Jury selection began Monday in a trial to determine whether British pop star Ed Sheeran plagiarized American music legend Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” in his 2014 hit “Thinking Out Loud.”   

The plaintiffs are the heirs of Ed Townsend, a musician and producer who co-wrote Gaye’s 1973 soul classic.  

They allege that there are “striking similarities and overt common elements” between Gaye’s sultry classic and Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud.”   

It’s not the first time Sheeran has been taken to court, as copyright lawsuits in the music industry flourish.    

Sheeran testified in a London court in April last year in a case centered around his song “Shape of You.” He is among the potential witnesses to be called in this trial, as well, in which opening arguments were due to begin Tuesday after a jury is selected, a lawyer working on the case told Agence France-Presse.    

Townsend’s family has pointed out that the group Boyz II Men has performed mashups of the two songs, and that Sheeran has blended the songs together on stage, as well.   

Sheeran’s team contests the allegations, saying “there are dozens, if not hundreds, of songs that predate and postdate” Gaye’s song, “utilizing the same or similar chord progression.”   

“These medleys are irrelevant to any issue in the case and would be misleading [and] confuse the jury,” Sheeran’s team said.   

Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” shot up America’s Billboard Hot 100 charts when it was released and won Sheeran a Grammy Award for “Song of the Year” in 2016.   

The lawsuit, filed in 2016 — and refiled in 2017 after being rejected on procedural grounds — also names Sony.   

In Sheeran’s London trial, the singer called the lawsuit emblematic of copyright litigation that goes too far, potentially stifling creativity.   

The judge agreed, declaring that Sheeran had “neither deliberately nor subconsciously copied” part of the melody in the song “Oh Why” by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue.   

The judge acknowledged similarities between the two songs, but ultimately ruled there were large differences, and that Chokri’s lawyers failed to prove Sheeran had ever heard the song.   

Gaye’s family is not part of the New York lawsuit against Sheeran, though his estate successfully sued the artists Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams, and T.I. over similarities between the song “Blurred Lines” and Gaye’s “Got to Give it Up.” 
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Len Goodman, the urbane, long-serving judge on “Dancing with the Stars” and “Strictly Come Dancing,” has died, his agent said Monday. He was 78. 

Agent Jackie Gill said Goodman “passed away peacefully,” without giving a cause. 

A former dancer and British champion, Goodman was a judge on “Strictly Come Dancing” for 12 years from its launch on the BBC in 2004. The ballroom dancing competition, which pairs celebrities with professional dance partners, has become one of the network’s most popular shows. 

Goodman was head judge on the U.S. version of the show, “Dancing With the Stars,” for 15 years until his retirement in November.  

BBC director-general Tim Davie said Goodman was “a wonderful, warm entertainer who was adored by millions. He appealed to all ages and felt like a member of everyone’s family. Len was at the very heart of ‘Strictly’s success. He will be hugely missed by the public and his many friends and family.” 

Goodman was also a recipient of the Carl Alan Award in recognition of outstanding contributions to dance and owned the Goodman Academy dance school in southern England.  
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“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” continued to rack up coins at the box office, leading ticket sales for the third straight weekend, as the animation hit neared $1 billion after just 18 days in theaters.

The weekend’s top new release, the horror reboot “Evil Dead Rise” debuted solidly, launching with $23.5 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. But that was no match for Universal Pictures’ “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which grossed $58.2 million in its third weekend.

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is setting a torrid pace for an animated movie. This week, it became the highest-grossing animated released of the pandemic era, with domestic ticket sales up to $434.3 million through Sunday and its global tally at $871.1 million. When “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” soon passes $1 billion worldwide, it will be just the fourth film of the pandemic era to reach that benchmark, following “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “Top Gun Maverick” and “Avatar: The Way of Water.”

“Evil Dead Rise,” From Warner Bros. and New Line, is the fifth installment (and first in a decade) in the thriller franchise that Sam Raimi began with this 1981 ultra-low-budget classic, “Evil Dead.” Though Raimi’s subsequent and much-adored films starring Bruce Campbell grew increasingly slapstick, marrying comedy and horror, the 2013 reboot and “Evil Dead Rise” (with Raimi as an executive producer) rely on chillier frights.

“Evil Dead Rise,” which had a reported budget of $17 million, also had originally been planned as an HBO Max release. When Warner Bros. decided direct-to-streaming films weren’t financially appealing, it pushed some films – including “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” and “House Party” – to theaters, and simply canned a few others including “Batgirl” and “Scoob! Holiday Haunt.”

Amazon Studios’ “Air,” likewise initially was intended to go straight to streaming, has also continued to perform well theatrically. The Ben Affleck-directed film, about Nike’s courting of Michael Jordan, dipped a modest 29% in its third weekend with $5.5 million to bring its cumulative total to $41.3 million.

But while horror remains one of the most dependable genres at the box office, and families — after a long dry spell of all-audience releases — have flocked to “Super Mario,” some adult-oriented releases have continued to have a harder time attracting audiences.

Guy Ritchie’s “The Covenant,” starring Jake Gyllenhaal as an injured army sergeant in Afghanistan, opened with $6.3 million in 2,611 theaters. But with mostly good reviews (81% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and an “A” CinemaScore from ticket buyers, the MGM release may hold well in coming weeks.

Ari Aster’s “Beau Is Afraid,” the most expensive movie ever made by specialty studio A24, expanded until near-wide release, going from four theaters to 926. Aster’s three-hour opus, received with more mixed reviews than his previous two films (“Hereditary,” “Midsommar”), took in $2.7 million.

Searchlight’s “Chevalier,” starring Kelvin Harrison as the 18th century French composer and violinist Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, also failed to make a dent. It took in $1.5 million in 1,275 theaters.

But with overall business in movie theaters largely thriving thanks to spring hits like “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and “John Wick: Chapter 4” ($168.9 million domestically in five weeks of release), the theatrical industry will have much to celebrate when it convenes Monday in Las Vegas for the annual CinemaCon. Studios, beginning with Sony Pictures on Monday, will hype their summer blockbusters as Hollywood looks to return to pre-pandemic box-office levels.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “Super Mario Bros,” $58.2 million.

2. “Evil Dead Rise,” $23.5 million.

3. “The Covenant,” $6.3 million.

4. “John Wick: Chapter 4,” $5.8 million.

5. “Air,” $5.5 million.

6. “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” $5.4 million.

7. “The Pope’s Exorcist,” $3.3 million.

8. “Renfield,” $3.1 million.

9. “Beau Is Afraid,” $2.7 million.

10. “Suzume,” $1.6 million.
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Tony Award-winning comedian Barry Humphries, internationally renowned for his garish stage persona Dame Edna Everage, a condescending and imperfectly-veiled snob whose evolving character has delighted audiences over seven decades, has died. He was 89.

His death in a Sydney, Australia, hospital, where he spent several days with complications following hip surgery, was confirmed by his family.

