Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, South Korea’s point man on inter-Korean relations, speaks to reporters upon arrival at the government complex in Seoul, South Korea, 06 August 2026. Photo by YONHAP / EPA
Aug. 7 (Asia Today) — South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said Friday that broader public discussion should come before any government move to routinely use North Korea’s official state name, taking a cautious position on a proposal outlined during a recent presidential policy briefing.
Chung made the remarks during a meeting of the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council, an advisory body under the unification minister, at the government complex in Seoul.
“Because the policy briefing was compressed for time, the explanation that we would proceed only after public discussion was omitted,” Chung said.
He said the ministry had already explained at a media briefing before the presidential report that it did not intend to lead the change unilaterally and that any move should come only after public discussion and greater public acceptance.
President Lee Jae Myung also expressed caution during a government policy briefing Wednesday, saying a proposal for the two Koreas to use each other’s official state names remained open to debate.
South Korea ordinarily refers to the North as North Korea, or “Bukhan” in Korean. North Korea’s official name is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, while it commonly refers to itself in Korean as “Joseon.”
The question has political and constitutional implications in South Korea because Seoul does not formally treat inter-Korean relations as conventional state-to-state relations. The two governments, however, have used their official names in numerous inter-Korean agreements over the past several decades.
Chung defended the rationale for discussing the change.
He noted that guidelines issued in 1995 by three South Korean media organizations – the Journalists Association of Korea, the National Union of Media Workers and the Korean Producers and Directors Association – recommended that each side use the other’s official name.
Chung said the guideline has not been consistently followed.
He also cited similar calls from South Korea’s seven major religious organizations, civic groups and the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council, saying broader acceptance by the media would be an important factor in determining whether the terminology becomes more widely used.
Former Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun argued at the meeting that the government should move more actively toward using the official names.
“Since the Inter-Korean Basic Agreement, more than 100 summit agreements and other documents have used the official state names,” Jeong said.
He questioned why South Koreans should be reluctant to use the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in speech when the same name has already appeared in formal documents.
Former Unification Minister Lim Dong-won said using the term “Joseon” may sound new to many South Koreans but is not historically unprecedented.
He said there was a need to gradually change public perceptions of the terminology.
Paik Nak-chung, professor emeritus at Seoul National University, also noted that since the two Koreas joined the United Nations simultaneously in 1991, presidential documents and numerous inter-Korean agreements have used each other’s official state names.
He described the proposal as essentially calling each side by the name already recorded in official documents.
The meeting was also attended by former Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung, National Museum of Korean Literature Director Lim Heon-young and Ham Se-woong, chairman of a memorial organization honoring Korean independence activist Ahn Jung-geun.
The Unification Ministry launched the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council in January as a ministerial advisory body bringing together senior figures and active experts to develop proposals for peaceful coexistence and shared growth on the Korean Peninsula.
— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI
© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.
Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260807010002452
Independent filmmaker Sylvia Ray always wanted to shoot her first feature film, “The Middle,” in California — as it’s set in Barstow, where she grew up.
Instead, she shot it in Mexico.
The math made the decision for her. Grants and incentives from the municipality of Torreón and the state of Coahuila covered 30-40% of her production budget, which came in under a million dollars. She didn’t pay for filming permits. On-site security was provided. Local hotels came in as sponsors. Over 21 days in March and April, the production hired 75 local crew members and college students.
“All I needed was a desert landscape and American homes. I could have definitely shot it in L.A. comfortably. Had I gotten more support and made it make sense for us financially,” Ray said. “But it just didn’t.”
Her budget was too small to qualify for any California film incentive at the time, as the state’s program doesn’t reach projects costing under $1 million. Filmmakers and producers say that gap is the whole problem. California’s incentives, even after the recent expansion, are built for productions several rungs above them.
Los Angeles County has plans to change that. Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Kathryn Barger are developing an Entertainment Evergreen Fund, first introduced last July, which would channel money to productions the state’s tax credit doesn’t reach. It isn’t a tax credit, rather a grant program.
No dollar amount has been attached and the county has not committed funding. The board intends to explore a public-private model, with funding sources, amounts and any cost sharing determined only after an outside consultant completes an analysis and presents recommendations. Any final proposal returns to the board for public discussion and a vote.
