hollywood will keep on making them, Craig says, but adds that the industry still has a long way to go before it is willing to invest in high-budget film franchises such as James Bond or Spiderman with black actors as leads.

He points to the newly-released animated Spider-Man into the Spider-Verse, which includes a black Spiderman. He said while he and his 12-year-old daughter enjoyed this new rendition of Spiderman, he felt a bit ambivalent about its animated form. “You are given this cartoon version of Spiderman to accept this black face as Spiderman as opposed to having a real time, real place actor.”

However, Craig says, smaller, independent black movies with a political or cultural message that feature real-live actors have a greater chance of making it to production.

Two such films this year are Spike Lee’s Blackkklansman, a dark satire based on a true story about an African-American cop infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan and If Beale Street Could Talk, a romantic drama about social injustice against blacks and incarceration of African-American men in 1970s America, by Oscar-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins.  Both films have been mentioned as Oscar contenders and share the spotlight in AFI’s list of best films of the year.

Room for smaller films

But small black films by lesser-known filmmakers get little promotion and financial backing. Just a few years after the beginning of the #BlackLivesMatter, musician and activist Boots Riley released his first film, Sorry to Bother You. It advocates activism against the economic exploitation of “Corporate America.”

“When art and organizing are married, then the art becomes a way for people to ruminate on what they can do and then they have a place to plug in,” Riley told VOA. “And then I think what happens is more artists are created from those movements.” He says he doubts his film would have made it to production if he relied on Hollywood to get it funded.  “Making your art is one thing and trying to get a job in what “they” [the Hollywood Industry] want to happen is another. The reason I was able to make a film like I made was because I wasn’t trying to get a job.”

He advises young filmmakers without financial backing to use digital platforms to get their films out.

It took Boots Riley four years to get his film made. But Sorry to Bother You is a success story. The film cost a little bit over three million dollars to make and has grossed over twenty million dollars.

The Hate U Give, by filmmaker George Tillman, about a police shooting of an African-American teen in a black community, also went viral, despite the fact that it had gotten little promotion. Tillman said that was because the film offered an authentic depiction of African-Americans killed by police and its message of standing up for justice resonated with audiences all over the country.

Boots Riley agrees that the overwhelmingly positive audience response towards thought-provoking African-American movies signals that black filmmakers can take charge of their narrative and film production.

“We have things to bring to the world that are not just changing the actors or changing the director,” he says, “and I think that black film can really start having its own stories.”

 
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From: MeNeedIt

2018 was a year of box office successes and awards of artistic recognition for black films. Marvel’s action flick “Black Panther” introduced the first black superhero lead actor and grossed over a billion dollars domestically and internationally. Other films with black leading characters also did well with audiences and critics. Do these distinctions signal that black films are finally part of the Hollywood mainstream? VOA’s Penelope Poulou has more.
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From: MeNeedIt

Digital developments that have upended businesses throughout the global economy, from music to manufacturing, are also changing what the world trades and how manufacturers and merchants move and sell their goods. Experts tell VOA’s Jim Randle, the digital revolution presents significant opportunities, but also serious problems, for countries.
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From: MeNeedIt

The Rose Parade has been a New Year’s Day tradition since 1890.  Every inch of every float is covered with flowers or other natural materials, such as leaves, seeds or bark. The most delicate flowers, including roses, are placed in individual vials of water, which are set into the float one by one. The parade of dozens of floats, marching bands and equestrian units is watched by thousands along the 9 kilometer route through Pasadena, California, and by millions more on TV around the world. The colorful spectacle kicks off the “Rose Bowl” – an American college football final that is also a New Year tradition. Mike O’Sullivan reports, volunteers have been working day and night on displays to prepare for the parade early Tuesday.
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From: MeNeedIt

Just 33 minutes into the New Year, NASA’s New Horizons probe will make space exploration history, flying by the most distant body ever explored.

The probe, launched in January 2006, will fly within 3,540 kilometers of 2014 MU69, dubbed Ultima Thule, a Latin phrase meaning beyond the known world.

In 2015, New Horizons flew by Pluto, then the farthest object visited by a spacecraft from Earth. This time the encounter will take place 1.6 billion kilometers past Pluto, some 6.5 billion kilometers from Earth.

“Today is the day we explore worlds farther than ever in history!! EVER,” tweeted the project’s lead scientist, Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute.

He called it an auspicious beginning to 2019, which will mark the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s footsteps on the moon in July 1969.

Ultima Thule was discovered in June 2014 by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, which was trying to find new targets for New Horizons in the Kuiper Belt, the third region of the solar system.

New Horizons, which is the size of a baby grand piano and part of an $800 million mission, will collect data for four hours after the flyby. After that the probe will return toward Earth to transmit a signal announcing its progress.

