Monthly Archives: May 2023

AMMAN — Under the patronage of Nayef Al Fayez, Chief
Commissioner of the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA), and in the
presence of Khaled Al-Kurdi, Secretary General of the Royal Marine Conservation
Society, the environmental “Blue Flag” was raised in three locations
within Ayla.اضافة اعلان

The national committee, along with Al Fayez and Al-Kurdi,
recognized Ayla’s eligibility to obtain the International Certificate (Blue
Flag) for its compliance with international environmental standards.

The “Blue Flag” was raised at B12 Beach Club, La
Plage Beach at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, and the Ayla Marina following comprehensive
tours conducted by the national committee.

Ayla’s achievement in obtaining and renewing environmental
certifications for six consecutive years highlights commitment to environmental
regulations and public health.

Sahl Dudin, Ayla’s Managing Director, expressed his delight
with this accomplishment, affirming Ayla’s dedication to fulfilling all program
criteria and its belief in the significance of obtaining this environmental
recognition. Ayla remains committed to sustainability, preserving natural resources,
ensuring the health and safety of visitors, providing them with essential
information, and benefiting the local community, the Jordan News Agency, Petra
reported.

The “Blue Flag” program, administered by the Royal Marine
Conservation Society for the Protection of Marine Environment, is an
environmental education initiative of the Foundation for Environmental
Education.

It awards beaches and participating marinas the “Blue Flag”
certification for attaining high standards in water quality, environmental
management, environmental education, and safety.

Dudin emphasized that since its establishment, Ayla has
strived to become one of the premiere tourist destinations, upholding the
sustainable use of natural resources and aligning with the Sustainable Development
Goals.

As one of the pioneering regional projects in the
multi-purpose walled tourist community category, Ayla proudly raises the Blue
Flag at several of its facilities.

Read more National news
Jordan News

Parents should teach their children to become resilient to “woke” ideologies, which means being able to recognize when such a concept is pushed on them and to think for themselves, said a co-author of a new book on the subject.

Parents should be able to influence their children so they can think for themselves when they are faced with forces in society pushing them in a certain direction, said Karol Markowicz, New York Post columnist and co-author of “Stolen Youth: How Radicals Are Erasing Innocence and Indoctrinating a Generation.”

The term “woke” is used by both liberals and conservatives to describe a number of more radical progressive ideologies, including critical race theory, social justice, and gender theory.

Although it isn’t reasonable that children will follow everything that a parent tells them, they should not be subject to indoctrination by their teacher or physician, Markowicz said in an April 26 interview for EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders” program.

“The idea that you should be able to indoctrinate my children is one that I find abhorrent,” she said.

Markowicz said that her kids move through the world with an awareness of when someone is trying to convince them of something because she teaches them to be aware of woke ideologies.

She said that her two older children are able to recognize “when a concept is being pushed on them or when they’re getting someone’s opinion and not fact,” and they ask their mother for guidance.

“The goal is to raise resilient children who can go out into the world and not feel a level of anxiety that debilitates them,” Markowicz said.

Raising resilient children does not necessarily mean raising conservatives, Markowicz explained.

“I would love for my kids to be conservative, but I would most like them to be resilient … and grow up into resilient adults who are able to live their lives to their full capacity and not be hindered by bad ideas.”

The goal is to give them the tools to evaluate what they hear out in the world, she said.

Parental Duty

“When we treat kids like little adults, we instill all of our problems and issues on them, and that really does mess them up going forward,” Markowicz said. “But it seems like the parents are just as ideologically captured.”

Markowicz told a story of a child suffering from a sore throat who refused to open his mouth when a doctor asked him to do so for examination. The mother backed the child, telling the doctor that “it’s his body, his choice,” to the doctor’s astonishment.

“This is the natural progression of this thing where the kid’s in charge,” Markowicz said. Children need parents to show them the way and teach them, she added. “Parents are really abdicating that duty, and it’s going to have bad repercussions.”

