It is tempting, says Godfrey Nwosu, to blame Nigeria’s rising food prices on something as simple as a drought that has battered the Lake Chad basin and sent crop yields tumbling across the region.

If only it were that simple, Nwosu says. As the head of an organization that promotes Nigerian farming, he would be fielding endless calls from young upstarts eager to plant maize and cassava.

Nwosu isn’t, however, and says he worries that the environmental shocks are only a starting point to this ongoing food crisis.

“The younger ones have been encouraged to go into farming, but it is not yet 100 percent because most of them are looking for white-collar jobs,” he told VOA from Abuja.

Nigeria’s high food prices, he says, are also a result of inflation, high oil prices, high import duties on farming equipment, corruption, a lack of strong pro-farming legislation and the declining popularity of farming among young job-seekers.

“And that is why you see, the hike of things, petrol and everything, it has affected everything because it affects the food prices and makes it go high,” he said.

Aid organizations have recently sounded the alarm over a drought that has left 16 million people in East Africa facing hunger. The United Nations has declared a famine in parts of South Sudan and is warning of impending famine in Somalia.

While drought is mostly the culprit for this food crisis, these two nations were already especially vulnerable, says economist Mario Zappacosta of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization.

“The main reasons behind the current crisis, which has a regional characteristic affecting most of the countries in eastern Africa, is the drought,” he said.

“…But in some countries the crisis is even compounded by other factors, such as conflict and violence in South Sudan and Somalia.”

Paul Makube, an agricultural economist with South Africa’s First National Bank, says food prices are finally stabilizing in southern Africa after more than a year of erratic weather, as farmers expect the next harvest to be good; but, he says that while the drought was mostly responsible for the increase in food prices, it has laid bare a lack of development in the agricultural sector.

“So basically it is a supply and demand situation,” he told VOA from Johannesburg. “But the other thing that is related to the erratic nature of production in the region is with regard to the adoption of technology that will sustain or help in, you know, for example, dry conditions. We don’t have that in most of the countries in the region.”

FAO economist Jonathan Pound, who focuses on food prices, says some African governments have made efforts to offset the price increases. Kenya removed duties on imported maize. In Zimbabwe, he says, the government slashed taxes on food staples. And other southern African nations released some of their national reserves of staple foods to increase supply and keep prices stable.

He says, however, that governments need to strike a fine balance.

“There are two different perspectives there; I mean you both want prices to be affordable so people can easily consume foods, but at the same time, you also want to make it attractive to farmers so they can support their production as well, but also their incomes and livelihoods.”

This push-and-pull is what preoccupies Nwosu, the secretary-general of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, who says his government needs to do more to support and encourage farmers and help lower their costs. He’s encouraged by recent growth in Nigeria’s rice-farming sector but says high prices aren’t enough to lure people into this complicated business — and keep them there, year after year, in good times and bad.

 
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From: MeNeedIt

The U.S. central bank is expected to raise interest rates slightly Wednesday afternoon as the economy nears full employment and inflation rises modestly.

Leaders of the U.S. Federal Reserve have been debating interest rate policy for two days here in Washington, and most analysts predict they will raise rates one quarter of a percentage point (putting the rate in a range between three-quarters of a percent and one percent).

PNC Bank economist Gus Faucher says the consumers who drive most U.S. economic activity are “in good shape” with “more jobs and wages… increasing.”

A recent survey of key financial leaders by the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants shows the highest level of optimism about the economy in a number of years.

The Fed slashed interest rates to record lows during the recession to encourage growth and fight unemployment, but improving economic data apparently have persuaded experts the economy no longer needs such help. This will be the second slight interest rate increase in a couple of months, and analysts will be watching Fed statements closely for clues about how soon and how far rates will go up this year.

Officials use higher interest rates to cool the economy and fend of inflationary spikes that could hurt growth.

Higher interest rates will cost U.S. credit card holders $1.6 billion more in interest expenses this year, according to experts at Wallethub.com. Experts at the website track credit card use and say higher costs will make it harder to pay off these bills, which they expect will reach an all-time high later this year.

