Dogs is the smartest six-hour Netflix binge anyone can commit to. It’s also, notably, a safe watch for all dog-lovers.

If you, like anyone who has ever owned and/or loved a dog, saw the Dogs announcement and immediately wondered if any of the documentary’s sweet good boys and girls die, Netflix has an answer for you. No. No one dies.

Netflix confirmed the happy detail on Twitter.

“NO DOGS DIE IN ANY EPISODE OF DOGS,” the tweet reads, in all-caps.

The six episodes focus on individual stories that explore the impacts that canines can have on human lives. It’s an exploration of the bonds between the two species, and the tremendous impact that such bonds can have.

As Mashable’s Ali Foreman wrote in our review: “Dogs consistently details how we can help man’s best friend, but it shines when displaying how man’s best friend can help us. As scene-after-scene leaves you beaming with joy, you’ll almost definitely start itching to [adopt a pup of your own].”

All six episodes of Dogs came to Netflix on Nov. 16. You can watch them now right here.

Theresa May surely by now symbolises the phrase “bad day at the office”. On Wednesday night, having spent months negotiating the deal by which Britain will leave the European Union next March, May had a gruelling five-hour meeting with her cabinet. That evening, she told the nation that agreement had been reached, though with reservations.

Those reservations burst into the open the next morning when the minister responsible for negotiating the said deal, Dominic Raab, led a wave of resignations, as May sat for three hours in front of parliament listening to MP after MP from her own party telling her they would oppose the deal. Some called for her to resign.

Britain is now in its deepest political crisis since the World War II. May’s deal seems all but dead, as there is no viable way for it to pass through parliament. She herself still refuses to accept this. With just four months to go till “Brexit day”, and a matter of weeks before the government must initiate emergency measures in preparation for “no deal” Brexit shortages, what happens next is anyone’s guess. But a general election, a new referendum or a new Tory leader and fresh negotiations are all very serious possibilities.  

How did it come to this? The British establishment has always been deeply divided on the EU. Part of our elite came to terms with the “loss” of empire and saw Britain’s future as being part of Europe. But others, taught from the cradle that they were born to run the world, cannot accept a reduction in British power. To them, Europe is an affront, a protectionist, bureaucratic nightmare, and they are desperate to reclaim their birthright, in alliance with the United States, to use Britain’s financial muscle to rule the world once more.

This issue has torn the Conservative Party apart since the fall of Margaret Thatcher, but it came to a head in David Cameron’s government. He promised a referendum to appease the anti-EU part of his party, and with typical arrogance assumed he’d easily win. He failed.

Today, with no majority in parliament, dependent on a group of far-right ultra-Brexiteers from the north of Ireland, May is unable to ignore any one faction of her party. The daughter of a vicar, she assumes hard work will pay off. But it doesn’t, because the problem is insoluble.

She cannot move forward, but she also cannot be replaced, because her party’s warring factions will not be able to agree on a successor.

That’s why this week’s withdrawal deal, laying out the terms of Brexit, and the “political declaration” setting out objectives for a future relationship with the EU, in fact, leave us in the dark about our post-Brexit relationship with the EU. It attempts both to say that we will have full sovereignty over trade, regulations and money, and also to keep so close to the EU that we will be effectively inside the customs union. It attempts to take full control over borders, without creating any borders (at least for capital – people without significant wealth must keep their distance).

Unsurprisingly, this doesn’t please those who wanted to remain in the EU. But it also doesn’t please the Brexiteers who want to use Brexit to unleash a wave of deregulation and liberalisation, most notably through trade deals.

On Thursday, May was attacked by remainers who want a second referendum, and from so-called “hard Brexiteers” who want to drop out of the EU with no deal at all.

But there is another element to the Brexit debate which has made it peculiarly toxic and difficult to navigate. In order to win the referendum, the Brexiteers needed to do more than mobilise right-wing voters who hate foreigners.

They also had to tap into a deep dissatisfaction in post-industrial parts of England and Wales, areas which have been marginalised and hollowed out by four decades of free-market economic policy. Communities fed up with being ignored, and who feel they were sold out by the previous Labour Party governments, individuals who wanted to stick two fingers up at the centre-right politicians which ran the “remain” campaign.

It’s this aspect of Brexit which makes it more than a peculiarly British problem, and which locates the crisis firmly within the much broader and deeper crisis which has gripped capitalism since the financial crash of 2008.

It should be unsurprising that this political crisis, which has spread to the US, southern and now central Europe, saw its first flashpoint in Britain, which practically invented neoliberalism.

This is a crisis of inequality, poverty, the gradual abolition of democracy, of a corporate economy out of control. When frustration and anger like this have no outlet, no obvious means of remedy, then migrants and foreigners become easy targets.

