What’s the matter with Kim Jong Un?

On April 15, Kim Jong Un, the North Korean dictator, missed an important birthday celebration: that of his late grandfather, Kim Il Sung, North Korea’s founding ruler. The younger Kim’s absence sparked speculation about his health. Early last week, Daily NK, a website based in South Korea, claimed that Kim had needed to undergo heart surgery due to “excessive smoking, obesity, and overwork.” The next day, CNN reported, citing Trump administration sources, that US officials had received intelligence suggesting that Kim may be in mortal peril. On Saturday, TMZ—which has a track record of breaking stories about celebrity peril—splashed, with characteristic subtlety, that Kim was “REPORTEDLY DEAD” (or dying); it cited regional media sources—including “a Hong Kong-backed news channel’s vice director who’s apparently the niece of a Chinese foreign minister”—that, it warned, in bold type, it had not itself corroborated. (Your average Hollywood gossip, this was not.) Twitter went into overdrive, but nothing concrete followed. Top officials in South Korea played down suggestions that much is amiss; one told CNN that Kim is “alive and well.” As the New York Post put it in a headline, Kim is variously “rumored to be dead, brain-dead, or just fine.” Since the weekend, confusion has continued to swirl. South Korea’s unification minister said Kim may simply be hiding out from the coronavirus—but as one analyst pointed out to Reuters, if that’s the case, why has North Korea not issued... Continue reading at 'Columbia Journalism Review'

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-04-28 12:08:17 UTC ]

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Apple's no longer court monitored in ebook antitrust case

Apple’s ebook division will no longer be overseen by a court-appointed monitor after the US Justice Department ruled that the company had made improvements to its antitrust compliance program. Despite the positive outcome for Apple, the Justice Department was critical of the company’s... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2015-10-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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CILIP called on to oppose 'amateurisation' of library service

CILIP member Andy Richardson has called on the organisation to oppose the “amateurisation” of public library services. Richardson said that allowing library services to be run by volunteers in the local community with little or no funding for professional or paid library staff, proposed by many... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-09-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sunday trading consultation opens today

The government has launched a consultation today (5th August) on plans to give local areas the power to allow large shops to open for longer on Sundays to help compete with online retailers. The government’s department for Business, Innovation and Skills said the reforms would give metro mayors... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-08-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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US: authors ask DOJ to investigate Amazon

Author protest group Authors United is asking authors to sign a letter to the US Justice Department, asking it "to examine Amazon's control of the book market." The letter has been drafted with the help of the Authors Guild. Meanwhile both the American Booksellers Association and the Association... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-07-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple loses appeal on ebook antitrust suit

A federal appeals court Tuesday let stand a 2013 lower court ruling that concluded Apple conspired with several top book publishers to raise ebook prices. The Justice Department had accused Apple of unfairly taking control of a nascent market that had been dominated by Amazon.com. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-07-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google, Microsoft among biggest IT industry lobbyists at European Commission

Google and its lobbyists have had more meetings with European Commission officials than any other company, according to figures published by Transparency International on Wednesday.With 32 meetings logged between December and June, Google’s lobbying is topped only by that of BusinessEurope,... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2015-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harlequin Audio formed in US

Harlequin in the US is creating a new audio imprint, working in conjunction with HarperAudio. The new imprint, Harlequin Audio, will produce audio versions of Harlequin's print titles, with the aim of releasing 200 titles in its first year, with the first titles published on 30th June... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Thrillers, killers, spillers: Aussie pulp fiction of the 40s and 50s – in pictures

Passion! Mystery! Crime! After the Australian government banned the import of American pulp magazines at the onset of the second world war, publisher Frank Johnson stepped into the market with a flurry of crime, adventure and romance novels. Drawn from his archives, a collection of cover art,... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dark Horse Moves Three Print Titles to New Digital Imprint

'Ghost Fleet,' 'Resurrectionists,' and 'Sundowners' will be switched to monthly digital editions before being released in print trade paperback collections. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-02-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Porter’s Lucy Yeomans: ‘It’s all about the woman, listening to her, asking her what she wants’

The magazine editor on integrating print with technology, avoiding the hard sell, and why it’s fine for covers to show a few wrinklesIt seemed, at the time, an odd move. While old media print companies were scrambling to improve their digital offerings and wondering whether their print titles... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-02-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon tool converts print into ebooks

Amazon customers in the US can now convert their print titles into Kindle books with a software package called Kindle Convert. Currently available in the US for computers running Windows 7 and 8, the software helps users to scan in pages of their print books, converting the image into usable... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-02-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hearst Plans New Print Magazine for Early 2016

Hearst Magazines, publisher of glossy titles like Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping, is planning to introduce a new print magazine in early 2016, according to David Carey, the company's president."We're in conversations now with possible joint-venture partners," said Mr. Carey in a memo to... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Local authority budgets cut again

Local authorities will see their spending power reduced by 1.8% on average in 2015/16, following cuts to funding by the government, but some councils could face a 6.4% reduction. The announcement comes on the same day that the funding of libraries has come under the spotlight with the release... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Leading Players in the Amazon-Hachette Dispute: Notables of 2014

The dispute over ebook terms between Amazon and Hachette Book Group USA generated headlines around the world when the e-tailer stopped accepting preorders on HBG titles and delayed shipments on some print titles. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Preston: 'Authors United will fight on'

Campaign group Authors United will continue its “efforts to persuade” the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department in the US to look into Amazon’s market practices, saying there are "still many open questions about Amazon's market power". The group was set up by American author Douglas... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HC and Kobo in bundling trial with Australian indies

HarperCollins Australia and Kobo have teamed up with two Australian booksellers to sell print and digital titles bundled together. The new project began yesterday (17th November) with Pages & Pages Booksellers, an independent bookshop in Mosman, New South Wales, and online bookseller... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Summer Reading Challenge participation up 3.6%

The Reading Agency said that 839,622 children took part in the 2014 Summer Reading Challenge, a 3.6% increase compared to 2013. Sue Wilkinson, chief executive of The Reading Agency, said she was pleased that the numbers were up despite cuts to library services. “Library budgets are very tight... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins and BitLit Partner on Bundling Pilot

BitLit gives consumers an easy digital process to claim free or discounted ebook editions of the print titles they already own. digital. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-07-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tech Firms Rally, Expecting Justice Department to Oppose Transparency Requests

Apple, Dropbox, Facebook, Google, Mozilla, Reddit, Tumblr, Twitter, Yahoo and other tech companies today sent a letter to the heads of the U.S. Senate and House Judiciary Committees in support of proposed legislation that would allow them to publish statistics about secret national security... Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2013-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Apple ebooks judge to limit antitrust remedies

The federal judge who last month found Apple Inc. liable for fixing ebook prices said she plans to limit the remedies sought by the U.S. to ensure they "rest as lightly as possible" on the way the company does business.U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan Tuesday said she intends to... Continue reading at Crains New York

[ Crains New York | 2013-08-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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