Wallethub says it is a little harder to track exactly how much raising the benchmark interest rate will affect home and auto loans, but they say recent experience shows they are likely to become more expensive, as well.

If officials keep interest rates too low for too long, they risk sparking an abrupt inflationary jump that could force the Fed to raise rates high and fast, disrupting the economy. Officials raise interest rates to cool the economy and fend off inflation. Overall, the Fed is trying to guide the economy toward full employment while keeping price increases to about two percent a year.

 
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From: MeNeedIt

The White House has issued a statement saying President Donald Trump made more than $150 million of income in 2005 and paid $38 million in income taxes that year.

Its statement late Tuesday came ahead of a report by MSNBC-TV host Rachel Maddow revealing what she said is part of what was included on Trump’s 2005 tax forms. She said she got the tax return information from David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and tax analyst.

In its pre-emptive statement, the White House said, “You know you are desperate for ratings when you are willing to violate the law to push a story about two pages of tax returns from over a decade ago.”

It added, “Before being elected president, Mr. Trump was one of the most successful businessmen in the world. It is totally illegal to steal and publish tax returns. The dishonest media can continue to make this part of their agenda, while the president will focus on his.”

Trump has long insisted that the American public is not interested in his returns and has said little can be learned from them. But Trump’s full returns would contain key details about things like his charitable giving and how much he made each year.

This tax issue was a major point of attack from his campaign rival Hillary Clinton, who suggested Trump has something to hide.

The White House has not said whether the president plans to release his returns while he’s in office.
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From: MeNeedIt

Orson Welles’ last film finally has a home.

Netflix has acquired the global rights to Welles’ “The Other Side of the Wind” and will finance its completion and restoration.

Netflix’s announcement Tuesday brings to a close the decades-long mystery surrounding one of cinema’s greatest filmmakers. Welles began shooting the film in 1970 but never completed it.

The “Citizen Kane” director died in 1985.

“The Other Side of the Wind” is a Hollywood satire about a filmmaker attempting a comeback. Its stars include John Huston, Dennis Hopper and Peter Bogdanovich, who has helped in its editing.

Producer Frank Marshall will oversee the film’s completion.

Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos says he grew up worshipping Welles so releasing Welles’ last film “is a point of pride” for him and for Netflix.
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From: MeNeedIt

A renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement could benefit the United States, Mexico and Canada, enhancing the continent’s competitiveness in global markets, say several close observers of the trade deal with a keen interest in entrepreneurship.

Revising NAFTA with an eye toward increased protection of intellectual property rights would bring “a more collaborative environment … to get some real innovation going,” said Reva Goujon, a vice president at the global geopolitical analysis firm Stratfor. “Because that’s what this continent needs when you’re talking about aging demographics, technological adaptations.

“There’s so much that North America can do to be the most competitive [region] in the world,” she told VOA.

“The North America Free Trade Agreement in the Era of Trump” was the subject of a panel discussion Goujon participated in at the South by Southwest Conference & Festivals (SXSW), an annual gathering of innovators in music, movies and technology, as well as in political thinking and social activism. The annual 10-day festival opened Friday.

President Donald Trump wasn’t at SXSW, but his presence loomed over the discussion. He has talked about withdrawing the United States from NAFTA and imposing border tariffs on goods produced outside the country. That’s on top of repeatedly insisting that Mexicans will pay for a border wall they don’t want and after disinviting their president from a White House visit.

Collaboration anticipated

Yet Representative Will Hurd, a Texas Republican, said he trusted that all three signatories would collaborate on updating the deal to maintain a free-trade zone.

“NAFTA can be strengthened,” said Hurd, also a panelist, noting that Trump, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had made the same point.

“Folks in my district know that the U.S., Mexico and Canada, we build things together. And Mexico — we’re No. 1 trading partners,” said Hurd, whose constituents mostly are Latino. ” … That’s the issue I’m trying to articulate to my colleagues up in Washington, D.C., as we talk about border security, as we talk about strengthening NAFTA.”

