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The center's executive director has named an agent who has worked with ZZ Top and Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee as the head of programming for the arts institution.
(Image credit: Saul Loeb/AFP)
The center's executive director has named an agent who has worked with ZZ Top and Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee as the head of programming for the arts institution.
(Image credit: Saul Loeb/AFP)
© FILIPE AMORIM/OBSERVADOR
It has been one year since Hamas released the remaining Israeli hostages and President Trump promised an end to the war, but Palestinians say the past 12 months have been a ceasefire in name only.
(Image credit: Anas Baba)
In a blockbuster show, The Metropolitan Museum of Art places the work of two major 20th century artists side by side: the married couple Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock.
(Image credit: Ernst Haas)
It has been one year since Hamas released the remaining Israeli hostages and President Trump promised an end to the war, but Palestinians say the past 12 months have been a ceasefire in name only.
(Image credit: Anas Baba)
In a blockbuster show, The Metropolitan Museum of Art places the work of two major 20th century artists side by side: the married couple Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock.
(Image credit: Ernst Haas)
It has been one year since Hamas released the remaining Israeli hostages and President Trump promised an end to the war, but Palestinians say the past 12 months have been a ceasefire in name only.
(Image credit: Anas Baba)
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Austrian police detained Ukrainian investigative journalist Mykhailo Tkach and cameraman Yaroslav Bondarenko in Vienna yesterday, on 8 October. Both were later released, but the circumstances of their detention remain unclear, and the prosecutor’s office said suspicion against them had not been substantiated so far.
The detention lasted more than 12 hours, the first time Tkach had been held that long while on a reporting assignment abroad. The case unfolded alongside a separate Austrian espionage investigation involving two men suspected of working for Ukraine’s military intelligence. Authorities have not said whether the cases are connected.
In a video published by Ukrainska Pravda, Tkach said seven people wearing masks and carrying weapons approached their car at a traffic light about 3–5 kilometers from central Vienna, broke its windows, and pointed weapons at them.
He said the people did not identify themselves or explain their actions. The journalists were pulled from the car, forced face down onto the road, searched, and had their hands taped behind their backs, according to Tkach. He said he initially thought they were being kidnapped because he did not see identification or have time to notice police markings. He realized they were police only after seeing police vehicles.
“As I felt it, they detained us like terrorists,” Tkach said.
He added that people shouted and pointed weapons, and there was no communication. He said one person put a knee on his neck and shouted at him to be quiet. He also saw glass from the broken window fly into Bondarenko’s face.
In a second report, Ukrainska Pravda said Tkach’s account of a document presented to him listed three allegations: espionage in the interests of Ukrainian military intelligence, participation in a criminal organization, and, as far as he remembered, causing harm to Austria. He said investigators did not explain the evidence behind the allegations.
Vienna prosecutor’s office spokesperson Nina Bussek told the Austrian Press Agency (APA) that suspicion against the two journalists had arisen during other investigations but had not been substantiated. She said it currently appeared that the suspicion was not holding up. Austrian officials have not publicly addressed Tkach’s account of the force used.
Tkach and Bondarenko were in Vienna on an assignment to find Ruslan Kravchenko, Ukraine’s former prosecutor general, Ukrainska Pravda reported. Kravchenko was dismissed on 15 September amid an investigation by Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office into alleged protection of fraudulent call centers. He denied involvement. Der Standard reported that it remained unclear whether the journalists’ detention was connected to their reporting on him.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi confirmed Tkach’s release and said the Ukrainian consul had requested access to him, according to NV. Musaieva said Bondarenko had been injured and hospitalized.
A statement signed by Ukrainian media and civil society organizations, including Euromaidan Press, called for an immediate, transparent, and independent investigation of law enforcement’s actions. The signatories also demanded an independent review of the force used, the return of seized equipment, and necessary medical and legal assistance.
Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner confirmed the arrests of four Ukrainians, according to ORF. The two men detained on 5 October were placed in pretrial detention until 21 October on suspicion of secret intelligence activity against Austria. APA reported that they were suspected employees of Ukraine’s military intelligence service. Both deny the allegations.
People in Russian-occupied Oleshky, a town in southern Ukraine, are running out of food and medicine and have no way out, a local resident told RBC-Ukraine. Ukraine's human rights ombudsman told the outlet that civilians there are dying of hunger every day.
The part of Kherson Oblast across the Dnipro River has been under Russian occupation since 2022, with civilians facing food and medicine shortages and restrictions on leaving. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has documented deteriorating conditions in Oleshky and neighboring Hola Prystan. There has been no practical breakthrough toward an organized evacuation, though 358 people who need help to leave Oleshky and nearby settlements have been verified. About 2,000 people remain in Oleshky, Kherson Oblast head Oleksandr Prokudin estimated.
