June 24, 2016

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Entertainment June 24, 2016

Best of the Week: 'Justice League' Buzz, 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' Details and More

The Important News

DC Delirium: Justice League set reports revealed the new Batmobile, a full synopsis, villain info, and more.

Marvel Madness: Hannibal Buress joined Spider-Man: Homecoming. Bob Persichetti is directing the animated Spider-Man movie.

Star Wars Mania: Darth Vader was confirmed to be in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. And James Earl Jones was confirmed to voice him again. Details on the main characters from Rogue One were revealed. And more Rogue One photos were released.

Sequelitis: Multiple Paddington sequels are in the works. Noomi Rapace is returning for Alien: Covenant. Miranda Otto and Stephanie Sigman will star in Annabelle 2.

Franchise Fever: Disney has plans for more Indiana Jones movies without Harrison Ford. Dwayne Johnson is rumored to be the Wolf Man in the Universal Monsters franchise.

Remake Report: Another The Saint movie is in the works. Eli Roth is directing the Death Wish remake. The King Kong in Kong: Skull Island will be different. Ron Howard is involved in the Splash remake.

Casting Net: Bryan Cranston will play Zordon in Power Rangers. Vera Farmiga will star in Jaume Collet-Serra’s The Commuter. Kate Winslet will star in the next Woody Allen movie.

Box Office: Finding Dory had the best opening ever for an animated feature.

R.I.P.: Anton Yelchin died in an accident.

Reel TV: A new Ghostbusters cartoon series is in the works. Channing Tatum is turning Step Up into a TV series.

The Videos and Geek Stuff

New Movie Trailers: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Inferno, The Birth of a Nation, Ouija: Origin of Evil, American Pastoral, All Eyez on Me, The Legend of Tarzan, Mechanic: Resurrection, Disorder, The Girl with All the Gifts, War on Everyone and the HBO series Westworld.

Watch: An exclusive deleted scene from Everybody Wants Some!!

See: What Bryan Cranston could look like in Power Rangers.

Watch: An anti drunk driving PSA starring Han Solo. And Star Wars presented in Suicide Squad fashion.

See: What Luke Skywalker was doing up until the end of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Listen: The new Ghostbusters theme song is a cover and a mashup of artists.

See: What Finding Dory would look like written by George R.R. Martin.

Watch: Jeff Goldblum reads from a children’s book version of Independence Day.

See: The subject of the hit new documentary Tickled confronts the filmmakers at a screening.

Watch: A history of horror cinema.

See: Many classic sci-fi movies mashed together for a new short film.

Watch: Music video for “Heathens” off the Suicide Squad soundtrack.

Learn: Why an actress in Suicide Squad was scared on set.

See: The original character design for Apocalypse in X-Men: Apocalypse.

Our Features

Interview: Taika Waititi on Hunt for the Wilderpeople.

Classic Movie Guide: An obsessive look back at Jaws.

Geek Movie Guide: 5 video game movies worth another look.

Horror Movie Guide: All the latest horror news and trailers.

Marvel Movie Guide: Does Marvel care about the MCU TV series?

Home Viewing: Here’s our guide to everything hitting VOD this week.

and

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Sports June 24, 2016

Rio Drug Testing Lab Is Suspended Weeks Before Olympics

Sports Minister George Hilton (top right) visits the Brazilian Doping Control Laboratory in Rio de Janeiro last month. The lab, which had been set to test samples from Olympic athletes in August, has been suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Sports Minister George Hilton (top right) visits the Brazilian Doping Control Laboratory in Rio de Janeiro last month. The lab, which had been set to test samples from Olympic athletes in August, has been suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Felipe Dana/AP hide caption

toggle caption Felipe Dana/AP

The Brazilian laboratory that was designated to conduct drug testing for the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro has been suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency for not conforming to international standards.

News of the suspension came in a statement issued in Montreal. The decision can be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport within 21 days.

The action by the agency that keeps track of doping in sports with the help of three dozen testing labs around the globe comes just six weeks before the games are set to open in August.