Hurd is a former CIA officer who serves on the House Committee on Homeland Security and heads the House subcommittee on information technology.

Areas of concern

He added that any NAFTA revision must “focus on issues such as agriculture and energy, which today are very different from 30 years ago. We should think about creating a NAFTA 2.0 to boost U.S. competitiveness in the rest of the world.” That, Hurd added, also would “improve North American competitiveness in the rest of the world.”

Goujon agreed “there’s a lot to be updated within NAFTA when you talk about labor, environmental regulations, raising regional content so that all of North America benefits. … We just need to make sure there are no distractions related to the wall.”    

She acknowledged NAFTA had contributed to “some disadvantages for low-wage workers who have really been left in the lurch,” and who also were pummeled by automation in manufacturing and by China’s 2001 entry into the World Trade Organization.  

“But there are a lot of jobs that are created from a free-trade agreement like this,” Goujon said, estimating at least 4 million jobs “depend on U.S.-Mexico trade. And supply chains are so greatly integrated between the United States and Mexico that if you just untangled that — and I don’t think you can — you would be causing enormous economic disruption.”

Skeptics have said it would be hard for the United States to alter the deal and impose tariffs on Mexico without harming Canada, too.

“I can’t see how it is possible at all. It would be very complicated to do and I don’t think Mexico would … ever go along with it,” Mark Warner, a Toronto trade lawyer, told the Reuters news service last month.

Showcase for Mexico

The SXSW panel discussion took place at Casa Mexico, a public-private partnership hosting concerts, exhibitions and presentations that showcase the neighboring country’s sociocultural riches as well as its business ambitions.

“We’re a country of innovation, of technology development,” said Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez, Mexico’s consul general in Austin. “We’re the 15th- or 14th-[largest] economy in the world. And that story’s often not told in the U.S. We need to rebrand Mexico and fight misperceptions.”

The World Bank ranked Mexico 15th globally in terms of gross domestic product in 2015.

The partnership brought roughly 100 young entrepreneurs to SXSW to meet investors “and benefit from this ecosystem, which is one of the most developed in the world in terms of venture capital and entrepreneurship,” Gonzalez said.

Conversely, Mexico wants to show off its own talent, he added.

“There’s an incredible push in terms of entrepreneurship in Mexico … and there’s a growing and increasingly consolidated market for venture capitalists and funds of venture capitalists in Mexico that we wanted to bring to SXSW to be better known.”

Gonzalez said his government also wanted clarity about the Trump administration’s trade goals so Mexico could “bring that certainty to people who might be asking themselves” about whether and how to deal with the United States.
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From: MeNeedIt

Ministers and officials representing the 12 countries of the failed Trans-Pacific Partnership, plus China and South Korea, began talks in Chile on Tuesday, but any concrete decision on how a new trade pact might look seemed far off.

The TPP, which would have included about 40 percent of the world’s gross domestic product, was effectively torpedoed after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement in January.

Chile, a keen free-trade enthusiast and one of the signatories of the original agreement, invited TPP representatives to its Pacific-facing coastal city of Vina del Mar to try to thrash out a way forward.

But officials said the conversation is just the beginning of a long and uncertain road.

“We see this as an opportunity to have a frank round-the-table conversation to gauge where each of the countries are and then to work out how we might consider what next steps there may be, if there are any,” New Zealand trade minister Todd McClay told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the conference. “I’m not coming here expecting to make any decisions this week.”

However, McClay expressed optimism that “there is life still in the TPP” and said he expected the signatory countries to clarify a way ahead “in a few months.”

Chile said its best hope at this point was more meetings.

“If we can get some clarity on what is ahead then that more than justifies the meeting,” Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz told reporters.

The United States will represented by its ambassador to Chile, while China, which criticized the TPP and was not part of it, has sent its special envoy for Latin America, Yin Hengmin.

Both China and Chile have emphasized that the meeting – officially, the “High Level Dialogue on Integration Initiatives in the Asia-Pacific Region” – is not just about the TPP.

