A Hollywood union that represents 160,000 television and movie actors approved a strike yesterday for the first time in 43 years, bringing the $134 billionAmerican movie and television business to a halt over anger about pay and fears of a tech-dominated future.
The announcement came after negotiations with studios over a new contract collapsed. The actors will today join screenwriters, who walked off the job in May, on picket lines in New York, Los Angeles and the dozens of other American cities where scripted shows and movies are made.
Both the writers’ and actors’ unions say they are trying to ensure living wages for workaday members, in particular those working for streaming services. Screenwriters fear that studios will use A.I. to generate scripts, and actors worry that the technology could be used to create digital replicas of their likenesses without payment or approval.
Quotable: “I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us!” Fran Drescher, the president of the actors’ union, said. “How far apart we are on so many things. How they plead poverty, that they’re losing money left and right when giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their C.E.O.s. It is disgusting. Shame on them!”
Consequences: While on strike, actors in the union will not be able to work in front of the camera, and they will not be permitted to promote current projects — including such big budget summer releases as “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer” and “Haunted Mansion.”
More unrest in the Russian military
Maj. Gen. Ivan Popov, a top Russian general in Ukraine, has lashed out at his bosses after being fired from his command, accusing them of undermining the war effort with dishonesty and politicking, in the latest sign of turmoil within the Kremlin’s military leadership.
In a recording, Popov accused his superiors of inflicting a blow on his forces by removing him from his post in retaliation for privately voicing the truth to leadership about battlefield problems. The fallout reflected the disarray that has roiled Russia’s military command since a failed mutiny that was led by the mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin three weeks ago.
Speculation has swirled in particular about the fate of Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the head of the air force and a former chief of forces in Ukraine, who hasn’t been seen publicly since the rebellion and who reportedly knew about it in advance. A person close to the military said he was being detained.
In other news from the war:
Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader, again threatened to withdraw from a U.N.-brokered deal that enables Ukraine to export its grain via the Black Sea.
Russian drones killed at least one person in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Diplomats from Russia and China met on the sidelines of a summit in Indonesia to discuss cooperation, a day after the NATO summit concluded.
Aspartame may cause cancer, W.H.O. agency says
Aspartame, an artificial sweetener widely used in diet drinks and low-sugar foods, could possibly cause cancer, a W.H.O. agency said yesterday. But a second committee from the organization said that the ingredient was safe in moderation, and a person weighing 150 pounds could still drink about a dozen cans of diet soda a day and avoid a risk of cancer.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer said that its conclusion that aspartame was a possible carcinogen was based on limited evidence from three observational studies of humans. The agency said that the studies linked the consumption of artificially sweetened beverages to an increase in cases of liver cancer — at levels far below a dozen cans a day.
But the agency called for further study and cautioned that the results could potentially be skewed toward the profile of people who drink higher amounts of diet drinks.
Other health news: U.S. health authorities approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill.
THE LATEST NEWS
Around the World
The ruling military junta in Thailand blocked a popular progressive candidate who had emerged as the clear winner in a general election in May.
Thousands of people were evacuated from their homes in New Delhi, after the authorities warned of widespread flooding.
The U.N. found a mass grave of at least 87 bodies in Sudan’s western region of Darfur. The people were most likely killed by the paramilitary group that is battling the Sudanese army.
The gunman who killed 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018 is eligible for the death penalty, a jury ruled.
Other Big Stories
Germany called for a reduction in its dependency on Chinese goods while still maintaining economic ties with the country, its largest trading partner.
Guatemala’s electoral authority rejected efforts by a top prosecutor to suspend the party of a surging anticorruption candidate, which would have upended the presidential election.
U.S. authorities are investigating OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, over data collection and the alleged publication of false information on individuals.
The White House’s plans to put new restrictions on U.S. investments in Chinese companies could undermine recent diplomatic efforts.
The Week in Culture
The BBC’s coverage of sexual misconduct allegations against Huw Edwards, a prominent anchor, has raised questions about journalistic limits.
Kevin Spacey told a British court that he was a “big flirt” but denied the accusations of four men who say he sexually assaulted them.
Netflix’s success with “Squid Game,” its most-watched show ever, has led to a new strategy for the streaming service.
At the couture shows in Paris, the street style can rival the clothes on the runway.
A Morning Read
She has a tragic back story and a penchant for petty crime. She is Otter 841, a 5-year-old female sea otter in Santa Cruz, Calif., who is wanted for misconduct against surfers.
