Ever been on a blind date with a rock star? How about four of them?

That was Grammy-winning producer Paul Epworth’s experience when he initially met up with Mumford & Sons to see if he and the four rockers could vibe, and possibly create not just music, but magic together.

“It was all a bit like a series of blind dates to see how we hit it off. It took us a couple of sessions before we found out what the best method was. The chemistry felt really good all throughout the process,” Epworth said.

“We went on a couple of dates,” said band leader Marcus Mumford. “We did sessions before Christmas, which led to pretty much the final version of the song called ‘Slip Away,’ which is on the record. And we just felt like he was exactly the person we needed to help steer this ship for this fourth record. And we’ve never enjoyed recording more.”

The result is the 14-track “Delta,” to be released Friday.

The band started writing new music after the album “Wilder Mind” was released in 2015, even though one of the “Delta” songs is six years old. Mumford said they tried to re-work the old track “about 400 times.”

“It’s called ‘Forever’ — ironically,” he said.

“It wasn’t called ‘Forever’ before. After the 600th time,” chimed in Winston Marshall, who plays banjo and electric guitar.

Epworth was part of the solution. The band says when they didn’t know what to do, he did.

“They were open to giving me a bit of space to run with stuff [and] try out what I had in mind,” Epworth said. “It definitely made me feel like I was essentially a fifth member of the band.”

The London group said they were familiar with Epworth’s work — the producer is best known for crafting Adele’s monster hit “Rolling in the Deep” and also winning an Oscar with the British vocalist for the James Bond theme song, “Skyfall.” Epworth’s credits also include songs with Coldplay, Florence + the Machine, U2, and Foster the People as well as lesser known acts such as Glass Animals, Bloc Party and Plan B.

Markus Dravs produced the band’s 2009 debut, “Sigh No More,” and its follow-up, 2012’s “Babel,” which won the album of the year Grammy. Both records reached multiplatinum status and launched hits on the pop and rock charts. “Wilder Mind,” produced by James Ford, still had rock hits but only went gold.

Epworth’s fifth member status proved invaluable for “Delta,” mainly recorded at Epworth’s The Church Studios in London.

“[Paul] would just come back one day and be like, ‘That is not your upbeat rock song. That is your downbeat piano ballad.’ We’d be kind of just blindsided by the moments of sheer visionary,” said multi-instrumentalist Ben Lovett.

“Especially for a band of four collaborators — to have that person to help, decision-tie-breaker, those sort of moments [are important],” Lovett added. “If it were to be that we kind of fell out with our producer, it would be fine because we could leave the situation. If we fall out with each other, we’ve got a major problem. Luckily that’s been something we’ve been able to avoid.”

The songwriting process for each track on “Delta” varied — each of the band members work on songs individually and then bring them to the group.

Mumford said over the years he’s learned how to be a better team player and let everyone’s voice be heard.

“In the old days there was a sliver of immediacy and I think a slight immaturity, creatively. … If someone else had a different idea, I personally had less patience for it than I do now,” he said. “Now, I trust these guys’ creative instincts so much. If they’ve got a different idea [and] it doesn’t chime with me straight away, I’m intrigued to see where it goes.”

One of the ideas that came from Lovett was “If I Say,” a beautiful, building rock song, where the string arrangement and orchestra shine brightly. Lovett said he wrote the song “in a dream that I had whilst I was going through a bunch of stuff.”

“I was halfway between grappling with a divorce but also being in a new relationship,” he continued. “The song questions a lot about commitment and about the power of commitment.”

Personal experiences are what drove the overall songwriting behind the album, bassist Ted Dwane said.

“We write autobiographically. A lot has happened to us in our personal lives in the past few years and the overriding theme felt like entering the world,” Dwane explained. “It felt like leaving the security of youth and innocence and manning up, basically.”

Mumford & Sons, who formed in 2007 and started out as a live band, will get a chance to showcase the new songs on their 60-date “Delta” Tour, which kicks off in Dublin on Friday and lands in the U.S. on Dec. 7 in Philadelphia.

They said another way they were inspired to write new songs came from listening to other artists’ music in the studio.