“Like every County initiative, this work must be balanced with our current fiscal realities,” Barger said in a statement, adding that she hopes to build “a sustainable … partnership that helps keep film, television, and digital media production” and keeps L.A. “the global leader in entertainment production.”
Horvath said in a statement that direct investment in productions, like with this fund, “is the best way to keep the work here in LA. “
“State tax credits have been the most instrumental tool to keep production local, and we want to amplify their success to make clear to the industry: LA County wants you here,” she added.
Director Sylvia Ray on set of “The Middle.”
(Alex Crunker)
The trouble small-budget indies run into in L.A. is location and permitting costs, said Philip Sokoloski, vice president of communications at FilmLA, the nonprofit that coordinates permits and tracks local production.
“Many property owners inclined to rent out their homes or places of business for filming are used to an era where there was a lot of money to go around … It’s not true anymore,” Sokoloski said. “Until that message is widely understood, there’s a certain priced-out-of-the-market feeling that many indies are experiencing.”
A fund, he said, could help offset those costs.
The broader production picture hasn’t recovered. Between April and June, the greater L.A. area logged 4,711 shoot days, down nearly 13% from the same period a year earlier, according to FilmLA’s second-quarter data. Feature film shoots fell 20% year over year.
Incentivized work is one of the few bright spots. FilmLA said 170 projects between July 2025 and July 2026 have benefited from the California Film & TV Tax Credit Program while 33% of the 443 feature film shoot days in 2026’s second quarter came from productions receiving tax credits.
Making an indie movie is harder than it has ever been, said Steven Wolfe, a producer whose credits include “(500) Days of Summer” and more than 45 other films. Companies are less willing to finance independent projects, buyers are spending less and the exhibition market is harder to navigate. Yet “there’s an audience that’s very hungry for them,” he said.
Wolfe is developing what he calls a passion project with a first-time feature director, set to shoot in Los Angeles. Whether it gets made, he said, depends on whether the fund materializes. “All of us recognize the need to take extreme action and soon on trying to rebuild Los Angeles as the film capital of the world,” he said.
The fund is being shaped with input from the Indie Film Task Force, a group of industry voices led by the nonprofit NewFilmmakers Los Angeles. The task force pushed for grants rather than a tax credit, arguing that budgets this small don’t generate enough tax liability for a credit to be worth much.
“We see this as a foundational level investment. It is a trickle-up incentive that’s going to feed into the studios,” said NFMLA Executive Director Larry Laboe. “This is a way to invest very little money in a lot of different productions and hope for some big wins from those productions that can trickle up.”
Laboe points out Curry Barker’s box office underdog “Obsession” as the latest example of a major low-budget indie success. The horror flick, which hit theaters in May, was made in Los Angeles for a budget of $750,000 and has since grossed nearly $475 million worldwide.
Laboe, one of the proposal’s leading advocates, has projected the fund’s ceiling could reach $100 million depending on fundraising. NFMLA isn’t positioned to administer it, though he’s open to a role.
Cast and crew on set of Sylvia Ray’s “The Middle.”
(Adriana Martinez Benavides)
Barger said her conversations with filmmakers, labor representatives and production companies have surfaced “several promising ways an Evergreen Fund could strengthen our local industry,” including “grant incentives that encourage productions of all sizes — including independent filmmakers — to choose Los Angeles County.”
Film and TV production incentives rarely deliver the economic benefit that justifies them and only occasionally change where a project shoots, said Patrick Button, an associate professor of economics at Tulane University who studies the programs. He sees a particular problem with targeting small productions: Indie filmmakers, already working on thin budgets, are the least likely to relocate in pursuit of a subsidy. Chasing incentives across jurisdictions is largely the province of major studios.
“Despite the goal with these incentives being to attract filmmaking and lead to economic stimulus, that’s not materialized in the data,” Button said. “In general, these incentives don’t have a good return on investment for the states and their counties.” Low-budget producers, he added, aren’t the ones moving around, “which creates even less rationale.”
He also noted “a lot of stress on the LA County budget right now, and a lot of other things that the money could be spent on,” and expects the fund’s effect to be “very small.”
Laboe countered that covering even 10% of an indie production budget would help keep work local, and said filmmakers may be able to layer a county grant with the state credit where it applies.