The resident, who spoke anonymously, said food is extremely scarce, and residents are waiting for a humanitarian corridor to leave. The local market offers mostly vegetables and fruit, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, pears, and apples. Russia made its ruble the only legal currency in occupied Kherson Oblast from 1 January 2023, pushing out the Ukrainian hryvnia. Prices at the market start at 500 rubles (about $6), and "if you're lucky, 10 eggs can be bought for 3,000 rubles" (about $36), the resident said. That is about $3.60 an egg, nearly 20 times the US average of about $0.19, or $2.27 a dozen in August, US government data show.
Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, told RBC-Ukraine that civilians in the occupied area were dying every day.
"There is a humanitarian catastrophe there. Ukrainian civilians die there every day because they lack even basic food and water. There have been no medicines there for a long time. According to our information, there is simply hunger there," he said.
The resident said there were practically no medicines available. Expired drugs were being sold at about 100 rubles (about $1.20) a pill. His father has Parkinson's syndrome and has been concussed twice. The resident said he was forced to reduce his father's dose by 25% so the supply would last at least until the new year.
The resident's apartment had burned down, and his house remained damaged. His family had made the house livable and was living there, he said. His wife had lost more than 40 kilograms while the family relied on vegetables and fruit.
Four villages in the Hola Prystan community—Kokhany, Kardashynka, Velyka Kardashynka, and Mala Kardashynka—are effectively blocked, according to the Skhid-SOS fund. The fund told RBC-Ukraine that no transport reaches the villages and no humanitarian aid has been delivered for a prolonged period, although it is difficult to get more information from the villages. Residents are forced to walk or cycle to other settlements to find food, despite the risks of mines and drone strikes.
Lubinets also said Russian troops were using civilians as a buffer and as protection against the Ukrainian military, RBC-Ukraine reported. Because Ukrainian citizens remain in Oleshky, Ukraine cannot conduct active combat operations there, he said—which, in his view, allows Russia to hold civilians effectively as hostages on the front line.
Ukraine has delivered food to Oleshky by drone since March, Prokudin said. Nearly 400 parcels weighing almost 4 tons reached their drop-off points on the night of 4 October, Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi said. How much of the food stays with residents is unclear. Prokudin has said Russian forces shoot down supply drones, confiscate or resell the packages, and detain and beat residents who receive them.
After a previous delivery, Tetiana Hasanenko, head of the Oleshky City Military Administration, said that Russian troops take drone-dropped food and accuse those who receive it of cooperating with Ukraine, and that some residents got several packages while others got none.
Duarte Nobre Guedes, presidente do Conselho Diretor da Associação Nacional dos Locadores de Veículos (ARAC), alertou para o "aumento de situações de criminalidade associadas ao roubo e ao uso indevido das viaturas de aluguer, com enormes prejuízos para o setor e para a sociedade" na sessão de abertura da VII Convenção Nacional da ARAC, que decorre esta sexta-feira, 9 de outubro, em Óbidos.O presidente da Turismo Centro de Portugal, Rui Ventura, alertou que as dificuldades de mobilidade e acessibilidade podem comprometer a promoção turística dos territórios e a distribuição dos benefícios económicos do turismo.Uno dei volti più conosciuti delle proteste degli studenti di queste ore in Francia è quello del sindaco di Saint-Denis, Bally Bagayoko, membro del partito France Insoumise. Ma la mente dietro alle manifestazioni che infiammano le piazze francesi sarebbe di un giovane studente chiamato Elwan B.
Il ragazzo, di soli 17 anni, frequenta l’Istituto Jacques‐Decour e ha richiamato l’attenzione dei media quando si è seduto a fianco del leader di France Insoumise, Jean‐Luc Mélenchon, durante una protesta. Avvolto in una “kefiah”, l’indumento tradizionale mediorientale, simbolo del sostegno alla Palestina, Elwan B. ha dichiarato che Mélenchon “è l’uomo che salverà la Francia, sono convinto”. Il leader di sinistra pubblicò la loro fotografia insieme con la didascalia: “Insieme, per vincere”.
Elwan rappresenta il movimento auto-organizzato che promuove le manifestazioni, e che fino ad oggi aveva ribadito di non volere alcun leader. Nelle prime interviste ha criticato duramente il sistema politico francese e politici come Emmanuel Macron e Gabriel Attal.
Tra le richieste che porta avanti c’è, al primo posto, la creazione di una vera “sinistra di rottura”, che possa mettere in atto misure forti, tra cui la cancellazione del sistema di accesso all’istruzione superiore Parcoursup. Elwan considera che questa piattaforma è uno strumento che aumenta la disuguaglianza sociale ed è primo di trasparenza.
“Un accento operaio degli anni ‘50, un modo di parlare ampolloso e un’aria insolente… C’è un tocco dell’Antoine Doinel adolescente nel giovane Elwan B., la nuova figura di spicco del movimento studentesco delle scuole superiori sui social media”, scrive il quotidiano Le Figarò.