“We’ll constantly be introducing each other to new music like, ‘Listen to this song here’ and we’ll turn it up loud,” Mumford said. “Wins and I once had a very late, quite drunken night in London, demoing for the previous album where we listened to [Don Henley’s] ‘The Boys of Summer’ about five times really loud and then tried to record our own. We called it ‘Lads of Summer.’ It’s a monstrosity. We should have put it on the record though.”

“Maybe on the next one,” Marshall said. “By the way, I [expletive] love that song.”
…

From: MeNeedIt

Singers Miley Cyrus and Neil Young were among hundreds of people who lost their homes in wildfires that destroyed parts of the California seaside town of Malibu, where flames burned for a fourth day on Monday.

Cyrus wrote on Twitter that she was “completely devastated by the fires ravaging my community.”

“I am one of the lucky ones,” she added. “My animals and LOVE OF MY LIFE made it out safely & that’s all that matters right now. My house no longer stands but the memories shared with family & friends stand strong.”

Cyrus is engaged to actor Liam Hemsworth.

Lady Gaga and members of the Kardashian family said they were forced to evacuate their homes because of the Woolsey Fire, which fire officials said has destroyed more than 370 structures and was only 20 percent contained on Monday morning. Two people have died.

Young wrote on his website that California was “up against something bigger than we have ever seen.”

“Firefighters have never seen anything like this in their lives,” he wrote. “I have heard that said countless times in the past two days, and I have lost my home before to a California fire, now another.”

“Gods of Egypt” actor Gerard Butler posted a photo of himself in front of his burned-out home on Twitter.

“Heartbreaking time across California,” he said.

“Real Housewives” star Camille Grammer also said on Instagram that she lost her home.

On Sunday, Kim Kardashian spoke about the “really rough week” in her home in the evacuated town of Calabasas as well as nearby Thousand Oaks, site of a mass shooting that claimed 12 lives.

“Our hearts are broken,” Kardashian said as she stood with her sisters and mother to accept an honor at the People’s Choice Awards in Santa Monica.

“As horrible as this has been, it’s been amazing to see the resilient spirit of everyone involved,” she added.

Charlie Sheen had posted on Twitter on Friday that he was unable to locate his parents, former “West Wing” star Martin Sheen and wife Janet. A TV news crew located Martin Sheen safe on Friday night at Zuma Beach in Malibu, where he said the couple were fine and “probably going to sleep in the car tonight.”

Sheen said the fire was the worst he had seen in 48 years of living in Malibu.

“I’ve never seen one with this intensity, for this long, that took out so much property and caused such havoc,” he said.
…

From: MeNeedIt

Singers Miley Cyrus and Neil Young were among hundreds of people who lost their homes in wildfires that destroyed parts of the California seaside town of Malibu, where flames burned for a fourth day on Monday.

Cyrus wrote on Twitter that she was “completely devastated by the fires ravaging my community.”

“I am one of the lucky ones,” she added. “My animals and LOVE OF MY LIFE made it out safely & that’s all that matters right now. My house no longer stands but the memories shared with family & friends stand strong.”

Cyrus is engaged to actor Liam Hemsworth.

Lady Gaga and members of the Kardashian family said they were forced to evacuate their homes because of the Woolsey Fire, which fire officials said has destroyed more than 370 structures and was only 20 percent contained on Monday morning. Two people have died.

Young wrote on his website that California was “up against something bigger than we have ever seen.”

“Firefighters have never seen anything like this in their lives,” he wrote. “I have heard that said countless times in the past two days, and I have lost my home before to a California fire, now another.”

“Gods of Egypt” actor Gerard Butler posted a photo of himself in front of his burned-out home on Twitter.

“Heartbreaking time across California,” he said.

“Real Housewives” star Camille Grammer also said on Instagram that she lost her home.

On Sunday, Kim Kardashian spoke about the “really rough week” in her home in the evacuated town of Calabasas as well as nearby Thousand Oaks, site of a mass shooting that claimed 12 lives.

“Our hearts are broken,” Kardashian said as she stood with her sisters and mother to accept an honor at the People’s Choice Awards in Santa Monica.

“As horrible as this has been, it’s been amazing to see the resilient spirit of everyone involved,” she added.

Charlie Sheen had posted on Twitter on Friday that he was unable to locate his parents, former “West Wing” star Martin Sheen and wife Janet. A TV news crew located Martin Sheen safe on Friday night at Zuma Beach in Malibu, where he said the couple were fine and “probably going to sleep in the car tonight.”