Independent productions are a meaningful share of SAG-AFTRA members’ income, particularly as major studios chase incentives abroad. More small films shot locally would mean more roles, said SAG-AFTRA Secretary-Treasurer Joely Fisher.
“People are rolling up their sleeves, raising money and going to make a movie for under a million bucks,” Fisher said. “But also they’re able to take more chances. People are being discovered in these indie movies, and I think that that’s a great thing for our newer members, who can cut their teeth on something indie.”
Making the film is only half of it. The fund should address marketing costs, or the films won’t get seen, said Jackie Brenneman, president of the Independent Film & Television Alliance. Those budgets traditionally come from distributors, but more independent films now go directly to theaters without one.
“You have to be able to exploit the thing you make,” Brenneman said. “If we want to be able to access theaters, the theater’s first question is going to be, what’s your marketing plan? What’s your marketing budget? And if you don’t have one, then you’re more likely to get four-walled” — renting the screen themselves and absorbing the risk.
Ray is still editing “The Middle.” Whatever happens with the fund, it won’t reach her first feature. But she’s already thinking about her next one.
“After this film is done, I’ll have my next one to worry about,” she said. “As a filmmaker here, there are so many hurdles, and it would just be nicer to have a clear pipeline, a scaling budget for all of these things and [provide] access to people who want to support emerging talent and artists, not just the studio system.”
Trump says he is considering a ‘massive attack’, as Iran’s Araghchi says ‘mindless aggression’ won’t help a deal.
Published On 24 Jul 202624 Jul 2026
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COLUMBIA, S.C. — Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.) has privately expressed interest in running for a full U.S. Senate term after getting appointed as a temporary replacement for her late brother, Lindsey Graham, according to three people familiar with the deliberations.
The people, who were not authorized to speak publicly, said she has started having conversations about a potential campaign.
Plans for Lindsey Graham’s funeral were also announced Friday. There will be a service in Washington on July 28 and more in South Carolina on July 29.
Darline Graham’s eventual decision could dramatically shake up the scramble to fill her late brother’s seat after he died last weekend. The filing period for a special primary runs from July 21-28, and the primary is scheduled for Aug. 11.
Several other noteworthy politicians — including Reps. Russell Fry, Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman, as well as Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette — have been eyeing a run.
Darline Graham’s conversations were first reported by Semafor.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Darline Graham to serve the remainder of her brother’s term, which ends in January.
The first woman to represent the state in the Senate, Darline Graham called it “such an honor,” as dozens of her brother’s staffers and campaign advisors stood behind her, some with eyes glassy from welling tears.
“Lindsey has always been there for me. And now, I will be there for him,” she said.
Lindsey Graham died on Saturday at age 71. A preliminary report from the medical examiner said he suffered a tear in his aorta.
He never married or had a family of his own, but his sister was often by his side for the political touch points of his career, speaking at events and appearing in some of his campaign ads.
In his announcement on Monday, McMaster made no reference to her as a placeholder or symbolic appointment.
However, a person familiar with McMaster’s thinking but unauthorized to speak publicly said the governor, in selecting Darline Graham, had never contemplated that she would run for the seat herself.
Sen. Tim Scott, another South Carolina Republican, said he would not endorse any candidate in the primary because he also serves as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
But, he said, “as Tim Scott, the voter of South Carolina, I might indeed wade into the water at some point.”
“I think the truth of the matter is that Darline has so far been off to a remarkable start,” Scott told reporters, asking about her as a possible special primary contender. “ ‘Why not her?’ would be my question.”
When he died, Lindsey Graham had millions in his campaign account and was expected to raise much more heading into the general election. But those aren’t funds that Darline Graham could directly access, if she were to run, according to Bradley A. Smith, a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission.
Under federal rules, Lindsey Graham’s campaign would be limited to transferring just $2,000 to a potential Darline Graham candidacy. However, Smith said there is no limit on how much it could transfer to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which could — thanks to a Supreme Court decision last month — “spend an unlimited amount in coordination with Darline’s campaign.”
“It can’t be earmarked for Darline’s campaign, but in those circumstances I’m sure that the party will make sure she’s not short of cash,” said Smith, now serving as a professor at Capital University Law School in Ohio.
Kinnard and Kim write for the Associated Press. Kim reported from Washington.
