Frontman Evan Stephens Hall was accused of "sexual coercion" last year Pinegrove have given their first interview since cancelling their tour last November. The band began a brief hiatus after frontman Evan Stephens Hall acknowledged he’d been accused of “sexual coercion” by someone he “was involved with for a short but intense period of time.” In the new Pitchfork feature, Hall and the band address the statement they released last year and also announce that they will be self-releasing their third full-length, ‘Skylight’ on Friday (September 28). Proceeds from the Bandcamp sales of the album will go towards three charities: the Voting Rights Project, the American Foundation For Suicide Prevention, and Musicares. The piece details that the alleged victim came to a private resolution with Hall via a mediator in late 2017, asking the band to take a year off touring and for Hall to enter into therapy. “We wanted to honor that,” Hall explained in the piece. “She recognised that we’ve honored it, and has since approved our plan to release an album and play some shows later on this year.” According to the mediator, the alleged accusation involves “verbal and contextual pressure” and that “the accusation is not of a physical nature at all.” The alleged victim, who has remained anonymous, declined to be interviewed on the record for the story. Hall added that he is “sincerely committed to improving my mental health and the way I treat everyone I interact with.” Speaking of the statement he wrote last year, Hall said: “At first, I felt defensive. I was trying to understand what the accusation was. It really didn’t jive with my memory of what had happened. I take consent seriously. All of our encounters were verbally consensual. But, OK, certainly this isn’t from nowhere. “If she came away feeling bad about our encounter, feeling like she couldn’t express how she was feeling honestly at the time, that’s a huge problem. So I have been reflecting a lot about how a relationship that promotes honesty is an active process, and that maybe there are conversations we should have had that we didn’t, or maybe there’s something else I could have done to make her feel like she could have said how she was feeling. I’ve been thinking about that all the time.” “A lot of people took issue with the phrase ‘sexual coercion,’ because they understood it was evasive, like I was obscuring a more serious accusation,” he continued. “But I included that phrase because that was the language used by the person I was involved with. It was meant as a symbol of respect to have her dictate the language of the conversation.” According to Run for Cover records’ Jeff Casazza, the label did not drop Pinegrove, but the two parties made a mutual decision to part ways. Hall said that there was “some discomfort expressed” by other artists on the label. Pinegrove also plan to play shows later this year, dates of which are yet to be announced

The couple's child was reportedly born last month Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig and actress Rashida Jones have reportedly welcomed a baby son, named Isaiah Jones Koenig. According to E! news, the couple’s child was born on August 22. This would be the first child for both Jones, 42, and Koenig, 34, although the pair have never publicly acknowledged their relationship status. Rumours that Koenig and Jones were dating began circulating in 2016 after they attended a New York Knicks game together. They were later spotted together at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Meanwhile, Koenig confirmed that Vampire Weekend’s new album is “done” during the band’s headlining performance at End of the Road festival earlier this month. During the show, a fan shouted out to inquire about the progress of their highly anticipated new record, which was due for release earlier this year, but has now been delayed. “When’s the new album coming out?” Keonig replied. “Oh, who cares? No, it’s done. We’ll talk about that later.” Further on in the set, he explained: “We don’t wanna make big deal about it, but this is our first time playing in the UK since Reading & Leeds 2014. We agreed to do [End of The Road 2018] a long time ago and, yeah, we hoped we’d be doing a victory lap with our new album. But, you know, this is what happens. Life goes on. We promise we’ll come back to the UK and we’ll play new songs. And they’re good – I promise.” After taking another question from a fan, Koenig said: “Has the vinyl been ordered? Yeah, but the vinyl takes a long time. You know the industry. There’s a real log jam at the vinyl factory these days.” The singer also took the opportunity to introduce new members of the band, following the departure of founding member Rostam Batmanglij: guitarist Brian Jones and Greta Morgan, whom Koenig described as his “third cousin by marriage”.

The pair performed under the real Harvest Moon Beck and Jenny Lewis covered Neil Young‘s iconic hit ‘Harvest Moon’ last night (September 25) at the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Denver, Colorado. Lewis has been opening up for Beck during this tour, which promotes his 2017 album ‘Colors’. Speaking of the LP, NME described it as “Beck’s most mainstream-palatable record thus far”, adding that is is “by far Beck’s most upbeat and enjoyable record from front to back since the ’90s. Repeated listens will no doubt be rewarded.” The pair performed the song under the actual Harvest Moon – the full moon occurring closest to the autumnal equinox. You can watch the rendition below. Earlier this month (September 16), Beck covered Gary Numan‘s 1979 pop hit ‘Cars’ with the man himself during an appearance at Riot Fest. Beck has long been a fan of Numan’s track, incorporating it into his live shows since the beginning of his ‘Colors’ tour. He’s has performed the song long before that, with one dating back to 2002. Numan joined Beck on stage for the rendition. Writing on Twitter, Numan said: “Honoured to be invited to join beck on stage tonight at RiotFest. Incredible band.” Earlier this year, Beck remixed U2‘s ‘Songs Of Experience’ track ‘Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way’. He opened for the band during their 30th anniversary tour of their classic 1987 album ‘The Joshua Tree’ in 2017 and he also did a remix of ‘Lights Of Home’ from their recent album. That remix featured a riff from Haim’s 2014 single ‘My Song 5’ and also featured the girl band on backing vocals.