Sheen said the fire was the worst he had seen in 48 years of living in Malibu.

“I’ve never seen one with this intensity, for this long, that took out so much property and caused such havoc,” he said.
…

From: MeNeedIt

To Viola Davis, being naked on screen or onstage means more than having your clothes off. It means ridding yourself of self-consciousness and ego. It means exposing yourself.

“Oftentimes you do see dynamic acting — there are a lot of really dynamic actors — but there is a sense of vanity,” says Davis. “I always say that when people get naked on stage it always looks like they’ve been to the gym for about five years. And we all know that’s not the case. When we get naked in life, we may have some rolls of flesh around our stomach. You may have some stretch marks. Now that’s intimate.”

There was, memorably, no vanity in Davis’ Rose in Fences,” a performance that reached its aching crescendo in her shattering, snot-dripping “18 years of my life” monologue. But in Steve McQueen’s electric Chicago underworld thriller Widows, Davis’ raw intimacy includes a dimension she has rarely, if ever, gotten to express in film — her sexuality.

“It’s a part of the strength. It’s a part of the badass-ness. It’s a part of the vulnerability,” Davis, fighting a cold, said in an interview the morning after Widows premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. “The first scene in the movie I’m in bed with Liam Neeson. That may seem like not a big deal to you but to me that was a big deal.”

In Widows, McQueen’s follow-up to the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave, Davis stars as the wife of a veteran thief (Neeson) who dies, along with his crew, in a heist gone wrong. For their spouses, it’s almost as if their lives have also been extinguished. But with Veronica Rawlins’ leadership, they (the other women are played by Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki and Carrie Coon) resolve to take over their late husbands’ criminal plans and pull off what none expect them capable of.

“This was a great experiment in exploring how to work out getting back your power,” says Davis. “In my life I’m still learning that.”

When a reporter points out that she — one of the most movingly outspoken advocates for on-screen representation and inclusion — seems quite in control of her considerable power, Davis demurs. “Like everyone, I have my good moments and bad moments.”

‘Give her a movie!’

Davis has won an Oscar (for Fences), an Emmy (for How to Get Away With Murder) and a Tony, twice (for Fences and King Hedley II) — a trifecta that no other black actor has accomplished, and few others, for that matter. Along the way, her impassioned acceptance speeches have been some of the most potent thunderbolts of inspiration in the wider fight for diversity, beamed out to the unrepresented and the overlooked everywhere. 

But it’s been almost a decade since her Doubt co-star Meryl Streep pleaded “My God, somebody give her a movie!” at the Screen Actors Guild Awards (and later called her “possessed to the blazing, incandescent power”). Since then, Davis has been a mainstay on screens big and small, but she has seldom — except in the Shonda Rhimes ABC series and now Widows — been front and center. She has even expressed some regret over 2011’s The Help, noting “it wasn’t the voices of the maids that were heard.” The same year, Davis formed a production company with her husband, actor Julius Tennon, with whom she has an eight-year-old daughter.

For McQueen, Davis’ lack of leading performances is one of the most glaring injustices in Hollywood.

“She can only be judged by the films she gets to do. Don’t forget: She could not really make a living in film because no one was giving her any roles,” McQueen said by phone. “She was not given an opportunity to fulfill her craft. So she had to go on television. Viola’s 53 years old. She should have a vast body of work by now.”

Does Davis feel the same way?

“I mean, yeah,” she sighs. “I sort of feel that sometimes. But I’m honored that I’ve gotten to this point. This is a very privileged life. I feel like if I sit here and I say, ‘I should have had more lead roles,’ some dissatisfaction with the moment — I can’t do that. I really can’t.”

‘Observers and thieves’

Davis, the fifth of six children, grew up impoverished, in dilapidated homes in Rhode Island, the daughter of an alcoholic father who was abusive to Davis’ mother.

“I became an actor because I was an observer. It’s said that actors are observers and they’re thieves. You observe life and then you steal from it,” says Davis. “The beauty of how I grew up is I saw so many horrific but glorious things happen in public. When you grow up poor, nothing is undercover. You hear everything played out because people are living in close proximity to each other. You know who the alcoholic is. You know who’s getting beaten by their husband.”