Minister of Gender Equality and Family Won Min-kyung discusses the ministry’s policy achievements and plans during a briefing at the Government Complex Seoul on Wednesday. Photo by Asia Today
July 16 (Asia Today) — The South Korean government is considering lowering the maximum age for exemption from criminal punishment from 14 to 13 for juveniles who commit violent, serious or repeated offenses.
The debate intensified after President Lee Jae-myung ordered officials Tuesday to reconsider an initial proposal that would lower the age by only one year and apply the change to limited categories of crimes.
Lee questioned whether the proposed change was substantial enough during a Cabinet meeting.
Under South Korean law, children younger than 14 cannot be held criminally responsible. Those ages 10 through 13 who commit offenses may instead receive protective measures under the Juvenile Act.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family presented the Cabinet with the results of a public consultation on the issue. It proposed making some 13-year-old offenders eligible for criminal punishment when they commit particularly serious or repeated crimes.
Cabinet members, however, raised concerns that applying different ages of criminal responsibility depending on the type of offense could create legal problems.
The minimum age of criminal responsibility has remained unchanged since South Korea enacted its Criminal Act in 1953.
A deliberative survey of 212 citizens showed that 46.7% supported lowering the age only for violent, serious or repeated offenses while 30.2% favored lowering it for all offenses.
Among participants who supported a reduction, 55.8% favored lowering the threshold by one year.
The government is expected to conduct a second public consultation to determine whether the change should apply only to specified offenses or to all crimes. The process also will consider whether the current threshold should be lowered from younger than 14 to younger than 13 or younger than 12.
The Ministry of Justice is expected to lead the second consultation because the proposal requires a detailed legal review.
Officials will need to determine which offenses qualify as violent or serious and whether applying different criminal responsibility standards according to the offense would conflict with the purpose of the juvenile justice system.
The second consultation could begin this month and conclude within one or two months.
The government said it would gather additional public input before reaching a final decision.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family also plans to pursue revisions to the Criminal Act and Juvenile Act while considering the creation of an interagency committee focused on preventing juvenile delinquency.
Officials said the government would strengthen post-offense management and rehabilitation programs designed to reduce repeat offenses regardless of whether the age threshold is lowered.
— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI
© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.
Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260716010006327
The Palantir logo is displayed on a mobile phone alongside a stock market graph displayed on a laptop screen in Liverpool, Britain, 09 June 2026. Photo by ADAM VAUGHAN / EPA
June 26 (Asia Today) — Japan’s Defense Ministry plans to expand the use of artificial intelligence in the Self-Defense Forces’ command-and-control operations, potentially bringing AI into the process through which commanders assess battlefield conditions and direct military units.
The move would mark a new stage in Japan’s defense transformation, shifting its focus beyond acquiring more weapons and equipment toward digitally supported battlefield decision-making.
The Asahi Shimbun reported Friday, citing multiple government officials, that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government plans to include the expanded use of command-and-control AI in three revised national security documents expected by the end of the year.
The documents are the National Security Strategy, National Defense Strategy and Defense Buildup Program.
The Defense Ministry is also considering including some related expenses in its fiscal 2027 budget request, according to the report.
Japan has used AI for some defense-related functions, but it has not placed the technology at the center of the Self-Defense Forces’ operational command structure.
A command-and-control system allows commanders to assess enemy threats, friendly forces, unit locations and intelligence assets before planning operations and issuing orders.
AI could rapidly organize and analyze large volumes of surveillance, reconnaissance, communications and sensor data before presenting commanders with possible courses of action.
One system reportedly under consideration is the Maven Smart System developed by U.S. data analytics company Palantir Technologies.
Maven analyzes information from satellites, drones, radar systems, battlefield sensors and intelligence reports. It can identify potential threats and targets and help commanders compare possible operational responses.
The U.S. Defense Department has expanded its use of the system and is moving to establish it as a formal long-term military program.
Adopting Maven could improve interoperability between the Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. military, allowing them to process and share operational information more quickly during joint missions.
The proposal, however, has also raised questions about data control, technological dependence and Japan’s authority over its own military command systems.
Command and control is not an ordinary administrative function. It is the highest-level structure through which a government decides how and when to use military force.
Reliance on software and algorithms supplied by a foreign private company could require Japan to establish clear rules covering military data management, access to source technology, system control, wartime operating authority and alternatives in the event of a malfunction or service disruption.
