The Morning After: Big, Beautiful Fallout
Similarly, for all of this administration's talk of bringing manufacturing back to the US, the bill is a middle finger for domestic solar companies. The US is the only credible manufacturing rival to China in solar panels, but the bill cuts these businesses off at the knees. I spoke to people inside the US solar industry who know that, despite whatever tariffs are implemented, this bill opens the door to a flood of cheap, Chinese-made solar panels to usurp their US rivals.
An earlier version of the bill also contained moves that could only be described as weirdly vindictive. It previously proposed an annual EV tax of $250 (and $100 for hybrid owners) as well as a general levy on all wind and solar projects. Why? A cynic might suggest it was due to the bill being drafted to benefit fossil fuel companies at the expense of literally everyone else.
Anyway, hopefully you can enjoy the holiday and won't need to spend it panic-buying an EV and US-made solar panels. Although that's not actually a bad way to spend a long weekend.
— Dan Cooper
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You can snag two months of Paramount+ for just $2, allowing you to take advantage of the new season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds . The deal applies to both the Essential and Premium plan, so you can easily have a little run of ad-free Star Trek as a treat. And, if you don't like the idea of binging Strange New Worlds , you can always watch Star Trek: Lower Decks instead.
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Microsoft has announced it will cut 9,000 jobs from its global workforce, with much of that focus on its gaming division. Engadget's Jessica Conditt got the inside scoop from employees at Halo Studios, who reveal all is not well at what should be one of Microsoft's crown jewels. Sadly, the company was already gutted back in 2023, and the lukewarm reception of its work since then is a sign of how badly things are going.
Continue Reading. Igor Bonifacic for Engadget
Translating a work of art is a delicate task requiring nuanced knowledge of both the culture and the languages you're translating from and to. Unless you're Anime-favoring streaming service Crunchyroll, which just dumped subtitle files into ChatGPT and hoped for the best. As well as a general sloppiness, Engadget's Igor Bonifacic found instances of lines beginning with 'ChatGPT said:' at the start of a line. Crunchyroll said the subtitles were the result of the unauthorized action of a "third-party vendor," and it is working to rectify the error right now.
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Neil Druckmann, head of Naughty Dog and co-creator of The Last of US and its TV adaptation, is stepping down from the HBO series. He said he's shifting his focus back to video games full time to work on the studio's next big title, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet . The Last of Us Part II co-writer Halley Gross is also stepping down at the same time, and that got our staff TLoU superfan Nathan Ingraham's antennae twitching. He feels the video game industry, currently suffering body blow after body blow, needs Druckmann (and Gross) far more than the TV world does.
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Nothing has launched its third-generation flagship, the $799 Nothing Phone 3, complete with a new eye-catching gimmick. Whereas previous models had the Glyph Interface, a series of flashing lights on the rear cover, the 3 gets a tiny dot-matrix display called the Glyph Matrix. Wanna find out if it's going to be worth your cash? Check out Mat Smith's detailed hands-on.
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Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
The little mountain democracy that sustains Tibet's refugee nation
So over the decades, he gradually devolved his own power to an elected Parliament based in the Indian Himalayas, then retired his political role completely in 2011. Creating a robust structure not dependent on a single leader, he believed, according to senior monks and officials close to him, would help exiled Tibetans withstand Beijing's efforts to crush their movement for freedom and autonomy. Advertisement 'The rule by kings and religious figures is outdated,' the Dalai Lama, who celebrates his 90th birthday Sunday, said the year he gave up his political role. 'We have to follow the trend of the free world, which is that of democracy.' Recently, the Dalai Lama seemed to rule out the unorthodox ideas he had suggested over the years to prevent the Chinese government from meddling in the process of finding a successor in the vacuum after his death. He reaffirmed his commitment to traditional practices while declaring that his office had sole authority over them. That all but guarantees a dispute, analysts say, with the prospect of two Dalai Lamas: one promoted by Beijing and the other recognized by the Dalai Lama's office in exile. Advertisement The institutionalized democracy entrenched by the Dalai Lama was built for this moment. Since 2011, Tibetan exiles — who number around 140,000, half of them in India — have chosen a president through a direct vote held across refugee settlements in India and in small diaspora pockets around the world. The president, known as the sikyong, leads a shoestring administration that oversees schools, clinics, monasteries, and even agricultural cooperatives and old-age homes. This democracy, constructed over more than half a century, may be the most vivid legacy of the Dalai Lama's modernizing efforts to preserve Tibetan traditions abroad while resisting Chinese influence. 