“He was completely himself until the very end, never losing his brilliant mind, his unique wit and generosity of spirit,” a family statement said. “With over 70 years on the stage, he was an entertainer to his core, touring up until the last year of his life and planning more shows that will sadly never be.” 

Humphries had lived in London for decades and returned to native Australia in December for Christmas.

He told The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper last month that his physiotherapy had been “agony” following his fall and hip replacement.

“It was the most ridiculous thing, like all domestic incidents are,” Humphries said of his fall. “I was reaching for a book, my foot got caught on a rug or something, and down I went.”

Humphries has remained an active entertainer, touring Britain last year with his one-man show “The Man Behind the Mask.”

Dame Edna’s roots

The character of Dame Edna began as a dowdy Mrs. Norm Everage, who first took to the stage in Humphries’ hometown of Melbourne in the mid-1950s. She reflected a postwar suburban inertia and cultural blandness that Humphries found stifling.

Edna is one of Humphries’ several enduring characters. The next most famous is Sir Les Patterson, an ever-drunk, disheveled and lecherous Australian cultural attache.

Patterson reflected a perception of Australia as a Western cultural wasteland that drove Humphries along with many leading Australian intellectuals to London.

Humphries, a law school dropout, found major success as an actor, writer and entertainer in Britain in the 1970s, but the United States was an ambition that he found stubbornly elusive.

A high point in the United States was a Tony Award in 2000 for his Broadway show “Dame Edna: The Royal Tour.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese paid tribute to the celebrated comedian.

“For 89 years, Barry Humphries entertained us through a galaxy of personas, from Dame Edna to Sandy Stone,” Albanese tweeted, referring to the melancholic and rambling Stone, one of Humphries’ most enduring characters. “But the brightest star in that galaxy was always Barry. A great wit, satirist, writer and an absolute one-of-kind, he was both gifted and a gift.”

British comedian Ricky Gervais tweeted: “Farewell, Barry Humphries, you comedy genius.”

Piers Morgan, British television personality, tweeted: “One of the funniest people I’ve ever met.”

“A wondrously intelligent, entertaining, daring, provocative, mischievous comedy Genius,” Morgan added.

Actor, writer, painter

The multi-talented Humphries was also a respected character actor with many stage and screen credits, an author of novels and an autobiography, and an accomplished landscape painter.

John Barry Humphries was born in Melbourne on Feb. 17, 1934. His parents were comfortable, loving and strait-laced, and must have wondered about their eldest son, whom they called Sunny Sam. His mother used to tell him to stop drawing attention to himself.

Before he had finished at the prestigious Melbourne Grammar School, Humphries was more interested in art and secondhand bookshops than football. At 16, his favorite author was Kafka and later said he “felt a little foreign.”

He spent two years at Melbourne University, where he embraced Dadaism — the subversive, anarchic and absurdist European art movement.

His contributions included “Pus In Boots,” waterproof rubber boots filled with custard, and on the performance art side, getting on a tram with an apparently blind accomplice whom Humphries would kick in the shins while yelling “Get out of my way, you disgusting blind person.”

In 1959, he settled in London and was soon working in Peter Cook’s comedy venue The Establishment. He played Sowerberry in the original London production of “Oliver!” in 1960 and repeated the role on Broadway. He appeared with Spike Milligan and William Rushton in “Treasure Island.”

Humphries, with New Zealand artist Nicholas Garland, created the Barry McKenzie comic strip for the satirical magazine Private Eye in 1964.

When the strips came out as a book, the Australian government banned it because it “relied on indecency for its humor.” Humphries professed delight at the publicity and implored authorities not to lift the ban.

By then Humphries’ drinking was out of control. In Melbourne in late 1970, he was charged with being drunk and disorderly. He finally admitted himself to a hospital specializing in alcoholism for the treatment that would turn him into a lifelong abstainer.

In 1972 came the first Barry McKenzie film — financially supported by the Australian government, despite the earlier ban. It was savaged by the critics, largely because they trembled at what the world’s first film to feature beer induced vomiting would do to Australia’s image overseas.

But it was a popular success and a sequel two years later included then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam knighting Edna, who was McKenzie’s aunt.

Married four times, Humphries is survived by his wife Lizzie Spender, four children and 10 grandchildren.
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The guardians of Champagne will let no one take the name of the bubbly beverage in vain, not even a U.S. beer behemoth.

For years, Miller High Life has used the “Champagne of Beers” slogan. This week, that appropriation became impossible to swallow.

At the request of the trade body defending the interests of houses and growers of the northeastern French sparkling wine, Belgian customs crushed more than 2,000 cans of Miller High Life advertised as such.

The Comité Champagne asked for the destruction of a shipment of 2,352 cans on the grounds that the century-old motto used by the American brewery infringes the protected designation of origin “Champagne.”

The consignment was intercepted in the Belgian port of Antwerp in early February, a spokesperson at the Belgian Customs Administration said on Friday, and was destined for Germany. Belgian customs declined to say who had ordered the beers.

The buyer in Germany “was informed and did not contest the decision,” the trade organization said in a statement.

Frederick Miller, a German immigrant to the US, founded the Miller Brewing Company in the 1850s. Miller High Life, its oldest brand, was launched as its flagship in 1903.

According to the Milwaukee-based brand’s website, the company started to use the “Champagne of Bottle Beers” nickname three years later. It was shortened to “The Champagne of Beers” in 1969. The beer has also been available in champagne-style 750-milliliter bottles during festive seasons.

No matter how popular the slogan is in the United States, it is incompatible with European Union rules which make clear that goods infringing a protected designation of origin can be treated as counterfeit.

The 27-nation bloc has a system of protected geographical designations created to guarantee the true origin and quality of artisanal food, wine and spirits, and protect them from imitation. That market is worth nearly 75 billion euros ($87 billion) annually — half of it in wines, according to a 2020 study by the EU’s executive arm.

Charles Goemaere, the managing director of the Comité Champagne, said the destruction of the beers “confirms the importance that the European Union attaches to designations of origin and rewards the determination of the Champagne producers to protect their designation.”

Molson Coors Beverage Co., which which owns the Miller High Life brand, said in a statement to The Associated Press that it “respects local restrictions” around the word Champagne.

“But we remain proud of Miller High Life, its nickname and its Milwaukee, Wisconsin provenance,” the company said. “We invite our friends in Europe to the U.S. any time to toast the High Life together.”

Molson Coors Beverage Co. added that it does not currently export Miller High Life to the EU and “we frankly don’t quite know how or why it got there, or why it was headed for Germany.”

Belgian customs said the destruction of the cans was paid for by the Comité Champagne. According to their joint statement, it was carried out “with the utmost respect for environmental concerns by ensuring that the entire batch, both contents and container, was recycled in an environmentally responsible manner.”
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A viral AI-generated song imitating Drake and The Weeknd was pulled from streaming services this week, but did it breach copyright as claimed by record label Universal?

