Latest news with #Party
Boston Globe
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
In her latest novel, Barbara Shapiro mixes Manet, Boston, and a possible haunted painting
But the Connecticut native, who writes as B.A. Shapiro, cut her teeth as a novelist writing Boston-set ghost stories and thrillers with paranormal elements. In her latest, ' Advertisement 'I actually published five novels very Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The book in a nutshell: Boston resident Tamara Rubin — great-great-great-great granddaughter of Impressionist Tamara hangs 'Party' in her Tremont Street home and becomes so obsessed with it she must leave the house to get work done, 'to avoid the lure, like an addict who can't be anywhere near her drug of choice.' Advertisement The plot shifts between current-day Boston and 19th century Paris, where readers meet members of the famed impressionist circle, including Manet, Degas, Monet — and 'Party' apparently holds some kind of magic power. It somehow survives major disasters; it seemingly can't be destroyed. Tamara sees a character wink. The artist's signature at the bottom of the painting changes before her eyes. She begins to have nightmares about the painting. She wonders if Morisot's ghost haunts it. The historical story unperpinning the plot is compelling, well-researched and at least loosely true. While 'Party' is fictional, it sparked me (and likley more readers) to Google: Morisot really was to Manet's brother. Manet really did With events upcoming at What sparked this book? I'd read about Berthe Morisot when I was working on 'The Art Forger.' I'd scribbled her name down and threw it into my file of ideas. When I was thinking about the next book, I saw that note, and got totally fascinated with her. The whole idea of this unsung talent grabbed me. The quality of her work, the misogyny, what it was like for a woman in those days. I felt she really got screwed, and that if I wrote a book, people might Advertisement Was there really a romance between her and Manet? There was. Historians acknowledge that she and Manet were in love, but no one knows for certain whether they had a physical affair. But, hey, I'm writing novels, so of course they're going to have a physical affair– and they're also going to have an illegitimate child. Right. What draws you to the lives of artists? When I was little, I wanted to be an artist. My parents were very supportive. My mother signed me up for classes. My father built me a studio in the basement. It was great, except for the fact that it became clear really quickly I had no talent. So I became an art-appreciator. You earned your Masters from Tufts in Sociology in '75 and your PhD in Sociology from there in '78. You said you never studied art history. How do you begin researching? I read piles of books, [research] online. I go to lots of museums. Like Tamara, I discovered that a lot of museums have tons of paintings by Degas, Manet, and Monet. While most museums have at least one or two Berthe paintings, the numbers don't match at all. You've written about Abstract Expressionists, Post-Impressionists, Impressionists. What group of artists would you write about next? I'm actually working on a novel about Advertisement What caused the pivot from ghost stories/mysteries to artist-based historical-fiction? Once our kids finished high school, we moved back from Lexington to Boston [in 2005]. We were in the South end and just surrounded by artists. I could walk to different museums. I decided to take a chance on writing a book about art. And I loved it. I switched from murder-mystery/ supernatural into art-mode. You said you painted as a kid. Do you paint now? I actually tried taking watercolor classes recently, and once again – ehhh. I'd love to sing, but I can't do that either. Lauren Daley can be reached at ldaley33@ Follow her on Twitter and Instagram a . Lauren Daley can be reached at
Time Magazine
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Time Magazine
How China Could Take Taiwan, Without Firing a Shot
In the past few years, a series of high ranking officials have said that China will invade Taiwan by 2027. U.S. Secretary of State Pete Hegseth offered that view in May, as did the then Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu two years ago and the then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley another two years earlier. In the face of such pronouncements, it would be tempting to see that date as a near certainty. But there are many reasons why it may not come to pass, including the worrying reality that China could achieve its designs on Taiwan without firing a shot. Read More: Why China-Taiwan Relations Are Getting So Tense Invasion is a simple word but it refers to complex things. China could try to launch an amphibious invasion, with one of the vast new ships with specialist landing barges spotted in Guangdong earlier this year. But the move would be foolhardy for a largely untested navy. A more likely scenario is a blockade, like the smaller-scale one Beijing imposed after the then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei in 2022. China might also set off a vast cyberattack. But even with all of the above Taiwan would not lay down and accept violence. And if China eventually prevailed—and that is a big if—winning the peace would be a far more time consuming and treacherous venture. On top of this, the odds are still that the U.S. would intervene, despite President Donald Trump's capriciousness. The risk of this becoming not just a China-Taiwan fight, but a direct confrontation between the world's two superpowers is real. And frightening, even to the leaders around Xi Jinping in Beijing. The speculation about 2027 has to be viewed from the perspective of who is saying it, and what their motives are. Taiwanese need to feel supported and protected, and so it is understandable that they want the world to take the threat seriously. And the U.S. is embroiled in an epoch-defining struggle against China. Talk of a looming Taiwan invasion is a good rallying point for the rest of the world to line up behind America and face down China before it tries anything. Read More: Why Protecting Taiwan Really Matters to the U.S. The one group of people who have largely remained silent are, unsurprisingly, the Chinese. Xi himself has talked plenty about reunification. But he has publicly avoided any hint of a timeline. For all the scary qualities attributed to China's current leaders, one thing that does characterize them is caution. Their domestic situation is economically challenging, and the Party fears they are one uprising away from being ousted. A major military move that went wrong would be precisely the thing that might precipitate chaos. They will therefore not engage in conflict unless they are certain it will succeed. And that is where the waiting game comes in. From Beijing, rightly or wrongly, they see daily evidence that the West is in decline. There is deep political polarization on almost every issue (except, ironically, on the threat from China). And a similar polarization can be seen in the politics of Taiwan itself, where President William Lai's administration is engaged in recalls against opposition lawmakers, in a move widely seen as trying to gain more power. For China, the hope is that Taiwanese will see the West growing less capable and potent with each passing year. The old adage of blood being thicker than water will mean that China's principal appeal for unity with Taiwanese—cultural commonality—will finally have traction. There is already some evidence that views on the island are moving in this direction. A recent poll by The Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation found while 49% felt America more dependable than China, a significant 43% thought the reverse. The scenario of a slow reunification would have been pure fantasy even a decade ago. Today, it is a little more believable. And in the coming years, who knows, it might become a reality as the Western-led world order gives even more signs of systemic decline. On Taiwan, China just has to win the psychological war. And for that, it needs no landing barges or hi-tech ballistics. It just needs the West to carry on ripping itself apart.