'The political system of governance, the struggle, the same democratic system will continue even in the interregnum,' Penpa Tsering, the president of the Tibetan government in exile, said this past week, referring to the period after a Dalai Lama dies and his reincarnation is found and groomed for the role. While the spiritual leader has tried to forge a resilient administration, China will have levers to pull with India and the United States, two of the strongest supporters of the Dalai Lama's seven-decade cause, to try to dry out their support. The exile government's vulnerability became clear this year when the Trump administration froze aid as part of global cuts. About a quarter of the annual $40 million budget for the government in exile comes from the United States. Tsering said the exile administration had recently managed to persuade the US government to lift the freeze on a large share of the money. 'It does affect the momentum of the work we have set in. We lost six months,' he said. Advertisement During visits to two of the largest Tibetan settlements in India — in Dharamsala, where the government in exile is based, and in Bylakuppe, in southern India — the anxiety over a transition after the Dalai Lama was evident. Tenzin Jigdal, a member of the Tibetan Parliament in exile, said he had been urging a 'SWAT analysis' of vulnerabilities. " How prepared are we for the coming years, in post-Dalai Lama scenario ?" he said on the sidelines of a parliamentary session in Dharamsala in September. 'If you see this inevitability in advance, the least you can do is you can prepare in advance.' The Parliament, with an array of groupings and factions, has come a long way since it held its first sessions under a tree months after the Dalai Lama became a refugee. Its 45 members meet twice a year — once in the spring to approve a budget and once in the fall to hear the government's performance report. Except for nearly a dozen standing committee leaders who stay in Dharamsala, most of the members have other jobs during the year, and some come from as far as Europe and North America. During the session in September, as the lawmakers filed into the small hall, they bowed to a large portrait of the Dalai Lama before taking their seats for the day's proceedings. He also loomed large over the debate. Tsering, the president, was presenting the report on the performance of his government's cultural and religious activities. He read for nearly half an hour, page after page, as many members tried to stay alert with the help of the tea in front of them. Outside, under a tent erected on a basketball court, a couple of hundred refugees seated in red plastic chairs closely followed the proceedings. They cheered and clapped when they were in agreement with a speaker. Advertisement During a question-and-answer session, one opposition lawmaker tried to score a jab. The Dalai Lama had just undergone knee replacement surgery in New York. Why had the president disturbed his rest by visiting him, she asked. The crowd under the tent booed and jeered. It was a low blow. Tsering and other officials said that while the administration was focused on the delivery of services, its overarching mission remained the preservation of Tibetan culture, language, and traditions that are being wiped out in their homeland by the Chinese Communist Party. That work has become harder as Tibetan refugees, now in their third generation, have spread out over about two dozen countries. Connections to the homeland are waning. And the Dalai Lama, their unifying symbol, has reduced his travels and engagements as he has aged. 'In India, the Tibetan community is large, so we don't face any problem in preserving culture,' said Jigme Namgyal, the education secretary in the government in exile. 'But in the West, Tibetans are scattered, so it's a bit challenging. But what we do is, in all the Tibetan communities in the West, we have weekend schools.' The challenges of migration and demographic change were most visible in the Tibetan settlements in Bylakuppe, in the south Indian state of Karnataka. More than 5,000 residents live in the settlements, as well as thousands of monks who flow through the monasteries. The exile government has two senior settlement officers who oversee the delivery of services with the help of a staff of nearly 200. The refugees run shops and restaurants and often hire local labor. Advertisement 'Our death rate is higher than our birthrate. People are also migrating out of India,' said Sonam Yougyai, 55, a hospital administrator. 'You go inside the house, and you only find old people.' At the Sambhota Tibetan Primary School, classes were sparsely attended. The school has 49 students from grades 1 to 5. They are taught the Tibetan language, English, environmental sciences, math, and arts. Sherab Wangmo, 34, the school's head teacher, said that in addition to teaching the students language and culture, they are shown videos to remind them of how they became refugees. She, like a majority of the diaspora population, was born outside Tibet and has never seen her homeland. 'Through dance and songs, we teach them about the Tibetan rivers,' she said. 'We also teach them through songs and dances that good days will come one day, and we will go back to our homeland.' This article originally appeared in
The Hill
2 hours ago