Check out the vintage footage here Smashing Pumpkins‘ Billy Corgan has been asked about the time that the band played Twister with Nirvana. Filmed for MTV, the Chicago outfit took on Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and Dave Grohl in a somewhat chaotic version of the classic party game. During the clip, Nirvana bassist Novoselic is seen taking part semi-naked in front of an audience. Now, a Pumpkins fan has asked frontman Corgan if he recalls the bizarre evening. “No, that wasn’t us, TBH,” he responded in a recent Q&A on Instagram. Corgan is said to respond with “TBH” when faced with questions that can be answered by a quick Google search. When reminded that there is video footage of the game happening, Corgan continued to troll the user. “Again, that’s not us,” he said. The vintage clip was filmed at Boston’s Bill’s Bar in 1991. Ahead of the game, Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana had played a show together at a nearby venue. Remind yourself of the moment above. Local band Bullet Lavolta also appeared on the line-up. In 2011, their drummer Todd A. Philips wrote about the surreal evening. “MTV approached all three bands about doing some kind of impromptu video interview at Bill’s Bar,” he said (via Vanyaland). “We walked over and were met by an MTV producer, armed with a bucket of Crisco and the game Twister. Her vision, ‘Naked greasy Twister with interview’ seemed funny at the time, but the taping ended up being a bust.” Last month, Smashing Pumpkins announced their highly-anticipated comeback album, ‘Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun’ Following the news, Billy Corgan recently claimed that Smashing Pumpkins’ former bassist D’Arcy Wretzky continued to ask if she could re-join the band – even after the animosity between them around the reunion had peaked.

The album is due for release on October 26 Robyn has shared ‘Honey’ – the title track from her forthcoming new album. The song originally appeared as a demo on a 2017 Girls episode. It marks the second track to be taken from the LP, following on from last month’s release of ‘Missing U’. ‘Missing U’ was recorded and written in Paris and Stockholm. Robyn wrote and produced the track with Metronomy’s Joseph Mount and her long-time collaborator Klas Åhlund. Speaking of the previous version of ‘Honey’, Robyn said: “I sent [Lena Dunham] some music I’m working on and she picked ‘Honey’. It wasn’t ready to be released, but we finished this version for her and ‘Girls.’” Earlier this year, Robyn spoke about the track during a talk at New York’s Red Bull Music Festival, saying she “wasn’t happy with” that version. Speaking of her new album, Robyn described it as “this sweet place, like a very soft ecstasy.” “I danced a lot when I was making it. I found a sensuality and a softness that I don’t think I was able to use in the same way before. Everything just became softer.” She previously announced the record via a video message on Twitter, saying: “I really can’t wait for you to hear it. It’s a personal album, and there are so many things that happened throughout making it that it’s really hard for me to explain in one go. I think the best way is for you to listen to it.” You can see the track listing for Honey below: Missing U Human Being (feat. Zhala) Because It’s In The Music Baby Forgive Me Send To Robin Immediately Honey Between The Lines Beach 2K20 Ever Again The album will be released on October 26.

In association with Temple Of Setian You Me At Six will open a pop-up vegan kebab shop called ‘You Me At Shish’ to celebrate the release of their new album ‘VI’. Opening on October 5th at 6pm, the band are teaming up with Temple Of Setian to offer a special ‘VI’-themed menu, which will also include ‘VI’-themed cocktails. The pop-up will open its doors at 6pm at Temple Goods Cafe in Hackney Downs Studios. There’ll be an acoustic set from the band at 7pm, followed by DJ sets into the evening. Fans will be able to get their hands on the new album as well as exclusive merch. In July, the band announced a ‘Take Off Your Colours’ ten-year anniversary tour. Due to demand, the band latyer released details of a further headline show at Brixton Academy, taking the number of nights there to three. The band’s second show in Brixton sold out in just twenty-minutes following the initial announcement. You can see the full tour dates below, as well as in-store dates promoting ‘VI’. Headlining tour dates: South Park ‘South Park’ to address school shootings in new series Nov 21st – Leeds, O2 Academy Nov 22nd – Birmingham, O2 Academy Nov 23rd – Manchester, Victoria Warehouse Nov 24th – Manchester, Victoria Warehouse Nov 26th – Newcastle, O2 Academy Nov 27th – Glasgow, Barrowland Nov 28th – Glasgow, Barrowland Nov 30th – London, O2 Academy Brixton Dec 1st – Cardiff, University Great Hall Dec 2nd – London, O2 Academy Brixton Dec 3rd – London, O2 Academy Brixton Dec 6th – Bournemouth, O2 Academy Dec 7th – Sheffield, O2 Academy Dec 8th – Norwich, UEA Dec 9th – Nottingham, Rock City UK in-store performances and signings: Oct 4th – New Slang at Przym, Kingston-Upon-Thames. All ages and 18+ show’s. (Full band) Oct 6th – London, Rough Trade East (Signing) Oct 7th – Marlborough, Sound Knowledge (Signing + Acoustic) Oct 8th – Birmingham, HMV (Signing + Acoustic) Oct 8th – Liverpool, Jacaranda (Phase One) (Signing + Acoustic) Oct 9th – Manchester, HMV (Signing) Oct 9th – Preston, Action (Signing + Acoustic) Oct 10th – Leeds, Jumbo (Signing + Acoustic) Oct 11th – Glasgow, HMV (Signing + Acoustic) Read more at https://www.nme.com/news/music/you-m...FHdGyGpj8h9.99

