What We Are Reading Today: Agents of Change
Christina Hillsberg's 'Agents of Change' deftly tackles not just the fight for gender equality at the Cia, but the current dilemma the agency faces when dealing with the culmination of a decades-long culture of sexual harassment and assault.
In the book, Hillsberg pays a long overdue tribute to the survivors and thrivers, the indispensable groundbreakers, and defiant rabble-rousers who made the choice to change their lives and in turn, changed history.
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Al Arabiya
a day ago
- Al Arabiya
PETA Sues American Kennel Club Over Standards for French Bulldogs, Other Breeds
The animal rights group PETA sued Tuesday to try to force the American Kennel Club to abandon the standards it backs for hyper-popular French bulldogs and some other breeds, contending that the influential club is promoting unhealthy physical features. The lawsuit turns up the heat around one of the biggest flashpoints in dogdom: the attributes that have been honed to define some breeds, including the Frenchie, which the AKC ranks as the US's most popular breed. The AKC's official breed standards for the bulldog, French bulldog, pug, dachshund, and Chinese shar-pei 'provide blueprints for the breeding of deformed, unhealthy dogs,' PETA says in the suit. The AKC said it's committed to protecting the health, heritage, and well-being of purebred dogs and that responsibly bred dogs that conform to the standards are healthy. 'We categorically reject PETA's mischaracterizations of specific breed standards and their assertion that these standards create unhealthy dogs,' the club said in a statement, adding that dog health and welfare is 'paramount and at the core of our mission.' Founded in 1884, the New York–based AKC is a nonprofit that acts like a league for many canine competitions and runs the US's oldest dog registry, where owners may choose to document their dogs' existence and accomplishments. Mixed-breed dogs and rescues can be registered as canine partners and compete in some sports, but the club's history is closely tied to fanciers who cultivate and show purebreds. Each breed has its own club that sets the standard, or ideal characteristics, for the dogs. The AKC reviews, approves, and promulgates them. PETA, also called People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, describes itself as an animal liberation organization. Its advocacy includes boycotts and litigation. Its supporters are known for staging sometimes disruptive protests in settings including a papal audience, a Starbucks, and sporting events such as the Westminster Kennel Club dog show. The Norfolk, Virginia–based nonprofit opposes dog breeding in general and has clashed for years with the AKC. Peppered with photos and diagrams, PETA's new lawsuit runs through health problems that can beset short-legged, long-backed dachshunds (the 'animal equivalent of a poorly designed bridge,' in PETA's view) and shar-peis, which can have spates of fever and inflammation known as shar-pei autoinflammatory disease. The complaint points to pugs' risk of injuries to their marbly eyes and susceptibility to breathing problems and overheating because of their flat faces. The suit zeros in on those and other parts of bulldogs and Frenchies, including the big heads that often prompt cesarean births. The various problems that PETA cites don't afflict all dogs of these breeds, and some do agility, dock diving, and other sports. But the conditions can be serious for those that have them. In the UK–where research involving about 24,600 dogs suggested that Frenchies have very different and largely much poorer health than do other canines–the British Veterinary Association campaigns against advertisements that feature flat-faced breeds. The Netherlands has prohibited breeding very short-snouted dogs. Norway's Supreme Court, however, declined to block the breeding of English bulldogs–but upheld a lower court's prohibition on breeding cavalier King Charles spaniels, citing a different set of health concerns. The AKC says the breed standards it approves reflect decades of collaboration with veterinary experts and breeders. Some breed clubs donate to and participate in dog health research, and the AKC says it has given over $40 million since 1995 to its canine health research charity.
Arab News
3 days ago
- Arab News
What We Are Reading Today: Agents of Change
Author: Christina Hillsberg Christina Hillsberg's 'Agents of Change' deftly tackles not just the fight for gender equality at the Cia, but the current dilemma the agency faces when dealing with the culmination of a decades-long culture of sexual harassment and assault. In the book, Hillsberg pays a long overdue tribute to the survivors and thrivers, the indispensable groundbreakers, and defiant rabble-rousers who made the choice to change their lives and in turn, changed history.
Asharq Al-Awsat
5 days ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Spectacular Fireworks Light Up American Skies on the Fourth of July
The Fourth of July is about all things American: parades, cookouts, cold beer and of course, fireworks. Those pyrotechnics remain at the center of Independence Day, a holiday 247 years in the making. Massive fireworks lit up the skyline of multiple American cities, marking festivities across the country. Despite widespread education efforts, thousands of Americans are badly injured by fireworks each year. Still, consumer sales of fireworks have rapidly grown over the past two decades. Statistics from the American Pyrotechnics Association show that in 2000, American consumers spent $407 million on fireworks. By 2024, that figure rose to $2.2 billion.