As the New York Times reports:

“The Rio lab had a prior disciplinary record and is one of a handful of labs that have had their certifications to conduct drug testing revoked by WADA in the regulator’s 17-year history. …

“While under suspension, the lab is barred from conducting any antidoping analysis on urine and blood samples. It was unclear Friday if the issue would be resolved — and the suspension lifted — in time for the Rio Games, though officials expressed skepticism that such a dramatic reversal could be processed within weeks.”

This is not the first time the Rio lab has been suspended by WADA. The lab was shut down during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Blood samples from soccer players were flown to Switzerland for testing.

WADA’s statement did not specify its complaints about the Brazilian Doping Control Laboratory at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

In a statement, officials at the Brazilian lab called the suspension “temporary” and expressed their optimism that operations at the lab will resume as normal in July.

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Business June 24, 2016

Brexit Created Many Losers, But Some Winners Too. Which Are You?

People watch stock prices on a digital broadcast outside the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday. Currency, equity and oil markets around the world are feeling the effects of the British vote to leave the EU.

People watch stock prices on a digital broadcast outside the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday. Currency, equity and oil markets around the world are feeling the effects of the British vote to leave the EU. Punit Paranjpe/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Punit Paranjpe/AFP/Getty Images

This much is certain: Friday was a lousy day to be a saver.

Thanks to United Kingdom voters who decided Thursday to exit the European Union, stock prices plunged all over the world.

Analysts said the so-called Brexit generated massive “uncertainty” that killed the appetite for stocks. No one knows what happens next as the entire U.K. — including England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — pulls away from the EU.

For decades, the U.K. has been one of the most powerful members of the EU, which encompasses more than a half-billion people doing business in a free trade zone covering 28 countries. So the loss of this key member raises complicated questions about trade relationships and economic stability.

The ultimate impact of Brexit will play out slowly as terms of the “divorce” emerge. But based on what we know now, here are some losers — and yes, winners.

LOSERS

  • People who invested earlier this week. No matter what shares you bought on Wednesday, you probably lost money by Friday. In Japan, the Nikkei stock average fell nearly 8 percent, marking the single worst trading day since 2011. The STOXX Europe 600 Index dropped about 7 percent. In the U.S., the Nasdaq composite index of stocks fell 4.12 percent; the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 3.39 percent.
  • Savers hoping for higher interest payouts. Overwhelmingly, economists now say the Federal Reserve won’t raise interest rates this year. Brexit is seen as an immense setback for global growth; the central bank can’t pile on the misery.
  • Companies pumping oil. Since spring, oil prices have been rising. The price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil, which had dropped below $30 in February, had clawed its way back to nearly $52 this month. But with the global economy looking shakier, the price has slumped back down to $47.61.
  • Businesses in poorer countries. Currencies in emerging markets — from Mexico to Hungary to South Africa — plunged in value as investors fled riskier assets. When your country has a weak currency, you can’t afford the imports you need to grow, such as Caterpillar tractors and Ford trucks.
  • British tourists coming to the U.S. The British pound plummeted after the Brexit vote, down nearly 8 percent to $1.37 — the lowest level since 2009. That means U.K. residents planning trips to Orlando had better figure on eating sandwiches in their rooms; their vacation costs have just jumped higher.

WINNERS

  • Homebuyers seeking cheap mortgages. The Brexit vote is pushing interest rates to record lows. So investors in safer U.S. mortgage-backed securities will be plentiful, which means interest rates can remain at very low levels.
  • Procrastinators considering a refi. People who have been thinking about refinancing their debt but keep putting off the task can take heart. You now have more time to fill out those forms because interest rates are not likely to rise.
  • TTIP opponents. If you hate free trade deals, then Brexit will help you put a nail in the coffin of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. The trade deal is being negotiated with U.S. and EU officials. But now EU negotiators are going to have their hands full working out a U.K. divorce. There are only so many hours in the day.
  • Supporters of the EU. OK, maybe this sounds crazy. But with economic chaos now enveloping the U.K., the remaining EU members may become more determined to pull together and make their joint project work better. Maybe they will cut back on the annoying bureaucracy and focus more on growth.
  • Smart cookies in the Silicon Valley. With interest rates so low and stock purchases looking risky, wealthy investors all over the world may see the United States as the best place to take chances on startup companies. They have to put their money someplace; the U.S. tech sector may be just the ticket.