The activist was hospitalised in a critical condition after falling ill in Russia Pussy Riot member Peter Verzilov has been released from a German hospital following two weeks of treatment for poisoning. The activist was hospitalised in a critical condition after falling ill in Russia earlier this month (September 12). His friends and family, including fellow Pussy Riot members, suspected he had been poisoned. Doctors later confirmed their suspicions. Pussy Riot took to Twitter today to announce that Verzilov has now left the hospital. “Peter feels great and they’re kicking him out of the hospital,” they wrote, alongside a photo taken 6 days ago Verzilov fell ill after attending a court hearing for the group’s Veronika Nikulshina. He passed out and felt like he was losing his eyesight when he regained consciousness. According to a statement issued by Pussy Riot, doctors from the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin hospital confirmed that it was their medical belief that Verzilov had been poisoned in Moscow. The statement added that the activist was still suffering from amnesia, dizziness, and confusion, but described him as being in “good spirits” as his condition improved. “If you ask Peter why do you think you were poisoned,” it read. “He most likely will tell you about the recent arrest of Igor Sechin, whether there is mobile connection in Arctic or not, about Marina Abramović and Ulay’s performances, and his postmodernist phantasies. It may be scary, but most of the time Peter still has his unique sense of humor. When he saw me and Nika Nikulshina yesterday, he said, ‘So good to see you without handcuffs.’” The group also explained: “It’s important to realize that Peter’s life was in danger. He might be dead now if Nika Nikulshina was not around to help him.” Verzilov was one of four Pussy Riot members jailed after invading the pitch during the World Cup Final in July. They were sentenced to 15-days in prison and banned from attending sporting events for three years.

"It’ll be something so weird and far-ranging in styles," he said Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett has described what his solo project would sound like, stating that it “would not look like a metal album at all.” During a new interview, Hammett revealed that he has a bunch of solo material ‘sitting around’ that’s ‘obviously not Metallica stff’, adding that ‘the pile gets bigger and bigger.’ “One of these days when it feels right… I still feel I have so much to give Metallica. When that feels more complete, maybe I’ll think about doing that other stuff,” he told Metal Hammer. “It would not look like a metal album at all,” he continued. “It’ll be something so weird and far-ranging in styles, but cohesive at the same time. I wouldn’t be surprised if all of us did some solo, independent, autonomous sort of thing. I think it’s healthy, and if anything, when you come back to the band you’d come back with more enthusiasm. It’d feel like going on a little camping trip, and it’s always good to come back home to a nice warm bed!” During the interview, Hammett also discussed what playing the guitar means to him. “I live for playing guitar, loud and aggressive,” he said. “There’s such a therapeutic effect that happens to me, and it fills a huge gaping hole in my soul. It’s been the case since day one, and it’s still improving. I still don’t feel I’ve hit the summit; I have a long musical road to discover and experience.” “Musically I’m in the best place I’ve ever been, and I feel very fortunate,” he added. “Some people peak right off the bat, then can’t pull off things they did when they were younger. I want to keep on going, never rest on my laurels, and always look forward.” Earlier this week, the band announced a huge 2019 European tour – including London and Manchester shows.

A walkthrough of Android Pie on the OnePlus 6: Meet the new and improved OxygenOS 9.0 Just yesterday, OnePlus 6 announced the imminent release of OxygenOS 9.0 for its current flagship, the OnePlus 6. OxygenOS 9.0 not only brings Android 9.0 Pie to the handset but also introduces a slew of additional new features that are certainly going to float the boat of long-time OnePlus fans. As usual with most major software updates that OnePlus releases, OxygenOS 9.0 is trickling as a staged rollout to small waves of users. Well what do you know, we happen to be among the first lucky ones that got it, which quickly nudged this very piece you're reading right into the oven. Although we've spent very little time with it, there are lots of cool new features that we are really itching to tell you about. Without further ado, let's dive deep into the cool new overhaul that OxygenOS 9.0 is. Customize that Android Pie Once you get OxygenOS 9.0 on your OnePlus phone, you will feel in awkwardly familiar waters. Sure, OnePlus has adopted almost all of the new visual changes that Google threw into the interface, including but not limited to the all new quick toggles in the notification shade, the redesigned Settings menu, as well as the volume vertical volume indicator, which is among the bigger changes introduced with Pie. Let's kick things off with the first change you're likely to notice, the all-new notification shade with its new quick toggles. Unlike stock Android Pie, which relies on blue-colored icons, OxygenOS 9.0 is a bit more classy in its representation, relying on black or white, depending on the theme you choose. The toggles are big, bold, rather non-ambiguous, and thanks to the new circular outlines, much easier to make it among the rows of similar small-sized toggles. Moving onto the main Settings menu, we get a much more colorful page than before, which features vibrant icons for all the main submenus. That's with the default "Colorful" theme will set you up with, but should you manually go for either the light or dark ones, you will end up with more uniform and mature albeit less vibrant icons. Of course, just like before, you can choose an accent color in both the light and dark themes. Previously you could only choose between eight colors, but with OxygenOS 9.0, OnePlus 6 users are allowed to select their own shades and hues thanks to the newly-implemented color wheel selector, which is a great addition for customization's sake. Finally, the new volume indicator is lifted straight from Android Pie. Unlike stock Android, the volume indicator is positioned on the left side of the interface here, which makes interaction with it a bit odd if you use your phone with your right hand only - stretching your thumb is an option, but an even better one is using your other hand to interact with the volume level. The reason for this thing's position is the fact that OnePlus devices traditionally have their volume rockers on the left side of the device and it's logical for the volume indicator to pop up on that side of the screen.