Davis has said before that she’s motivated to honor the dreams of her “eight-year-old self.” “She’s always sitting there,” says Davis. “And, really, it’s easy to make her happy, whereas it’s sort of hard to make me happy now.” And she lets out a belly laugh.

‘Bigger than a hashtag’

That upbringing has informed how Davis has responded to the #MeToo movement: applauding it, encouraging it, but also fearing that its focus on Hollywood actresses and executives is limited. She cites her long-running involvement with Gail Abarbanel’s Rape Treatment Center at the Stuart House as the kind of place that needs support.

“It’s much bigger than a hashtag,” she says.

Widows, penned by McQueen and Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl) is based on Lynda La Plante’s 1980s British series, but its tale of female empowerment has obvious connections to today. In rehearsals, McQueen would sit with Davis and the other actresses and talk through their own experiences. “All the things in our lives that we felt people didn’t see,” says Davis. “Like my femininity.”

McQueen wanted to bring all of those stories to the table. Davis would have preferred to wear a wig but McQueen disagreed. He wanted Davis to look just how she is. “I know this woman,” McQueen told her. “She just hasn’t been in the American cinema. So it’s about time we introduced her.”

Davis has made such introductions a regularity, bringing one African-American woman after another to a screen where they didn’t before exist.

“My big thing — this is my ego — I always want people to look back at this time and I want my name to be in it. I always want to be in the conversation,” she says. “Not just in movies, just in terms of people seeing themselves differently.” 
…

From: MeNeedIt

To Viola Davis, being naked on screen or onstage means more than having your clothes off. It means ridding yourself of self-consciousness and ego. It means exposing yourself.

“Oftentimes you do see dynamic acting — there are a lot of really dynamic actors — but there is a sense of vanity,” says Davis. “I always say that when people get naked on stage it always looks like they’ve been to the gym for about five years. And we all know that’s not the case. When we get naked in life, we may have some rolls of flesh around our stomach. You may have some stretch marks. Now that’s intimate.”

There was, memorably, no vanity in Davis’ Rose in Fences,” a performance that reached its aching crescendo in her shattering, snot-dripping “18 years of my life” monologue. But in Steve McQueen’s electric Chicago underworld thriller Widows, Davis’ raw intimacy includes a dimension she has rarely, if ever, gotten to express in film — her sexuality.

“It’s a part of the strength. It’s a part of the badass-ness. It’s a part of the vulnerability,” Davis, fighting a cold, said in an interview the morning after Widows premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. “The first scene in the movie I’m in bed with Liam Neeson. That may seem like not a big deal to you but to me that was a big deal.”

In Widows, McQueen’s follow-up to the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave, Davis stars as the wife of a veteran thief (Neeson) who dies, along with his crew, in a heist gone wrong. For their spouses, it’s almost as if their lives have also been extinguished. But with Veronica Rawlins’ leadership, they (the other women are played by Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki and Carrie Coon) resolve to take over their late husbands’ criminal plans and pull off what none expect them capable of.

“This was a great experiment in exploring how to work out getting back your power,” says Davis. “In my life I’m still learning that.”

When a reporter points out that she — one of the most movingly outspoken advocates for on-screen representation and inclusion — seems quite in control of her considerable power, Davis demurs. “Like everyone, I have my good moments and bad moments.”

‘Give her a movie!’

Davis has won an Oscar (for Fences), an Emmy (for How to Get Away With Murder) and a Tony, twice (for Fences and King Hedley II) — a trifecta that no other black actor has accomplished, and few others, for that matter. Along the way, her impassioned acceptance speeches have been some of the most potent thunderbolts of inspiration in the wider fight for diversity, beamed out to the unrepresented and the overlooked everywhere. 

But it’s been almost a decade since her Doubt co-star Meryl Streep pleaded “My God, somebody give her a movie!” at the Screen Actors Guild Awards (and later called her “possessed to the blazing, incandescent power”). Since then, Davis has been a mainstay on screens big and small, but she has seldom — except in the Shonda Rhimes ABC series and now Widows — been front and center. She has even expressed some regret over 2011’s The Help, noting “it wasn’t the voices of the maids that were heard.” The same year, Davis formed a production company with her husband, actor Julius Tennon, with whom she has an eight-year-old daughter.