The British crisis reflects, in this way, a global crisis with an elite torn apart about the best way forward. On the one hand, there are the Tony Blairs and Hillary Clintons who want to reverse Brexit, impeach Donald Trump, and get back to the old policies which served them so well. On the other, there are those who see in the rise of populist authoritarianism a “plan b” for capitalism not unlike those capitalists who supported fascism in Europe in the 1930s.

Needless to say, neither option will lead us to a better world. While leaving the EU could create a serious shock which empowers the far right, simply reversing the referendum will not undo the damage that’s been done over many decades either. A second referendum which offers people the chance to remain could certainly be part of the solution. But that must be accompanied – in Britain as in so many other places – by a radical transformation of the economy in which governments constrain the power of corporations and finance, rewrite the rules of global trade, remove the power of the market altogether over big swaths of our society.

This will not be easy, and it will not come from above. But there is a chance we can use the divisions among political elites to build around this vision for a better, fairer world. Political chaos can certainly be frightening, but really big change rarely comes without it. Perhaps another bad day for Theresa May is one step closer to creating a better Britain in a better world.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Watch: Scotland v South Africa – live coverage of the autumn Test at Murrayfield – BBC Sport

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What is Star Wars without the iconic theme music from John Williams?

The legendary composer who’s been so essential to the life of space fantasy series has added his name to yet another big project: Disney’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge theme park attraction. A newly released video delivers a snippet of the main theme Williams composed for the park.

As you can see, the video also contains looks at various corners of the unfinished park. I definitely spotted an interior from the Millennium Falcon. There are also looks at the alien world of Batuu and the Black Spire trading outpost, which together make up the bulk of the themed Star Wars area.

You can read more about them straight from Disney, right here.

In addition to the music video, Disney also released two brief looks at the main attractions at Galaxy’s Edge. The first, Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run sounds like a cross between the old Disney Star Tours attraction and the video game Star Trek: Bridge Crew.

The ride “puts guests behind the controls of the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy in one of three unique flight crew roles,” says Disney.

The other attraction, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, “puts guests in the middle of an epic battle between the Resistance and the First Order.”

It’s not clear from the video how the attraction actually works, but early chatter from Disney has suggested there’s a role-playing element to the guest experience at Galaxy’s Edge. Rise of the Resistance could be one facet of that.

The wait won’t be much longer. Galaxy’s Edge opens at the Disneyland Resort in the summer of 2019, and subsequently opens at Florida’s Walt Disney World Resort in the fall of 2019.

Gaza – When Yasmin Helles was an English literature student at a Gaza college, she would spend most of her time online looking for information that could help her in academic life.

She always wondered who designed these websites, making all this information available.

She wanted to become that person.

Six months ago, the 24-year-old saw an advertisement by Gaza Sky Geeks (GSG), a rapidly growing business and tech incubator, calling for young graduates to enrol in the first coding school in the beleaguered Palestinian territory, which only recently saw yet another round of deadly Israeli air raids.

Helles took the unexpected step of quitting her job as an English teacher to spend more time pursuing her dream.

Now, she has joined the coding academy.

“I said to myself ‘Yes, that was what I wanted,’” Helles told Al Jazeera in GSG’s main room, a computer lab, taking a respite from typing lines of code.

I’m proud that I can now build a mobile app to serve a large slice of people who need it.

Ibrahim Al-Sheik, 23-year-old computer engineering graduate

Employment beyond the siege

Gaza is home to roughly 2 million people and experiences one of the highest unemployment rates in the world – more than 50 percent are without work.

The unemployment is a product of its isolation. Gaza has been under an Israeli blockade, assisted by Egypt under the governments of former President Hosni Mubarak and current leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, since 2007.

But Gazans are finding opportunities beyond the besieged strip. There is a rise in entrepreneurial start-ups and tech accelerators, providing residents of the strip with outside opportunities previously unavailable.

GSG’s coding school was established in 2017 with funding from the likes of Google and London-based coding boot camp Founders & Coders. It aims to empower students to be full-stack developers, which means they will be able to handle software building for mobile, computer and web.

Graduates learn to deploy production-grade software online and secure high-quality jobs with companies or work as freelance developers.

To join the academy, one doesn’t have to have a prior technical background; it requires full-time availability, English language skills at an intermediate level and the motivation to become a professional software developer. It teaches programming to anyone regardless of their specialisation and technical knowledge.

Gender parity, peer-led

The academy also values equality. Gender parity is required for those who enrol in its 16 seats, a rare thing in the conservative Gaza Strip.

Though Helles had no previous experience in coding, she challenged herself and qualified for enrolment, winning a seat out of the eight of reserved for females.