If you've been waiting for the Surface Pro 6 to be unveiled next week, you could end up disappointed. Based on images taken from a Vietnamese hands-on with the tablet, it appears that the Surface Pro 6 is going to look very much like last year's model. And that also means that the slate will come sans a USB-C port. It will feature a 3.5mm port for headphones, a full-size USB port, a mini Display port and a port for the proprietary Surface Connector. The Surface Pro 6 will again feature a 12.3-inch display carrying a resolution of 2736 x 1824. The processor inside the unit seen in these images is an 8th Generation Intel Core i5, providing more power and less energy consumption than seen with last year's model. The new unit has a slight aesthetic change as the corners are more rounded, making the Surface Pro 6 easier to hold. 8GB of RAM is inside along with 128GB of native storage. Windows 10 is pre-installed and the tablet is equipped with Bluetooth 4.1. You can view the leaked images of the Surface Pro 6 by checking out the image at the top of this article, and by clicking on the slideshow below.

Russian lawmakers moved closer to approving divisive measures to raise the retirement age on Wednesday - plans that have already brought thousands out on to the street in protests and hit President Vladimir Putin’s approval rating. A small group of pensioners, opposition figures and other opponents of the changes gathered outside the lower house of parliament where 326 lawmakers in the 450-seat legislature voted in favour of the bill on a second reading. The measures, meant to relieve pressure on state coffers, have been opposed by both anti-Kremlin activists and Communist lawmakers who rarely oppose government initiatives. Putin watered down the draft legislation last month after the protests - the current bill raises the retirement age for men to 65 from 60 and to 60 from 55 for women. But the concessions have not satisfied critics in a country where average life expectancy in Russia for men is 66 and 77 for women. Putin once promised he would never raise the retirement age. “Hundreds of thousands across the country have raised their voices against the increase of the retirement age,” said opposition activist Sergei Udaltsov outside the State Duma before the vote. “But the (ruling) United Russia party, the government and the president continue to abuse the country, forcing on it this shameful — or as I call it — diabolical bill.” The proposed pension reforms are the most unpopular government measure since a 2005 move to scrap Soviet-era benefits and have shaved around 15 percentage points off Putin’s popularity rating. The draft legislation must still undergo a third reading, which is set to take place on Thursday, and be approved by the senate before being signed into law by Putin. On Wednesday 59 parliamentarians voted against the bill and one abstained. Public discontent has drawn thousands into the streets in recent weeks. More than 800 people were detained in nationwide protests organised by opposition leader Alexei Navalny against the reforms earlier this month. Navalny was sentenced to 30 days in jail in late August, a move he said was designed by the authorities to prevent him from leading the rallies. He was detained upon his release from jail on Monday and jailed for a further 20 days on charges of staging an illegal protest. “This is a situation that affects everyone,” said Iman Ibragimov, a 26-year-old doctor wearing a red Communist party scarf outside parliament. “Even if the president signs the law, people will keep protesting.”

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he did not want to get into a “time game” in terms of setting deadlines for North Korea to denuclearize. “We’re not playing the time game. If it takes two years, three years or five months,” it does not matter, he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he wanted a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the clearest expression yet of his administration’s support for such an outcome. The Trump administration has in the past said it would support a two-state solution if both sides agreed to it. Trump, in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations General Assembly, also said he wanted to unveil a peace plan in the next two to three months. “I like a two-state solution. That’s what I think works best ... That’s my feeling,” said Trump. Netanyahu has said any future Palestinian state must be demilitarized and must recognise Israel as the state of the Jewish people - conditions that Palestinians say show he is not sincere about peacemaking. The United States’ Arab allies are strong proponents of a two-state solution. At a news conference in New York later on Wednesday, Trump said he would be open to a one-state solution if that was the preference of the parties themselves, a position he has previously stated. “If the Israelis and the Palestinians want one state, that’s OK with me. If they want two states, that’s OK with me,” he said. “I’m happy if they’re happy.” Doubts have mounted over whether Trump’s administration can secure what he has called the “ultimate deal” since December, when the U.S. president recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and then moved the U.S. Embassy there. Trump said “it is a dream of mine” to secure an agreement before the end of his term in office, which ends in early 2021. “I don’t want to do it in my second term. We’ll do other things in my second term,” he said. “I think a lot of progress has been made.” Netanyahu said after meeting Trump he was “not surprised” at the U.S. president’s preference for a two-state solution for peace with the Palestinians, Israeli media reports said. Jerusalem is one of the major issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Both sides claim it as a capital. Trump’s move outraged the Palestinians, who have since boycotted Washington’s peace efforts, led by Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner. The Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. Israel captured those territories in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed East Jerusalem in a move not recognised internationally. It regards all of the city as its eternal and indivisible capital. Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said: “The two-state solution means to us that we have a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. This is the only way to achieve peace.” Rdainah said the Palestinians wanted to resolve all the core issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - which include borders, settlements, refugees, security and the status of Jerusalem - “according to United Nations resolutions.” Rdainah, speaking in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, refused to be drawn further, saying Abbas would make the Palestinian position clear in his speech to the General Assembly on Thursday. Asked what Israel might have to give up in return for the embassy’s move to Jerusalem, Trump replied: “I took probably the biggest chip off the table. And so obviously we have to make a fair deal, we have to do something. Deals have to be good for both parties ... Israel got the first chip and it’s a big one.”