La differenza è che il personaggio fittizio di François Truffaut, indubbiamente un po’ ribelle, non indossava una kefiah e non gridava “Acab” attraverso un megafono davanti ai suoi compagni di classe. Diventato un’icona di internet in soli due giorni, con migliaia di “mi piace” per ogni sua nuova apparizione online, Elwan chiede una revisione completa del sistema scolastico.
“In periferia, la violenza è molto più vantaggiosa per i singoli perché non hanno nulla”, ha spiegato questo giovane studente al videografo di estrema destra Vincent Lapierre, in un video diffuso da Le Parisien. Elwan B. era in un blocco stradale davanti al liceo Jacques-Decour, a due passi da Montmartre. Davanti alla telecamera ha pronunciato un discorso sulla “segregazione sociale” tra quartieri benestanti e quartieri degradati e sulla disparità di risorse a disposizione degli studenti delle scuole superiori rispetto a quelli che vivono in periferia. Con 10 milioni di visualizzazioni in poche ore, il ragazzo è diventato una delle voci più discusse della rabbia degli studenti francese contro la politica tradizionale.
Il giorno dopo, Elwan era in tv, al programma del giornalista David Pujadas “La Grande Confrontation”. A discutere con lui un’altra studentessa e attivista di destra, Louise Montangon, che ha denunciato le violenze intorno alle scuole e gli attacchi agli insegnanti: “Siete gli utili idioti di questo movimento”.
Ogni popolo ha sviluppato, nel corso della propria storia, una preparazione derivata dalla fermentazione di un cereale, adattata alle coltivazioni disponibili e alle condizioni ambientali del territorio: stagione, clima, latitudine e altitudine. Alcuni cereali prosperano nei climi freddi, altri in quelli caldi; alcuni prediligono ambienti umidi, altri secchi. Di conseguenza, ogni cultura ha modellato la propria alimentazione sui cereali endemici e più adatti al contesto naturale in cui viveva.
Già nelle civiltà della Mesopotamia e dell’antico Egitto, il pane aveva assunto un ruolo centrale non solo nell’alimentazione quotidiana, ma anche nella sfera simbolica e religiosa. Le fonti archeologiche e iconografiche mostrano una grande varietà di pani, spesso modellati in forme coniche o allungate, talvolta aromatizzati o arricchiti, destinati tanto al consumo quanto alle offerte votive. La fermentazione era conosciuta e praticata, e il pane divenne uno degli elementi fondamentali dell’economia e della gerarchia sociale, al punto da essere utilizzato come salario per operai e costruttori. In questo contesto, il pane non era soltanto nutrimento, ma misura del valore del lavoro umano.
Nelle civiltà dell’America precolombiana, invece, il cereale simbolo fu il mais, profondamente intrecciato ai miti di origine e all’identità stessa dei popoli mesoamericani. Attraverso il processo di nixtamalizzazione, che prevedeva la cottura del mais in acqua e calce, i chicchi venivano resi più digeribili e nutrienti, e successivamente macinati per ottenere impasti destinati a diverse preparazioni. Tra queste, le tortillas, talvolta sottoposte a brevi fermentazioni, e bevande come il pozol, una massa di mais fermentata consumata soprattutto nelle regioni del Messico meridionale. Anche qui, la fermentazione non era solo una tecnica, ma un passaggio essenziale per trasformare il cereale in alimento vitale e identitario.
In Asia orientale, infine, la fermentazione degli impasti si sviluppò lungo traiettorie differenti, spesso svincolate dall’uso del forno. In Cina, già in epoche antiche, si diffusero pani e focacce cotti al vapore, come il mantou, ottenuto da impasti fermentati di grano tenero. Da queste preparazioni derivarono numerose varianti, tra cui i baozi, pani ripieni che uniscono la tecnica della fermentazione a quella della cottura al vapore.
In queste culture, la lievitazione del cereale non conduceva alla crosta croccante tipica del pane occidentale, ma a strutture soffici e leggere, testimonianza di un diverso rapporto tecnologico e culturale con il grano.
Nei paesi del Nord Europa è particolarmente ricca la tradizione dei pani a base di segale, un cereale che cresce bene in climi freddi e aridi. Ne sono esempi il pumpernickel tedesco, spesso arricchito con semi, il borodinskij russo, caratterizzato dall’aggiunta di malto, e il knäckebröd scandinavo, pane secco e sottile simile allo schüttelbrotaltoatesino, prodotto in una regione dove la segale è storicamente abbondante.