Created by someone called @ghostwriter, Heart On My Sleeve racked up millions of listens before Universal Music Group asked for its removal from Spotify, Apple Music and other platforms.

However, Andres Guadamuz, who teaches intellectual property law at Britain’s University of Sussex, is not convinced that the song breached copyright.

As similar cases look set to multiply — with an uncanny AI replication of Liam Gallagher from Oasis causing buzz — he spoke to AFP about some of the issues being raised.

Did the song breach copyright?

The underlying music on Heart On My Sleeve was new, only the sound of the voice was familiar, “and you can’t copyright the sound of someone’s voice,” Guadamuz said.

Perhaps the furor around AI impersonators may lead to copyright being expanded to include voice, rather than just melody, lyrics and other created elements, “but that would be problematic,” Guadamuz added.

“What you’re protecting with copyright is the expression of an idea, and voice isn’t really that,” he said. 

He said Universal probably claimed copyright infringement because it is the simplest route to removing content, with established procedures in place with streaming platforms.

Were other rights breached?

An AI-generated impersonator may be breaching other laws.

If an artist has a distinctive voice or image, this is potentially protected under “publicity rights” in the United States or similar image rights in other countries.

Bette Midler won a case against Ford in 1988 for using an impersonator of her in an ad. Tom Waits won a similar case in 1993 against the Frito-Lays potato chips company.

The problem, said Guadamuz, is that enforcement of these rights is “very hit and miss” and taken much more seriously in some countries than others.

And streaming platforms currently lack straightforward mechanisms for removing content seen as breaching image rights.

What comes next?

The big upcoming legal fight is over how AI programs are trained.

It may be argued that inputting existing Drake and Weeknd songs to train an AI program may be a breach of copyright, but Guadamuz said this issue was far from settled.

“You need to copy the music in order to train the AI and so that unauthorized copying could potentially be copyright infringement,” he said.

“But defendants will say it’s fair use. They are using it to train a machine, teaching it to listen to music, and then removing the copies,” he said. “Ultimately, we will have to wait and see for the case law to be decided.”

But it is almost certainly too late to stem the flood.

“Bands are going to have to decide whether they want to pursue this in court, and copyright cases are expensive,” said Guadamuz.

“Some artists may lean into the technology and start using it themselves, especially if they start losing their voice.” 
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A man paces a 50-meter stage doing breathing exercises. Crew members chatter while putting together final touches to the set, as a pianist rehearses.

Acclaimed South African artist William Kentridge’s play “The Head & The Load” is almost ready for its much-awaited African debut.

“Being able to show it at home feels very important,” Kentridge told AFP of the show, which centers on African porters who, at the call of their colonial masters, hauled arms, cannons and supplies for European forces during World War I.

The production made its international debut in London in 2018 but has never been shown on African soil.

That is set to change on Friday as, after delays caused by coronavirus pandemic, the piece is set to premier at the Joburg Theatre in Johannesburg.

“This piece is about a hidden history, a history that was deliberately hidden,” Kentridge, 67, said as the cast took their places for a final dress rehearsal on Thursday night.

About one million African soldiers, porters and laborers are believed to have taken part in the 1914-18 conflict, according to the United Nations cultural agency, UNESCO.

More than 150,000 of them died.

“I think a starting place of the project was an ignorance, and an annoyance at my own self at my own ignorance,” the artist said. “I thought I knew the First World War.”

‘Troubles of the neck’

“The Head & The Load” takes its name from a Ghanaian proverb — “The head and the load are the troubles of the neck”.  At the rehearsal, the words are projected in enormous white text onto the stage.

But it takes a brief explanation, and a moment of reflection, to better understand their meaning.

“There’s… a physical load that the people are carrying, there’s a historical load of how we got here, and there’s a psychic load of how does one keep this history in one’s head,” Kentridge said.

Renowned for his animated films of shape-shifting charcoal drawings, the thickly eye-browed artist described the show as “a very wide drawing… moving in three dimensions”, combined with silhouettes, “added text and a great deal of music.”

Choreographer Gregory Maqoma said he looked forward to performing for a home audience.

The production aimed at “fulfilling” a void for “those who never made it back home,” he said.

Among them was a distant relative of the show’s co-composer, 35-year-old, Thuthuka Sibisi, who said one of his ancestors died on board the SS Mendi, a British steamship that sank in the Channel in February 1917.

The vessel was taking more than 600 mostly black South African soldiers to the front in France.

“The role and responsibility here is to… reconsider what we think is history” Sibisi said.

“The Head & The Load” runs at the Joburg Theatre from April 21 to May 6.
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Muslims in Minneapolis can now hear their call to prayer broadcast five times a day from mosques around the city, thanks to a new law. From Minneapolis, Mohamud Mascadde has the story, narrated by Salem Solomon.
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Moon Bin, a singer from South Korean boy band Astro, was found dead at his home in Seoul, his management agency said Thursday.

The 25-year-old was reportedly found by his manager who went to the singer’s home Wednesday evening because he wasn’t responding to contacts. Police are investigating his death but have so far found no signs of foul play, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. Officials at Seoul’s Gangnam district police station did not respond to calls for comment.

Moon Bin’s management agency, Fantagio, confirmed his death in a statement, saying that he “suddenly left us and became a star in the sky” and that fellow artists and company staff were mourning him with “very deep sadness and shock.”

Fantagio said Moon Bin’s funeral will be held “as quietly as possible,” with the attendance mostly limited to family, close friends and colleagues, based on the wishes of his relatives.

‘Always bright’

Moon Bin began his music career in 2016 as a member of the six-member boy band Astro, which debuted shortly after the singers appeared in a TV reality show. The group quickly found success in South Korea and Japan and was listed on Billboard’s top 10 list of new K-pop groups that year, with the magazine praising them for their “bright, synthpop sound that won over K-pop lovers from around the world.”

According to Billboard, Astro had seven albums on the magazine’s World Albums Chart with Moon Bin as a member, peaking at Number 5 in 2017 with “Dream Part.02.”

Fans flooded Moon Bin’s social media accounts with comments expressing grief and shock over his death, which came months after he renewed his contract with Fantagio along with four other Astro members.

“It’s hard to believe,” radio host Jang Seong-kyu wrote on Instagram. “We only met several times over broadcasts, but whenever we met, Moon Bin was always bright and expressed immense love for his family. I can’t imagine the pain he was going through.”

Moon Bin had also performed as a member of the duo Moonbin & Sanha with Astro bandmate Yoon San-ha. Indonesian event promoter Lumina Entertainment on Wednesday announced the cancellation of the duo’s performance in Jakarta due to “unforeseen circumstances beyond our control.”

Helix Publicity, a U.S.-based public relations agency that has represented Moonbin & Sanha, issued a statement on Twitter that it was “absolutely heartbroken.”