Nonetheless, what future, if any, the trade deal may have appears to be the dominant discussion topic over the two-day meeting.

Possibilities include redesigning it without the United States or building instead on the proposed Southeast Asian-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

Signatories may also use the TPP as a springboard for new bilateral deals, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said.

Certainly, officials say, there is a reluctance to scrap the TPP entirely.

“These 11 countries have been negotiating with each other for 8 or 9 years, so we know a lot about each other,” said McClay.
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From: MeNeedIt

South American trade bloc Mercosur expects to sign a framework accord this year for a trade deal with the European Union as the U.S. shift to isolationism under President Donald Trump encourages it to look outside the hemisphere for opportunities, Brazil’s top diplomat said on Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes told Reuters in an interview that Brazil and its neighbors in Mercosur, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, have sped up long-running negotiations with the European Union and expect to have a political pact by year-end.

“The U.S. withdrawal from agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership [TPP] and the Atlantic Alliance undoubtedly opens new opportunities for us,” Nunes said.

Free trade talks that have dragged on for over a decade between Mercosur and the European Union have suddenly come alive and negotiators hope to make significant breakthroughs next week in Buenos Aires, the minister said.

“There is an intensification of our talks with the EU and we are moving into a decision-making phase,” Nunes said. “We will sign a wide political accord this year and later negotiate more delicate issues.”

Brazil, an agricultural powerhouse, is looking to place more food exports in the dynamic markets of Asia, where China has displaced the United States as the top Brazilian trading partner with its purchases of soybeans and iron ore.

“This is a new area of Brazilian diplomacy,” Nunes said, adding that a tour of seven Asian countries by Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi in September had “successfully sowed the seeds” for new Brazilian sales.

Nunes, who was appointed two weeks ago, promoted closer ties to the United States as chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, but his initial response to the election of Trump last year was very negative.

“Trump is the Republican Party on a drunken binge. He represents the worst of his party, the most uncontrolled and inflamed side,” Nunes tweeted the day after the Nov. 8 vote.

Since then, Nunes said Trump appears to have moderated his stance and softened his position on immigration in his recent speech to Congress.

“Our relations with the United States are good and we want them to continue improving,” Nunes said.

Brazilian President Michel Temer has spoken to Trump by telephone but there are no plans for a meeting, he said.

Temer’s instructions to Nunes were to deepen Brazil’s integration with other parts of the world by first starting in its own neighborhood, the Mercosur customs union.

“We need to turn Mercosur into a real free trade zone, which is what it was meant to be,” Nunes said.

The four nations have identified 80 bureaucratic hurdles they plan to flatten so that goods can move across their borders as freely as people do today, he said.

The next step is to draw Mercosur closer to the Pacific Alliance countries, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico, all of which have more open economies than Brazil and its partners.

Right-leaning governments took office in Brazil and Argentina last year ending the trade bloc’s swing to populism and leading to the suspension of Venezuela because its left-wing government has failed to comply with the club’s rules.
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From: MeNeedIt

Walt Disney has shelved the release of its new movie “Beauty and the Beast” in mainly Muslim Malaysia, even though film censors said Tuesday it had been approved with a minor cut involving a “gay moment.”

The country’s two main cinema chains said the movie, due for to begin screening Thursday, has been postponed indefinitely. No reason was given.  

Film Censorship Board chairman Abdul Halim Abdul Hamid said he did not know why the film was postponed as was been approved by the board after a minor gay scene was axed. He said scenes promoting homosexuality were forbidden and that the film was given a P13 rating, which requires parental guidance for children under 13 years of age.

“We have approved it but there is a minor cut involving a gay moment. It is only one short scene but it is inappropriate because many children will be watching this movie,” Abdul Halim told The Associated Press.   

He said there was no appeal from Disney about the decision to cut the gay scene.

Disney officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Star English-language newspaper cited the Disney company as saying the movie was postponed for an “internal review.”

The film’s characters include manservant LeFou, who plays the sidekick to the story’s villain Gaston, and, according to director Bill Condon, “is confused about his sexuality.” Condon has described a brief scene as a “gay moment.”