For McQueen, Davis’ lack of leading performances is one of the most glaring injustices in Hollywood.

“She can only be judged by the films she gets to do. Don’t forget: She could not really make a living in film because no one was giving her any roles,” McQueen said by phone. “She was not given an opportunity to fulfill her craft. So she had to go on television. Viola’s 53 years old. She should have a vast body of work by now.”

Does Davis feel the same way?

“I mean, yeah,” she sighs. “I sort of feel that sometimes. But I’m honored that I’ve gotten to this point. This is a very privileged life. I feel like if I sit here and I say, ‘I should have had more lead roles,’ some dissatisfaction with the moment — I can’t do that. I really can’t.”

‘Observers and thieves’

Davis, the fifth of six children, grew up impoverished, in dilapidated homes in Rhode Island, the daughter of an alcoholic father who was abusive to Davis’ mother.

“I became an actor because I was an observer. It’s said that actors are observers and they’re thieves. You observe life and then you steal from it,” says Davis. “The beauty of how I grew up is I saw so many horrific but glorious things happen in public. When you grow up poor, nothing is undercover. You hear everything played out because people are living in close proximity to each other. You know who the alcoholic is. You know who’s getting beaten by their husband.”

Davis has said before that she’s motivated to honor the dreams of her “eight-year-old self.” “She’s always sitting there,” says Davis. “And, really, it’s easy to make her happy, whereas it’s sort of hard to make me happy now.” And she lets out a belly laugh.

‘Bigger than a hashtag’

That upbringing has informed how Davis has responded to the #MeToo movement: applauding it, encouraging it, but also fearing that its focus on Hollywood actresses and executives is limited. She cites her long-running involvement with Gail Abarbanel’s Rape Treatment Center at the Stuart House as the kind of place that needs support.

“It’s much bigger than a hashtag,” she says.

Widows, penned by McQueen and Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl) is based on Lynda La Plante’s 1980s British series, but its tale of female empowerment has obvious connections to today. In rehearsals, McQueen would sit with Davis and the other actresses and talk through their own experiences. “All the things in our lives that we felt people didn’t see,” says Davis. “Like my femininity.”

McQueen wanted to bring all of those stories to the table. Davis would have preferred to wear a wig but McQueen disagreed. He wanted Davis to look just how she is. “I know this woman,” McQueen told her. “She just hasn’t been in the American cinema. So it’s about time we introduced her.”

Davis has made such introductions a regularity, bringing one African-American woman after another to a screen where they didn’t before exist.

“My big thing — this is my ego — I always want people to look back at this time and I want my name to be in it. I always want to be in the conversation,” she says. “Not just in movies, just in terms of people seeing themselves differently.” 
…

From: MeNeedIt

A broad sell-off in technology companies pulled U.S. stocks sharply lower Monday, knocking more than 600 points off the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The wave of selling snared big names, including Apple, Amazon and Goldman Sachs. Banks, consumer-focused companies, and media and communications stocks all took heavy losses. Crude oil prices fell, erasing early gains and extending a losing streak to 11 days.

The tech stock tumble came followed an analyst report that suggested Apple significantly cut back orders from one of its suppliers. That, in turn, weighed on chipmakers.

“With the news out of the Apple supplier this morning, you have the market overall questioning the growth trajectory as we look out to 2019,” said Lindsey Bell, investment strategist at CFRA. “We continue to like tech going into next year, but we think it could be a little bit of a rocky period for the group as we continue through the last two months of the year.”

The market’s slide came after a two-week winning streak.

The S&P 500 index dropped 54.79 points, or 2 percent, to 2,726.22. The Dow fell 602.12 points, or 2.3 percent, to 25,387.18. It was down briefly by 648 points.

The Nasdaq composite slid 206.03 points, or 2.8 percent, to 7,200.87. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies gave up 30.70 points, or 2 percent, to 1,518.79.

Bond trading was closed for Veterans Day. Stocks in Europe also suffered losses.

Apple tumbled 5 percent to $194.17 after Wells Fargo analysts said the iPhone maker is the unnamed customer that optical communications company Lumentum Holdings said was significantly reducing orders. Shares in Lumentum plunged 33 percent to $37.50.