It used to be understood that if someone asks a child to keep a secret from their parents, that person is doing something bad to the child, Markowicz said, but now, schools are concealing from parents that their children are transitioning to another gender.

“There’s so much evidence that what the kids pick up in society as it’s being pushed on them really does resonate,” Markowicz said, giving examples of child indoctrination in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

In Nazi Germany, the idea of anti-Semitism was being pushed on kids in schools and promoted in culture, so as a result, the generation of children brought up under Nazi rule became far more anti-Semitic than previous or post generations, Markowicz asserted.

“In the Soviet Union, kids were seen as the ultimate revolutionaries,” said Markowicz, who was born in the Soviet Union and emigrated to the United States as a small child. “[The Soviets] tried to separate kids from their parents for indoctrination.”

But even the Soviets could not say openly that the children were theirs and belonged to all in the society, like President Joe Biden claimed recently during a speech, Markowicz said, because parents would have pushed back against that.

On April 24, at a speech to honor the national and state teachers of the year, Biden said there’s “no such thing as someone else’s child. Our nation’s children are all our children.”

The Soviets were slyly saying that they were helping parents to raise their kids, Markowicz said.

Children Used as Activists

Markowicz and her co-author, commentator Bethany Mandel, wrote in their book about how the political left uses children to be their activists. They received many comments from readers who did not believe them, calling it “ridiculous” and a “conspiracy theory,” Markowicz said.

An example of teen activism is gun control advocacy by teenagers who survived the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Markowicz said.

“The media immediately fell in love with them,” Markowicz said.

CNN organized a town hall in which a group of students from the school confronted several lawmakers, including Sen. Marco Rubio, a local county sheriff, and a spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association on stage, and Markowicz said the teens were clearly traumatized.

“How can you argue with a child?” she asked rhetorically.

“Some of them went on to become activists, but at least one of them really regrets that appearance and regrets that whole episode because he feels like he was pressured into it,” she said.

Markowicz seemed to be referring to Cameron Kasky, a survivor of the Florida school shooting who co-founded the gun control advocacy group March For Our Lives before leaving the group.

Kasky was a participant in the CNN town hall. In an interview on The Ben Shapiro Show later that year, he said he regretted trying to “embarrass” Rubio on stage.

“I incredibly inappropriately likened him to a school shooter. I’m embarrassed by that. I’m incredibly apologetic for it,” the teenager said, adding that although his polticial opinions haven’t change and he still disagrees with Rubio on policies, the senator deserved to be treated more fairly.

Climate Activism

Swedish teen Greta Thunberg was inspired by the Parkland survivors’ activism and became an activist on climate change, Markowicz said.

It was a grownup in her life who knew that she was passionate about climate change, and seeing the reaction to the Parkland students’ advocacy, the adult suggested that Thunberg could do the same thing with climate, Markowicz said.

Thunberg told CNN in 2018 that after learning about school walkouts in the United States due to the Parkland shooting, someone she knew proposed that children could do the same thing for climate change.

Thunberg said that she found that idea very good and decided to follow the suggestion. So at the age of 15, she walked out of her Swedish school “to protest the inaction of climate change,” according to CNN.

In 2019, Thunberg spoke at the United Nations climate summit, harshly criticizing world leaders for insufficient action to counter climate change and telling them that they are still “not mature enough to tell it like it is.”

“For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away,” Thunberg said at the summit.

Markowicz commented on the effectiveness of this approach.

“How are you going to argue with this pigtailed little girl who is afraid that the world is going to end?” she said. “They have set up a situation where their opinions are impossible to confront.”

“Kids are much easier to persuade than a full-grown adult who has their own ideas and concepts and thoughts,” she said. “If you start the indoctrination early, you can ideologically capture most children. You can feed them ideas throughout their schooling and make them believe what you want them to believe.”