Russia last week approved the movie but banned children under 16 from watching it.

Malaysia’s censors in 2010 loosened decades of restrictions on sexual and religious content in movies, but still kept a tight leash on tiny bikinis, kisses and passionate hugs. The new rules allowed depiction of gay characters, but only if they show repentance or are portrayed in a negative light. Sodomy, even if consensual, is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and whipping in Malaysia.
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From: MeNeedIt

Russian lender Sberbank said Monday it was deeply concerned by protests against its Ukrainian subsidiary, which included a nationalist group walling up the entrance to one of its branches in Kyiv with masonry and cement.

Periodic protests have been held against Kremlin-owned banks operating in Ukraine since bilateral ties broke down in 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea and gave its support to the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Sberbank’s announcement last Tuesday that it would heed a call from President Vladimir Putin to recognize passports issued by separatists in eastern Ukraine has fueled greater discontent.

On Monday, a few dozen members of a new activist group called National Corp blocked off the entrance to Sberbank’s main branch in central Kyiv. The branch temporarily suspended operations and appealed to the police.

“Sberbank is highly concerned about the situation in Ukraine linked to the actions of representatives of nationalist groups,” the bank said in a statement. “Our subsidiary has already appealed to law enforcement bodies and we hope that all necessary steps will be swiftly taken to ensure the safety of our workers and clients and protect property.”

It said over the past week it had recorded over 26 acts of vandalism against Sberbank Ukraine’s branches and bank machines.

Last week, the central bank said it could recommend the introduction of sanctions on Sberbank’s subsidiary for its recognition of separatists’ identity documents.

Five Russian state-owned banks are present in Ukraine, including three in the top 20, and they hold a combined market share of 8.6 percent.

The central bank has been seeking to cut that following the souring of relations between the one-time allies.

It is not yet clear how the other Kremlin-owned banks operating in Ukraine are handling Putin’s order to recognize separatist documents.
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From: MeNeedIt

Madrid’s city government announced plans on Monday to ban the oldest and most polluting vehicles from the city center by 2025 in a bid to crackdown on air pollution.

The local government will prohibit the use within the city’s limits of gasoline cars registered before 2000 and diesel-powered cars registered before 2006, which at the moment account for 20 percent of all those registered.

The ban would lower nitrogen dioxide levels in the city by an estimated 15 percent, a poisonous gas behind respiratory problems, Madrid’s local  government said in a presentation.

Madrid has failed to meet European Union-set limits on air quality for the last eight years. Other European cities such as Paris and Berlin have already put similar plans in place to curb emissions.

“This is plan A for air quality in Madrid. It’s plan A because there can’t be any plan B,” Madrid’s mayor Manuela Carmen said at an event to present the new plan.

Madrid’s local government has allocated 544 million euros ($580.83 million) to completing 30 measures included in the  plan, which also encourages greater use of renewable energy and regenerating urban areas, according to the presentation.

 
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From: MeNeedIt

U.S. President Donald Trump this week will unveil a budget expected to massively increase military spending while slashing other federal programs.

The proposal, set to be released Thursday, will offer the most detailed look yet at how Trump intends to move ahead with his so-called “America First” policy.

The budget will likely face significant opposition in Congress, where lawmakers are already bickering over a plan to overhaul the nation’s health care program.

Many of Trump’s fellow Republicans support his plan for a larger military; but, unlike Trump, some want to pay for it by cutting Social Security and Medicare – the two largest federal programs.

Democrats are alarmed about the entire proposal, particularly his plan to cut domestic government programs aimed at protecting the environment and helping the poor.

State Dept., foreign aid cuts

Lawmakers in both parties have also expressed concerns about Trump’s steep proposed cuts to the State Department and foreign aid budgets – a move they say will reduce U.S. influence abroad.

White House officials point out the president’s proposals are only a blueprint and that ultimately Congress must agree on a final budget, but they insist difficult decisions must be made.

