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New York (CNN) — Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, who blocked the newspaper’s endorsement of Kamala Harris and plans to overhaul its editorial board, says he will implement an artificial intelligence-powered “bias meter” on the paper’s news articles to provide readers with “both sides” of a story. Soon-Shiong, the biotech billionaire who acquired the Times in 2018, told CNN political commentator Scott Jennings — who will join the Times’ editorial board — that he’s been “quietly building” an AI meter “behind the scenes.” The meter, slated to be released in January, is powered by the same augmented intelligence technology that he’s been building since 2010 for health care purposes, Soon-Shiong said. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.TOKYO (AFP) – Fuelled in part by the success of TV hit Shogun, foreign studios are hungry for quality Japanese content and local creators are adapting to meet demand. Fans of Japanese manga and anime cartoons have often criticised foreign adaptations that are unfaithful to the original material. But Shogun, based on the 1975 novel by Australian-British writer James Clavell, broke the mould when the period drama series – mostly in Japanese and hailed for its authenticity – won 18 Emmy awards in September. Other recent Japanese works have also become worldwide hits. Franco-United States (US)-Japanese show Drops of God, based on a manga of the same name, won Best Drama Series at the International Emmy Awards in November. Netflix’s 2023 adaptation of the manga superhit One Piece – starring Mexican actor Inaki Godoy as the lead – was hailed by viewers and critics alike and will return for a second season. More adaptations of major manga and anime hits are in the works, including the superhero adventures of My Hero Academia and the ninja escapades of Naruto. Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada. PHOTO: AFP A scene from the series ‘Shogun’. PHOTO: AP “Demand from Western markets is clearly increasing,” said Managing Director at TIFFCOM Kaori Ikeda, the content trade fair affiliated with the Tokyo International Film Festival. But Japanese companies lack “know-how” when it comes to things like negotiating rights, she told AFP . So TIFFCOM has organised Tokyo Story Market, a space to facilitate networking and meetings between international producers and Japanese publishers. Foreign studios are also getting better at avoiding some of the pitfalls of the past, such as the 2017 film version of the manga Ghost in the Shell starring Scarlett Johansson. Critics accused the movie, whose main actors except Takeshi Kitano were all non-Japanese, of “whitewashing”. Similarly, the 2017 supernatural thriller Death Note was panned for veering too far from the original manga. “Manga authors are highly respected and fan communities are very vigilant,” said producer of Drops of God Klaus Zimmermann. His adaptation takes some liberties, such as starring a French actor as one of the main characters, but Zimmermann insists it was developed in collaboration with the authors of the original manga. “It was about finding the spirit of the manga so as not to distort it,” he told AFP . Rights negotiator at the manga’s publishing house Kodansha Yuki Takamatsu, said the process of adapting Drops of God was “amazing”. “Everyone was open to tackling those challenges together... At every step, everyone was understanding about how we should do it,” he said. Past failures were in part down to publishers struggling to communicate their wishes to foreign producers, who in turn lacked a proper understanding of manga and anime, Takamatsu said. “Back just 15, 20 years ago, most of the enquiries we received from those big studios were like, hey, I know Dragon Ball, do you have Dragon Ball IP?” Takamatsu told AFP . “But nowadays, especially since COVID, the producers in their 30s, 40s, they watch anime together with their kids on Netflix or Amazon” and then reach out, he said. Japanese broadcasters have also become “better and better (at) presenting and marketing their content” abroad, said Executive Director at the Broadcast Program Export Association of Japan (BEAJ) Makito Sugiyama. This includes their participation at global events such as MIPCOM in Cannes, an annual trade show for the television industry, Sugiyama said. Japanese broadcasters have long had success selling show concepts abroad, like the one for America’s Funniest Home Videos, known in Britain as You’ve Been Framed. Now, some Japanese dramas are also finding a wider echo abroad. Nippon TV’s original drama Mother became a hit thanks in part to its Turkish remake, and has been broadcast in around 50 countries. Western viewers have overcome their initial reluctance to watch series with Asian actors, believes Chief Executive of the BEAJ Masaru Akiyama. “They have got used to it, they don’t care anymore. They want to see, they want to feel the stories.” Shogun was “a game changer for Japan”, he added, and Ikeda agreed. “That a samurai story with such attention to historical detail can become mainstream entertainment is proof of the potential” of Japanese content, she said.The year 2025 lies ahead, and addressing climate change is high on the list of priorities for countries across the world as well as the global community at large. The 29th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) ended in the early morning hours of 24 November 2024; the 30th session (COP30) will convene on 10 November 2025. In between these sessions, much work remains to be