“I can’t promise you success. We are straining the capabilities of this spacecraft,” Stern said at a news conference Monday. “By tomorrow, we’ll know how we did. So stay tuned. There are no second chances for New Horizons.”
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From: MeNeedIt

China’s factory activity shrank in December for the first time in more than two years, an official survey showed Monday, intensifying pressure on Beijing to reverse an economic slowdown as it enters trade talks with the Trump administration.

The purchasing managers’ index of the National Bureau of Statistics and an industry group, the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing, fell to 49.4 from November’s 50.0 on a 100-point scale. Any reading below 50 shows that activity is contracting. The December figure was the lowest since February 2016 and the first drop since July 2016.

In the quarter that ended in September, China’s economic growth sank to a post-global crisis low of 6.5 percent compared with a year earlier. The slowdown occurred despite government efforts to stem the downturn by ordering banks to lend more and by boosting spending on public works construction.

Forecasters expect annual growth of about 6.5 percent, down slightly from 2017’s 6.7 percent. But some industry segments, including auto and real estate sales, have suffered more serious declines.

“Downward pressure on the economy is still large,” economist Zhang Liqun said in a statement issued with the PMI.

Overall orders and exports both contracted, indicating that Chinese factories are suffering from weak demand at home and abroad. Exports to the United States kept growing at double-digit monthly rates through late 2018 despite President Donald Trump’s punitive tariffs. But growth in exports to the rest of the world fell sharply in November and forecasters expect American demand to weaken in early 2019.

That adds to complications for Chinese leaders who are trying to reverse a broad economic slowdown and avert politically dangerous job losses.

Chinese and U.S. envoys are due to meet in early January for negotiations that are intended to resolve their economically threatening trade war. Over the weekend, Trump sounded an optimistic note, tweeting that he had spoken with President Xi Jinping by phone.

“Deal is moving along very well,” Trump tweeted. “If made, it will be very comprehensive, covering all subjects, areas and points of dispute. Big progress being made!”

But economists say the 90-day moratorium on new penalties that was agreed to by Trump and Xi on Dec. 1 is likely too little time to resolve their sprawling dispute.

Chinese economic activity already was weakening after Beijing tightened controls on bank lending in late 2017 to cool a debt boom. The downturn was more abrupt than expected, which prompted regulators to shift course and ease credit controls. But they moved gradually to avoid reigniting a rise in debt. Their measures have yet to put a floor under declining growth.

Chinese leaders promised at an annual economic planning meeting in mid-December to shore up growth with tax cuts, easier lending for entrepreneurs and other steps.

 
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From: MeNeedIt

Kenya’s economy expanded faster in the third quarter of this year than in the same period last year due to strong performance in the agriculture and construction sectors, the statistics office said on Monday.

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said the economy grew 6 percent in the third quarter of 2018, compared with 4.7 percent in the same period in 2017.

It said the agriculture sector expanded by 5.2 percent compared with 3.7 percent in the third quarter of 2017, helped by better weather.

“Prices of key food crops remained low during the quarter compared to the corresponding quarter of 2017, an indication of relative stability in supply,” KNBS said.

Manufacturing grew by 3.2 percent from a 0.1 percent contraction in the third quarter of 2017, KNBS said.

It said that the electricity and water supply sector grew by 8.5 percent from 4.5 percent in the third quarter of 2017, mainly due to a big increase in the generation of electricity from hydro and geothermal sources.

Gross foreign reserves increased to 1,222.5 billion from 1,085.6 billion in the same period of last year.

The current account deficit narrowed by 23 percent to 116 billion Kenyan shillings ($1.14 billion), it said.

This was mainly due to lower imports of food and higher value of exports of goods and services.

The government forecasts that the economy will expand by 6.2 percent in 2019, up from a forecast 6.0 percent this year.
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From: MeNeedIt

An estimated 1 million people will pack New York City’s Times Square to watch the huge, brilliantly lighted, crystal ball drop to signal the start of the new year. It is an American New Year’s tradition that goes back more than a century. As VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports, lot of work goes into making sure that ball lights up the sky in spectacular fashion, exactly on time.
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From: MeNeedIt

Young women looking to play the world’s most-popular sport have a place all their own in Libya. An all-girls soccer academy in the capital looks to break societal norms in the Muslim majority country that frown upon women wearing shorts or competing on the same fields as men. But it is not without criticism that coaches turn constructive. Arash Arabasadi reports.
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From: MeNeedIt

The euro currency turns 20 years old on January 1, surviving two tumultuous decades and becoming the world’s No. 2 currency.

After 20 years, the euro has become a fixture in financial markets, although it remains behind the dollar, which dominates the world’s market.

The euro has weathered several major challenges, including difficulties at its launch, the 2008 financial crisis, and a eurozone debt crisis that culminated in bailouts of several countries.