The introduction of foreign software would not formally transfer command authority to the company or the United States. Japanese commanders would retain responsibility for operational decisions.
The debate instead centers on how much of the information-processing infrastructure behind those decisions should depend on technology that Japan does not fully own or control.
Calls for domestically developed defense AI have consequently grown within Japan’s government and ruling-party circles.
One proposal would allow Japan to use a U.S. system initially while developing an independent platform through Japanese technology companies and the country’s defense industrial base.
Japan could eventually replace the foreign system or operate domestic and U.S. technologies together.
Developing a military-grade AI command system capable of immediate operational deployment would be difficult, however. A combined approach using both American and Japanese technology is therefore considered more likely in the near term.
The Defense Ministry identified seven priority areas for military AI in a policy issued in 2024: target detection and identification, intelligence collection and analysis, command and control, logistics, unmanned systems, cybersecurity and administrative efficiency.
The policy states that AI should assist rather than replace human judgment and that meaningful human involvement must be maintained.
The ministry has since established a team to accelerate AI adoption and has called for greater cooperation with Japanese defense companies and technology startups.
Japan’s consideration of command-and-control AI also carries implications for South Korea.
During a conflict or regional emergency, information sharing and operational coordination among the U.S. military, the Self-Defense Forces and South Korea’s military could become increasingly rapid and automated.
AI-assisted command systems could improve coordination in responding to North Korean missile launches, Chinese military activity or a crisis in the Taiwan Strait.
The same technology could also accelerate errors.
Incorrect intelligence, incomplete data or biased algorithms could cause an AI system to present commanders with misleading threat assessments or inappropriate operational choices.
Human commanders would remain responsible for final decisions, but the speed and complexity of AI-supported operations could make errors more difficult to identify before action is taken.
Japan’s plan therefore represents more than a military technology upgrade. It raises broader questions about who controls defense data, how allied systems should be connected and who bears responsibility when AI influences a military decision.
— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI
© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.
Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260626010009431
Pupils learn how to do division as they attend an open math class utilizing digital versions of print textbooks, provided on tablet computers with additional video and audio information, at Namsan Elementary School in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, South Korea. Photo by YONHAP / EPA
June 18 (Asia Today) — South Korea is again considering changes to a local education funding system that automatically receives a fixed share of national tax revenue, as a semiconductor-driven rise in government receipts is expected to increase grants despite a shrinking student population.
The debate centers on local education finance grants, the main source of funding for elementary, middle and high schools administered by regional education offices.
The grants have risen to about 76 trillion won ($50 billion) under this year’s supplementary budget, according to the National Assembly Budget Office and education officials.
Some projections suggest the total could exceed 80 trillion won ($52.6 billion) if stronger tax revenue from the semiconductor industry is fully reflected.
The grant system receives 20.79% of internal tax revenue along with part of the national education tax. That means the amount increases when tax receipts rise, regardless of changes in student enrollment.
The number of elementary, middle and high school students fell from 5.96 million in 2016 to 4.92 million this year, a decline of 1.04 million, or 17.4%.
Over the same period, local education grants increased from 43 trillion won ($28.3 billion) to 76 trillion won, an increase of 33 trillion won ($21.7 billion), or 76.7%.
Budget officials and public finance experts say the automatic link to tax revenue makes government spending less flexible.
They argue that funding for primary and secondary education continues to expand despite falling enrollment while early childhood, higher education and lifelong learning programs face comparatively greater financial constraints.
Proposals include adjusting the percentage of internal tax revenue allocated to the grants or incorporating changes in the school-age population and nominal economic growth into the funding formula.
Education officials have strongly opposed reducing the grants based mainly on student numbers.
Superintendents-elect from South Korea’s ninth nationwide local elections issued a joint statement Monday warning that students would ultimately bear the cost of a funding overhaul driven primarily by fiscal considerations.
“Personnel expenses for teachers and other employees, school operating costs and facility safety and maintenance expenses arise at the school and classroom level, not simply on a per-student basis,” they said.
Schools also face growing fixed costs for meal services, after-school care and administrative support.
Personnel costs for permanent contract employees at public schools, including cafeteria workers, care staff and administrative assistants, reached 5.74 trillion won ($3.77 billion) last year.
