Free internet access must be considered as a human right, as people unable to get online – particularly in developing countries – lack meaningful ways to influence the global players shaping their everyday lives, according to a new study. As political engagement increasingly takes place online, basic freedoms that many take for granted including free...
Concerns abound about whether Chinese consumers will continue to splurge on luxury goods and other “non-essential” items, with Sanford C. Bernstein revealing “weakening discretionary spending” and “more muted” demand from Chinese customers, thereby, suggesting that “the luxury-goods sector may be close to a ‘temporary plateau.’” While such news does not bode well for luxury brands, according to...
LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton is vying for Tiffany & Co. The Paris-based luxury goods conglomerate made a $14.5 billion play for the American jewelry stalwart last month, in furtherance of a quest to bolster its offerings in the fast-growing jewelry market. Just as analysts predicted, Tiffany’s board reportedly rejected LVMH’s initial, unsolicited offer to seek a...
The demise of the Zac Posen brand is not coming without at least one lawsuit, which sheds some light into the winding down of the famed fashion brand. It turns out that a few weeks before Zac Posen announced that it would shutter after 20 years in business, the New York-based womenswear brand favored by supermodels,...
On the heels of Instagram’s decision to remove its visible “like” counter from its platform in certain geographic regions, such as Canada and Australia, earlier this year, the app’s operators say they will perform the same test in the U.S. beginning this month. The roll-out by the Facebook-owned photo and video-sharing app is being touted as larger ethos,...
“Elite”, high-earning political lobbyists are more likely to overstate their achievements, a new study shows. Political influencers who have a smaller salary and work in specialist areas or for public interest groups are less overconfident – or even underestimate their success, according to the research. This suggests overconfidence can help lobbyists make connections with important...
A study published November 8 in Science focuses on the ancient DNA of individuals from Rome and adjacent regions in Italy, spanning the last 12,000 years. Those genetic data reveal at least two major migrations into Rome, as well as several smaller but significant population shifts over just the last few thousand years. Notably, DNA analysis revealed...
In the autumn of 2017, hurricanes Irma and Maria destroyed Puerto Rico causing thousands of deaths, illnesses and suffering, which brought about a situation of serious economic, political and public health crisis, and widespread death and destruction. However, neither the US nor the Puerto Rican government reacted adequately to such a grave situation. A scientific...
West Virginia University geographers are linking the political and human rights issues at borders today to the legacies of foreign and domestic policy across the globe since World War I. Karen Culcasi and Cynthia Gorman, of the Department of Geology and Geography in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, have studied more than 100 years of international laws that have...
When the Berlin Wall was completed in August 1961, East German residents immediately tried to figure out ways to circumvent the barrier and escape into West Berlin. By the following summer, NBC and CBS were at work on two separate, secret documentaries on tunnels being dug under the Berlin Wall. The tunnel CBS chose was...
