Latest news with #1957
CTV News
25-05-2025
- Automotive
- CTV News
‘Real-life history': St. Thomas train returns to track after being dormant for 68 years
This is the first time since 1957 that the London and Port Stanley Rail Car 14 is transporting passengers. CTV London's Brent Lale reports.
New York Times
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Lights Out: Nat 'King' Cole' Review: Dimming a Great Talent
When Nat King Cole performed 'The Party's Over' on his NBC variety show, he did it with a smile, as he seemed to do everything. But the song bitterly resonated on that particular broadcast, Cole's final outing as a host, having quit after just over a year's worth of struggles finding national advertisers. 'It's time to wind up / The masquerade,' he sang. 'Just make your mind up / The piper must be paid.' Written by Colman Domingo and Patricia McGregor, the formally ambitious, if muddled, 'Lights Out: Nat 'King' Cole' takes place on that fateful Dec. 17, 1957, when the pianist and singer said goodbye to his audience. (Note that Domingo, who is famous as an actor these days, does not appear in the show.) The framing device is not unlike that of 'Goodnight, and Good Luck,' which is also set in a TV studio, and both shows look at a momentous taping as a mode of resistance against America's powers-that-be. But 'Lights Out' takes a very different tack from the George Clooney and Grant Heslov play's straightforward embrace of docu-like similitude . 'Some of you thought you were going to get a nice and easy holiday show,' Sammy Davis Jr. (Daniel J. Watts) informs the audiences of both the television studio and New York Theater Workshop, where the production is running. 'No! Welcome to the fever dream.' The musical unfurls in the minutes before Cole (Dulé Hill) is supposed to go on the air. Time dilates and contracts; guests and family members pop up; conversations are interspersed with musical standards. Davis, who had actually guest-starred on Cole's show a few months earlier, is ever-present here as a flamboyantly extroverted jester who might represent the id of the more restrained (at least publicly) Cole. The pinnacle of McGregor's production is a fiery tap number, choreographed by Jared Grimes, between the two men that lands halfway between duet and battle, and is set to 'Me and My Shadow.' Juxtaposing an irrepressible scratcher of itches and a debonair charmer as two forces of Black creativity, which the white establishment tried to contain in safe, acceptable boxes, is the show's best idea. Hill gives it life with a complex, layered performance as Cole, who is revealed to be channeling his anger and frustrations into a smooth, urbane exterior — a review of his show's premiere in The New York Times described him as having 'an amiable personality that comes across engagingly on the television screen.' (Both Hill and Watts were in the 'Lights Out' premiere in 2017, with the People's Light company in Malvern, Penn.) Unfortunately, the writing and direction do not match Hill's subtlety. Cole is jostled this way and that between past and present, fantasy and reality, as if he were on a runaway carousel, but his agitated free associating is written and staged in a herky-jerky manner. Guests including Peggy Lee (Ruby Lewis) and Eartha Kitt (Krystal Joy Brown) turn up, though their musical contributions feel perfunctory. The star's mother, Perlina (Kenita Miller), drops by. Cole manifests his younger self (Mekhi Richardson at the performance I attended), and also duets with his daughter, Natalie (Brown again), on 'Unforgettable' — a hit for Natalie in 1991, when she sang with her father via a recording he had made 40 years earlier. The intersection of personal history, politics and performance has long been an essential part of Domingo's work as a writer — he explored it successfully in his autobiographical play 'A Boy and His Soul' (2009), less effectively in the book he co-wrote for 'Summer: The Donna Summer Musical' (2018). Here he and McGregor resort to telegraphing in ways that may be intended to jolt but too often land awkwardly, as when Natalie cries 'I can't breathe' after she is brutally forced to smoke a cigarette from a sponsor brand. 'They are still digging Emmett Till's grave, and you're out here planting roses,' Davis hectors Cole, who replies that his job is to entertain. 'No, it's your job to reflect the times,' Davis continues. 'But, if that's what you are trying to teach the kids, young Billy Preston is waiting in the wings, ready to do his thing.' Lo and behold, the keyboard prodigy (Richardson, again), then 11, comes in for 'Blueberry Hill.' It's an excellent number, as many are in 'Lights Out,' though one wishes the money spent on a large, underused video screen had been dedicated to a few more musicians to better approximate the bold, pumping sound of Nelson Riddle's orchestra on the TV show. Still, it is in examinations of such performers as Cole that you find one of the keys to change and progress: a demonstration of unparalleled talent that could not be stifled.