That was a 61% increase from 2021. The figure is expected to exceed 6 trillion won ($3.94 billion) this year.
Three major teachers’ organizations also rejected claims that regional education offices have excess money.
They said the combined initial budgets of special education accounts fell by about 1 trillion won ($657 million) this year.
Funding for teaching and learning support declined 14.9%, while spending on school facility improvements fell 22.4%, they said.
The groups described education office reserve funds as a financial safeguard rather than unused money.
The Education Ministry is reportedly considering alternatives to immediately lowering the legally mandated allocation rate.
Possible measures include retaining the link to internal tax revenue while placing a ceiling on annual increases or allowing regional education offices to use more of the money for early childhood, higher education and lifelong learning.
The approach is intended to avoid a sudden reduction in primary and secondary school funding while directing more resources toward other parts of the education system.
Park Nam-gi, an emeritus professor at Gwangju National University of Education, said many necessary programs remain underfunded despite claims that schools have surplus resources.
“There are many things schools cannot do because they lack funding,” Park said.
He cited the expansion of special education, separate spaces and personnel needed to protect teachers and investment in education suited to the artificial intelligence era.
“It is wrong to conclude that education funding is excessive without properly supporting these needs,” Park said.
He said cash assistance programs introduced by some superintendents should be corrected where necessary, but that such concerns should not be used to justify reducing the overall education budget.
“Unlike welfare spending for the present, education funding is an investment in the country’s future,” Park said.
— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI
© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.
Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260618010006611
Published on
The era of Chair Warsh begins in earnest this Wednesday, as US President Donald Trump’s pick to run the Fed presides over his debut rate decision and steps before the cameras for his first press conference in the role.
Few economists anticipate dramatic action on day one, but the meeting carries unusual weight for what it might reveal about the months ahead.
Policymakers are expected to hold the benchmark rate steady at a target range of 3.50% to 3.75%, which would mark the fourth consecutive meeting without a move. The committee cut 25 basis points in December 2025.
The bigger question is the language, with officials potentially revising their post-meeting statement to drop any hint that the next step will be a reduction, signalling instead that rates may stay elevated for some time, or even rise should inflation prove sticky.
Warsh inherits a far less accommodating picture than the one he faced when he was widely seen as campaigning for the job last year.
At that time, he argued forcefully for lower rates, echoing US President Donald Trump’s demands, and pointed to AI as a force that could expand the economy’s productive capacity and tame prices over time.
Many economists doubted that thesis even then, noting that the surge of investment in semiconductors and computing equipment was adding to inflationary pressure rather than easing it.
Inflation has indeed accelerated since the outbreak of the Iran war in late February, climbing to a three-year high of 4.2%, driven largely by costlier petrol.
US President Donald Trump has announced a framework for a peace deal that could end the conflict, but it is unclear whether the truce will hold, and prices for fuel, groceries and airfares could take months to cool even if Middle Eastern oil flows freely again.
By the Fed’s preferred gauge, inflation has now run above its 2% target for more than five years. Hiring, meanwhile, has remained resilient.
May brought 172,000 new jobs, a third straight month of solid gains, removing much of the rationale for the two rate cuts the Fed had pencilled into its January projections.
Because the rate itself looks settled, attention turns to the Fed’s updated Summary of Economic Projections and its closely watched “dot plot”, the quarterly projection of future interest rates.
According to Bank of America economist Aditya Bhave, the new dot plot could show the Fed keeping rates on hold for the rest of 2026, with at least three of the committee’s 12 voting members potentially pencilling in rate hikes this year.
Communication is the other wildcard. Warsh has argued that the central bank should speak less often and keep a lower profile, on the view that publicly stated positions can trap policymakers into defending them well past their usefulness.
One option would be to thin out the calendar of press conferences, reverting to the every-other-meeting rhythm favoured by Ben Bernanke, who chaired the Fed from 2006 to 2014, when the format was introduced. Leaner guidance, however, risks unsettling markets long accustomed to clear direction.
Adding intrigue, predecessor Jerome Powell remains on the board as a governor, a seat he can hold until January 2028, and is expected to vote on Wednesday’s decision, denying the Trump administration an additional vacancy to fill.
Additional sources • AP
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Barrick Mining (B) is considering a possible London listing for its African business, potentially via an all-stock deal with U.K.-listed Endeavour Mining (EDVMF) as a possible option, Reuters reported Monday.