President Tayyip Erdogan, on the eve of a visit to Germany, urged it to designate as a terrorist organisation the Fethullah Gulen movement, which Turkey blames for a 2016 coup attempt. Germany has previously rejected this request, saying it needs more proof linking the network of supporters of the U.S.-based cleric, which Turkey labels the Gulenist Terrorist Organisation (FETO), to the failed attempt to overthrow the Turkish government. “Our primary expectation from the federal republic (of Germany) is that it recognise FETO as responsible for the attempted putsch, just as Britain did,” Erdogan wrote on Wednesday on the website of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. Relations between Ankara and Berlin have been badly strained by a crackdown in Turkey after the failed coup in which dozens of Germans were imprisoned. “We are pursuing the goal of increasing our trade and economic ties,” Erdogan wrote. “For the sake of prosperity and the future of both our countries, let us increase our mutual interests and reduce our problems.” After years of breakneck growth, Turkey is in crisis, its heavy foreign debt load increased by the Turkish lira’s 40 percent slide this year - a sell-off that intensified after President Donald Trump imposed sanctions in retaliation for the detention of a U.S. pastor. Germany is home to three million people of Turkish ethnic background. Ankara is angry with Berlin for giving asylum to alleged coup plotters, while German authorities fret over Erdogan’s influence over Germany’s Turks. Officials have warned Erdogan against campaigning overtly when he opens a mosque on Saturday in Cologne, home to one of Germany’s largest Turkish communities. Germany and the European Union rely on Turkey to stem the flow of Syrian war refugees to prevent a repeat of events of 2015, when a million migrants arrived in Germany, convulsing European politics and weakening Merkel. “He needs money, and he hopes to get it from Germany,” said former Greens leader Cem Ozdemir, a critic of Erdogan who, as Germany’s most prominent politician of Turkish background, is regularly demonised in Turkish pro-government media. “We should use that to speak up for the many people rotting in Turkish prisons just for disagreeing with Erdogan,” he added in an interview with public broadcaster SWR. The expected announcement in Nyon, Switzerland, on Thursday of which of the two soccer-mad nations gets to host the 2024 UEFA championships will be the least of diplomats’ concerns. Erdogan plans meetings with Merkel on each of the three days of the visit, but both countries’ officials have said financial aid for the crisis-hit economy is not on the agenda. Berlin deflects concerns about granting Erdogan a state visit by insisting human rights will be high on the agenda. Many senior politicians, including Merkel, are staying away from the banquet President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is giving in his honour on Friday. But Ozdemir will be there, hoping to send a message. “Erdogan has to face the fact that opposition is part of politics in Germany, and not thrown into prison or silenced like in Turkey,” he told Die Welt in an interview.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg voiced support for the #MeToo movement on Wednesday in a striking statement on the eve of a high-stakes U.S. Senate hearing into allegations of sexual misconduct by President Donald Trump’s nominee to the court, Brett Kavanaugh. During a question-and-answer period after an address to first-year law students at Georgetown University in Washington, Ginsburg was asked if there was anything she was excited or disappointed about regarding the current women’s movement. After discussing the problem of “unconscious bias” that leads to gender discrimination, she said she was “cheered on” by the #MeToo movement, a national reckoning with sexual assault and harassment that has brought down dozens of rich and powerful men. “Every woman of my vintage has not just one story but many stories, but we thought there was nothing you could do about it - boys will be boys - so just find a way to get out of it,” said Ginsburg, 85. Ginsburg said that the #MeToo movement showed women coming together in numbers. “So it was one complaint and then one after another the complaints mounted. So women nowadays are not silent about bad behaviour.” Ginsburg did not mention Kavanaugh or the women who have accused him of sexual misconduct. During a Senate hearing on Thursday, one accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, will testify about an alleged 1982 incident in which she said Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when both of them were in high school. Two other women have come forward with allegations. Kavanaugh, who was named by Trump to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, who retired in July, has denied the allegations. The Supreme Court’s 2018 term officially begins on Oct. 1.

You have to hand it to the kids. They are much more technologically advanced at their age than ever before. So advanced in fact, that there are already two workarounds for the time limits that their parents can place on app usage using iOS 12's Screen Time feature. Screen Time is designed to give parents control over their children's iPhone usage, allowing them to set a cap on how long Junior can use certain apps. One way to break the cap is to turn the time and date back on an iPhone, giving the user extra time on an app. This can be done even if the phone is already in "down time." The other way is a bit more complex, but a 7 year old happened to figure it out. When this kid runs out of screen time and his apps are locked, he goes to the App Store and downloads a previously installed (but later removed) game using the cloud icon. And the game works without any issues! Parents can put the kibosh on the latter "hack" by going into restrictions on Screen Time and turn off Install Apps. This will remove the App Store icon from the device. It also will prevent any updates from coming through since that does count as an installation, so keep that in mind. "When iOS 12 came out I limited my 7-year old son’s screen time through the family share. For a few days I felt like he was playing a bit more than he should, but I couldn’t figure out why. Finally today, my son revealed his hack: When he runs out of screen time and his games get locked, he heads to App Store, downloads a previously installed (but later removed) game through the cloud icon, and it works without limitations! What can I say.. I’m not even mad. That’s impressive."-u/PropellerGuy, Reddit "I was so excited to turn on the screen time restrictions in the new iOS. Until my 13 year old found a work around within 2 minutes of handing his phone back to him during 'down time' — he went to settings and changed the date/time of his phone to an unrestricted time and voila! Free screentime again."-Anonymous parent Now that these workarounds have been made public, we could see Apple come up with a fix for both Screen Time cheats.