done to advance climate action at the national and international level, including on a range of topics that include climate finance, the Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), a new round of national commitments, and many more. For many participants and observers, COP29 fell short of expectations. However, the conference still produced several decisions that lay out a roadmap for 2025 and beyond, while other agenda items were postponed until June or November 2025. Arguably the most important decision out of COP29 was the last-minute agreement on a new collective quantified goal on climate finance (NCQG), which sets a goal of “at least USD 300 billion per year by 2035 for developing country Parties for climate action” and calls on all actors “to work together to enable the scaling up of financing to developing country Parties for climate action from all public and private sources to at least USD 1.3 trillion per year by 2035.” The decision text on the NCQG also highlights the importance of reforming the multilateral financial architecture as well as the need to remove barriers faced by developing countries, such as Sri Lanka, for financing their climate action. For example, these barriers could include high costs of capital, limited fiscal space, unsustainable debt levels, high transaction costs, and conditionalities for accessing climate finance. In the same decision, Parties at COP29 launched the “Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T,” which aims to scale up climate finance in line with the ambitions outlined above—through grants, concessional and non-debt-creating instruments, or measures to create fiscal space—throughout the year and until COP30. Other agenda items which made progress include the Global Goal on Adaptation, which will see further technical and political work through 2025 to adopt a set of indicators at COP30; loss and damage, which has seen pledges for the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage; and Article 6, where the framework for carbon trading has been further operationalised. In between now and COP30, there are many other milestone events, workshops, gatherings, and activities that aim to advance climate action across the different workstreams and agenda items. This includes the negotiations at the Bonn Climate Change Conference (SB62) in June; several high-level summits and ministerial meetings (for example, the Copenhagen Climate Ministerial or the Petersberg Climate Dialogue); other relevant events across the United Nations system (such as the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly); and a range of regional gatherings, mandated workshops, and the meetings of technical bodies. Both developed and developing countries are scheduled to submit their new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in February 2025, informed by the outcomes of the first Global Stocktake which concluded in 2023. For most countries, this is the third iteration of their NDCs after the initial round in 2015/2015 and a second one in 2020. Although the NDCs offer all countries a much-needed opportunity to scale up ambition, developing countries will depend on the provision of finance and other means of implementation to make stronger commitments. COP30 will take place in Belém, the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Pará, which is considered the gateway to the Amazon. Tens of thousands of participants, including many heads of states and ministers, are expected to attend the conference over two weeks in November, and logistical preparations are ongoing. While the new finance goal is decided, much work is left to be done towards operationalising it; and there are other agenda items as well that will be at the centre of attention. On climate finance, the current goals of providing $ 100 billion per year and doubling adaptation finance will come to an end. The COP29 decision on the NCQG outlines a way forward, but developed countries will need to scale up provision of finance to allow for ambitious action, while developing countries need to access and utilise funds in effective and inclusive ways. Furthermore, the global community must work together to reform the international financial architecture in a way to ensure that it is fit for purpose and reflects the needs and priorities of all countries. The Global Goal on Adaptation will be a critical part of the COP30 agenda, as Parties must define a set of indicators for the seven thematic and four dimensional global adaptation targets. These indicators aim to boost adaptation action across the world and track success across different sectors and dimensions, ultimately building long-term resilience in a holistic way that allows for green growth and sustainable development pathways. The multilateral process is only a piece of the complex puzzle of climate action, but it is an important one. COP30 might be a year away, but work must start now to ensure successful outcomes. In addition, action at the national and regional level is vital to convert decisions and global frameworks into actual implementation that reaches the ground and addresses the needs of vulnerable communities, sectors, and countries.
CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Blackhawks fired coach Luke Richardson on Thursday, signaling their frustration with the state of the franchise's rebuilding project. Chicago has dropped four in a row to fall to an NHL-worst 8-16-2 on the season. It was outscored 41-27 while going 3-9-1 in its last 13 games. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.