Under one scenario being explored, Barrick (B) would retain its
Trump weighs next steps on Iran deal as Tehran insists negotiations are continuing and no final agreement exists.
Published On 30 May 202630 May 2026
Prospects for a US-Iran agreement to end the conflict remained uncertain on Friday, with President Donald Trump saying he would make a “final determination” on a deal, while Iranian officials stressed that no understanding had yet been reached.
Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Tehran would judge any agreement by actions rather than words, adding that no steps would be taken unless Washington acted first.
Meanwhile, fighting continued elsewhere in the region. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces had advanced beyond Lebanon’s Litani River, as Israeli attacks across Lebanon on Friday left dozens more civilians reportedly killed or wounded.
Here is what we know:
In the age of Ozempic, the buzziest hardcovers are getting smaller — and slip right into your Baggu. At Book Soup in West Hollywood, the bestselling hardcover fiction display is marked with laminated cards that denote the book’s place in the top 10, with each one cut snugly into the popular hardcover frame of 6-by-9 inches. But lately, more of the books rising to the top wear the placard noticeably looser.
I should know, I work at Book Soup so I spend a lot of time staring at this display and can tell you, the answer to this problem is definitely to print out smaller cards cut to the little sister “trim size” of 5-by-8 inches — or 5½-by-8¼ to be specific.
While the New York Times bestsellers from 2025 skew in favor of the 6-by-9 trim, the popularity of 5-by-8 books appears to be on the rise. Current utilizers of the smaller cut include the buzzy Vanderbilt heir Belle Burden’s “Strangers,” George Saunders’ darkly humorous “Vigil” Lena Dunham’s millennial-tinged tell-all “Famesick” and the infamously tablet-sized “Transcription” from Ben Lerner.
1/5
“Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage” by Belle Burden (The Dial Press)
2/5
“Famesick: A Memoir” by Lena Dunham (Random House)
3/5
“Vigil: A Novel” by George Saunders (Random House)
4/5
“Transcription: A Novel” by Ben Lerner (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
5/5
“Lost Lambs” by author Madeline Cash (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Gretchen Achilles is the director of interior design at Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Achilles recently implemented the 5-by-8 cut for one of this year’s breakout hits, “Lost Lambs” by Madeline Cash. “It’s a tone,” she says. “Smaller trim sizes have an intimacy. … You want to echo what’s going on in the text as an experience for the reader.”
According to Achilles, FSG frequently implements the 5-by-8 trim size. She said that length is the No. 1 factor when deciding to employ it, followed by genre. She listed literary fiction, memoir, biography, and essay collections as the defining genres of the smaller size books.
Caroline Mason is a writer in New York whose debut novel “An Endless Cycle of Evenings” from Hyperion Avenue is slated for 2027; she runs the Instagram account @literarycrushes. Mason described a 5-by-8 hardcover as shorthand for a specific book she seeks out when she is in a bookstore because it often signals a character-driven novel. “It’s my favorite kind of book,” Mason says. She adds that it’s also Instagram-friendly.
“Holding the book up to take a photo of it is easier,” she says with a laugh. “Although I do sometimes still drop it.”
Dahlia de la Vega is an L.A.-based Bookstagrammer who runs the page @ofpagesandprint. According to De la Vega, she finds the shrunken books more approachable. “When I sit down to read a small hardcover, it almost feels like I’m reading a journal,” she says. “Whereas when I read a large hardcover, it almost feels like I need a journal to jot down notes about what’s happening.”
Ethan Mann, my colleague and a supervisor at Book Soup, told me he remembers the place he was both mentally and physically when he purchased a 5-by-8 hardcover copy of “The Parade” by Dave Eggers. (Right before the pandemic struck at CSUN campus store at Cal-State Northridge). “It’s easier to attach relevance to the specific feel of [the book] because it seems one of a kind,” he says.
Mann adds that hardcovers are sometimes a tough sell on the floor. They are often derided for their cost, and customers declare they will wait till the paperback comes out. But the smaller hardcover has the benefit of fitting into nearly any bag.
Esther Margolis is a publishing veteran and the founder of Newmarket Press. She says that the 5-by-8 hardcover is nothing new. According to Margolis, the smaller trim size was previously the industry standard for U.S.-based publishing houses, and any fluctuation is due to the evolution of printing technology.