FCC passes order designed to force state and local governments to make quick decisions on 5G cells The FCC will soon limit the amount of time that states and local governments will have to approve or turn down requests by wireless carriers to deploy 5G technology. According to the regulatory agency, a new order passed today will save $2 billion in unnecessary costs and stimulate $2.5 billion in new construction. The new "time clock" for a state or local government to approve building a new small wireless facility will be 90 days. The clock will time 60 days for wireless facilities being added to a pre-existing facility. According to the FCC, today's action also "boosts the United States' standing in the race to 5G." But several cities are not happy with the feds hijacking local control over deployment of 5G small cells and other technology related to the next generation of wireless service. For example, the city of Philadelphia said that maintaining this control helps protect "the health, safety and welfare of the city’s over 1.5 million residents and 43 million annual visitors." In another blow to local governments, FCC commissioner Brendan Carr says that states and cities will be able to charge carriers to review the deployment of small cells and other technology, but cannot charge excessive fees. All four commissioners voted for the order with a partial dissent from the lone Democrat on the commission, Jessica Rosenworcel. While she agrees with the faster review times for states and local governments, she does not agree with parts of the order that she fears will "run roughshod over state and local authority" and tell "state and local leaders all across the country what they can and cannot do in their own backyards." "Supporting the deployment of 5G and other next-generation wireless services through smart infrastructure policy is critical. Indeed, upgrading to these new services will, in many ways, represent a more fundamental change than the transition to prior generations of wireless service. 5G can enable increased competition for a range of services—including broadband—support new healthcare and Internet of Things applications, speed the transition to life-saving connected car technologies, and create jobs. It is estimated that wireless providers will invest $275 billion over the next decade in next-generation wireless infrastructure deployments, which should generate an expected three million new jobs and boost our nation’s GDP by half a trillion dollars. Moving quickly to enable this transition is important, as a new report forecasts that speeding 5G infrastructure deployment by even one year would unleash an additional $100 billion to the U.S. economy. Removing barriers can also ensure that every community gets a fair shot at these deployments and the opportunities they enable"-FCC Considering that the FCC seems so concerned with the U.S. leading the global rollout of 5G, it would be surprising if the agency now turns around and decides to block T-Mobile's $26.5 billion merger with Sprint. The two carriers have draped their transaction in the American flag, saying that it needs to be approved in order to keep U.S. leadership of 5G technology. Both the FCC and the FTC must sign off the deal for it to close.

The weak lensing surveys such as HSC prefer a slightly less clumpy Universe (left) than that predicted by Planck (right). The pictures show the slight but noticeable difference as expected from large computer simulations. The present-day universe is a pretty lumpy place. As the universe has expanded over the last 14 billion years or so, galaxies and dark matter have been increasingly drawn together by gravity, creating a clumpy landscape with large aggregates of matter separated by voids where there is little or no matter. The gravity that pulls matter together also impacts how we observe astronomical objects. As light travels from distant galaxies towards Earth, the gravitational pull of the other matter in its path, including dark matter, bends the light. As a result, the images of galaxies that telescopes see are slightly distorted, a phenomenon called weak gravitation lensing. Within those distortions is a great amount of information that researchers can mine to better understand the distribution of matter in the universe, and it provides clues to the nature of dark energy. The HSC map, created from data gathered by Japan's Subaru telescope located in Hawaii, allowed researchers to measure the gravitational distortion in images of about 10 million galaxies. The Subaru telescope allowed them to see the galaxies further back in time than in other similar surveys. For example, the Dark Energy Survey analyzes a much larger area of the sky at a similar level of precision as HSC, but only surveys the nearby universe. HSC takes a narrower, but deeper view, which allowed researchers to see fainter galaxies and make a sharper map of dark matter distribution. The research team compared their map with the fluctuations predicted by the European Space Agency Planck satellite's observations of the cosmic microwave background radiation -- radiation from the earliest days of the universe. The HSC measurements were slightly lower than, but still statistically consistent with Planck's. The fact that HSC and other weak lensing surveys all find slightly lower results than Planck raises the tantalizing question of whether dark energy truly behaves like Einstein's cosmological constant. "Our map gives us a better picture of how much dark energy there is and tells us a little more about its properties and how it's making the expansion of the universe accelerate," Mandelbaum said. "The HSC is a great complement to other surveys. Combining data across projects will be a powerful tool as we try uncover more and more about the nature of dark matter and dark energy." Measuring the distortions caused by weak gravitational lensing isn't easy. The effect is quite small and distortions in galaxy shapes can also be caused by the atmosphere, the telescope and the detector. To get precise, accurate results, researchers need to know that they are only measuring effects from weak lensing. Mandelbaum, associate professor of physics and member of the McWilliams Center for Cosmology at Carnegie Mellon, is an expert at controlling for these outside distortions. She and her team created a detailed image simulation of the HSC survey data based on images from the Hubble Space Telescope. From these simulations, they were able to apply corrections to the galaxy shapes to remove the shape distortions caused by effects other than lensing. These results come from the HSC survey's first year of data. In all, the HSC survey will collect five years of data that will yield even more information about the behavior of dark energy and work towards other goals such as studying the evolution of galaxies and massive clusters of galaxies across cosmic time, measuring time-varying objects like supernovae, and even studying our own Milky Way galaxy.