“Sending our thoughts, prayers, and deepest condolences to Moon Bin’s family, friends, loved ones, and to AROHA who always cheered for him and supported him,” it said, referring to the name that Astro’s fans call themselves.

Moon Bin entered the entertainment industry as a child actor and landed a role in the 2009 TV series “Boys Over Flowers,” which was hugely popular in Asia. His sister, Moon Sua, is also a K-pop artist, a member of the girl band Billlie.

Stars’ deaths prompt questions

Several South Korean singers and actors have died by suicide in recent years, which has touched off soul-searching about harsh competition in the fast-growing entertainment industry, an abusive online culture and failure by management to address the mental health problems of their stars.

Last week, 26-year-old actress Jung Chae-yull was found dead at her home. Her agency did not say what caused her sudden death.
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People worldwide have long been paying more for a premium cup of coffee. But what about a cost of over $100 for a cup? From Panama City, Panama, Oscar Sulbarán has the story, narrated by Cristina Caicedo Smit.
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Like most Facebook users, I am targeted by advertisements relating to my interests, particularly Native American.

So, when an ad popped up recently advertising a “Navajo Tufa Cast Corn Stalk Design Bracelet” cast from 55 grams of sterling silver, it got my attention, especially because its price was an implausible $6.48.

“Because of Black Friday, we produced … a lot of items, but we can’t sell them all … now we need to pay suppliers a lot of money,” is how the Cuterise website explained the low price.

The Scam Detector website rated Cuterise “Risky. Dubious. Perilous.” But curiosity got the best of me, so I accepted the risk and ordered the bracelet. While waiting for it to ship — if anything shipped at all — I decided to learn everything I could about it.

Tufa casting involves pouring molten silver into a mold carved out of soft volcanic stone found in New Mexico and Arizona. The Navajo have been using it to make jewelry since the mid-1800s.

Tufa is fragile and can crumble after a single casting. For this reason, artists often make a “master” using molten lead instead of silver that can be used to mold and cast multiple copies.

Genealogy of a bracelet

An image search on Google Lens turned up several matching bracelets, ranging in price from $300 to $900, but none were hallmarked by the maker.

I found the identical bracelet on the eBay auction site, which named the maker: Navajo Nation artist Eugene Mitchell. I tracked down his son Reggie Mitchell and sent him the photo of the bracelet I’d ordered. He confirmed that his father made that design in the 1970s.

“Our family has been making jewelry for a long time,” he said. “I’m the fifth generation, and my oldest son Bronson is the sixth.”

And for six generations, he added, his family has helped make Gallup, New Mexico, arts and crafts dealers rich.

“Back in the ‘70s, the FBI investigated Gallup because more 100-dollar bills were circulating there than in all of Las Vegas,” he said. “Gallup produced over 200 millionaires in that seven- to 10-year time period, and the source was Native American jewelry.”

I couldn’t find any data to confirm this, so I reached out to the Gallup McKinley County Chamber of Commerce.

“While the story has circulated in and around our community for years, it is more urban legend than truth,” Chamber of Commerce CEO Bill Lee responded via email. “What I will tell you is that even in today’s world of credit/debit cards, Gallup merchants still deal with very high volumes of cash.”

Reggie Mitchell remembers going with his father to Gallup, where he says a dealer “would always try to lowball the value” of his work.

“If it was two pieces of jewelry, they would give him money to make two more pieces and buy two meals,” he said. “And if they paid him, say, $100 for one piece, they’d turn around and sell it for six, seven, $800.”

It was on one of those trips to Gallup that Eugene Mitchell was robbed.

“My dad used to keep his lead masters in old coffee cans,” Mitchell said. “One day, he came out of a shop and discovered someone had broken his car window and taken the cans.”

Mitchell isn’t sure whether the master for the cornstalk bracelet was among the items stolen that day. He says his father found out later that New Mexico galleries were making rubber molds of the designs and selling copies “on the cheap.”

“And my dad would see them and say, ‘That’s my work, that’s my piece!’”

After that, the elder Mitchell cut out the middleman, and today, the family sells directly to their customers.

Bait and switch

I was surprised when Cuterise emailed me delivery tracking information. My order originated in Dongguan, China, a city dubbed “the world’s factory” and was now in transit to the U.S.

Clearly, I was going to receive something for my $6.48. But what? A plastic bracelet?

Ten days later, my order arrived. The package was flat and squishy. I tore it open and almost laughed. They’d sent me a pair of cheap stretch leggings printed to look like blue jeans – buttons, rivets and all.

My amusement faded as I thought about everything Reggie Mitchell told me. The family may not be using middlemen anymore, but Eugene Mitchell is still being exploited — this time by fraudsters halfway around the globe using photographs of a bracelet he made — and lost — 50 years ago.
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The share of Americans who volunteer their time to help charities build houses, serve food, do environmental cleanup, and much else has been on the decline nationwide but nowhere as sharply as in Florida, where only 16% of residents donate their free hours to local organizations, according to the latest available statistics.

That’s a drop from the nearly 23% of residents who volunteered in 2017.

Florida’s volunteer rate slumped in large part because of the pandemic, which made it especially risky for older Americans — who are among the most loyal and regular part of the volunteer population in Florida and elsewhere — to interact in public settings.

The loss of those volunteers is painful for many nonprofits, which are stretched to provide needed services and programs because they face a tight job market for paid workers and increased demands for help.

“What’s happening now is actually the staff is wearing multiple hats, as many nonprofit staff members do, to make up for the gap of volunteers,” says Sabeen Perwaiz Syed, CEO of the Florida Nonprofit Alliance, which represents charitable organizations across the state.

Meanwhile, Wyoming was the only state in the country to chalk up an increase in volunteering. Nearly 40% of residents volunteer, according to the latest figures available, compared with slightly less than 33% in 2017. The growth is in part because its open spaces made it easier for volunteers to keep working safely during the pandemic, and now nonprofits are seeking to capitalize on people’s growing interest in giving their time.

Those figures are part of an AmeriCorps analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data for 2017, 2019, and 2021, the latest year available.

The challenge of finding ways to attract and keep volunteers is not a new issue facing nonprofits, although it has been worsened by the pandemic.

Nathan Dietz, a researcher at the University of Maryland’s Do Good Institute, says charities that didn’t focus on retaining volunteers during the pandemic may find it difficult to get them back.

“There were some organizations who, during the pandemic, they just said, ‘We don’t know how we’re going to do volunteer management or volunteer engagement, and we don’t really have time to figure it out because we have bigger problems,'” Dietz said. “When people disengage from that kind of regular activity, it’s hard to re-engage them even if you’re trying to actively do that.”

Wyoming, known for wide-open spaces, including Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, had fewer restrictions and closings than many states throughout Covid-19. That kept more volunteer opportunities open and minimized disruptions to volunteers’ routines.

The Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation, a conservation nonprofit near Grand Teton National Park, relies on volunteers to collect local wildlife data and remove fencing that’s harmful to animals. The organization says more people wanted to volunteer during the pandemic than in past years.

Steve Morriss, a longtime volunteer with the foundation and other local nonprofits, says volunteer work in the outdoors was especially appealing for retirees like him during the pandemic because it allowed them to socially distance but still interact with others and do good.

The Heart of Wyoming Habitat for Humanity chapter, which relies on volunteers to build homes in Natrona County, saw an uptick in volunteering interest after re-opening its construction sites during the pandemic. Companies that previously provided financial support, in particular, began to give their employees time off to volunteer at Habitat.

The Wyoming Community Development Authority, a housing lender, is one financial supporter whose employees spent two days last year working on a Habitat construction site.

“Now it was no longer enough to make a gift, which we very much appreciate,” says Tess Mittelstadt, the nonprofit’s executive director. “But they wanted to see what that gift meant, and they wanted to see what that meant for people in our community.”

Jody Shields of the Wyoming Nonprofit Network says since the pandemic, she’s noticed increased interest from companies looking for volunteer opportunities because they allow employees both to bond with one another and to support local causes.

Mittelstadt says the organization is seeking to keep volunteerism high by providing volunteers with information about the specific families they’re helping by building houses. Habitat also invites volunteers to events celebrating completed homes.

Data suggests all the effort is paying off. Volunteers spent 57% more hours building new homes during the nonprofit’s last fiscal year compared with the previous year, according to Mittelstadt.

“Everybody knows somebody in our community, and everybody’s willing to lend that helping hand,” she says.

Even as the pandemic has receded, volunteerism is not rebounding in Florida, says Perwaiz Syed of the Florida Nonprofit Alliance.

“Nonprofits have had a lot of volunteers stop,” she says. “They have not returned. Many of them are seniors. They’re putting their health first and have not re-engaged in person.”

A study of 2,300 nonprofits by the alliance found that 40% of nonprofits reported they needed more volunteers and 25% of nonprofit employees said they were feeling overworked as they took on tasks previously done by volunteers.

The Manatee Literacy Council, which provides adult literacy tutoring, employs three part-time staff members and has 60 volunteer tutors, mostly retirees, available year-round. It lost 75% of its volunteers during the height of the pandemic. The program was able to move some of its work online, but it still can’t meet demand. The center currently has a waiting list of 100 people in need of tutoring.

To recruit more volunteers, the group sends representatives to community events to talk about its work, says Michelle Deveaux McLean, the council’s CEO.

She also says she is working hard to keep volunteers returning by organizing monthly meet-ups and creating a supportive environment. It continues to be a struggle.

“I’m lucky if I have five volunteers every month. We’re just perpetually upside down,” McLean says.

Other Florida nonprofits are turning more to online volunteering and enlisting companies to urge employees to volunteer.

For instance, Office Depot, based in South Florida, includes volunteerism as part of its professional development for employees. Since 2017, the company has sent workers to help charities do landscaping, paint murals, prepare meals for youths in Florida, and more.

Even as nonprofits work on a variety of ways to try to expand the number of volunteers, doing so may take time.

“I do think that Florida’s numbers will increase over time as we stabilize a bit from the pandemic,” Perwaiz Syed says. “I don’t think you’re going to see us in the top 10 because that’s just not possible to go that far that quickly. But I do think it will increase a little bit.”
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Senegalese singer-songwriter Baaba Maal on Monday was named a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification. 

Maal has long been an activist on climate change and refugees. Since 2003, he has been committed to various development challenges in Africa, working with different U.N. family organizations. 

His NANN-K Trust recently opened a solar-powered irrigation project in Senegal to fight desertification, which is one of the main drivers of people leaving the country on dangerous migration routes. The project will train people to start similar projects in their own communities. 

In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Maal said he is a believer in putting power in the hands of young people and women. 

“We are tackling climate change impact, but also fighting desertification on the African continent, especially in my region where we are just not far away from the desert and we see it coming to us,” he said. 

“And it had an impact because people who don’t get more opportunities to do agriculture, fishing and many more will have to run away from their places, go to the big cities where nothing is planned for them there, and then later on, some of the young ones will just take the boats to go to Spain or some of these places or just try to cross the desert and it’s really dangerous. We did lose a lot of lives.” 

Brought up in the small town of Podor in north Senegal, which has a fishing community at its heart, Maal was born into a fisherman caste and was expected to follow that career path, but he befriended storyteller and musician Mansour Seck, and has spent his life performing, traveling and raising awareness about the issues his homeland faces. 

“Our role is first to give news about what’s going on, because sometimes the local people, they don’t know what’s happening to them is the impact of climate change. They don’t know how to stand up against that. But at the same time, when they know about it, they will say what to do,” he said. 

The veteran musician released his first album in seven years, “Being,” on March 31 and will headline the Barbican in London for the first time in 20 years on May 30. 
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The final curtain came down Sunday on New York’s production of “The Phantom of the Opera,” ending Broadway’s longest-running show with thunderous standing ovations, champagne toasts and gold and silver confetti bursting from its famous chandelier. 

It was show No. 13,981 at the Majestic Theatre and it ended with a reprise of “The Music of the Night” performed by the current cast, previous actors in the show — including original star Sarah Brightman — and crew members in street clothes. 

Andrew Lloyd Webber took to the stage last in a black suit and black tie and dedicated the final show to his son, Nick, who died last month after a protracted battle with gastric cancer and pneumonia. He was 43. 

“When he was a little boy, he heard some of this music,” Lloyd Webber said. Brightman, holding his hand, agreed: “When Andrew was writing it, he was right there. So his son is with us. Nick, we love you very much.”  

Producer Cameron Mackintosh gave some in the crowd hope they would see the Phantom again, and perhaps sooner than they think. 

“The one question I keep getting asked again and again — will the Phantom return? Having been a producer for over 55 years, I’ve seen all the great musicals return, and ‘Phantom’ is one of the greatest,” he said. “So it’s only a matter of time.” 

The musical — a fixture on Broadway since opening on January 26, 1988 — has weathered recessions, war, terrorism and cultural shifts. But the prolonged pandemic may have been the last straw: It’s a costly musical to sustain, with elaborate sets and costumes as well as a large cast and orchestra. The curtain call Sunday showed how out of step “Phantom” is with the rest of Broadway but also how glorious a big, splashy musical can be.  

“If there ever was a bang, we’re going out with a bang. It’s going to be a great night,” said John Riddle just before dashing inside to play Raoul for the final time.  

Based on a novel by Gaston Leroux, “Phantom” tells the story of a deformed composer who haunts the Paris Opera House and falls madly in love with an innocent young soprano, Christine. Webber’s lavish songs include “Masquerade,” ″Angel of Music” and ″All I Ask of You.” 

