In his latest gaffe, Joe Biden apparently mentioned Britney Spears instead of Taylor Swift after he pardoned two turkeys ahead of Thanksgiving

If you’ve used Google today, you may have noticed the typical logo on the search engine has been jazzed up as it pays tribute to the Spanish Romani flamenco dancer Carmen Amaya. The Google Doodle features bright colours and the animated figure of Amaya in a pose with her hands flared in a way that reflects the traditional style of dance she performed. On 2 November, it marks what would have been Amaya's 110th birthday and was illustrated by the Barcelona-based artist Genie Espinoza. Who is Carmen Amaya? Born on 2 November 1913 in Barcelona, Amaya was born into a family of flamenco dancers. Her father played the guitar and by the time she was 4 years old, she was already dancing in tavernas whilst he played. Her unique and expressive dance style eventually caught the attention of a showrunner, who booked her to perform in prestigious venues such as the Spanish Theatre in Barcelona and Paris’ Palace Theatre. In 1929, when Amaya was in her mid-teens, she began touring Spain and Portugal with some of the world’s most renowned flamenco dancers. While other dancers in the genre focused on the movements of their upper body and arms, Amaya utilised her whole body. In addition, her rapid footwork became a known trademark of her unique style, which drew fans from across Latin America. Amaya settled in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and formed her own flamenco troupe which toured around South America. Next, after more than a decade of touring, she moved to Mexico City. In 1941, Amaya performed in New York where she won over the US President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who later invited her to dance at the White House. Towards the end of her career, she spent time in Hollywood, acting in films such as La Historia de los Tarantos. Over the years, Amaya’s legacy has been recognised by her home country of Spain. She was awarded the Medal of the Tourist Merit of Barcelona and in the city’s Montuic Park, there is a monument and a fountain in her honour. How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

There may be no place like home but President Joe Biden says his is off-limits

The judge in Donald Trump’s criminal case is holding a hybrid hearing Tuesday to make sure that the former president is aware of new rules barring him from using evidence to attack witnesses

Apple appears poised to unveil a long-rumored headset that will place its users between the virtual and real world

The insolvency of Signa Holding GmbH is starting to cause ripple effects across Rene Benko’s property and retail

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 26, 2023--

Female workers who produce Fifa merchandise for events such as the Women’s World Cup have endured pay below minimum wage, verbal abuse, unpaid overtime and threats of job loss if they fall pregnant, according to a new report by human rights researcher Equidem. Equidem has criticised Fifa for not taking action on a situation that seems to go against the advances the tournament has been responsible for, and president Gianni Infantino has been urged to extend “that progress to addressing the harms its women workers experience”. Equidem has put its report into the context of the litany of migrant labour abuses that occurred due to the men’s World Cup in Qatar and asked why there has been no update from a human rights subcommittee that was supposed to be set up to assess the legacy of that event, raising questions about Fifa’s expressed commitment to improving working conditions. The report features interviews with women workers in factories in Bangladesh that make official merchandise for Fifa events, and involves distressing testimonies including verbal abuse and the illegal denial of worksite childcare and maternity leave. Equidem heard several stories of women denied freedom of association. “We have a daily target to reach,” one worker said. “The supervisor fixes our daily target. I make 60-80 pieces per hour. I can only go to the restroom after finishing my hourly target. When a lot of work piles up, they don’t let us go anywhere. They verbally abuse us. I work for 10-12 hours a day at my sewing machine. Today, my supervisor told me to give 80 pieces per hour, but it was quite difficult to make 80 pieces. I made 60 pieces per hour. He shouted at me several times. “I can’t keep my son with me. I work between eight and 12 hours every day. Who will look after him? I searched for someone to leave my son with when I went to work, but I did not get anyone. We don’t have a childcare room in our factory. My son lives in Dhaka with my mother-in law and father-in-law.” Workers described a common practice of being told they would lose their jobs if they became pregnant during the first two years of employment. One woman employed as a sewing machine operator explained: “When I started working here, the factory doctor told me not to have babies for the first two years. I was told that after completing two years, I can have children. If I get pregnant before that, I will have to resign. They will not give me any leave.” Some workers spoken to by Equidem reported that they did not get paid any maternity leave at all, even though they are supposed to be legally entitled to four months, making it a clear violation of Bangladeshi law. Equidem’s CEO Mustafa Qadri states: “After the Men’s World Cup this past year in Qatar, FIFA pledged to set up a human rights subcommittee that would assess the legacy of the 2022 tournament, although there has been no further update as to the status of that assessment, nor its learnings. Equidem urges FIFA to extend its expressed commitment to improving working conditions to women workers in their apparel supply chains. "Yet, the world has seen significant advances in pay parity for women players, including making the Women’s World Cup more professional, ensuring equal regulations and conditions, and fair distribution of prize money to players. The United States team, after years of negotiations, public battles, and court filing won an equal pay deal that makes them one of the best-paid national teams in the world. "The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 brings with it many positive improvements for its players, and it is crucial that FIFA extends that progress to addressing the harms its women workers experience. FIFA has the power, money, and resource to address this at the systemic level, and we will keep monitoring their global supply chains until it does. “This movement toward gender parity within FIFA, signals a heightened commitment within the organisation to fair conditions for women players—on par with their male counterparts. This should extend to all women, not just those under the stadium lights.” A Fifa spokesperson said: “FIFA has stringent labour rights requirements for companies producing FIFA-licensed goods and takes any allegation of labour rights abuse in its supply chain very seriously. FIFA is in contact with both Equidem and the respective companies to further investigate the matter.” Read More Fifa urged to make human rights key consideration for World Cup 2030 host ‘Matter of when not whether’ UK hosts Women’s World Cup – sports minister Kevin De Bruyne says new approach to added time ‘doesn’t make any sense’ How much added time? Football’s new guidelines and the impact they will have Raphael Varane says players’ opinions ignored over ‘damaging’ new guidelines

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Scientists have invented a cloak inspired by Roman mythology that can cool anything it covers during the day and warm it up at night. The Janus thermal cloak, named after the two-faced Roman god Janus, could be used in everything from electric cars to space craft, with the researchers claiming it could even be used to build off-planet colonies on the Moon and Mars. “The thermal cloak is like clothes for vehicles, buildings, spacecrafts, or even extraterrestrial habitats to keep cool in summer and warm in winter,” said Kehang Cui, a materials scientist at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, who was involved in the research. “The cloak works basically the same way the Earth cools down, through relative cooling. The Earth is covered by the atmosphere, and the atmosphere is transparent to a certain range of electromagnetic energy we radiate.” The futuristic material, made of silica and aluminium, is able to achieve the heating and cooling effect passively, without the need for any outside energy. Covering electric vehicles in the cloak helps to cool them 8°C on a hot day and warm them 6.8°C on a cold night, helping to prevent deterioration of the battery. “This is the first time that we could achieve warming above the ambient temperature by almost 7°C during winter nights,” said Professor Cui. “This is also kind of surprising to us – there’s no energy input or sunshine and we can still get warming.” A study detailing the research, titled ‘Scalable and durable Janus thermal cloak for all-season passive thermal regulation’, was published in the scientific journal Device on Tuesday. Read More Record-breaking sugar battery could supercharge transition to renewable energy

MLB Rumors: Orioles play it conservative in terms of potential Shohei Ohtani tradeWhen the Japanese sensation Shohei Ohtani began to see his name thrown around in trade rumors, there weren't very many teams with a realistic chance of acquiring him. Ohtani is in the midst of one of, if not the...