300 million people will soon start to see ads in Facebook Stories and Messenger Stories Facebook is not doing too badly following a data collection scandal that many expected to harm the brand indefinitely, although the social networking giant’s latest financial report did cause the company’s market value to collapse. On the bright side, user numbers haven’t stopped growing, including as far as all those Snapchat copycats are concerned. Instagram Stories, which debuted all the way back in August 2016 as a blatant rip-off of the core Snapchat functionality, crossed the 400 million mark a few months ago, and now it’s milestone time for Facebook Stories as well. More than 300 million people around the world use either Facebook Stories or Messenger Stories every day, which is certainly not as impressive as the latest Instagram Stories achievement, but it still beats Snapchat’s 188 million tally. That’s right, Facebook has gotten so big that the number of users addicted to a secondary feature of the social media platform is 112 million higher than the total number of daily active Snapchat visitors. Keep in mind that Facebook Stories saw the light of day roughly seven months after Instagram Stories, with Messenger Stories evolving from an experimental Messenger Day project that started a regional public test run a couple of years ago. Bottom line, the rapid surge in popularity is undoubtedly impressive albeit far from surprising. Facebook’s imitation games are nothing new, and more often than not, they seem to be very effective in boosting the capabilities of a social networking service that everyone loves to hate but no one appears capable of leaving behind. Naturally, with great success comes great responsibility exposure to ad revenue, so let’s not act shocked that Facebook Stories are being opened to businesses. Facebook Stories Ads are following last year’s introduction of Instagram Stories ads, with sponsored messages soon to be made available in a “fullscreen, immersive” environment. Ads for Facebook Messenger Stories are not here yet (thank god), but they’re also in the works (ugh). Then again, no one’s forcing you to check out these 24 hour-only photos and video collections, either from a Facebook friend or an advertiser.

Global Freeleech Mode Activated! 3 days, 18 hours, 33 minutes, 42 seconds

Thugs of Hindostan trailer: Yash Raj Films today unveiled the trailer of Thugs of Hindostan, featuring Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Lloyd Owen. The film will release on November 8. The trailer of Thugs of Hindostan, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Katrina Kaif, is out and it looks like an action-packed period drama. Thugs of Hindostan is set in the year 1795. We are told in the beginning of the trailer that the East India Company that came in for trade is now on its way to ruling India. We are then introduced to Amitabh Bachchan’s Azaad (earlier introduced as Khudabaksh in the motion poster) and Fatima Sana Shaikh’s Zafira. We see visuals that suggest that Zafira is an excellent archer. The British plan to target Azaad as he stands in the way of their rule. Amitabh and Fatima are on the same team here. To capture Azaad, the British rope in Aamir Khan’s Firangi. Watch the trailer of Thugs of Hindostan here: Aamir’s character here is in cahoots with the British as they send him to infiltrate Azaad’s team. Lloyd Owen’s John Clive plays the evil British officer. Katrina Kaif also makes an appearance in the trailer but we aren’t told much about what she’s doing in the film. The trailer has some action sequences but those are bogged down by some mediocre CGI. Aamir’s dialect here is faintly Awadhi and it looks like he will also be responsible for the humour in the film. The visuals and background music will remind everyone of Pirates of the Caribbean.

It's pretty clear that Samsung bets on the gaming industry after the launch of the Galaxy Note 9. The South Korean company is heavily involved in two major gaming events that will reward players with extremely nice prizes. After teaming up with Epic Games and Fortnite streamer “Ninja” for a Galaxy squad contest, Samsung now announced that it will sponsor a global PUBG Mobile tournament. Dubbed “Star Challenge,” the gaming event is just the first in the Championship Series hosted by Tencent Games and PUBG Corporation. for PUBG Mobile. The announcement mentions that teams from six regions across the world will face each other to be crowned champion and win a piece of the $600,000 prize pool. Furthermore, the top 20 teams from each of the six regions will move on to the qualifier rounds of the “PUBG Mobile Star Challenge,” and then to the global finals. Global and regional winners will split the $600,000 prize pool as follows: Global Final Champion: $200,000 USD Runner-up: $100,000 USD 3rd Place: $50,000 USD Regional Final Champion: $20,000 USD Regional Runner-up: $15,000 USD 3rd Place: $10,000 USD The tournament organizers accept squads from across Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Japan/Korea, and China, and the finals will happen in Dubai at the end of 2018.