“Unlike for mass-market paperbacks, hardcover books were shelved, so it didn’t matter that the books were different sizes,” Margolis says. “They didn’t have to fit into a pocket.”
The popularity of the 5-by-8 hardcover is, at the very least, indicative of a shift in what I witness consumers at Book Soup seeking out. With social media making it easier than ever to connect over the act of reading, or looking like you are reading, cover design and presentation — and how it cuts through the noise of the attention economy— is perhaps a factor too.
“A small hardback is like a Labubu,” my co-worker Mann says. “ The feeling in your hands isn’t just about books — it’s about all cute things. … We like small things we can control.”
The success of the publishing industry could never rest on the tiny shoulders of the small hardcover. It may not even represent any changes in production. But on the bestsellers display at your favorite local indie, it represents the small pleasure of palming a near-pocket-size book in your hands.
And, yes, maybe Instagrammability too.
Messinger is a writer in L.A. who runs the Substack adumbmessinger.
Usyk is one of the sport’s most decorated fighters, an Olympic gold medallist who has unified both the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions across 24 unbeaten fights.
On paper, a rise on the scales may prompt questions about why he is operating outside his most effective weight, particularly against a boxing novice.
Fury’s conditioning in his 2023 bout with Francis Ngannou, when he was dropped and laboured to a narrow points win over the MMA fighter, is often cited as an example of how preparation and focus can come under scrutiny in crossover fights.
In Usyk’s case, however, his approach and discipline have remained consistent throughout his amateur and professional career across weight classes, with the Ukrainian considered one of the sport’s ultimate professionals.
He said at Thursday’s news conference that when a stoppage opportunity presents itself, he will take it.
The increase on the scales could therefore suggest he is looking to carry more power into the contest and planning a quick victory.
Mandy Moore shared her take on the drama swirling around her celebrity mommy group, months after fellow child actor Ashley Tisdale shaded the bunch in scathing essay last winter.
The “This Is Us” star and mother of three, during a recent appearance on Andy Cohen’s Sirius XM show “Radio Andy,” said she found the former “Suite Life of Zack & Cody” star’s article “very upsetting” and that it shocked both herself and fellow mommy group member Hilary Duff. “We have both grown up in this business and had people dissect who we are and the choices we make and all of that,” Moore, 42, told the Bravo host, “but this was something altogether different and decidedly way more upsetting … because it just cuts to the core.”
In December, New York magazine published “High School Musical” star Tisdale French’s essay for its “It’s Been a Year” series. The actor’s piece, titled “Breaking Up With My Toxic Mom Group,” accused other group members of snubbing Tisdale French from various gatherings and group chats. “‘This is too high school for me and I don’t want to take part in it anymore,’” Tisdale French, who shares two children with composer Christopher French, recalled texting the group.
As Tisdale French’s essay sparked speculation online about the identity of the group members, Duff’s husband Matthew Koma appeared to confirm his wife’s membership in a since-expired Instagram story post throwing the shade right back at Tisdale French.
For Moore, married to musician Taylor Goldsmith, kindness is “the most important thing” in her life, as is creating a legacy of kindness, she told Cohen. She said that she finds “anyone even insinuating that might not be the case” to be “very upsetting.” Moore said she is a “huge proponent” of addressing conflict head-on via face-to-face communication.
“‘I wouldn’t have handled the situation this way,’” she recalled feeling about the essay. Moore did not mention Tisdale French by name.
Moore said she also felt the scandalous essay “perpetuates this silly trope that women can’t be supportive of one another” and that women, specifically mothers, are “inherently petty” and committed to “one-up each other.”
“I have not felt that one iota since becoming a parent,” Moore said, adding she has formed “meaningful relationships” with other parents. She further stressed the importance of parents finding their community wherever they can.
Duff, 38, addressed the mommy group drama with The Times in February, telling pop music critic Mikael Wood that “this is not new for me” and she felt the situation was “escalated by the talking heads on TikTok that need clickbait.” Amid the social media chatter, Duff said her family is her focus.
”Knowing that I get to open up the back doors and play soccer as a family and take a hot tub and go get our chicken eggs — that’s the purpose of life,” she said. “On the days when crazy s— happens, I go home and quiet the noise.”