Allies

While the lawsuit brought by Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Inc. against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his handpicked oversight board came as a surprise to many, the defendants apparently saw it coming. Back in March, that board — the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District supervisors — reportedly lawyered up.Then in a shareholders meeting this month, Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger reiterated that “the company has a right to freedom of speech just like individuals do.” A point, mind you, that Republicans applauded back…

Small Impact Games and publisher Team17 have announced United Allies — the “largest content update to date” for its Early Access shooter Marauders. Set to launch on April 25, the United Allies patch will add a “colossal” new cruiser for players to raid, which is owned by the update’s titular United Allies faction. Aside from their new ship, the United Allies will also bring new cosmetics and equipment for players to loot, including hand grenades, a China Lake grenade launcher, and Sherman plate armour. The update will…

WASHINGTON—The U.S. and its allies are grappling with how to pare their economic relationships with China, attempting to limit ties in certain sectors they view as strategic while preserving broader trade and investment flows with the world’s second-largest economy.  Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed how Western powers think about their strategy toward China, another geopolitical rival and a close partner of Moscow. Russia throttled natural-gas exports to Europe during the war, destabilizing global…

WASHINGTON —  Since the day Russia invaded Ukraine nearly 14 months ago, President Biden has cited the strength of the widespread international commitment to the mission of defending an independent democracy against a brutal aggressor.But newly leaked secret U.S. government documents provide details of how some close non-European allies have been reluctant to provide arms to Ukraine, and in the case of Egypt, even considered supplying rockets to Russia, because of competing interests and concerns.In particular, three…

Nintendo shared one last trailer of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom before it launches on May 12th. It teases the whole Hyrule world – including the floating island – as well as Link's allies, who will fight alongside him. The plot is typical Zelda fare: You have to find the princess and defeat Ganon. But the fused weapons and vehicles both seem to be major parts of how the game will play. You can even build a robot to take on enemies that have their own battle platform. Robot Wars, but make it Zelda? – Mat…

Nintendo has shared one last trailer before The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrives on May 12th, and this one is worth watching if you're looking for some insight into the story. The rather lengthy clip showcases not only a large and varied world (including the floating islands above Hyrule), but Link's allies. As Zelda makes clear, "you are not alone." There's even a moment where Link offers a wagon ride. The plot appears familiar — surprise, you'll have to find Zelda and defeat Ganon. Instead, it's the…

Foreign countries and some of the world’s largest agriculture companies are donating or lending hundreds of millions of dollars to Ukrainian farmers, marking an early push by Kyiv’s allies to rebuild the country even as the war shows little sign of ending soon.  Ukraine’s farming industry has been hit hard by Russia’s invasion. Equipment has been destroyed, land has been expropriated and mined and export routes choked off. Financing is hard to come by, and some of the industry’s most basic imports, such as fertilizer, are…

Those waging war usually seek allies. America is duly leaning on its Asian friends, including Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan (which makes nine-tenths of the world’s advanced semiconductors), to join the tech fight against China. For example, it has for months been urging Japan, another tech giant, and the Netherlands, home to ASML, a crucial supplier of chip-manufacturing technology, to enshrine its tech goals in a trilateral pact. The Asians are somewhat reluctant to play…

Following a meeting amongst transport ministers from several EU countries on Monday, Germany has now formed an alliance with Italy and additional territories in Eastern Europe in opposing the commission’s proposed ban on combustion cars by 2035 until exemptions are added for vehicles propelled entirely by carbon-neutral e-fuels. The saga continues. Throughout 2022, European Parliament, the commission, and EU members worked through months of negotiations before finally agreeing to enact a…

Description of variables included in the logistic regression models. Credit: Sociological Research Online (2023). DOI: 10.1177/13607804231156296 When legal systems choose to offer no protections to sexual minorities, even avid LGBTQ supporters would reject their gay neighbors, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study. The study…