In addition to Riddle, the New York production said goodbye with Emilie Kouatchou as Christine and Laird Mackintosh stepping in for Ben Crawford as the Phantom. Crawford was unable to sing because of a bacterial infection but was cheered at the curtain call, stepping to the side of the stage. The Phantom waved him over to stand beside him, Riddle and Kouatchou. 

There was a video presentation of many of the actors who had played key roles in the show over the years, and the orchestra seats were crowded with Christines, Raouls and Phantoms. The late director Hal Prince, choreographer Gillian Lynne and set and costume designer Maria Björnson were also honored. 

Lin-Manuel Miranda attended, as did Glenn Close, who performed in two separate Broadway productions of Lloyd Webber’s “Sunset Boulevard.” Free champagne was offered at intermission and flutes of it were handed out onstage at the curtain call. 

Riddle first saw “The Phantom of the Opera” in Toronto as a 4-year-old child. “It was the first musical I ever saw. I didn’t know what a musical was,” he said. “Now, 30-some odd years later, I’m closing the show on Broadway. So it’s incredible.”  

Kouatchou, who became the first Black woman in the role in New York, didn’t think the show would ever stop. “I was like, ‘OK, I’m going to do my run, ‘Phantom’ is going to continue on and they’ll be more Christines of color,’” she said. “But this is it.”  

The first production opened in London in 1986 and since then the show has been seen by more than 145 million people in 183 cities and performed in 17 languages over 70,000 performances. On Broadway alone, it has grossed more than $1.3 billion. 

When “Phantom” opened in New York, “Die Hard” was in movie theaters, Adele was born, and floppy discs were at the cutting edge of technology. A postage stamp cost 25 cents, and the year’s most popular songs were “Roll With It” by Steve Winwood, “Faith” by George Michael and Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.” 

Critics were positive, with the New York Post calling it “a piece of impeccably crafted musical theater,” the Daily News describing it as “spectacular entertainment,” and The New York Times saying it “wants nothing more than to shower the audience with fantasy and fun.” 

Lloyd Webber’s other musicals include “Cats,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Evita,” “Sunset Boulevard” and “School of Rock.” The closing of “Phantom” means the composer is left with one show on Broadway, the critically mauled “Bad Cinderella.” 

The closing of “Phantom,” originally scheduled for February, was pushed to mid-April after a flood of revived interest and ticket sales that pushed weekly grosses past $3 million. The closing means the longest-running show crown now goes to “Chicago,” which started in 1996. “The Lion King” is next, having begun performances in 1997.  

Broadway took a pounding during the pandemic, with all theaters closed for more than 18 months. Some of the most popular shows — “Hamilton,” “The Lion King” and “Wicked” — rebounded well, but other shows have struggled. 

Breaking even usually requires a steady stream of tourists, especially for “Phantom,” and visitors to the city haven’t returned to pre-pandemic levels. The pandemic also pushed up expenses for all shows, including routine COVID-19 testing and safety officers on staff. The Phantom became a poster boy for Broadway’s return — after all, he is partially masked. 

Fans can always catch the Phantom elsewhere. The flagship London production celebrated its 36th anniversary in October, and there are productions in Japan, Greece, Australia, Sweden, Italy, South Korea and the Czech Republic. One is about to open in Bucharest, and another will open in Vienna in 2024. 

Kouatchou, who walked the red carpet before the final show in a hot pink clinging gown with a sweetheart neckline and a cut out, said the bitterness was undercut by the big send-off. Most Broadway shows that close slink into the darkness uncelebrated. 

“It kind of sweetens it, right?” she said. “We get to celebrate at the end of this. We get to all come together and drink and laugh and talk about the show and all the highs and lows. It’s ending on a big note.” 
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World record-holder Eliud Kipchoge has the speed to outclass the rest of the field when he makes his Boston Marathon debut on Monday. 

To win, he may have to slow things down. 

The two-time Olympic gold medalist and 12-time major marathon champion knows that the 26.2-mile route from Hopkinton to Boston’s Back Bay isn’t like those flat and friendly courses where he established himself as perhaps the greatest distance runner of all time. 

No matter, he said: Breaking the tape is what’s important. 

Regardless of how long it takes. 

“I don’t mind about time,” said Kipchoge, who set the world record of 2 hours, 1 minute, 9 seconds in Berlin in 2019 and also broke 2 hours in an exhibition in a Vienna park that year. “I trust it will be a fruitful race, a very fruitful race. But I will try to win.” 

The hilly Boston course, which begins with a descent, hits Heartbreak Hill around 20 miles in and then drops down to sea level again on the way to the finish, has always rewarded smart tactics more than pure speed. Kipchoge, who had never seen the course before this week, won his majors in Berlin, London, Chicago and Tokyo — all flatter and faster. 

Still, his personal best is almost 2 minutes better than the next-fastest runners in the field, defending champion Evans Chebet, also of Kenya, and Gabriel Geay of Tanzania (2:03:00). 

“I trust the most prepared and planned person will take the day on Monday,” Kipchoge said. “I respect everybody. I respect the athletes, their condition. I respect their tactics. And if they are most prepared, I will shake their hands.”

In all, there are nearly a dozen runners in the field with times faster than the 2:05:52 that was the Boston record until a blistering 2011 race won by Geoffrey Mutai in 2:03:02 — at the time, the fastest marathon ever run. That year, cool temperatures and a strong tailwind helped create the perfect conditions for fast times. 

“What’s capable on this course has been totally flipped upside down,” 2018 winner Des Linden said. “You can just feel the energy. You feel like something magical is going to happen. I get the vibe that something epic is going to happen.” 

Monday’s weather is expected to be less cooperative, with rain and a headwind that is sure to crush anyone who gets distracted by the clock on the way to Copley Square. 

Kipchoge may not have experience on the course, but Linden said he has enough experience to know it isn’t a time trial. 

“He’s been out and he’s checked it out,” Linden said. “But I think there’s something about feeling your quads just being wrecked when you’re coming off of Heartbreak. That’s different. That’s a different thing that you have to experience. 

“I’ve heard it described as: We know that the Boston sports is going to chew you up. It’s whether or not it spits you out,” she said. “We don’t know if it’s going to spit him out or not. We’re going to find out.” 

Already a winner 

No matter what, Edna Kiplagat is going home from Boston a winner. 

The 2017 champion claimed her 2021 title in a brief ceremony in Copley Square on Thursday, inheriting the victory that was stripped from fellow Kenyan Diana Kipyokei after she tested positive for a banned substance. Kiplagat was given the winner’s medal and gilded olive wreath; she already had collected the first-prize money. 

“It was not the same as when I won the other, but I appreciate the effort,” she said. “It was a good presentation. I was so happy about it.” 

Kiplagat leads a women’s field that is also among Boston’s fastest. Amane Beriso of Ethiopia is one of three women ever to break 2:15:00, winning in Valencia, Spain, in December in 2:14:58. 

