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Alfio Leotta

Alfio Leotta

Senior Lecturer, Victoria University of Wellington
Film-Tourism; NZ Cinema; Italian Cinema; The Globalisation of Film Production and Film Authorship

Apocalypse Now turns 40: rediscovering the genesis of a film classic

May 07, 2019 03:09 am UTC| Insights & Views Entertainment

The ocean rushes below as suddenly the LOUDSPEAKERS BLARE out Wagners Ride of the Valkyries. So reads the screenplay for the 1979 war movie Apocalypse Now. It describes the sequence in which a squadron of American...

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Economy

South Korea’s Weak Won Struggles as Retail Investors Pour Money Into U.S. Stocks

South Koreas efforts to stabilise its currency are facing a growing domestic challenge as retail investors continue to pour record amounts of money into U.S. stocks, driving strong demand for dollars while the won trades...

Fed Governor Lisa Cook Warns Inflation Risks Remain as Rates Stay Steady

Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook emphasized the importance of protecting the central banks credibility by ensuring inflation returns to its long-term target, signaling continued caution on monetary policy despite recent...

Dollar Steadies Ahead of ECB and BoE Decisions as Markets Turn Risk-Off

The U.S. dollar held firm at the start of Asian trading on Thursday as investors positioned themselves ahead of key interest rate decisions from the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BoE). Both central...

Australia’s December Trade Surplus Expands but Falls Short of Expectations

Australia recorded a smaller-than-expected trade surplus in December, highlighting continued pressure on the countrys export sector amid weak overseas demand and a strong Australian dollar. According to data released by...

U.S. Stock Futures Edge Higher as Tech Rout Deepens on AI Concerns and Earnings

U.S. stock index futures moved modestly higher on Wednesday evening after Wall Street ended the regular session mostly lower, as investors continued to grapple with a deepening technology selloff driven by AI disruption...

Politics

CK Hutchison Launches Arbitration After Panama Court Revokes Canal Port Licences

Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison has initiated international arbitration proceedings against the Panamanian government after Panamas Supreme Court annulled licences held by its subsidiary, Panama Ports Company, to...

Trump Stays Neutral on 2028 GOP Successor as Vance and Rubio Emerge as Top Contenders

President Donald Trump has declined to take sides in early speculation over who could succeed him as the Republican presidential nominee in the 2028 election, as Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio...

U.S. Justice Department Removes DHS Lawyer After Blunt Remarks in Minnesota Immigration Court

The U.S. Justice Department has removed a government lawyer from a high-pressure assignment in Minnesota following blunt comments made in federal court about her workload and the governments failure to comply with judicial...

Melania Trump Pushes Diplomacy to Return Ukrainian Children from Russia

U.S. First Lady Melania Trump said Wednesday that she remains in ongoing contact with Russian President Vladimir Putins team as part of efforts to secure the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia since the start of...

Human Rights Watch Warns of Democratic Decline in U.S. Under Trump Administration

Human Rights Watch has raised serious concerns about the state of democracy in the United States, warning that key democratic institutions and human rights protections are under threat during President Donald Trumps second...

Science

NASA and SpaceX Target Crew-11 Undocking From ISS Amid Medical Concern

NASA has confirmed that the agency, in coordination with SpaceX, is targeting no earlier than 5 p.m. Eastern Time (2200 GMT) on Wednesday, January 14, for the undocking of the SpaceX Crew-11 mission from the International...

Neuralink Plans High-Volume Brain Implant Production and Fully Automated Surgery by 2026

Elon Musks brain-computer interface company Neuralink is preparing for a major expansion, announcing plans to begin high-volume production of its brain implant devices and transition to a fully automated surgical procedure...

Jared Isaacman Confirmed as NASA Administrator, Becomes 15th Leader of U.S. Space Agency

The U.S. Senate has officially confirmed billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman as the new NASA administrator, making him the 15th leader in the agencys history. The confirmation, which took place on Wednesday, marks...

Senate Sets December 8 Vote on Trump’s NASA Nominee Jared Isaacman

The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee announced it will vote on December 8 on President Donald Trumps renewed nomination of private astronaut and tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman to lead NASA. Isaacman, known for his...

NASA Cuts Boeing Starliner Missions as SpaceX Pulls Ahead

NASA has significantly scaled back Boeings Starliner program after years of technical issues and delays, announcing that the next Starliner mission to the International Space Station (ISS) will fly without astronauts. The...

Technology

Alphabet’s Massive AI Spending Surge Signals Confidence in Google’s Growth Engine

Alphabet is dramatically ramping up its capital expenditure in 2026 as it doubles down on artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure, and compute capacity, underscoring its ambition to stay ahead in the intensifying AI...

Baidu Approves $5 Billion Share Buyback and Plans First-Ever Dividend in 2026

Baidu Inc (NASDAQ: BIDU), Chinas largest internet search engine company, announced on Thursday that its board of directors has approved a new share repurchase program of up to $5 billion, running through the end of 2028....

Instagram Outage Disrupts Thousands of U.S. Users

Meta Platforms Instagram experienced a significant service disruption on Wednesday evening, leaving more than 10,000 users across the United States unable to properly access the popular social media platform. According to...

TSMC Eyes 3nm Chip Production in Japan with $17 Billion Kumamoto Investment

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the worlds largest contract chipmaker, is reportedly planning to mass produce advanced 3-nanometre (3nm) semiconductors in Kumamoto, southern Japan, marking a major shift...

Tencent Shares Slide After WeChat Restricts YuanBao AI Promotional Links

Shares of Tencent Holdings (HK:0700) fell sharply on Wednesday after its popular messaging platform WeChat blocked certain promotional links related to YuanBao, the companys artificial intelligence chatbot. The move...
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