- The Hill
A tiny town in India's Himalayas buzzes with activity to celebrate Dalai Lama's 90th birthday
DHARAMSHALA, India (AP) — Thousands of Tibetan Buddhists began streaming in India's Himalayan town of Dharamshala on Sunday to celebrate the 90th birthday of the Dalai Lama, who said days ago that he plans to reincarnate after dying. Hundreds of red-robed monks and nuns braved incessant rain and poured through the narrow streets of Dharamshala to make their way towards the main Dalai Lama temple, where the spiritual head was scheduled to deliver a speech. A crowd of Tibetans — some carrying ceremonial offerings — walked beside them. Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, has been living in exile since he fled Chinese rule in Tibet in 1959, and his birthday will be attended by thousands of his followers from around the world along with celebrities and officials from the United States and India. Earlier this week, the Nobel Peace Prize winning Buddhist spiritual leader said he plans to reincarnate after his death, ending years of speculation that he might be the last person to hold the role. He also said that the next Dalai Lama should be found and recognized as per past Buddhist traditions. On Saturday, the Dalai Lama said he hoped of living for decades more, until the age of 130. In the past the Dalai Lama has said his successor will be born in the 'free world' — outside China. Many exiled Tibetans, however, fear China will name its own successor to the Dalai Lama to bolster control over Tibet, a territory it poured troops into in 1950 and has ruled ever since. China, which views the Dalai Lama as a separatist, has repeatedly said that it alone has the authority to approve the next spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism. It also says it will reject anyone chosen without Beijing's consent. Recognized worldwide in his red robes and wide smile, the Dalai Lama describes himself as a 'simple Buddhist monk.' But millions of Tibetan Buddhists worship him as living manifestations of Chenrezig, the Buddhist god of compassion. The Dalai Lama was thrust onto the Tibetan throne in 1937. Soon after, Chinese troops swept into his homeland in the 1950s and crushed a failed uprising, forcing him to escape with thousands of his followers to India where he established a government in exile. Since then, he has spent more than seven decades in exile and sustained a nation in exile by managing to build a community that's kept the Tibetan culture and identity alive. The Dalai Lama has also become one of the world's most recognizable figures while leading a Tibetan diaspora through their struggle for autonomy and opposition of China's control of Tibet.
Hamilton Spectator
2 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
A tiny town in India's Himalayas buzzes with activity to celebrate Dalai Lama's 90th birthday
DHARAMSHALA, India (AP) — Thousands of Tibetan Buddhists began streaming in India's Himalayan town of Dharamshala on Sunday to celebrate the 90th birthday of the Dalai Lama, who said days ago that he plans to reincarnate after dying. Hundreds of red-robed monks and nuns braved incessant rain and poured through the narrow streets of Dharamshala to make their way towards the main Dalai Lama temple, where the spiritual head was scheduled to deliver a speech. A crowd of Tibetans — some carrying ceremonial offerings — walked beside them. Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, has been living in exile since he fled Chinese rule in Tibet in 1959, and his birthday will be attended by thousands of his followers from around the world along with celebrities and officials from the United States and India. Earlier this week, the Nobel Peace Prize winning Buddhist spiritual leader said he plans to reincarnate after his death, ending years of speculation that he might be the last person to hold the role. He also said that the next Dalai Lama should be found and recognized as per past Buddhist traditions. On Saturday, the Dalai Lama said he hoped of living for decades more, until the age of 130. In the past the Dalai Lama has said his successor will be born in the 'free world' — outside China. Many exiled Tibetans, however, fear China will name its own successor to the Dalai Lama to bolster control over Tibet, a territory it poured troops into in 1950 and has ruled ever since. China, which views the Dalai Lama as a separatist, has repeatedly said that it alone has the authority to approve the next spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism. It also says it will reject anyone chosen without Beijing's consent. Recognized worldwide in his red robes and wide smile, the Dalai Lama describes himself as a 'simple Buddhist monk.' But millions of Tibetan Buddhists worship him as living manifestations of Chenrezig, the Buddhist god of compassion. The Dalai Lama was thrust onto the Tibetan throne in 1937. Soon after, Chinese troops swept into his homeland in the 1950s and crushed a failed uprising, forcing him to escape with thousands of his followers to India where he established a government in exile. Since then, he has spent more than seven decades in exile and sustained a nation in exile by managing to build a community that's kept the Tibetan culture and identity alive. The Dalai Lama has also become one of the world's most recognizable figures while leading a Tibetan diaspora through their struggle for autonomy and opposition of China's control of Tibet . Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
