When unusually high tides hit last week, the $6 billion MOSE system of barriers in the lagoon was raised and a repeat of the catastrophic 2019 floods was avoided. Yet, as sea levels continue to rise, so do fears that, within a few decades, MOSE won't be enough. - MSN (The Washington Post)
The Russian Federation and its envoy had been chairing UNESCO's World Heritage Committee this year, throwing a wrench in the organization's attempts to save Ukraine's heritage sites and leading 46 countries, including large donor nations, to threaten a boycott. The Russian ambassador's resignation has ended that impasse. - Artnet
Last week at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Julia Fischer and the Staatskapelle Dresden were about to start Beethoven's Violin Concerto when two activists from the German group Last Generation glued themselves to the rail on the conductor's podium. (Turns out the rail was removable. Oops.) - Deutsche Welle
Dubbed "the Black Marilyn Monroe," she was a huge sensation in the 1950s — until overwork and Seventh-Day Adventist guilt (over her sexy persona) drove her to leave the stage for mission work, only to re-train and re-emerge as a classical soprano and, ultimately, return to nightclub performing. - MSN (The Washington Post)
One of the best-known male dancers at the Paris Opera, who has won a big following outside ballet for working as a judge on the French equivalent of "Strictly Come Dancing", on Wednesday quit the company after months of tension. - France24
Dylan says was given “the assurance that this kind of thing is done ‘all the time’ in the art and literary worlds.” Now that it has come to light and stirred controversy, the singer-songwriter says, “I want to rectify it immediately. I’m working with Simon & Schuster and my gallery partners to do just that.” - Variety
One of the most valuable items in Rome is a bathtub that has been estimated to be worth $2 billion. And you thought your bathroom renovation was expensive. The bathtub—more technically known as a “porphyry basin”—is today housed in the round hall in the Pio Clementino Museum. - The Daily Beast
The poor performance of “Strange World” highlights one of the issues facing Mr. Iger. He returns to a theatrical environment far harsher to animated releases than the one he left. - The Wall Street Journal
The mystique of the too-quiet room, if construed by outsiders, has perhaps been bolstered by the company’s website, which advertises an experience called “The Orfield Challenge,” whereby, for $600 an hour, a person can attempt to set a new “record” for time spent in the chamber. - The New York Times
Since AIDS was identified in the early 1980s, the World Health Organization estimates that over 40 million people have died of HIV or AIDS-related illness and that today there are an estimated 38 million people carrying the virus. - Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus
“The main problem is that fees for artists have not gone up despite the growing costs of inflation, gas prices, increased flight prices, hotels, etc. So there’s even less money to go round now, when, let’s face it, there was not very much to begin with, but now the pie is even smaller.” - The Daily Beast
Now, when so many of our needs are unified and algorithm-prompted by online retail, independent bookstores offer person-to-person customization. Something, it turns out, that we are craving despite the ease of online shopping. - The Globe & Mail
As more video-production studios embrace advanced audio formats for at-home content, not every device can keep up. Plenty of viewers can’t keep up, either. - The Wall Street Journal
The confrontation is intriguing and raises many issues of which the most basic is the simple question: why has the story of Atlantis – compared with other ancient myths – maintained its popularity for so long? What is the essential attraction of the tale? - The Observer
The company says it plans to invest $1 billion a year in movies to be released in theatres - that's 12-15 theatrical releases a year, far outstripping Netflix's plans for cinemas. - Seattle Times (Bloomberg)