In comparison, a Reuters report from May showed that about “one in three employees at Google, Facebook and Apple is a woman”.

GSG’s managers boast female participation in their programme is higher than in Silicon Valley, Helles said.

Helles expressed her pride in being one of the girls involved in the tech industry, which is largely a male-dominated, tiny field in Gaza.

The curriculum is taught in peer-led, project-based groups of four students. They make up the teams which find problems and solve them in logical ways to finally design a website.

Students in the academy study the same curriculum taught in the Founder & Coders, a UK-based coding school.

Because the coding programme is part of an international organisation, foreign mentors and facilitators can obtain Israeli permits to regularly enter Gaza to follow the process of the curriculum.

Once they complete the programme, graduates are competent full-stack developers able to work in big teams, build complete prototypes in order to test their ideas, work with clients and manage the life cycle of a product, Helles explained.

Gaza’s already high unemployment is even worse among the youth, reaching 70 percent, according to recent numbers by the World Bank.

Ambitious and smart graduates like Helles who are fortunate enough to attend GSG see the coding boot camp as a sliver of hope that prevents them from joining the army of unemployed.

The academy follows graduates in the labour market, providing them with quarterly assessments and guidance on their work.

GSG also tracks their progress in the market as a means of support, whether they are working in companies, ministries and banks or as freelancers who find work online.

Providing opportunities

In addition to the blockade, and the recent flare-up of violence, the Gaza Strip has suffered three Israeli wars that severely damaged its infrastructure. Israeli restrictions and intra-Palestinian fighting between Hamas and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority impede infrastructure rehabilitation.

Electricity is available for four hours a day, water is undrinkable and travel is severely limited.

These issues worsen Gaza’s dire economic situation. While general unemployment sits at 50 percent, the youth unemployment rate is roughly 70 percent, economist and media official from the Gaza Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Maher Tabaa, told Al Jazeera.

Demand for jobs is higher than supply, Tabaa continued, causing graduates to work at low wages despite their high qualifications.

There are about five tech and business incubators and accelerators in Gaza, but there is no estimate of the job opportunities they create.

These tech accelerators have helped Gaza find success in the field of software and information technology despite the scarcity of possibilities, Tabaa continued.

Passing knowledge

Ibrahim Al-Sheik, 23-year-old computer engineering graduate from Gaza’s Al-Azhar University, told Al Jazeera that writing code has proven to be the fastest way to find work in the besieged strip.

His time with GSG not only helped him find work, but also equipped him with a skillset to succeed.

“It was a wonderful experience that had a positive impact on my personality,” Sheik said of his participation in the programming camp.

Through his time at the academy, he learned skills like “self-confidence, self-reliance, teamwork, and good communication with clients,” all while improving his English. The Academy has added a lot to me,” Sheik said.

Sheik is using these skills for the benefit of others. He created a chat website to connect patients dealing with mental health issues with doctors who provide online consultations.

“I’m proud that I can now build a mobile app to serve a large slice of people who need it.”

GSG’s coding school is free, but enrolees are required to transfer what they learned to the students in the next cohort.

Sheik looks forward to passing the skills and knowledge he learned from the GSG programme.

Roger Federer must wait until 2019 for another chance to reach 100 career titles after semi-final defeat by Alexander Zverev at the ATP Finals.

Zverev, 21, tipped by many as a future Grand Slam champion, triumphed 7-5 7-6 (7-5) at London’s O2 Arena.

He will face Novak Djokovic or Kevin Anderson, who play later on Saturday.

Zverev faced boos at the end of the match after he had – legitimately – stopped a point in the tie-break when a ballboy dropped a ball.

In scenes reminiscent of Naomi Osaka’s victory speech at the US Open when her win was overshadowed by Serena Williams’ outbursts, Zverev was left apologising to both the crowd and Federer after one of the biggest wins in his career.

“I apologised to Roger at the net already, he said it is OK and it is in the rules,” the world number five said.

“I’m sorry this happened. I didn’t mean to upset anybody.”

More to follow.

Image: Eric Risberg/AP/REX/Shutterstock

Oakland, a Northern California city with a population of over 425,000, had the worst air quality in the world Saturday morning.

Wildfire smoke wafting over from the still-growing Camp Fire — by far the deadliest wildfire in state history — had inundated many heavily-populated California cities and towns with small bits of pollution thinner than the width of a human hair, called Particulate Matter 2.5, or PM 2.5.

Berkeley Earth, a scientific climate organization, keeps tabs on air pollution around the globe. As of Nov. 17 at 9:30 a.m. ET, Oakland topped the global list with particle concentrations of 167 μg/m3  (meaning micrograms per cubic meter) — which are levels deemed “Very Unhealthy” by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Coming in a distant second is Kanpur, India with particulate levels of 132. 