Several chipmakers also fell. Advanced Micro Devices gave up 9.5 percent to $19.03, while Nvidia lost 7.8 percent to $189.54. Micron Technology gave up 4.3 percent to $37.44.

Amazon slid 4.4 percent to $1,636.85.

Banks and other financial companies also took heavy losses Tuesday. Goldman Sachs slid 7.5 percent to $206.05.

“Expectations are really that the deregulation process that has benefited banks up to this point is going to be slowed down with the Democrats in charge,” Bell said.

Stocks appeared to have regained their footing after a skid in October snapped a six-month string of gains for the S&P 500. Stocks rallied last week after the U.S. midterm elections turned out largely as investors expected, with a divided Congress promising legislative gridlock in Washington the next couple of years.

While the market has typically thrived in periods of divided government, investors continue to grapple with uncertainty over the U.S.-China trade dispute and the potential impact of increased oversight of Corporate America by Democrats, who will be taking over leadership in the House of Representatives in January.

In addition, some companies have recently reported third-quarter earnings and outlooks that have stoked investors’ worries about the future growth of corporate profits.

While companies got a boost this year from the lower tax rates put in place by President Donald Trump and the GOP last December, several companies have recently warned about the impact of higher costs related to tariffs and rising interest rates.

“The bull market is not over, the economic expansion is not over, but things are starting to wind down,” said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading & derivatives at Charles Schwab. “We’re clearly getting into the late innings of the ball game.”

British American Tobacco, which makes Newport cigarettes, plunged 8.8 percent to $38.08 on reports that regulators were considering a ban on menthol cigarettes.

PG&E tumbled 17.4 percent to $32.98 after the electric utility told regulators that a high-voltage line experienced a problem near the origin of one of the major California wildfires before the blaze started.

Investors bid up shares in Athenahealth after the struggling medical billing software maker said it received a $5.7 billion cash buyout offer. The stock jumped 9.7 percent to $131.97.

About 90 percent of S&P 500 companies have reported third-quarter results so far, with some 51 percent of those posting earnings and revenue that topped Wall Street’s forecasts, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Several big retailers are due to deliver results this week, including Walmart, Home Depot, Williams-Sonoma, Nordstrom and J.C. Penney.

“That could actually probably boost the market,” Bell said.”Retailers are going to have a better third quarter than most people expect. A lot of them ordered goods ahead of the tariffs going into place, so they’re not going to have to pass on higher prices on to the consumer this holiday season.”

Benchmark U.S. crude gave up an early gain, sliding 0.4 percent to settle at $59.93 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, dipped 0.1 percent to close at $70.12 per barrel in London. Oil futures rose earlier on news that Saudi Arabia and other major producers planned to reduce output.

The dollar strengthened to 113.86 yen from 113.80 yen on Friday. The euro fell to $1.1240 from $1.1336. The British pound weakened to $1.2853 from $1.2975 amid concerns that Britain’s government is struggling to find unity on a Brexit deal.

Gold fell 0.4 percent to $1,203.50 an ounce. Silver lost 0.9 percent to $14.01 an ounce. Copper slid 0.3 percent to $2.68 a pound.

In other energy trading, heating oil fell 0.8 percent to $2.16 a gallon and wholesale gasoline gained 0.9 percent to $1.64 a gallon. Natural gas rose 1.9 percent to $3.79 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Major stock indexes in Europe also ended lower Monday. Germany’s DAX lost 1.8 percent and France’s CAC 40 fell 0.9 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 shed 0.7 percent.

In Asia, markets finished mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.1 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.1 percent. Australia’s S&P-ASX 200 gained 0.3 percent. The Kospi in South Korea dipped 0.3 percent.
…

From: MeNeedIt

Brazil’s Congress is unlikely to pass pension reform legislation this year, far-right President-elect Jair Bolsonaro said on Monday, a blow to investor hopes that caused the country’s currency to weaken in futures markets.

Investors snapped up Brazilian assets in the wake of Bolsonaro’s election victory last month, cheered by his party’s stronger-than-expected showing in congressional races, which raised hopes he could make quick advances on fiscal reforms.

Many economists say cuts to Brazil’s social security system are essential to controlling a huge federal deficit and regaining Brazil’s investment-grade rating.

Last week, Bolsonaro said he would like to see some form of pension reform passed this year to make it easier to deal with the deficit after he takes office on Jan. 1.