How Wokeism Works

Markowicz defined “wokeism” as a combination of leftist ideology with forced conformity.

“Old leftism definitely tried to push its agenda and did so successfully at the college level,” Markowicz explained, “but the new wokeism won’t allow any room for conversation.”

“The new wokeism, as opposed to liberalism or the old leftism, walks such a narrow line that you have to parrot the words in exactly the right way. You can only speak about [ideas] in a certain way,” Markowicz said, giving the example that “you can’t say: ‘I’m not racist’; you have to say, ‘I’m anti-racist.’”

The goal used to be to teach kids to explore their own ideas and have their own thoughts and concepts, Markowicz said.

“Now, we don’t have that because everybody has to think the exact same way under this woke regime,” she said. “The jargon has to change so that you know who’s in the in-group.”

She made a prediction that the word “trans” would be out of favor very soon.

People who believe that their gender is different than their biological sex and present as the opposite sex are called a trans. A biological male who believes that he is a woman and presents as a female is called a “transwoman,” and a biological female who believes she is male and presents as a man is called a “transman,” she explained.

“Very soon, the fact that you’re even qualifying that they’re not actually a man or not actually a woman will be unacceptable,” she said. “Just like the way ‘vagrant’ became ‘homeless,’ then became ‘unhoused.’”

“The woke are a very small segment of the population, and yet, they’re able to control so much,” she said. “They do that through this forced conformity.”

Markowicz encourages parents to stand up to wokeism for themselves and their children.

“When they see that you are brave and not afraid of the slings and arrows, you’ll find a community of people willing to do the same.”

The Giants held their fifth overall practice of the spring Wednesday in East Rutherford, but only their second open to the media.

As expected, running back Saquon Barkley was a no-show as he continues to protest the team’s franchise-tag tender by not signing it. As an unsigned player, Barkley is forbidden from attending the workouts. Defensive tackle Vernon Butler was also absent.

The spring workouts will continue through mid-June before the players and coaches take a roughly six-week break ahead of the late July start of training camp.

Wednesday’s practice, as always at this time of year, was a padless, non-contact event at controlled speeds. In fact, at one point during the session, head coach Brian Daboll loudly reprimanded one of his players for not sticking to the walk-through pace.

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Here are our observations and takeaways from the workout:

* Deonte Banks running with the starters: It didn’t take long for the rookie first-round pick to speed up the depth chart. After running primarily with the second-team defense during seven-on-seven drills last week, Banks spent the majority of Wednesday’s workout as one of the starting cornerbacks.

Of equal interest was the fact that he was running at left cornerback, which was the side that veteran Adoree’ Jackson held down for most of last season. According to Pro Football Focus, Jackson played 322 snaps at left cornerback and 149 at right cornerback.

Banks had an interesting day.

During Daniel Jones’ second series in seven-on-seven competition, the rookie broke up a pass intended for Isaiah Hodgins and wiggled his fingers at the quarterback, the universal symbol after a defensive back denies a completed pass in today’s NFL.

On the very next play, however, David Sills got behind Banks and Jones hit his veteran receiver in stride.

In one of the final seven-on-seven sessions between the first-team offense and first-team defense, veteran Darius Slayton ran a quick out in the end zone and beat Banks for a touchdown.

It’s all part of the learning process.

Jackson said he was impressed by what he has seen on and off the field from Banks so far and that he looks forward to mentoring the rookie in the same manner he learned from Logan Ryan and Malcolm Butler during his first two seasons with the Tennessee Titans.

Kayvon Thibodeaux, the Giants’ first overall pick last season, said he thinks his ability to compile more sacks than the four he had last season will be enhanced by having Banks at cornerback.

“I know that will help,” Thibodeaux said. “I’m excited to see some more lockdown coverage.”