Nonbinary runners 

Monday’s race will see the debut of a new division for nonbinary athletes. 

The Boston Athletic Association added the category when registration opened last fall. In order to enter, nonbinary athletes needed to complete a marathon as a nonbinary participant during the qualifying window. Twenty-seven runners have signed up, the BAA said. 

Five of the six major marathons include a nonbinary category, with Tokyo the exception. 

Bombing anniversary 

The race will include 264 members of the One Fund community — survivors of the 2013 attack, along with friends and family of the victims and those raising money for related causes. 

The 2013 race was interrupted when two backpack bombs exploded on Boylston Street, steps from the finish line. Three people were killed and nearly 300 injured, with 17 people losing limbs to the pressure-cooker bombs that were packed with nails and ball bearings. 

The city marked 10 years since the bombing on Saturday, the calendar anniversary. 

Big day in Boston 

The Boston Red Sox hold their annual Patriots’ Day matinee on Monday, facing two-way Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani. First pitch is expected at around 11:10 a.m., about the time that the wheelchair racers will be zooming through Kenmore Square, the 1 Mile To Go marker. 

On Monday night, the NHL-best Boston Bruins open their first-round playoff series against the Florida Panthers. (The Boston Celtics are off, with Game 2 of their series against the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night.) 

“It’s on, man,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “I mean, if we could have done this on March 17th, that’d be the only way to make it bigger. That’s the only way this place would be more lit up.” 
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Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in the United States. It’s simple and can be played in small spaces so popular with all age groups. But not everyone loves it. Maxim Moskalkov reports.
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Ireland’s president has led tributes to Mark Sheehan, guitarist with Irish rock band The Script, after his death at 46.

The band said Sheehan died in a hospital Friday after a brief illness. In a statement, The Script called him a “much-loved husband, father, brother, band mate and friend.”

Formed in Dublin in 2001 by Sheehan, singer Danny O’Donoghue and drummer Glen Power, The Script topped U.K. and Irish charts with its self-titled debut album in 2008. It included the hits We Cry, Breakeven and The Man Who Can’t Be Moved, which reached No. 1 in five countries.

The band’s pop-inflected rock sound made it one of Ireland’s biggest bands in the 2010s. The Script went on to have six Top 10 albums in the U.K. and one top three album in the U.S.

Irish President Michael D. Higgins praised the band’s “originality and excellence” and sent condolences to Sheehan’s family.

“Through their music, Mark and The Script have played an outstanding part in continuing and promoting this proud tradition of Irish musical success across the world,” Higgins said.

Sheehan is survived by his wife, Rina Sheehan, and their three children.
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Hundreds of thousands of Russians opposed to Putin’s war in Ukraine have left to find refuge in Baltic countries, where they have joined Belarusians who have fled Lukashenko’s repression. Ricardo Marquina has more from the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, in this report narrated by Marcus Harton.
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Al Jaffee, Mad magazine’s award-winning cartoonist and ageless wise guy who delighted millions of kids with the sneaky fun of the Fold-In and the snark of “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions,” has died. He was 102. 

Jaffee died Monday in Manhattan from multiple organ failure, according to his granddaughter, Fani Thomson. He had retired at the age of 99. 

Mad magazine, with its wry, sometimes pointed send-ups of politics and culture, was essential reading for teens and preteens during the baby-boom era and inspiration for countless future comedians. Few of the magazine’s self-billed “Usual Gang of Idiots” contributed as much — and as dependably — as the impish, bearded cartoonist. For decades, virtually every issue featured new material by Jaffee. His collected “Fold-Ins,” taking on everyone in his unmistakably broad visual style from the Beatles to TMZ, was enough for a four-volume box set published in 2011. 

Readers savored his Fold-Ins like dessert, turning to them on the inside back cover after looking through such other favorites as Antonio Prohías’ “Spy vs. Spy” and Dave Berg’s “The Lighter Side.” The premise, originally a spoof of the old Sports Illustrated and Playboy magazine foldouts, was that you started with a full-page drawing and question on top, folded two designated points toward the middle and produced a new and surprising image, along with the answer. 

The Fold-In was supposed to be a onetime gag, tried out in 1964 when Jaffee satirized the biggest celebrity news of the time: Elizabeth Taylor dumping her husband, Eddie Fisher, in favor of “Cleopatra” co-star Richard Burton. Jaffee first showed Taylor and Burton arm in arm on one side of the picture, and on the opposite side a young, handsome man being held back by a policeman. 

Fold the picture in and Taylor and the young man are kissing. 

The idea was so popular that Mad editor Al Feldstein wanted a follow-up. Jaffee devised a picture of 1964 GOP presidential contenders Nelson Rockefeller and Barry Goldwater that, when collapsed, became an image of Richard Nixon. 

“That one really set the tone for what the cleverness of the Fold-Ins has to be,” Jaffee told the Boston Phoenix in 2010. “It couldn’t just be bringing someone from the left to kiss someone on the right.” 

Jaffee was also known for “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions,” which delivered exactly what the title promised. A comic from 1980 showed a man on a fishing boat with a noticeably bent reel. “Are you going to reel in the fish?” his wife asks. “No,” he says, “I’m going to jump into the water and marry the gorgeous thing.” 

Jaffee didn’t just satirize the culture; he helped change it. His parodies of advertisements included such future real-life products as automatic redialing for a telephone, a computer spell checker and graffiti-proof surfaces. He also anticipated peelable stamps, multiblade razors and self-extinguishing cigarettes. 

Jaffee’s admirers ranged from Charles M. Schulz of “Peanuts” fame and “Far Side” creator Gary Larson to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, who marked Jaffee’s 85th birthday by featuring a Fold-In cake on “The Colbert Report.” When Stewart and “The Daily Show” writers put together the best-selling “America (The Book),” they asked Jaffee to contribute a Fold-In. 

“When I was done, I called up the producer who’d contacted me, and I said, ‘I’ve finished the Fold-In, where shall I send it?’ And he said — and this was a great compliment — ‘Oh, please Mr. Jaffee, could you deliver it in person? The whole crew wants to meet you,'” he told The Boston Phoenix. 

Jaffee received numerous awards and in 2013 was inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame, the ceremony taking place at San Diego Comic-Con International. In 2010, he contributed illustrations to Mary-Lou Weisman’s “Al Jaffee’s Mad Life: A Biography.” The following year, Chronicle Books published “The MAD Fold-In Collection: 1964-2010.” 

Art was the saving presence of his childhood, which left him with permanent distrust of adults and authority. He was born in Savannah, Georgia, but for years was torn between the U.S., where his father (a department store manager) preferred to live, and Lithuania, where his mother (a religious Jew) longed to return. In Lithuania, Jaffee endured poverty and bullying but also developed his craft. With paper scarce and no school to attend, he learned to read and write through the comic strips mailed by his father. 