SPORTS NEWS FROM THE ATHLETIC
A Premier League soccer raid by Jamaica: Persuading some of England’s top talents to switch allegiance could benefit Jamaica’s 2026 World Cup hopes.
On the set of Apple’s Formula 1 movie: How Brad Pitt’s faux team fit into the British Grand Prix.
How to win on Wimbledon grass? Get low, stay low and embrace the chaos.
ARTS AND IDEAS
No sauce, no meat
One sesame burger bun, plus 20 slices of American cheese.
That is the formula for the Real Cheeseburger, an improbable invention from Burger King Thailand. The sandwich, priced at 109 Thai Baht, or about $3.15, was gone almost as quickly as it arrived, selling in a limited offer for a matter of days.
While the Real Cheeseburger was never recognized as a culinary masterpiece, its distinctive geometry and terrifying simplicity attracted supersize attention. Social media posts showed customers testing it out it, with mounds of American cheese seeming to fuse together with each bite.
The sandwich was “a shock to the digestive system,” Eric Surbano, who sampled it, said. “It makes me wonder why Burger King thought of this aside from the viral aspect of it,” he added. “Perhaps they just have a surplus of cheese lying around. Perhaps they just hate us.”
PLAY, WATCH, EAT
What to Cook
Tiramisù can be transcendent.
What to Watch
“Theater Camp” is a bitterly funny mockumentary set at a drama institute.
What to Read
Planning a trip? Pack one of the best books by John le Carré.
Now Time to Play
Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: “Are we there ___?” (three letters).
And here are today’s Wordle and the Spelling Bee.
You can find all our puzzles here.
That’s it for today’s briefing. Have a fabulous weekend, and I’ll see you on Monday. — Natasha
P.S. Our series on slavery and racism in the U.S., “The 1619 Project,” was nominated for an Emmy.
The latest episode of “The Daily” is on affirmative action.
Send feedback, thoughts and reactions to the Real Cheeseburger to [email protected].
Natasha Frost writes the Europe Morning Briefing and reports on Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific from Melbourne, Australia. More about Natasha Frost
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Home » Analysis & Comment » Your Friday Briefing
Your Friday Briefing
Actors join writers in Hollywood strike
A Hollywood union that represents 160,000 television and movie actors approved a strike yesterday for the first time in 43 years, bringing the $134 billion American movie and television business to a halt over anger about pay and fears of a tech-dominated future.
The announcement came after negotiations with studios over a new contract collapsed. The actors will today join screenwriters, who walked off the job in May, on picket lines in New York, Los Angeles and the dozens of other American cities where scripted shows and movies are made.
Both the writers’ and actors’ unions say they are trying to ensure living wages for workaday members, in particular those working for streaming services. Screenwriters fear that studios will use A.I. to generate scripts, and actors worry that the technology could be used to create digital replicas of their likenesses without payment or approval.
Quotable: “I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us!” Fran Drescher, the president of the actors’ union, said. “How far apart we are on so many things. How they plead poverty, that they’re losing money left and right when giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their C.E.O.s. It is disgusting. Shame on them!”
Consequences: While on strike, actors in the union will not be able to work in front of the camera, and they will not be permitted to promote current projects — including such big budget summer releases as “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer” and “Haunted Mansion.”
More unrest in the Russian military
Maj. Gen. Ivan Popov, a top Russian general in Ukraine, has lashed out at his bosses after being fired from his command, accusing them of undermining the war effort with dishonesty and politicking, in the latest sign of turmoil within the Kremlin’s military leadership.
In a recording, Popov accused his superiors of inflicting a blow on his forces by removing him from his post in retaliation for privately voicing the truth to leadership about battlefield problems. The fallout reflected the disarray that has roiled Russia’s military command since a failed mutiny that was led by the mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin three weeks ago.
Speculation has swirled in particular about the fate of Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the head of the air force and a former chief of forces in Ukraine, who hasn’t been seen publicly since the rebellion and who reportedly knew about it in advance. A person close to the military said he was being detained.
In other news from the war:
Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader, again threatened to withdraw from a U.N.-brokered deal that enables Ukraine to export its grain via the Black Sea.
Russian drones killed at least one person in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Diplomats from Russia and China met on the sidelines of a summit in Indonesia to discuss cooperation, a day after the NATO summit concluded.