A new auto-commentary published in SLAS Technology looks at how an emerging area of artificial intelligence, specifically the analysis of small systems-of-interest specific datasets, can be used to improve drug development and personalized medicine. The auto-commentary builds on a study recently published by the authors in Science Translational Medicine about an artificial intelligence (AI) platform, Quadratic Phenotypic Optimization Platform (QPOP), that substantially improves combination therapy in bortezomib-resistant multiple myeloma to identify the best drug combinations for individual multiple myeloma patients. It is now evident that complex diseases, such as cancer, often require effective drug combinations to make any significant therapeutic impact. As the drugs in these combination therapies become increasingly specific to molecular targets, designing effective drug combinations as well as choosing the right drug combination for the right patient becomes more difficult. Artificial intelligence is having a positive impact on drug development and personalized medicine. With the ability to efficiently analyze small datasets that focus on the specific disease of interest, QPOP and other small dataset-based AI platforms can rationally design optimal drug combinations that are effective and based on real experimental data and not mechanistic assumptions or predictive modeling. Furthermore, because of the efficiency of the platform, QPOP can also be applied towards precious patient samples to help optimize and personalize combination therapy.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have discovered a route to alter boron nitride, a layered 2D material, so that it can bind to other materials, like those found in electronics, biosensors and airplanes, for example. Being able to better-incorporate boron nitride into these components could help dramatically improve their performance. The scientific community has long been interested in boron nitride because of its unique properties -- it is strong, ultrathin, transparent, insulating, lightweight and thermally conductive -- which, in theory, makes it a perfect material for use by engineers in a wide variety of applications. However, boron nitride's natural resistance to chemicals and lack of surface-level molecular binding sites have made it difficult for the material to interface with other materials used in these applications. UIC's Vikas Berry and his colleagues are the first to report that treatment with a superacid causes boron nitride layers to separate into atomically thick sheets, while creating binding sites on the surface of these sheets that provide opportunities to interface with nanoparticles, molecules and other 2D nanomaterials, like graphene. This includes nanotechnologies that use boron nitride to insulate nano-circuits. Their findings are published in ACS Nano, a journal of the American Chemical Society. "Boron nitride is like a stack of highly sticky papers in a ream, and by treating this ream with chlorosulfonic acid, we introduced positive charges on the boron nitride layers that caused the sheets to repel each other and separate," said Berry, associate professor and head of chemical engineering at the UIC College of Engineering and corresponding author on the paper. Berry said that "like magnets of the same polarity," these positively charged boron nitride sheets repel one another. "We showed that the positive charges on the surfaces of the separated boron nitride sheets make it more chemically active," Berry said. "The protonation -- the addition of positive charges to atoms -- of internal and edge nitrogen atoms creates a scaffold to which other materials can bind." Berry said that the opportunities for boron nitride to improve composite materials in next-generation applications are vast. "Boron and nitrogen are on the left and the right of carbon on the periodic table and therefore, boron-nitride is isostructural and isoelectronic to carbon-based graphene, which is considered a 'wonder material,'" Berry said. This means these two materials are similar in their atomic crystal structure (isostructural) and their overall electron density (isoelectric), he said. "We can potentially use this material in all kinds of electronics, like optoelectronic and piezoelectric devices, and in many other applications, from solar-cell passivation layers, which function as filters to absorb only certain types of light, to medical diagnostic devices," Berry said.

From the outside, the cluster made of 55 copper and aluminum atoms looks like a crystal, but chemically it has the properties of an atom. The heterometallic superatom created at Chair of Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry at the Technical University of Munich is the largest ever produced in the laboratory. On the outside, the cluster made of 55 copper and aluminum atoms looks like a crystal, but chemically it has the properties of an atom. The heterometallic superatom which chemists of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have created provides the prerequisites for developing new, more cost-effective catalysts. Chemistry can be expensive. For example, platinum is used to clean exhaust gases. This precious metal acts as a catalyst which speeds up chemical reactions. Without catalysts, it would not be possible to carry out a large number of processes in the chemical industry. "Many groups of researchers are experimenting with new material compounds made of lower-cost base metals such as iron, copper, or aluminum. However, so far nobody has been able to predict whether, how, and why these catalysts react," explains Roland Fischer, Professor for Inorganic and Metal-Organic Chemistry at the TUM. "Our goal was to bridge this gap and to create the basis for understanding a new generation of catalysts." Bottom-up approach yields results Together with his team, the chemist has now uncovered a secret of base metal compounds. "What was new about our approach was that we did not examine existing materials, but instead went bottom-up and built compounds made of individual copper and aluminum atoms," explains Fischer. Combining two metals at the atomic level requires no small amount of know-how and finesse: Within a protective argon atmosphere, the chemists combined the metal atoms which were bound to organic compounds in a test tube, to which they then added a solvent. "Naturally, we hoped that the copper and aluminum atoms would separate from the organic compounds and form a cluster together. But whether they would actually do that and what the result would be was entirely unclear," remembers Fischer. The secret of the crystals Hence, the chemists were extremely delighted to find that reddish-black particles with a diameter of up to one millimeter had formed at the bottom of the test tube. X-ray images revealed an extremely complex structure: In each case, 55 copper and aluminum atoms were arranged such that they formed a crystal whose surface consisted of 20 equilateral triangles. Crystallographers call such shapes icosahedrons Additional experiments showed that chemically, the crystals react like an individual copper atom and are also paramagnetic, which means that they are attracted by a magnetic field. An explanation for the extraordinary properties of the metal clusters was provided by Prof. Jean-Yves Saillard from the French university in Rennes: According to him, 43 and 12 aluminum atoms organize themselves into a "superatom" in which the metals form a shared electron shell which resembles that of a single metal atom. Hence, the cluster has the chemical properties of an atom. Located on the outermost shell are three valence electrons whose spins align themselves in a magnetic field -- hence the observed paramagnetism. Knowledge base for new catalysts The heterometallic superatom by the researchers in Munich is the largest one ever made in the lab. "That it formed spontaneously, i.e. without the input of energy, out of a solution is an extremely remarkable outcome," emphasizes Fischer. "It shows that the arrangement of 55 atoms constitutes an island of stability and hence determines the direction in which the chemical reaction takes place." The researchers now intend to use the findings of the research project to develop fine-grained and hence highly effective catalyst materials. "We are still far away from being able to use it in applications," emphasizes Fischer. "But based on what we have now achieved, we can verify the suitability of copper-aluminum clusters for catalytic processes and also create clusters made of other promising metals."