* In other secondary news: Nick McCloud played 257 snaps at cornerback last season and there was some thought that he might compete with Darnay Holmes, Cor’Dale Flott, Aaron Robinson and Rodarius Williams for the top slot cornerback position in training camp. During Wednesday’s practice, however, he spent some time playing safety. The starting safety opposite Xavier McKinney remained veteran Bobby McCain for the second straight week.

“I think Nick is a … Swiss Army knife,” Jackson said. “A guy that is going to do whatever you ask him to do and he’s going to do it at a high level.”

It does appear that Holmes will be in for a battle to maintain his role as the slot cornerback. Flott ran mostly with the starters in that position Wednesday.

* Return duties: It was a little surprising last week to see Jackson fielding punts with a cast of others considering the starting cornerback was injured and lost for seven weeks doing that exact exercise in Week 11 last season against the Detroit Lions. Jackson was not among the group of players fielding punts Wednesday. The seven players that did field punts were Jaydon Mickens, Kalil Pimpleton, Holmes, Slayton, Eric Gray, Alex Cook and Jeff Smith.

The Giants are looking for a punt returner after Richie James signed with the Kansas City Chiefs.

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* Welcome back: After being absent for last week’s workouts, the defensive tackle duo of Dexter Lawrence and Leonard Williams were back with the team Wednesday. They are expected to get help this season from veterans A’Shawn Robinson and Rakeem Nunez-Roches, both of whom signed as free agents. Robinson, however, was among the players still not ready to practice after suffering injuries last season. He missed the final seven games for the Los Angeles Rams last season because of a knee injury.

* Other injured Robinsons: In addition to A’Shawn, the Giants conducted Wednesday’s practice with cornerback Aaron Robinson and wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson working on the side. Aaron is recovering from a knee injury that knocked him out of the final 12 games of the season and Wan’Dale is attempting to return from a torn ACL that he suffered in Week 11 against Detroit.

Other players in the rehab mode included wide receiver Sterling Shepard (torn ACL Week 3), defensive tackle D.J. Davidson (torn ACL in Week 5) and linebacker Darrian Beavers (torn ACL preseason).

Collin Johnson (torn Achilles preseaason), left guard Shane Lemieux (toe), left guard Josh Ezeudu (shoulder), and offensive lineman Marcus McKethan (torn ACL training camp) all participated in practice. Johnson, in fact, was a favorite target of backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor.

Bob Brookover can be reached at rbrookover@njadvancemedia.com.

Business News Digital Labels & Publishers Legal Management & Funding Top Stories

By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 31 May 2023

Reps from across the music industry have responded to the announcements earlier today from the Intellectual Property Office about the next steps in the government-led economics of music streaming work in the UK…

Sophie Jones, Interim CEO at record label trade group the BPI: “We are concerned the environment being fostered in the UK will disincentivise investment in our creative ecosystem at a time when labels are fighting hard to grow exports and protect the rights of artists in the era of AI. Furthermore, this new effort seems at odds with the government’s ambition to grow the UK’s world leading creative industries by an extra £50bn by 2030″.

“Over the past three years our sector has been subjected to multiple inquiries and investigations, culminating in a CMA market study that found competition is working effectively and delivering good and improving outcomes for consumers and creators across the sector”.

“Throughout that process the BPI and its members engaged positively and constructively, resulting in a raft of initiatives to improve transparency and the flow of royalty payments to artists. Numerous studies have demonstrated that streaming has benefited consumers and artists alike, with record labels paying more to artists than ever before”.

Silvia Montello, CEO of the Association Of Independent Music: “AIM’s priority continues to be that artists are rightly rewarded for their creativity whilst ensuring that all those who invest in and nurture them have sustainable successful business models. We are also committed to ensuring that the growing DIY sector has its voice heard”.

“The metadata agreement is a step in the right direction, creating workable industry-wide standards to help improve accurate payments and data flow in streaming”.

“A win for the new remuneration group will be that all involved work positively together not to simply create new ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ but to understand the bigger picture and find fair outcomes which will benefit creators and rightsholders across the industry. By working together rather than in individual silos we can make a more positive difference”.