In un contesto climatico quasi opposto, come quello caldo del Sud Europa e del Nord Africa, il cereale dominante è il grano duro. Qui si sviluppa la tradizione delle grandi pagnotte cotte in enormi forni a legna comunitari, forme di pane che per molti rappresentano ancora oggi l’immagine più familiare della panificazione. Emblematici sono il pane di Altamura, oggi tutelato da marchio Dop, dalla tipica forma “accavallata”, risultato di una manualità specifica prima dell’infornata, nota come u sckuanète, e il pane di Matera, riconosciuto come Igp.
A queste forme si affiancano pani che conservano tecniche di lavorazione ancora più antiche, basate su cotture in piastra o in forni verticali. Ne fanno parte la pita, nelle sue numerose varianti greche e arabe, che attraversa e accomuna tutto il bacino del Mediterraneo, lo msemen marocchino, così come il pane carasau sardo, sottile e croccante, nato per garantirne lunga conservazione.
Un’altra preparazione tradizionale a base di cereali fermentati è l’injera etiope, realizzata con il teff, il più piccolo tra i cereali. Prevede una fermentazione di diversi giorni di una pastella di farina e acqua, necessaria a ottenere una struttura spugnosa ed elastica, capace di accogliere e trattenere sughi e pietanze. In questo modo, il pane stesso diventa utensile, rendendo superfluo l’uso delle posate durante il pasto.
In India è iconico il naan, pane lievitato diffuso anche nel Medio Oriente, che prevede l’aggiunta di yogurt nell’impasto. È declinato in numerose varianti, tra cui la più nota con aglio e ghee, il burro chiarificato della tradizione ayurvedica.
Anche agli antipodi dell’Italia, in Nuova Zelanda, esistono preparazioni tradizionali legate alla fermentazione.
Tra queste, il Rēwena paraoa del popolo Māori, un pane che utilizza come agente lievitante un bug ottenuto dalla fermentazione della patata dolce locale, la kumara, a cui viene successivamente aggiunta della farina.
Dalle zuppe di cereali alle paste fermentate, dai pani cotti sulla pietra a quelli al vapore, ogni civiltà ha trovato nel proprio cereale un linguaggio comune per trasformare il nutrimento in cultura: il pane, in tutte le sue forme, resta così una delle espressioni più universali e profonde dell’ingegno umano.
L'articolo La panificazione in ogni popolo del mondo proviene da Linkiesta.it.
Spanish trade unions representing millions of workers have announced a general strike for November 11. The announcement comes amid nationwide mobilizations for the right to housing and only days after Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called early elections for November 29.
The strike was announced by the two largest union organizations, the General Union of Workers (UGT) and the Workers’ Commissions (Comisiones Obreras, CCOO), alongside the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), Basque unions ELA and LAB, and the Galician confederation CIG.
It will be the country’s first general strike in 14 years, excluding the feminist strike of March 8, 2018.
“A key demand of this strike is to vindicate decent salaries to afford housing,” the Madrid Tenants Union wrote.
In their strike call, unions emphasized several demands that have been on their agenda for months. These include reductions in working hours, wage increases, health and safety measures in the workplace, eradicating precarious employment and progress in collective bargaining – a process that has been obstructed by employers for almost a year.
Yet, echoing the sentiment voiced on the streets, where hundreds of thousands have protested and erected encampments against a predatory housing system, the trade union call links all these demands to the right to housing.
“This is a strike with very clear foundations and labor demands,” CCOO’s Carlos Gutiérrez said. “Is it being called because working families cannot access affordable housing? Yes. But we cannot separate the inability to access affordable housing from the wage situation in our country and what is happening in the workplace.”
The general strike builds on a protest wave triggered by the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal in late September. After years of battle to keep the home she had been living in for 70 years, Abascal was carried out of the apartment on a stretcher. She remained hospitalized until Wednesday, October 7, when the Madrid Tenants Union announced her death.
“Although a historic agreement was reached that would have allowed her to return to her home, this solution came too late,” the organization wrote. “An absolutely avoidable situation, following an agonizing process.”
Many of those participating in the protests recognized that Sánchez’s administration failed to implement policies that would truly address the housing crisis. Yet union and civil society statements emphasize the problem goes much further than the behavior of a specific political option.
“It’s important to make clear that this is not a strike against any particular government, but against those who do nothing to solve the housing crisis, and also against the employers, who have kept the Agreement for Employment and Collective Bargaining (AENC) blocked for nearly a year,” Patricia Ruiz from UGT was quoted as saying in Público.
Political parties from the center-left to the left have largely expressed support for the strike. Even PSOE figures who share the responsibility for not addressing the housing crisis signaled support for concerns outlined by trade unions.
While a general strike held only a couple of weeks ahead of an election would usually spell trouble for the incumbent administration, local political analysts say this is a peculiar situation that could swing both ways.
Right-wing options are polling high, but ongoing housing mobilizations could steer the electoral campaign away from scapegoating migrants toward issues of social justice – topics they are generally keen to avoid.
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