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Health June 24, 2016

Minnesota's Largest Health Insurer Will Drop Individual Plans

At Blue Cross and Blue Shield headquarters in Eagan, Minn., the losses on the sale of insurance plans to individuals led to a change in course.

At Blue Cross and Blue Shield headquarters in Eagan, Minn., the losses on the sale of insurance plans to individuals led to a change in course. Jim Mone/AP hide caption

toggle caption Jim Mone/AP

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota will retreat from the sale of health plans to individuals and families in the state starting next year. The insurer, Minnesota’s largest, said extraordinary financial losses drove the decision.

“Based on current medical claim trends, Blue Cross is projecting a total loss of more than $500 million in the individual [health plan] segment over three years,” the insurer said in an emailed statement.

The Blues reported a loss of $265 million on insurance operations from individual market plans in 2015. The insurer said claims for medical care far exceeded premium revenue for those plans.

“The individual market remains in transition and we look forward to working toward a more stable path with policy leaders here in Minnesota and at the national level,” the company stated. “Shifts and changes in health plan participation and market segments have contributed to a volatile individual market, where costs and prices have been escalating at unprecedented levels.”

The decision will have far-reaching implications.

Blue Cross Blue Shield says the change will affect about “103,000 Minnesotans [who] have purchased Blue Cross coverage on their own, through an agent or broker, or on MNsure,” the state’s insurance exchange.

“We understand and regret the difficulty we know this causes for some of our members,” the insurer wrote. “We will be notifying all of our members individually and work with them to assess and transition to alternative coverage options in 2017.”

Cynthia Cox of the Kaiser Family Foundation, who analyzes individual health insurance markets around the country, says what the Blues are doing in Minnesota is similar to a walk back by UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest health insurance company.

“Right now what it seems like is that insurance companies are really trying to reset their strategy,” Cox said. “So they may be pulling out selectively in certain markets to re-evaluate their strategy and participation in the exchanges.”

She said the individual markets just aren’t turning out as expected. “The hope was that these markets would encourage exchange competition and [get] more insurers to come in. … I don’t know if we’re at a point where it’s completely worrisome, but I think it does raise some red flags in pointing out that insurance companies need to be able to make a profit or at least cover their costs.”

In response to the development in Minnesota, Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, highlighted gains in enrolling more Minnesotans in health insurance plans since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. But he also acknowledged the insurer’s departure reflects the instability in the market for individual and family coverage.

“This creates a serious and unintended challenge for the individual market: the Minnesotans who seek coverage there tend to have greater, more expensive health care needs than the general population,” said Dayton. “Blue Cross Blue Shield’s decision to leave the individual market is symptomatic of conditions in the national health insurance marketplace.

University of Minnesota health economist Roger Feldman called the Blues’ departure a major blow to Minnesota’s already troubled individual market.
“What this says about the individual market is that it is very unstable and it has been disrupted by a number of events, and we still don’t know whether it will recover or not from those disruptions,” he said.

Feldman said lawmakers would be wise to pay attention to the unstable individual markets and to shore them up with a carrot and stick approach.

“To get people to sign up in the exchange we need one or both of those,” he said. “The stick could be to raise the penalties on people who don’t buy insurance, and the carrot could be to increase the subsidies for people that do. I think that’s the only way that we’re going to get a decent mix of risks to buy into that exchange.”

Although the main Blue Cross Blue Shield unit is leaving Minnesota’s individual market, its much smaller subsidiary, Blue Plus, will continue to offer plans on the individual market, according to the company statement. Blue Plus has only about 13,000 members, according to his message.

Kaiser’s Cox says that’s typical and leaves insurers a re-entrance option.

MNsure spokesman Shane Delaney said about 20,000 Minnesotans purchased Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota plans through MNsure. He said the vast majority of them qualified for tax credits to help pay premiums. Delaney said all of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield customers losing their coverage next year should look for other options on MNsure, the only place eligible applicants can secure federal tax credits.