Graham Davies, CEO, The Ivors Academy: “Currently a fraction of recordings being streamed properly credit the people that wrote and published the song”.

“This is bad for the creators who lose their due recognition and payment, this is bad for the consumer who wishes to know and search for this information, it is bad for digital service providers who wish to enhance the consumer experience, it is bad for the industry whose job it is to pay the rightsholders in a timely and accurate way”.

“The Ivors Academy originally raised this issue with the DCMS Select Committee and are pleased that this code gives us the first proper step on a journey of closing the metadata gap”.

Naomi Pohl, General Secretary, Musician’s Union: “Data has been a problem in the music industry for as long as royalties have existed. Accurate data will mean more money in music-maker pockets and less getting lost in the system or mis-allocated. This can only be a good thing and is extremely welcome”.

“However, our members also need to be paid more; the metadata issue isn’t the only issue and we are delighted that the government and IPO have now instigated a working group to look at creator remuneration. We look forward to advancing the complete reset of music streaming that the DCMS Select Committee called for”.

Cameron Craig, Executive Director, Music Producers Guild: “The MPG welcomes the signing of the metadata code of practice. The first step is always small and yet the most significant, this one will start music-makers down the path to more accurate metadata for the whole UK music industry, allowing for better, more accurate remuneration and career progression through tangible crediting”.

“We’d also like to take the opportunity to thank the DCMS Select Committee, government ministers and the Intellectual Property Office for their work in making this possible. We are pleased the IPO and government are listening and look forward to continuing to shape the next stages, ensuring that quality and quantity targets are met”.

**David Martin, CEO, Featured Artists Coalition: “**The FAC would like to thank the Intellectual Property Office, the DCMS Select Committee and government ministers for bringing the UK music industry together in order to improve the streaming economy. The signing of the metadata code of practice marks a small, but significant step on the journey towards a complete reset of streaming”.

“We look forward to contributing to the next stage of this work on metadata key performance indicators. We also welcome the news that a creator remuneration group is to be established. Remuneration is the FAC’s main focus, as we seek a more equitable deal for the UK’s artist community. We welcome confirmation from ministers that legislative interventions remain an option if the industry is unable to reach voluntary agreement”.

Annabella Coldrick, CEO, Music Managers Forum: “Once again, the MMF would like to put on record our gratitude to the DCMS Select Committee, the IPO and government ministers for their recognition that concrete reforms are required if the UK’s music streaming market is to keep pace with other countries”.

“As reiterated yesterday by the Minister Of State, sustaining a thriving music industry that delivers continued growth in an increasingly competitive global music market and fair remuneration for existing and future creators should be complementary and reasonable goals”.

“The establishment of a working group on remuneration and a new pan-industry agreement on metadata are are clearly important steps – albeit early steps – in that direction. We now need all sides to get down to work and deliver some meaningful changes”.

Netflix’s bread and butter these days are reality shows—especially the variety that center on wealthy groups of friends throwing lavish parties and picking petty arguments. The second season of the Africa-based reality show returned recently, so let’s check in with the dysfunctional friend group.

Opening Shot: Views from a private jet introduce the glamorous lives of the cast, who are organizing an extravagant party in South Africa.

The Gist: Young African socialites who have all made their mark as models, actors, musicians and more, reunite after a year in South Africa. But the drama between certain parties—namely Diamond and Andile, and Swanky and Annie—come to a head at the party and threaten the foundation of the friend group. New cast members Bonang Matheba, an on-air personality, and Fantana, a Ghanaian dancehall musician, arrive at the party and shake things up.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The show is very similar to other Netflix reality series about rich and famous people; Bling Empire and Dubai Bling are ones that immediately spring to mind.

Our Take: There is no shortage of shows that portray rich people behaving badly: the Kardashians, the Housewives franchise, and most reality series follow affluent subjects and their petty drama. It’s a genre that becomes tired in today’s climate where wealth inequalities aren’t as agreeable as they were before.