Mint
3 days ago
- Business
- Mint
Nitin Pai: India should craft a calibrated response to China's Yarlung dam project
China is moving ahead with its plan to build a hydroelectric project on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet. India should be concerned. But appropriately. Worries that Beijing will use water as a tool of coercion or weapon of war are likely overblown. What ought to concern us more are the environmental consequences in the short term, disaster risks over the longer term and what it tells us about how a more powerful China will conduct itself in the present and future. This month, China's top leaders announced the formation of the Yajiang Group, a new state enterprise charged with the construction of this project in Medog county, just north of the boundary with India's Arunachal Pradesh, at an estimated cost of $167 billion. Also Read: Arun Maira: Dedication to the state's purpose is the key lesson we must learn from China Comprising five dams, the Yajiang-Yaxia project will divert some of the water flow from the gorge where the Yarlung river does a U-bend into a system of tunnels, to generate 60 gigawatts of power, supplying electricity to 300 million people and creating 100,000 jobs for Han migrants in the Tibetan region. According to official Chinese reports, the project is 'an important measure to implement the overall national security concept, the new energy security strategy and the Party's strategy of governing Xizang (sic) in the new era." While Beijing has advertised the project as intended to sell electricity to external markets, it is revealing that national security finds place as the first of its stated objectives. After the Yarlung flows into Indian territory, it is joined by other tributaries and becomes the mighty Brahmaputra. That is why many in India and Bangladesh were alarmed when talk about this project began around a decade ago. Since then, several studies have shown that the Brahmaputra is really an Indian river, as it gathers most of its water after it enters Indian territory. Many of these studies are based on data that is a couple of decades old. Even so, it is sufficient to reassure us that China cannot choke the water supply and livelihoods of Northeast India and Bangladesh. At worst, it has the power to manipulate some of the water flow, but this is well within India's capacity to adapt to. Similarly, while water flow can be controlled in service of military objectives, battlefield scenarios where this can be employed along the Medog-Arunachal Pradesh region are contrived and limited. Also Read: China plus one: It's a moving target that India can still strike This does not mean India should ignore the threat. Rather, it means that New Delhi must strengthen the risk management approach that is already at play in border regions. India's response should be to build a system of dams, buffers and channels that can serve both economic and security functions. The timetable for this should be calibrated to observe Chinese actions and designed to manage the risks from them. Since Beijing has no interest in performing its customary duty under international law—affirmed by the International Court of Justice in its climate-change verdict last week—to cooperate with its lower riparian neighbour, India's infrastructure response must come from observation and analysis. To be able to do that well, India's government, especially its national security establishment, must invest in geospatial intelligence and analytical capacity. Our homegrown space and geospatial industries have an important role to play in this effort. Even if the Chinese companies execute the project at the advertised quality and safety levels, it is inevitable that the construction phase will pollute the river and ecology of the region. We should expect higher levels of debris and sediment, which could have long-term consequences for the population of Arunachal Pradesh and other states downstream. This is the part that Indian diplomacy should focus on: to get China to cooperate in a way that minimizes permanent environmental damage and allows populations time and space to adapt to the changes. Beijing's track record on sharing information is terrible. In the Mekong Valley arrangement in South East Asia, it shares basic hydrological information a grand total of two times a year. However, considering the global climate situation and the fact that both Chinese and Indian people would be rendered vulnerable, it is worthwhile for Indian diplomacy to pursue this angle. So too for disaster management. Also Read: China risks overplaying its hand by curbing rare earth exports The worst damage China is doing is to its own reputation and long-term geopolitical interests. It is well within its rights to build dams in its territory. But doing so without informing its downstream neighbour is clearly imperious behaviour. New Delhi cannot stop Beijing from building these dams, but where India has room—such as on the resolution of the Tibetan question, Taiwan, global trade and relations with the US—it is bound to respond to Beijing's high-handedness. It will make a grand rapprochement between the two Asian giants that much harder. In the meantime, Indian citizens and leaders will see the Yarlung project as yet another unfriendly if not hostile act, and this will colour both popular perceptions and foreign policy. Unfortunate, but true. Tailpiece: A senior member of Delhi's strategic establishment once told me, 'It is the weak who protest loudly. The strong do something about it." The author is co-founder and director of The Takshashila Institution, an independent centre for research and education in public policy.
