Apple launches 10 new initiatives to help communities around the world

Published

3 years ago

October 27, 2021

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In its goal to become 100% carbon-neutral by 2030, Apple announced today that it has more than doubled the number of suppliers committed to using only clean energy over the last year. In total, 175 Apple suppliers will transition to using renewable energy, and the company and its suppliers will bring online more than nine gigawatts of clean power around the world.

Not only that, but the company is adding 10 new projects to its “Power for Impact” initiative to bring clean energy solutions to communities around the world.

In the US, Apple will work with the Oceti Sakowin Power Authority, formed by six Sioux tribes, to jointly develop tribal renewable energy resources by financing, developing, constructing, and operating power generation and transmission facilities for the wholesale market.

In South Africa, Apple is bringing renewable energy to over 3,500 households that previously lacked access. In Nigeria, the company will support the development of a solar power system to serve a primary healthcare center in the state of Ondo, as well as 200 households in the surrounding region.

“Every company should be a part of the fight against climate change, and together with our suppliers and local communities, we’re demonstrating all of the opportunity and equity green innovation can bring,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’re acting with urgency, and we’re acting together. But time is not a renewable resource, and we must act quickly to invest in a greener and more equitable future.”

Apple launches 10 new initiatives to help communities around the world

The company says that in the Philippines, it will help fund an educational institution that provides scholarships to high-achieving, under-resourced students by offsetting electricity expenses through a new rooftop solar installation. In Thailand, Apple is participating in an effort to increase renewable energy production and battery storage to ensure reliable access to electricity. In Vietnam, it will support a program to provide solar electricity for 20 schools around the country.

In Colombia, Apple is helping to bring online a rooftop solar power system at the Santa Ana Hospital Infantil. Last but not least, in Israel, Apple is supporting the Nitzana Educational Eco-Village for at-risk youth with solar installations to help lower electricity costs.

To learn more about Apple’s goals for helping the environment, click here.

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Entertainment

Glastonbury: Coldplay joined by surprise guests for history-making fifth headline set

Published

7 hours ago

June 30, 2024

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Glastonbury: Coldplay joined by surprise guests for history-making fifth headline set

Coldplay have become the first act in history to headline Glastonbury five times – playing a record-breaking set to a huge, sparkling audience for whom it felt like coming home.

Thousands in the crowd will no doubt have seen them at least once here before, but no matter – they have their detractors, but you cannot argue with the fact Chris Martin’s band can put on a headline performance worthy of Worthy Farm.

Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis was among the special guests watching stage-side as they performed to a crowd stretching way back into the night, and they were also joined by stars and musicians including rapper Little Simz on stage.

Theirs was a celebration not just of their own significant achievements, as one of the most successful British bands in recent history, but of Glastonbury festival and the talent it has supported throughout the decades.

But the biggest surprise came from Hollywood legend Michael J Fox, who appeared on guitar for the rousingly emotional Fix You as the penultimate track. It’s a song and a performance even the hardest hearts could not fail to be moved by.

Backstage, Tom Cruise was among the fans watching as fireworks lit the sky.

Having handed out their traditional Coldplay LED wristbands before the set was under way, this was a gorgeous light show and epic sing-along of audience participation as the band performed hits starting with Yellow, where it all began, and continued through their extensive back-catalogue.

“I look around and I just see amazing, wonderful people from all over the place and that’s what makes Glastonbury the greatest city on Earth,” Martin told the crowd, in a set featuring songs including Higher Power, Clocks, Viva La Vida, The Scientist and My Universe, which the band recorded with K-pop boy band BTS, with lyrics sung in both English and Korean.

Earlier in the day, Kasabian had been worst-kept secret of the festival with their surprise set, which led the Woodsies area to be closed off as the crowd grew in anticipation.

And at the Other Stage, The Streets’ Mike Skinner entertained fans with a crowd-surfing set – with Friday night headliner Dua Lipa spotted in the crowd, making good on her promise to enjoy the festival for the full weekend as a punter, as well as one of its biggest stars.

But Saturday night belonged to Coldplay. This was their first Pyramid Stage headline appearance since 2016 and their fifth in total, meaning they now overtake The Cure, who have headlined four times.

When the band was announced by festival organisers earlier this year, the news was met with the same criticism the band have faced for years: the music is dull, the choice of headliner uninspired, jokes about Martin turning up everywhere here, etc etc.

Similar will no doubt have been tweeted out during their set. The answer is simple, though: those who don’t like them, don’t have to watch them.

There’s plenty else going on at Glastonbury to keep people entertained, whether you’re here soaking it all up in person, or following on TV at home.

The size of the Coldplay crowd says it all – they put on an epic show, and this is why they were chosen to headline Glastonbury once again.

Entertainment

Glastonbury: Controversial Irish-language rappers draw ‘headline-worthy’ crowd against the odds

Published

9 hours ago

June 29, 2024

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Glastonbury: Controversial Irish-language rappers draw 'headline-worthy' crowd against the odds

In a morning timeslot when most respectable Glastonbury-goers would usually be in bed, Irish-language rappers Kneecap drew what stage organisers described as a headline-worthy crowd to the area.