Young, Famous, & African’s greatest strength, then, is that wealth isn’t overtly flaunted like it is on shows like Dubai Bling, where the number of houses and luxury brands people are wearing are stated out loud like a competition. Sure, the cast of Young, Famous, & African have a significant amount of wealth—the series opens with a private jet and images of Ferraris; the designer outfits and extravagant looks scream money—but the conversations aren’t centered around it, and it makes the series more palatable.

It helps that the drama is relatable: the crux of most arguments is relationship-based and fueled by jealousy, a common human emotion. While the characters need a little more time to develop and gain clarity on motivations, those are things that build with time and Young, Famous, & African has the bones to develop into a bingeable obsession.

Sex and Skin: There is a lot of talk about hook-ups and baby mama drama, but nothing explicit is shown in the second season’s first hour.

Parting Shot: Swanky, who has caused a fair share of drama, dramatically exits the party after refusing to reveal why he’s been so cold to Annie.

Sleeper Star: Khanyi is the show’s de facto lead, playing the mediator and sniffing out disruption before a fight fully breaks loose.

Most Pilot-y Line: “They didn’t tell me we were coming to a themed party, but everyone is wearing a mask,” Khanyi shares her disappointment in the trajectory of the reunion party.

Our Call: STREAM IT if these shows are your type of thing. The reality series thrives on actual friendship drama instead of flaunting exorbitant wealth.

Radhika Menon (@menonrad) is a TV-obsessed writer based in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared on Vulture, Teen Vogue, Paste Magazine, and more. At any given moment, she can ruminate at length over Friday Night Lights, the University of Michigan, and the perfect slice of pizza. You may call her Rad.

“Vanderpump Rules” isn’t ending without a final drama fiasco. The reunion part 2 airs on Wednesday, May 31 (5/31/2023) at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo. A live stream of the episode can be found on FuboTV (free trial), DirecTV Stream (free trial), and other live-streaming services listed below.

It looks like Lisa and the SUR staff are finally opening up about their feelings about Stassi but that isn’t the only thing that’s worth talking about. Tom Sandoval and Ariana are also confronting their feelings about Kristen and Miami Girl, and Tom Schwartz will also say something about Katie’s marriage ultimatum.

Here’s how to tune in to the second part of the finale.

When is the “Vanderpump Rules” reunion part 2 airing?

The second part of the reunion airs on Wednesday, May 31.

What time is the second part of the reunion airing?

The second part of the reunion airs at 9 p.m. ET

The episode will be rebroadcast on Wednesday, May 31 at 11 p.m. ET and Thursday, June 1 at 7 p.m. ET.

Where can I stream “Vanderpump Rules?”

“Vanderpump Rules” is available to stream on FuboTV (free trial), DirecTV Stream (free trial), and Sling (half off the first month).

What TV channel is the show on?

“Vanderpump Rules” airs on Bravo.

Channel Finder: Verizon Fios, Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice, DIRECTV, Dish.

What is the show about?

According to the show’s official synopsis, “Lisa Vanderpump first gained fame as a cast member on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” but her full-time job is as co-owner and boss at West Hollywood, Calif., restaurant SUR, which stands for Sexy Unique Restaurant. Vanderpump balances her motherly instinct with her shrewd business sense to maintain control over the restaurant’s wild group of employees who are working at the eatery while pursuing their dreams. Drama seems to be part of the job for the employees at SUR, who tend to date — and, in most cases, subsequently break up with — their fellow co-workers.”

What is fuboTV?

FuboTV is a live TV streaming service focused on live sports, including U.S. and international soccer, the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and more. It also includes its own fubo Sports Networks with exclusive programming. It offers 150 channels starting at $74.99, including 1,000 hours of DVR, and streams on most devices. Right now you can try fuboTV free for 7 days.