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2023 in books: Protests, bannings and the rise of AI helped shape the story of publishing

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:11:06 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Book publishing in 2023 was a story of cooling sales and rising conflict, marked by legal action, protests, censorship and the impact of forces well beyond the industry.Print book sales continued to recede following the pandemic-era surge, but fiction remained strong, thanks in part to the young readers on BookTok. Colleen Hoover, one of BookTok’s signature authors, continued her reign as the country’s top-selling author, even without releasing a new book in 2023. Three of her novels were among the top 10 sellers as tracked by Circana, with other popular releases including novels by two authors, Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros, regarded as leaders of romantasy, a newly branded genre that combines romance and fantasy. Literary highlights included Justin Torres’ inventive narrative on the hidden history of gay sexuality, “Blackouts,” winner of the National Book Award for fiction. Critics also praised James McBride’s multiethnic crime story “The Heave...

Iowa pilot flying again after waterfowl crashed through windshield of his helicopter

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:11:06 GMT

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa helicopter pilot is back in the air, two weeks after a waterfowl smashed through the windshield of his chopper and knocked him for a loop.Pilot Troy McCormick told KCAU-TV that he’s lucky he wasn’t hurt worse on Nov. 23 when what he believed was a duck came crashing through the windshield. He returned to work Wednesday.McCormick flies for Wings Rescue in Sioux City. He was en route to Storm Lake Hospital to pick up a patient. The chopper was near the hospital, “and just about that time, ‘wham!’” McCormick recalled. “The bird came through the windscreen and hit me right in the side of the head here, ‘boom,’ and then exploded all over in the inside of the aircraft.”McCormick, covered in blood and feathers, was able to divert to Storm Lake Airport and land, though he remains fuzzy about how that happened.“Knocked me out for a little bit I think,” he said. “I don’t remember some of the information about what all happened. I remembered (a...

Michigan State selects UNC-Chapel Hill chancellor as next president

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:11:06 GMT

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan State University named the chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as it’s next president Friday morning, ending a search that began last October after the previous president quit amid tension with the school’s governing board. Kevin Guskiewicz, who has served as chancellor at UNC-Chapel Hill for the past four years, was approved by the Board of Trustees in an unanimous vote Friday morning. He will become Michigan State’s 22nd overall president and the fifth person to lead the university since former President Anna Lou Simon resigned in 2018 in the wake of the Larry Nassar sexual assault scandal. The university has remained embroiled in controversy since the scandal. A Michigan State hearing officer determined in October that former football coach Mel Tucker, who was fired in September, sexually harassed and exploited rape survivor and activist Brenda Tracy.Women who were assaulted by Nassar sued the university in July, accu...

How Spotify Wrapped its hands around the music industry, and us

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:11:06 GMT

Most of you probably at least glanced at it. And many of you were excited and eager to share your Spotify Wrapped details with your friends and followers. After all, isn’t that the whole point? To show off your musical taste, connect with others who share it and provide free marketing for a streaming behemoth?Kelsey McKinney is a reporter and writer at Defector and the host of Normal Gossip. “The thing that is, I think, scary about the Spotify Wrapped is that it is so beautiful and it’s so easy to share that it is easy to forget that this is a company that artists themselves are saying — and have been saying for almost a decade now — is destroying their careers,” said McKinney. Spotify’s Wrapped is the biggest and most popular of algorithmically created personal year-end lists, but it isn’t alone. Why do these things always suck us in? How has Spotify managed to convince us to pay them, instead of the artists we love directly? And if Spotify is...

The IOC confirms Russian athletes can compete at Paris Olympics with approved neutral status

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:11:06 GMT

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Some Russian athletes will be allowed to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the IOC said Friday, in a decision that removed the option of a blanket ban over the invasion of Ukraine.The International Olympic Committee’s decision confirms moves it started one year ago to reintegrate Russia and its military ally Belarus into global sports, and nine months after it urged sports governing bodies to look at ways to let individual athletes compete.It is up to each Olympic sport’s governing body to assess and enforce neutral status for individual athletes who have not actively supported the war and are not contracted to military or state security agencies. Those who are given neutral status must compete without national identity of flag, anthem or colours. Russia remains banned from team sports.The IOC said eight Russians and three from Belarus are among 4,600 athletes worldwide who have so far qualified for the Summer Games, which open in July.Russ...