By his teens, he was settled in New York City and so obviously gifted that he was accepted into the High School of Music & Art. His schoolmates included Will Elder, a future Mad illustrator, and Harvey Kurtzmann, a future Mad editor. (His mother, meanwhile, remained in Lithuania and was apparently killed during the war). 

He had a long career before Mad. He drew for Timely Comics, which became Marvel Comics; and for several years sketched the “Tall Tales” panel for the New York Herald Tribune. Jaffee first contributed to Mad in the mid-1950s. He left when Kurtzmann quit the magazine but came back in 1964. 

Mad lost much of its readership and edge after the 1970s, and Jaffee outlived virtually all of the magazine’s stars. But he rarely lacked for ideas even as his method, drawing by hand, remained mostly unchanged in the digital era. 

“I’m so used to being involved in drawing and knowing so many people that do it, that I don’t see the magic of it,” Jaffee told the publication Graphic NYC in 2009. “If you reflect and think about it, I’m sitting down and suddenly there’s a whole big illustration of people that appears. I’m astounded when I see magicians work; even though I know they’re all tricks. You can imagine what someone thinks when they see someone drawing freehand and it’s not a trick. It’s very impressive.”
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The instruction to feed the hungry is a common philosophy among most major world religions. Muslims are no exception, especially while the observe the fasting month of Ramadan. VOA’s Irfan Ihsan reports. Alam Burhanan and Ronan Zakaria contributed.
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A group of historians from India’s leading universities have slammed recent revisions to school textbooks that include removing or trimming references to Islamic rule in the subcontinent and to the anger among some Hindu extremists at independence leader Mahatma Gandhi’s pursuit of Hindu-Muslim unity.

Education authorities have said the history, political science and sociology texts were revised as part of a “rationalization process” but critics charge that the amendments help promote the Hindu nationalist vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.

School textbooks issued by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), an autonomous organization under the Education Ministry, are part of the curriculum in thousands of schools across the country.

NCERT director Dinesh Prasad Saklani has denied allegations that the revisions were made with a political agenda and said they are meant to lighten the academic load on students in the aftermath of the COVID 19 pandemic, which led to loss of learning.

“It’s a professional exercise meant to help students hit by the pandemic and has no ulterior political motive,” he told television news channel, NDTV.

However a group of 250 historians and academics said that while they understand the need for periodic revisions of school texts, this round “reflects the sway of divisive politics over pedagogic concerns.”

“Selectively deleting several important themes from school textbooks is not only doing great disservice to the composite heritage of the Indian subcontinent, but betraying the aspirations of the Indian masses,” historians and academics from India’s top universities such as Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Ashoka University said in a statement on Friday.

While textbooks have been amended before, critics say the latest changes are efforts to bypass the period when Muslims ruled India.

Passages on Mughals, who ruled in North India between the 16th and 19th centuries, have been either trimmed or removed in secondary and senior school texts. Right wing Hindu groups consider the Muslim rulers oppressors and wanted more focus in history texts on ancient India, which they say reflects the achievements of India under Hindu rulers.

Several towns and streets bearing Muslim names have been renamed with Hindu ones since the BJP came to power.

Prime Minister Modi said at an event last December, that in the name of history, “concocted narratives” were taught to infuse inferiority and there is a need to break free from the “narrow views” of the past to move forward.

Historians underline how diverse races and religions that came to India over the centuries molded its identity.

“With these revisions, future generations of students might lose out on the basic nuances of how that historical progression had taken place in India,” pointed out Archana Ojha, professor of history at Delhi University, who is a signatory to the statement. “You cannot write history on the basis of religion. It is an account of human progression based on political, economic and other changes. For example the process of urbanization of Delhi began in the 13th century with a Muslim ruler. The Mughals were as much Hindustani [Indian] as others.”

Other deletions in the school texts include references to the links between Hindu extremism and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, the dislike of his pursuit of Hindu-Muslim unity among some Hindus, as well as the ban imposed on the right wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, in the aftermath of his killing. The RSS is called the ideological parent of the ruling BJP.

Among the deleted references is one that says Gandhi “was convinced that any attempt to make India into a country only for Hindus would destroy India.”

References to the riots that wracked Gujarat state in 2002 killing almost a 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, when Prime Minister Modi headed the state have also been dropped. So have some accounts of some social movements and caste-based discrimination in Hinduism.

The historians, several of whom had worked on the syllabus in the past, said in their statement that the attempts in the earlier texts were to make them as inclusive as possible, and to provide a “sense of the rich diversity of the human past both within the subcontinent and the wider world.”

Calling for the changes to be recalled, the statement said that “removing entire periods of history from textbooks would not only perpetuate misconceptions and misunderstandings, but would serve to further the divisive communal and casteist agenda of the ruling elites.”

“When we revise history we do so on the basis of new evidences, new sources or what is found in archival records which may have been overlooked. It is not done on the basis of what politicians or a certain class of people want it to be,” said Ojha. She pointed out that “in the latest revisions, there are just deletions, no new additions.”

In an editorial last week, the Indian Express newspaper, said that while curriculum reforms should be par for the course, the recent ones “excise content related to chapters in history that have acquired political overtones under the current regime.”

The newspaper said the deletions from the textbooks invite the charge “that not only does the government wish to escape unpalatable facts, but it also wants to ensure that students do not engage with social and political realities with a critical attitude.”
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A British performance of “The Bodyguard” musical ended in unrequited love for some audience members who couldn’t refrain from singing along to the anthemic finale. 

The show at the Palace Theatre in Manchester screeched to a halt Friday when two unruly patrons were ejected for joining the lead in singing “I Will Always Love You,” the soaring, emotional ballad made famous by Whitney Houston. 

It was not supposed to be a singalong. Ushers carried signs saying, “Please refrain from singing” and announcements were made in advance that patrons would have a chance to join along at the end but not to sing during the show, said Tash Kenyon, an audience member. 

During the closing number, somebody shouted, “Does this mean we can start singing now?” Kenyon said. A tone-deaf voice projected from the balcony and competed with the vocals of Melody Thornton, a former member of The Pussycat Dolls. 

Laughter then turned to anger and confusion, Karl Bradley told the Manchester Evening News. 

“The stage then just went black again and that’s when it really started to kick off on the higher tier, you could really hear screams and audible gasps,” Bradley said. “Everyone starting standing up and looking over. There was chants of ‘out, out, out’ to get them gone.” 

When the lights came up, the unwanted backup singers were being hauled out of their seats by theater security and audience members began cheering. 

But the music and show were over. 

A spokesperson for the theater said the show was canceled because disruptive fans who refused to stay seated had spoiled the performance. 

Thornton posted a video on Instagram thanking respectful fans and apologizing for those who weren’t. 

Greater Manchester Police said it spoke with the two people who were removed by security and would review evidence before taking any action. 
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