Those crises tested the unity of the eurozone, the 19 European Union countries that use the euro. While some analysts say the turmoil and the euro’s resilience has strengthened the currency and made it less susceptible to future troubles, other observers say the euro will remain fragile unless there is more eurozone integration.

Beginnings 

The euro was born on January 1, 1999, existing initially only as a virtual currency used in financial transactions. Europeans began using the currency in their wallets three years later when the first Euro notes and coins were introduced.

At that time, only 11 member states were using the currency and had to qualify by meeting the requirements for limits on debt, deficits and inflation. EU members Britain and Denmark received opt-outs ahead of the currency’s creation.

The currency is now used by over 340 million people in 19 European Union countries, which are: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.

Other EU members are required to join the eurozone when they meet the currency’s monetary requirements.

Popularity

Today, the euro is the most popular than it has ever been over the past two decades, despite the rise of populist movements in several European countries that express skepticism toward the European Union.

In a November survey for the European Central Bank, 64 percent of respondents across the eurozone said the euro was a good thing for their country. Nearly three-quarters of respondents said they thought the euro was a good thing for Europe.

In only two countries — Lithuania and Cyprus — did a majority of people think the euro is a bad thing for their nation.

That is a big contrast to 2010, the year that both Greece and Ireland were receiving international bailout packages, when only 51 percent of respondents thought the euro was a good thing for their country.

Challenges

The euro faced immediate challenges at its beginning with predictions that the European Central Bank (ECB) was too rigid in its policy and that the currency would quickly fail. The currency wasn’t immediately loved in European homes and businesses either with many perceiving its arrival as a price hike on common goods.

Less than two years after the euro was launched — valued at $1.1747 to the U.S. dollar — it had lost 30 percent of its value and was worth just $0.8240 to the U.S. dollar. The ECB was able to intervene to successfully stop the euro from plunging further.

The biggest challenge to the block was the 2008 financial crisis, which then triggered a eurozone debt crisis that culminated in bailouts of several countries.

Tens of billions of euros were loaned to Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus and Spain, either because those countries ran out of money to save their own banks or because investors no longer wanted to invest in those nations.

The turmoil also highlighted the economic disparity between member states, particularly between the wealthier north and the debt-laden southern nations.

Poorer countries experienced both the advantages and disadvantages to being in the eurozone.

Poorer countries immediately benefited from joining the union, saving trillions of euros due to the lowering borrowing costs the new currency offered.

However, during times of economic downturn, they had fewer options to reverse the turmoil.

Typically in a financial crisis, a country’s currency would plunge, making its goods more competitive and allowing the economy to stabilize. But in the eurozone, the currency in poorer countries cannot devalue because stronger economies like Germany keep it higher.

Experts said the turbulent times of the debt crisis exposed some of the original flaws of the euro project.

However, the euro survived the financial crisis through a combination of steps from the ECB that included negative interest rates, trillions of euros in cheap loans to banks and buying more than 2.6 trillion euros in government and corporate bonds.

Future

ECB chief Mario Draghi was credited with saving the euro in 2012 when he said the bank would do “whatever it takes” to preserve the currency.

Some experts say the flexibility of the bank proves it is able to weather financial challenges and say the turmoil of the past two decades have left the ECB better able to deal with future crises.

However, other observers say that the 19 single currency nations have not done enough to carry out political reforms necessary to better enable the countries to work together on fiscal policy and to prepare for future downturns.

Proposals for greater coordination, including a eurozone banking union as well as a eurozone budget are still in the planning phases.
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From: MeNeedIt

A group of journalists will usher in the New Year Monday in New York City’s Times Square as the time-honored tradition of the annual ball drop recognizes journalism and free speech.

Leading American reporters and editors will be on stage just before midnight to push the button that begins the countdown to the New Year.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 53 journalists were killed on the job in 2018 and another 251 were imprisoned around the world.

In another first, New York police will use a drone to monitor the crowds. The camera-carrying drone will be added to the arsenal of more than 1,200 fixed video cameras that will be deployed by the police.

The security plan also includes road closures, thousands of uniformed and plainclothes officers, sharpshooters on rooftops of surrounding buildings and the sealing of manhole covers.

On Sunday, officials did a test run of the 544-kilogram ball sliding down a pole. This year’s ball will feature 2,688 crystal triangles and is backlit with LED lights capable of producing a number of colors and patterns.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday that the city expecting “up to 2 million people in Times Square itself” for the celebration.

 
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From: MeNeedIt

NASA scientists are getting a very special New Year’s Day gift. The New Horizons spacecraft is moving into unexplored space beyond Neptune to investigate objects so far out in our solar system they can hardly be seen by telescope. As VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports, the trip far out in space may help scientists figure out how the solar system was created.
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From: MeNeedIt