On Monday, however, he told reporters in Rio de Janeiro that after speaking with his chief economic advisor Paulo Guedes, passing a 2018 pension reform bill looked increasingly unlikely.

He added that the reform would not just be based on crunching the numbers, but would also have to take into account the social impact of the overhaul.

Brazil’s currency, the real, weakened against the U.S. dollar in futures markets after his comments.

Bolsonaro also said that no decision had yet been taken on the next head of state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, with more names for the chief executive position set to come out on Tuesday.

Separately, Guedes said on Monday that World Bank chief financial officer and former Brazilian finance minister Joaquim Levy had accepted Bolsonaro’s offer to lead state development bank BNDES.
…

From: MeNeedIt

Diversity in the comic and graphic novel industry in the United States has increased with the growing number of artists who have international backgrounds. VOA’s Dhania Iman reports from San Diego, Calif., on two Asian-American authors who are contributing to the industry’s diversity.
…

From: MeNeedIt

Diversity in the comic and graphic novel industry in the United States has increased with the growing number of artists who have international backgrounds. VOA’s Dhania Iman reports from San Diego, Calif., on two Asian-American authors who are contributing to the industry’s diversity.
…

From: MeNeedIt

The typical image of ballerinas is of agile dancers in shiny pink slippers. An American company began offering brown-toned slippers last year, and last month, Britain’s oldest ballet apparel supplier began offering shoes made to better match the skin color of nonwhite dancers. VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo reports.
…

From: MeNeedIt

The typical image of ballerinas is of agile dancers in shiny pink slippers. An American company began offering brown-toned slippers last year, and last month, Britain’s oldest ballet apparel supplier began offering shoes made to better match the skin color of nonwhite dancers. VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo reports.
…

From: MeNeedIt

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called Monday for a new public works spending program to stimulate the economy amid growing concerns about global risks. 

The spending, which is expected in the first half of next fiscal year starting in April, will focus on strengthening infrastructure to withstand earthquakes and frequent flooding, according to a presentation made at the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy (CEFP). 

Some of Japan’s top government advisers also called for stimulus to offset a decline in consumption expected after an increase in the nationwide sales tax in October next year. 

The rush to approve public works spending and other measures to support consumption highlights growing concern among policymakers about the economy. 

“The prime minister asked me to take firm measures to ensure that our economic recovery continues,” Economy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said at the end of the CEFP meeting. “He also said the public works spending program expected at the end of this year should be compiled with this point in mind.” 

Japan’s economy is forecast to contract in July-September, and a recent slump in machinery orders suggests any rebound in the following quarters is likely to be weak if exports and business investment lose momentum. 

Government ministers will compile a preliminary public works plan by the end of this month and then submit a final version of the plan by year’s end, according to documents used at the CEFP meeting. 

Urgent matter

Members of the CEFP did not say how large the spending program should be or how the government should fund the package. At the meeting, Abe said compiling the package has become an urgent matter, according to a government official. 

Japan’s government is considering a 10 trillion-yen ($87.77 billion) stimulus package to offset the impact of a sales tax hike next year, sources told Reuters last week, as concerns about consumer spending and the global economy grow. 

Increasing spending on public works started to gain support after a strong earthquake in September caused a blackout in the northern island of Hokkaido and a series of typhoons damaged transport infrastructure in western Japan. 

The advisers on the CEFP are academics and business leaders who are considered close to Abe, so their recommendations often influence policy decisions. 

The CEFP met earlier Monday to debate consumer prices and fiscal policy, which is where the advisers made their recommendations. 

The advisers did not lay out the specific steps the government should take to stimulate consumption, but government officials have previously said they are considering shopping vouchers for low-income earners and more spending on public works. 

The nationwide sales tax is scheduled to rise to 10 percent in October 2019 from 8 percent currently. The government already plans to exempt food and some daily goods from the tax hike to soften the blow, but there is still a lot of concern that the tax hike will wreck consumer spending and sentiment. The economy was tipped into a recession the last time the tax was raised in 2014. 

Advisers at the CEFP meeting also threw their support behind the government’s plan to encourage mobile phone carriers to lower smartphone fees, saying they hoped the move would increase households’ disposable incomes. 
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From: MeNeedIt