Innholdsfortegnelse for 4/2-4/9/2021 i Newsweek International

THE FLOOR STARTS TO SWAY. The windows rattle. Your heartbeat quickens. They’re the telltale signs of an earthquake, and here in northeastern Japan we felt them as recently as February, when a magnitude 7.3 tremor struck off the Pacific coast and injured more than 100 people. Seismologists said it was an aftershock from the massive quake that shattered the region a decade earlier, with its accompanying tsunami leaving 15,899 dead and 2,527 missing. This time, mercifully, there were no fatalities, no violent rush of seawater. But it was a reminder that the events of 10 years ago are still with us today. Disasters, and the rebuilding work that follows them, have been high on people’s minds lately, with the anniversary of the March 11, 2011 tsunami and the world still…

WHETHER YOU’RE SHOPPING FOR SPECIAL TREATS OR EVERYDAY ITEMS, YOU WANT TO FEEL GOOD about your choices—and that confidence is more important than ever in a shaky economy. To help our readers, Newsweek has partnered with leading market research firm BrandSpark® International for the second year to highlight the 2021 winners of the BrandSpark® Most Trusted Awards (“BMTA”) for everyday consumer product brands. The winners were selected based on a survey of 17,990 U.S. shoppers who shared their thoughts on which brands they trust the most and the reasons for that trust. Awards were given in 167 consumer product categories. In a year when health care was on everyone’s mind, 17 of the 87 new categories concern over-the-counter health products. ¶ The BrandSpark Most Trusted Awards program helps shoppers make…

01 Immersive Van Gogh Chicago, Illinois Running until early September, this walk-through, digital installation uses music and animation to transform Vincent van Gogh’s paintings into scenes for visitors to experience in a new way. The massive traveling exhibit fills occupies over 500,000 cubic feet and will visit other U.S. cities this year, including San Francisco and New York City. 02 Kusama: Cosmic Nature New York City From April to October, “Cosmic Nature” from contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama will be displayed at the New York Botanical Garden. This immersive outdoor installation will feature works— such as giant flower sculptures and polka-dotted trees—that show Kusama’s love of nature and vibrant style. 03 Grand Egyptian Museum Cairo, Egypt After almost two decades of work and planning and $1 billion in…

Often overlooked and sometimes underrated, government tax authorities have a tough lot in life. But in Nigeria at least, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) is playing critical role in supporting economic growth by digitizing services, diversifying the federal tax base, and perhaps most importantly, incentivizing priority sectors to attract new foreign direct investment (FDI). The work isn’t always easy. However, with oil demand and macroeconomic growth set to rebound this year, FIRS’ ongoing efforts to make tax payments quick, painless, and less expensive will help keep Nigeria’s economic recovery on track. The FIRS is a federal agency responsible for assessing, collecting and accounting for taxes and other revenues accruing to the Federation. Its history dates back to 1943, when it was established to replace the Inland Revenue Department of…

SINCE THE SUDDEN ONSET OF LOCK DOWNS AND REMOTE WORK A YEAR AGO, reliance on digital platforms has grown exponentially. For example, Zoom Video Communications’ revenue in 2020 was $622.7 million, up 88 percent from the previous year. Despite the myriad benefits from videoconferencing platforms, the psychological effects of “Zoom fatigue” can be detrimental, as discussed in a study published in February by Stanford researchers in the journal Technology, Mind and Behavior, in which four main causes of exhaustion caused by teleconferencing are identified. Communications guru and consultant Susan McPherson shares how to make the most of digital conferencing platforms in the excerpt below from her new book The Lost Art of Connecting (McGraw-Hill, March). At a time when people feel so disconnected from one another, McPherson’s advice for fostering…

JUST BEFORE THE LAST BITCOIN BUBBLE popped, around the time socialite Paris Hilton issued her own “digital token” and idealists and amateurs across the globe were still tipsy on the idea of circumventing Wall Street, central banks and the usual billionaires with new digital currencies, Mike Novogratz was finishing up a talk at a cryptocurrency conference in New York City. Novogratz, a former Goldman Sachs executive turned bitcoin advocate, had given many such speeches before, usually to an audience of staid financial types. This time, however, he stepped off the stage to a mob of millennials and a rock star’s greeting. “Literally pictures, pictures, pictures,” he says. “Everybody wanted a selfie. Some girl came up and started quaking, ‘Can you sign this?’ It was really weird.” “So I started selling.”…

Can you give us a plain-English explanation of cryptocurrency, as if you were explaining it to your grandfather? These are digital assets, as opposed to currencies. You can’t touch and hold bitcoins, but when you log into your online banking, you see your balance and trust that it’s there. You can own some gold without ever seeing and touching the actual gold bars. We are entering a world in which a growing portion of the things we value can be digital-only and still hold value. Some of the appeals of crypto assets: speed, privacy, reduced friction. Traditional money transfers can take days to settle, and in 2021 that’s unacceptable. Crypto transactions get recorded on a public, immutable ledger for all to see, and you cut out a middle man like…

SYFY HAS SOMETHING A LITTLE UNUSUAL FOR basic cable, a hit original show. Resident Alien is a comedy/drama/murder mystery starring Alan Tudyk as an extraterrestrial struggling to pass for human in a small Colorado town. It is not only funny, it is also a surprisingly warmhearted, ensemble show—notwithstanding the fact that it centers on a scaly guy who wants to end all human life on Earth. Show runner Chris Sheridan says, “Ultimately, what I wanted the show to do is sort of help people see that there is hope. As humans, we’re struggling, but we can get better if we learn to work together.” Resident Alien has found an audience in a TV environment where new shows are quick to be killed off if they don’t produce big ratings numbers…