This story is part of a reporting partnership with NPR, Minnesota Public Radio and Kaiser Health News. You can follow Mark Zdechlik on Twitter: @MarkZdechlik.

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Entertainment June 24, 2016

Mashrou' Leila: Tiny Desk Concert

June 24, 20169:00 AM ET

When we invited the band Mashrou’ Leila to come play at the Tiny Desk, we couldn’t have foreseen the timing.

The group arrived at our office the morning after the horrific June 12 shootings in Orlando at the gay nightclub Pulse. We were all collectively reeling from the news, and for this rock band from Beirut, Lebanon, the attack hung very heavily.

Mashrou’ Leila is fronted by singer and lyricist Hamed Sinno, along with violinist Haig Papazian, keyboardist and guitarist Firas Abou Fakher, Ibrahim Badr on bass and drummer Carl Gerges: five young Beirutis whose family backgrounds reflect Lebanon’s religious diversity.

Sinno is openly gay, and Mashrou’ Leila is well acquainted with the targeting of LGBT people. The band has faced condemnation, bans and threats in its home region, including some from both Christian and Muslim sources, for what it calls “our political and religious beliefs and endorsement of gender equality and sexual freedom.” And yet, when Mashrou’ Leila performs in the U.S., its members are often tasked with representing the Middle East as a whole, being still one of the few Arab rock bands to book a North American tour.

After the attack on Pulse, the members of Mashrou’ Leila decided to open their Tiny Desk set with “Maghawir” (Commandos), a song Sinno wrote in response to two nightclub shootings in Beirut — a tragic parallel to what happened in Orlando. In the Beirut incidents, which took place within a week of each other, two of the young victims were out celebrating their respective birthdays. “Maghawir” is a checklist of sorts about how to spend a birthday clubbing in the band’s home city, but also a running commentary about machismo and the idea that big guns make big men.

“All the boys become men / Soldiers in the capital of the night,” Sinno sings. “Shoop, shoop, shot you down … We were just all together, painting the town / Where’d you disappear?” It was a terrible, and terribly fitting, response to the Florida shootings.

In all of its songs, Mashrou’ Leila creates densely knotted wordplay; even the band’s name has layers of meaning and resonance. The most common translation of “Mashrou’ Leila” is “The Night Project,” which tips to the group’s beginnings back in 2008 in sessions at the American University of Beirut. But Leila is also the name of the protagonist in one of Arabic literature’s most famous tales, the tragic love story of Leila and Majnun, a couple somewhat akin to Romeo and Juliet. Considering Mashrou’ Leila’s hyper-literary bent, it’s hard not to hear that evocation.

In the second song, “Kalaam” (S/He), Sinno dives deep into the relationships between language and gender, and how language shapes perception and identity: “They wrote the country’s borders upon my body, upon your body / In flesh-ligatured word / My word upon your word, as my body upon your body / Flesh-conjugated words.” (The band has posted its own full English translations of these songs online.)

The title of the third song in Mashrou’ Leila’s set, “Djin,” is a perfect distillation of that linguistic playfulness. In pre-Islamic Arabia and later in Islamic theology and texts, a djin (or jinn) is a supernatural creature; but here, Sinno also means gin, as in the alcoholic drink. “Liver baptized in gin,” Sinno sings, “I dance to ward off the djin.”

But you don’t have to speak a word of Arabic, or get Mashrou’ Leila’s cerebral references, to appreciate its songs: deeply layered, darkly textured and sonically innovative. And sometimes, as Sinno says, the band’s songs “are just about getting really messed up at a bar.”

Ibn El Leil (Son Of The Night) is available now. (iTunes) (Amazon)

Set List

  • “Maghawir” (Commandos)
  • “Kalaam” (S/He)
  • “Djin”

Credits

Producers: Anastasia Tsioulcas, Niki Walker; Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Videographers: Niki Walker, Claire Hannah Collins, Kara Frame; Production Assistant: Sophie Kemp; Photo: Ruby Wallau/NPR.

For more Tiny Desk concerts, subscribe to our podcast.

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