Aspartame may cause cancer, W.H.O. agency says
Aspartame, an artificial sweetener widely used in diet drinks and low-sugar foods, could possibly cause cancer, a W.H.O. agency said yesterday. But a second committee from the organization said that the ingredient was safe in moderation, and a person weighing 150 pounds could still drink about a dozen cans of diet soda a day and avoid a risk of cancer.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer said that its conclusion that aspartame was a possible carcinogen was based on limited evidence from three observational studies of humans. The agency said that the studies linked the consumption of artificially sweetened beverages to an increase in cases of liver cancer — at levels far below a dozen cans a day.
But the agency called for further study and cautioned that the results could potentially be skewed toward the profile of people who drink higher amounts of diet drinks.
Other health news: U.S. health authorities approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill.
THE LATEST NEWS
Around the World
The ruling military junta in Thailand blocked a popular progressive candidate who had emerged as the clear winner in a general election in May.
Thousands of people were evacuated from their homes in New Delhi, after the authorities warned of widespread flooding.
The U.N. found a mass grave of at least 87 bodies in Sudan’s western region of Darfur. The people were most likely killed by the paramilitary group that is battling the Sudanese army.
The gunman who killed 11 people at a synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018 is eligible for the death penalty, a jury ruled.
Other Big Stories
Germany called for a reduction in its dependency on Chinese goods while still maintaining economic ties with the country, its largest trading partner.
Guatemala’s electoral authority rejected efforts by a top prosecutor to suspend the party of a surging anticorruption candidate, which would have upended the presidential election.
U.S. authorities are investigating OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, over data collection and the alleged publication of false information on individuals.
The White House’s plans to put new restrictions on U.S. investments in Chinese companies could undermine recent diplomatic efforts.
The Week in Culture
The BBC’s coverage of sexual misconduct allegations against Huw Edwards, a prominent anchor, has raised questions about journalistic limits.
Kevin Spacey told a British court that he was a “big flirt” but denied the accusations of four men who say he sexually assaulted them.
Netflix’s success with “Squid Game,” its most-watched show ever, has led to a new strategy for the streaming service.
At the couture shows in Paris, the street style can rival the clothes on the runway.
A Morning Read
She has a tragic back story and a penchant for petty crime. She is Otter 841, a 5-year-old female sea otter in Santa Cruz, Calif., who is wanted for misconduct against surfers.
SPORTS NEWS FROM THE ATHLETIC
A Premier League soccer raid by Jamaica: Persuading some of England’s top talents to switch allegiance could benefit Jamaica’s 2026 World Cup hopes.
On the set of Apple’s Formula 1 movie: How Brad Pitt’s faux team fit into the British Grand Prix.
How to win on Wimbledon grass? Get low, stay low and embrace the chaos.
ARTS AND IDEAS
No sauce, no meat
One sesame burger bun, plus 20 slices of American cheese.
That is the formula for the Real Cheeseburger, an improbable invention from Burger King Thailand. The sandwich, priced at 109 Thai Baht, or about $3.15, was gone almost as quickly as it arrived, selling in a limited offer for a matter of days.
While the Real Cheeseburger was never recognized as a culinary masterpiece, its distinctive geometry and terrifying simplicity attracted supersize attention. Social media posts showed customers testing it out it, with mounds of American cheese seeming to fuse together with each bite.
The sandwich was “a shock to the digestive system,” Eric Surbano, who sampled it, said. “It makes me wonder why Burger King thought of this aside from the viral aspect of it,” he added. “Perhaps they just have a surplus of cheese lying around. Perhaps they just hate us.”
PLAY, WATCH, EAT
What to Cook
Tiramisù can be transcendent.
What to Watch
“Theater Camp” is a bitterly funny mockumentary set at a drama institute.
What to Read
Planning a trip? Pack one of the best books by John le Carré.
Now Time to Play
Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: “Are we there ___?” (three letters).
And here are today’s Wordle and the Spelling Bee.
You can find all our puzzles here.
That’s it for today’s briefing. Have a fabulous weekend, and I’ll see you on Monday. — Natasha
P.S. Our series on slavery and racism in the U.S., “The 1619 Project,” was nominated for an Emmy.
The latest episode of “The Daily” is on affirmative action.
Send feedback, thoughts and reactions to the Real Cheeseburger to [email protected].
Natasha Frost writes the Europe Morning Briefing and reports on Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific from Melbourne, Australia. More about Natasha Frost
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