“Unfortunately, we have no alternative but to reinvest in our military and make ourselves a military power once again,” White House National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn told Fox News Sunday.

“It’s no different than every other family in America that has to make the tough decisions when they need to spend money somewhere, they have to cut it from somewhere else,” Cohn said.

Defense spending

In a blueprint released last month, White House officials said Trump intends to boost the military budget by $54 billion – one of the largest ever increases in national defense spending. This week’s proposal will outline how the president intends to pay for it.

According to budget documents leaked to the media, Trump will offset the military costs with far-reaching reductions in discretionary spending — the part of the budget that pays for various federal government agencies.

Trump is reportedly considering slashing up to 25 percent of the Environmental Protection Agency budget, 30 percent of the Energy Department budget, and 37 percent of the State Department and foreign aid budget.

Reduction in federal workforce

If passed, those cuts would result in a massive reduction of the federal government workforce, which Trump and his fellow Republicans have long said is bloated and inefficient. It is not clear, however, whether Trump’s plans would actually fulfill his campaign promise to reduce the national debt.

That won’t be clear until May, when the White House releases its plans to reform the tax code and its proposals for mandatory spending, which covers existing programs like Medicare and Social Security.

Trump has said it is not politically possible to reduce spending on Medicare and Social Security – which together account for nearly 40 percent of the federal budget. He is also considering a $1 trillion infrastructure plan to upgrade the country’s roads, airports and rail lines.

According to most analysts, that means Trump will likely continue to run a budget deficit.

The federal debt is expected to grow by nearly $10 trillion over the next decade, according to a recent projection by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

 
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From: MeNeedIt

The trendsetting South by Southwest music festival is all about the next big thing, but the heated politics of the moment is stealing the show.

Tensions over immigration have put a heavy air over the typically breezy weeklong music bash that begins Monday and includes headliners The Avett Brothers, Weezer and the Wu-Tang Clang dropping into Austin, along with roughly 2,000 other acts from around the world.

It’s more than just promises of bands using SXSW as a stage for politically-charged performances in the wake of President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration: The festival has come under fire itself for warning international artists that bad behavior could result in it making a call to U.S. immigration agents.

Unrelated, but still stoking concerns, was the Italian band Soviet Soviet posting on Facebook on Friday that it was denied entry into the U.S. Soviet Soviet claimed U.S. customs officials in Seattle said the band members needed work visas, but the band says it didn’t believe work visas were required for a promotional and unpaid tour.

Trump’s revised travel ban blocks new visas for people from six predominantly Muslim countries including Somalia, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Libya and Yemen. It also temporarily shuts down the U.S. refugee program. Unlike the original order, the new one says current visa holders won’t be affected, and it removes language that would give priority to religious minorities.

Matthew Covey, a New York-based immigration attorney who helps international performers obtain visas to enter the U.S., said the travel ban has unsettled artists who are not even from the impacted countries.

“Everybody is worried now,” Covey said “We’re getting calls from Danish jazz musicians saying, `Am I going to be OK?’ Yeah, probably. You’re a Danish jazz musician. But everybody is on edge.”

Covey is helping put on a SXSW showcase of artists exclusively from the list of banned countries in response to Trump’s order, although none of the performers currently live in those nations.

SXSW organizers had quickly come out against Trump’s travel ban, but later found themselves on the defensive over a contract provision warning that “SXSW will notify the appropriate U.S. immigration authorities” if a performer acts in ways that “adversely affect the viability of their official SXSW showcase.”

The language set off a storm of criticism and at least one performer announced plans to cancel. Organizers said the clause was a safeguard in the event of an artist doing something egregious — such as flouting rules about pyrotechnics or starting a brawl — but pledged to remove it from future contracts.

Zane Lowe, who runs Apple’s Beats 1 Radio and will be a keynote speaker at the festival, said he has taken more notice lately of music reflecting the times. 

“I don’t believe that we’re in an era of a movement,” Lowe said. “But I believe that we’re in an era where, more than it has been in recent times, what’s going on in and around the music is going to have a very direct impact on what’s made.”
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From: MeNeedIt