BBC News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Truck Festival 2025 gets under way in Oxfordshire
This year's Truck Festival is under way, with revellers arriving on Thursday for the four-day music Party brought the first night to a close with a performance of their debut album Silent Alarm in full, along with other festival takes place at Hill Farm in Steventon, Oxfordshire. With 25,000 people attending, it is the county's biggest music headliners over the weekend are Kasabian, The Courteeners, and Nothing But Thieves, with Blossoms, Franz Ferdinand and The Last Dinner Party also playing the sold-out event. The bill also includes Wunderhorse, Reytons, Hard Life, CMAT, Fat Dog, The Big Moon, Sports Team, Maximo Park, Corella, Alfie Templeman, Lambrini Girls, Lime Garden, Only The Poets, Luvcat and Chloe singer Natasha Bedingfield will also play a special guest set. Speaking on the opening day, festival co-ordinator Jasmine Dunston said: "It's going really well. "We got the gates open one of the earliest we've ever done this year, which is insane. It's just merit to the entire team who have pulled together."The festival also supports its charitable organisation, the Truck Trust, which was set up in 2014 to "benefit our local community".It has so far raised £880,000 for local good causes."Hopefully this year we're going to be able to hit the big one million mark and that's our goal," added Ms event will also see the now traditional annual appearances of The Oxford Symphony Orchestra, Mr Motivator, and Barrioke, which features former EastEnders actor Shaun Williamson singing karaoke Women's Euros 2025 final between England and Spain will also be shown at the festival site on Truck Festival was conceived by brothers Robin and Joe Bennett and first took place in 1998, when an actual truck was used for the stage. You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Epoch Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Former Tibet Official Receives Suspended Death Sentence for Corruption
A former Chinese official, whom the United States and Canada sanctioned for aiding the Communist Party's human rights abuses, has been given a suspended death sentence for taking bribes. Wu Yingjie, former Party chief in the far-western region of Tibet, was found guilty of taking approximately 343 million yuan (about $47.7 million) in bribes while serving in various positions in Tibet between 2006 and 2021, according to a statement issued by the Supreme People's Court, China's highest court, on July 15. Wu was given a death sentence with two years' probation, and the authorities will confiscate his personal assets, the court said. This means that if Wu demonstrates good behavior over the next two years, his death sentence could be reduced to life imprisonment. Wu, 68, was among the highest-profile figures to be purged under Xi Jinping, the Party's top leader. Wu had been placed under investigation by the country's top anti-corruption agency since July 2024. In December 2024, Wu was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for so-called seriously violating the law and regulations, including meddling in engineering projects in exchange for cash bribes, state media reported at the time. The harsh sentence adds to the signs that the CCP hasn't eased the anti-corruption campaign, which was launched shortly after Xi took control of the Party in 2012. The campaign has taken down some of Xi's most powerful rivals. However, in recent years, amid intensified power struggles within the party, it has also been directed against those within Xi's inner circle. Wu climbed the political ladder during his nearly 50 years in Tibet, starting in the educational bureau and later moving to the propaganda department. In 2005, he became a member of the Party committee, according to publicly available information in China. His political career reached its peak in 2016, when he was appointed as Tibet's Party secretary, a role that he held for five years. In 2021, Wu was appointed to the National People's Congress, China's rubber-stamp legislature, and subsequently served in the People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top political advisory body. As part of the actions to mark Human Rights Day, on Dec. 9, 2022, the United States imposed sanctions on Wu for his involvement in the CCP's rights violations in Tibet, alongside another senior Chinese official, Zhang Hongbo. The U.S. Treasury Department said at the time that Tibetans have been subject to serious human rights abuses in the region, including 'arbitrary detention, extrajudicial killings, and physical abuse,' as part of the CCP's efforts to 'severely restrict religious freedoms.' In addition, the State Department announced sanctions against Tang Yong, former deputy director of Chongqing Area Prisons in southwestern China, in response to the CCP's ongoing persecution of the spiritual group Falun Gong. The move drew the ire of Beijing. China's foreign ministry announced sanctions against two Americans: Miles Yu, a key China policy adviser to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Todd Stein, then-deputy staff director at the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China. In December 2024, Canada added Wu and seven other Chinese officials to its sanctions list for their involvement in the CCP's repressions against Tibetans, Uyghurs, and Falun Gong practitioners. Beijing retaliated by sanctioning 20 Canadian individuals and two organizations that have been vocal about the CCP's human rights violations, drawing condemnation from Ottawa.