Mint
19-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Centre tweaks provision to ease compliance for brokers
New Delhi: The government has eased compliance for stock and commodity market brokers by providing clarity on investments that do not involve client money. The Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), ministry of finance has amended Rule 8 of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules, 1957 to clarify that any investments made by a member (broker) shall not be treated as business activity, unless such investments involve client funds or securities or result in a financial liability for the broker, according to a notification on Monday. Rule 8 of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Rules, 1957 (SCRR) restricts brokers from engaging, as a principal or employee, in any business other than securities or commodity derivatives. However, according to the rule, they may act as brokers or agents in other businesses, provided such roles do not entail personal financial liability. 'This (change) opens the room for brokers to easily utilise their own funds for a variety of purposes, to buy assets, etc., which was a time-consuming affair earlier,' said Rajesh Palviya, SVP, Axis Securities. 'One of the reasons for the government easing the rules is the stringent norms for client margin funding, among others,' said Palviya. 'Under this, the broker has to collect an upfront 20% margin from clients who wish to trade stocks on an intraday basis. As room for misutilisation of client funds is already tightened, there was a thinking this rule too should be eased.' The industry had concerns over the interpretation of Rule 8, which prescribes eligibility criteria for membership in stock exchanges. 'After taking note of the concerns raised by various stakeholders over certain provisions in the said Rules, the DEA had released a Consultation Paper in September 2024, inviting stakeholder comments,' the ministry said in its statement. 'Given the growth in the scale and interconnectedness of the financial sector and the evolution of nature of business of brokers with time, the DEA felt it necessary to review the appropriateness of safeguards embedded in the Rules so that the intent of the Rules is served without constraining activities of the stakeholders,' it added. The amendment, issued through a gazette notification, follows stakeholder consultations and aligns with the government's broader drive to simplify financial sector regulations. 'The amendment has been carried out after due consideration of feedback from the stakeholders and is part of the broader emphasis of the Government to provide regulatory clarity and enhance ease of doing business in the financial sector," the finance ministry statement said. 'It will ensure that market intermediaries continue to support the development of India's capital markets in a transparent and well-regulated manner.' By updating the rule, the government aims to reduce compliance burdens and facilitate the smooth functioning of market intermediaries, while maintaining transparency and investor protection. The reform is seen as part of India's ongoing efforts to modernize its capital market ecosystem and attract greater participation.
Hindustan Times
19-05-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
First meeting held on AI's impact on India's copyright framework
The first meeting of the committee formed to look into the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on existing copyright framework was held on May 16, Friday. The committee, formed by the department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) under the ministry of commerce and industry, includes academicians, intellectual property (IP) law experts, industry body representatives, and government officials. HT has learnt that the committee will hold a total of 10 meetings over the next three months. The agenda is to discuss and assess whether the Copyright Act, 1957 requires amendments, needs clarification, or remains sufficient as it is, in light of emerging challenges posed by AI. To be sure, there is no assumption within the committee that the law will be amended. One committee member stated that no definitive view has been formed yet, at least during the committee's early stages. Although the discussions of the committee remain confidential, a person aware of the discussions told HT that the meeting on Friday was largely introductory where the scope of the committee was laid out. HT had earlier reported that one committee member was hesitant to participate, citing a lack of expertise in AI. However, all members were present at the meeting on Friday, a person aware of the matter said. Interestingly, three officials from the IT ministry were present, despite the DPIIT listing only one as part of the committee. The committee's formation comes at a time when the Delhi high court hears the case of OpenAI vs ANI, in which the news agency has sued the ChatGPT-maker for copyright infringement, alleging that its news articles were used to train AI models without permission or compensation.
CBC
14-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Ellen Fairclough: The first woman to become a federal cabinet minister
Ellen Fairclough became the first woman appointed to a federal cabinet position by John Diefenbaker in 1957. The Progressive Conservative MP served as secretary of state, became the minister of citizenship and immigration the following year and served as Canada's first female acting prime minister for two days in February 1958.