The trio have built a name for themselves with a balance of socially conscious lyrics and satire but have really come to the fore in recent months after taking legal action over a UK government decision to block funding they had been granted by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

Often described as controversial, there is no doubt they are unafraid to say what they think – but argue they are simply speaking up for the deprived areas of Northern Ireland, in a language which is “often ignored”.

Plus, there is a lot of tongue firmly in cheek here.

Three friends from Belfast, Kneecap are Mo Chara (Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh), Móglaí Bap (Naoise Ó Cairealláin) and DJ Próvaí (JJ Ó Dochartaigh, a former teacher who still wears a balaclava initially put in place to disguise himself from his students).

One of their most famous tracks, Get Your Brits Out, has been criticised for being anti-British – but the trio say this is the biggest misconception about the band. And clearly, as it blasts out from a tent in the English countryside, it is loved by the Glastonbury crowd.

“This is a thing that people love to spin, like we’re some anti-British band,” says Mo Chara, speaking to Sky News following their successful set. “We have English family. We have loads of good friends who call themselves British. It’s the British government we don’t like.”

They come from a “serious” area of the world where there has been “drama, a lot of violence”, he says.

“I think we’re the first generation… because we came after the ceasefire or just before it, around that time – ceasefire babies, as people like to call us – […] we’re able to joke about these things that were once traumatising for people in our community.

“But every side of the community can take a joke and we don’t give people enough credit, that people know how to have a laugh.”

“I think being offended is subjective,” says Móglaí Bap. “We’re having a good time, a bit of craic. There’s a lot of fun with it and all these jokes, humour, it’s all in context, and you can take it out of context and get offended. But I think genuinely, we meet people from all walks of life and they enjoy it.”

Unsurprisingly, the trio have locked horns with quite a few politicians.

At the minute, they are embroiled in a legal battle with the British government over the blocking of £15,000 in funding from the Music Export Growth Scheme, which aims to help UK music groups market themselves abroad.

It’s a “slippery slope” and sets a “bad precedent”, says Móglaí Bap, to only give funding to artists that “align with them… that doesn’t make any sense”.

They are all taxpayers, he adds, and therefore have “every right” to funding that is available to British artists.

A government spokesperson says they are unable to comment due to this being an election period, but the Department for Business and Trade’s decision at the time was that Kneecap’s Republican views made them ineligible.

While they await the outcome of the legal case, the rappers are busy performing following the release of their second album, Fine Art, earlier this month, and are also looking forward to their big-screen debut.

The band members play themselves in a biopic about their rise to prominence, set in post-Troubles Belfast, also starring Irish actor Michael Fassbender. The film has been shown at festivals including Tribeca in New York, and the band say the reaction has been “crazy”.

Which all means it looks like the fanbase will expand even more when the film is released in the summer.

So while some politicians may fail to see the funny side of Kneecap, there are plenty of young people in Belfast, Glastonbury and beyond who clearly enjoy their irreverence.

Entertainment

Dua Lipa at Glastonbury: A masterclass from a proper pop star

Published

1 day ago

June 29, 2024

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Dua Lipa at Glastonbury: A masterclass from a proper pop star

Dua Lipa has set the bar high for this year’s Glastonbury headliners, performing a slick set of hits to an enormous crowd at the festival’s famous Pyramid Stage.

The 28-year-old star told fans she had manifested the moment, but watching her command the stage – hit after hit played, voice soaring, dance moves effortless – it seems her talent was always going to bring her here.

Starting with Training Season, from her latest album Radical Optimism, Lipa kept the energy levels high throughout for tracks including Be The One, Levitating, Hallucinate, One Kiss, Physical, New Rules and Don’t Start Now.

As is Glastonbury tradition, fireworks lit the sky, during and after the set, while several costume changes also added to the sense of occasion – which the singer described as “the maddest night of my life”.

Telling the crowd about manifesting the experience, she also hinted she would be staying on at the festival to enjoy the rest of the weekend (although probably not in a tent, I’m guessing).

“I have written this moment down. I’ve wished for it, I’ve dreamt, I’ve worked so hard in the hopes that maybe one day I’ll get to do it and I can’t believe I’m here,” she said.

“You know when I wrote it down, I was very specific, I said I really wanted to headline the Pyramid stage on a Friday night because then I knew I could party for the next two days in the best place on Earth.

“I’m so grateful, little me would just be beside herself right now.”

Lipa’s performance included Cold Heart, her Sir Elton John collaboration, which saw her greeting delighted fans at the front of the crowd, who had no doubt been there for hours beforehand to save the spot.

She followed another Glastonbury tradition by bringing out a surprise guest – Kevin Parker from Tame Impala, to perform The Less I Know The Better from his band’s 2015 album, Currents – and teased Barbie’s Dance The Night during one of her several costume changes.

The star also showed awareness of the festival audience, with 90s rave imagery on screens and confetti cannons blasting rainbows.

It’s something some big acts can get wrong – to go down in Glastonbury headlining history, it needs to be more than just an extra tour show.

At times, however, the set was so slick, it felt more geared to the TV audience than to the crowd – a couple of songs saw Lipa performing to the camera, back to the audience, for good chunks of time – but when the choreography is this good, it’s captivating to watch wherever you are. It’s a small complaint.

Festival organiser Emily Eavis had said beforehand that Lipa was “born” to headline.

By the time the star had closed the set with Houdini, she had proved her absolutely right.