Chinese leaders wrap up annual economic planning meeting with scant details on revving up growth

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:11:06 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leaders agreed at an annual planning meeting to step up spending to help rev up the world’s second-largest economy, state media reported Friday, without giving details of any policy changes. The official Xinhua News Agency said leader Xi Jinping chaired the meeting aimed at boosting growth, defusing risks and ensuring stability. The report cited that the meeting concluded “the proactive fiscal policy should be appropriately intensified and improved in quality and efficiency.”Recent estimates suggest the Chinese economy has expanded this year at about a 5% annual rate, in line with the government’s target. But the recovery after stringent coronavirus pandemic restrictions were lifted was short-lived, and the economy is forecast to slow next year. The ruling Communist Party’s capacity to steer the economy through challenging times has broad implications for regional and global growth. Earlier this week, the government reported that exports rose...

1 in 9 Canadian adults have had long-term symptoms from COVID infection, StatCan says

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:11:06 GMT

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says about one in nine Canadian adults have had long-term symptoms from COVID-19 infection. The report released today says that amounts to 3.5 million Canadians. Symptoms are defined as long-term if they persist for three months or longer after a COVID-19 infection and they can’t be explained by anything else. Almost 80 per cent of people with long-term symptoms have them for six months or more. StatCan says more than half of those who ever had long-term symptoms still had them as of June 2023. Two-thirds of Canadian adults who have tried to get health-care services for their long-term symptoms say they haven’t received enough treatment or support. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 8, 2023.Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.The Canadian Press

Federal banking regulator keeps domestic stability buffer on hold at 3.5 per cent

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:11:06 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal banking regulator is keeping its domestic stability buffer on hold at 3.5 per cent.The buffer is a measure of the amount of capital the country’s major banks need to have on hand to cover potential losses.OSFI says it’s keeping the rate at its current level because it says Canada’s major banks have reached a level of reserve capital that is sufficient to absorb losses if current vulnerabilities materialize into actual losses.The decision by the regulator follows a move in June to raise it by half a percentage point.The domestic stability buffer applies to Canada’s six largest banks, known as domestic systemically important banks.It is reviewed and set every June and December, but can be changed at other times if needed. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 8, 2023.The Canadian Press

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is the first tour to gross over $1 billion, Pollstar says

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:11:06 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is the first tour to cross the billion-dollar mark, according to Pollstar’s 2023 year-end charts.Not only was Swift’s landmark Eras Tour the No. 1 tour both worldwide and in North America, but she also brought in a whopping $1.04 billion with 4.35 million tickets sold across 60 tour dates, the concert trade publication found. Pollstar data is pulled from box office reports, venue capacity estimates, historical Pollstar venue ticket sales data, and other undefined research, collected from Nov. 17, 2022 to Nov. 15, 2023.Representatives for the publication did not immediately clarify if they adjusted past tour data to match 2023 inflation in naming Swift the first to break the billion-dollar threshold.Pollstar also found that Swift brought in approximately $200 million in merch sales and her blockbuster film adaptation of the tour, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour,” has reportedly earned approximately $250 million in sales, maki...

Lawmakers seek action against Elf Bar and other fruity e-cigarettes imported from China

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:11:06 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — House lawmakers are demanding information from federal officials on what they are doing to stop the recent influx of kid-appealing electronic cigarettes from China.Members of a new congressional committee on U.S.-China relations sent the request Thursday to Justice Department and Food and Drug Administration leaders, calling attention to “the extreme proliferation of illicit vaping products.”The letter cites Associated Press reporting on how thousands of new disposable e-cigarettes have hit the market in recent years, mostly manufactured in China and sold in flavors like watermelon and gummy bear.The FDA has declared all such products illegal. Companies seeking to sell e-cigarettes in the U.S. are required to first seek permission from the FDA, though many of the products imported from China have skipped that step. The agency has only authorized a tiny handful of tobacco-flavored vapes for adult smokers.In May, the agency called on customs officials to block import...