For reference, air pollution experts consider India to have the worst air pollution on the planet. Last week, air pollution levels in India’s capital city of New Delhi were literally off the charts. 

The Northern California cities of San Francisco and Oakland also placed in the top five, as of Saturday morning. Friday, the air pollution was no better, with the five top spots all taken by heavily-populated California cities: Stockton, Sacramento, San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose. 

Increasing amounts of unhealthy to hazardous air pollution in the U.S. is one of the most well-understood and predicted consequences of climate change, as warmer climes produce larger wildfires.

It’s also well understood that particulate air pollution doesn’t just make it difficult to breathe in the short term, but it’s linked to serious heart disease.  A recent 10-year-long Environmental Protection Agency study observed some 6,000 people and found exposure to this particulate matter, known formally as PM 2.5 (for particulate matter less than 2.5 microns across), accelerated the build-up of plaque inside the walls of blood vessels, which leads to heart attacks, strokes, and even death.  

California’s sustained air quality woes have been further aided by a common weather phenomenon known as an inversion layer, wherein air pollution gets trapped under a layer of warm air, trapping the cooler air below.  

Climate scientists expect California to experience more smoke-filled autumns as the century progresses, specifically because falls are expected to be drier. This sets the stage for profoundly dry grasslands, scrublands, and forest, which are likely to ignite with any spark. 

The parched Golden State, however, may get a reprieve from fires around Thanksgiving. Wet storms from Alaska may pour rain over the ashy, smoke-ridden land. 

More than 40 people have been killed and dozens wounded in Central African Republic (CAR), in an attack on a Catholic mission sheltering 20,000 refugees, according to a regional legislator.

The violence in the town of Alindao, some 300km east of the capital, Bangui, began on Thursday when Christian militiamen known as anti-balaka killed Muslims, prompting revenge attacks.

A church was burned, forcing “thousands” of people to flee, the United Nations’ peacekeeping mission in the CAR (MINUSCA) said.

“We have counted 42 bodies so far, but we are still searching for others. The camp has been burned to the ground and people fled into the bush and to other IDP (internally displaced person) camps in the city,” Etienne Godenaha, Alindao legislator, told the Reuters news agency on Saturday.

A humanitarian source also said that more than 40 people were killed, according to Reuters. The UN on Friday said 37 deaths had been confirmed in Alindao, including that of a priest.

On Saturday, the Catholic Church said that the remains of a second priest were recovered in Alindao.

“We found his charred body,” Father Mathieu Bondobo, the vicar-general of the main cathedral in Bangui, told the AFP news agency.

The violence came just weeks about 10,000 people ran to a hospital in Batangafo, some 400km north of Bangui, after armed groups looted and burned thousands of homes, three camps hosting 27,000 displaced and a market in the city.

In a statement on Saturday, MINUSCA condemned the latest violence that “resulted in the loss of life, mass displacement of internally displaced people and the destruction of property”.

It also said it had implemented “security measures” to protect civilians who sought refuge near the mission’s military outposts.

➨Over 642,000 people are internally displaced in #CARcrisis
➨Persistent violence results in recurring displacements #NotATarget
➨Over 27,000 IDPs in Batangafo town have been brought to their knees after a site was burned #SaveLives
➨@rochdi_najat listens to their plight pic.twitter.com/STZE4SOX4B

— OCHA CAR (@OCHA_CAR) November 16, 2018

One of the world’s poorest nations despite a rich supply of diamonds and uranium, the CAR has struggled to recover from a 2013 civil war that erupted when President Francois Bozize, a Christian, was overthrown by mainly Muslim Seleka rebels.

In response, Christians, who account for about 80 percent of the population, organised vigilante units dubbed “anti-balaka”.

The conflict has killed thousands of people and caused the displacement of a fifth of the country’s 4.5 million population. More than 642,000 have been internally displaced, according to the UN.

Despite electing a new leader – President Faustin-Archange Touadera – in 2016, the country has continued to face political instability and tit-for-tat inter-communal violence.

The Norwegian Refugee Council said last year that the conflict in the CAR topped its list of the world’s most neglected displacement crises.

The UN has about 12,500 personnel deployed in the CAR as part of its MINUSCA mission, one of the world body’s largest peacekeeping forces.

The UN Security Council voted on Thursday to temporarily renew the mandate of the mission until December, amid heated debates about its ability to stem the unrest.

SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies

Listen to England v Japan autumn international live – BBC Sport

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Oh, hello! I didn’t see you there, amongst my many possessions.

You’re looking for some guidance, you say, for this year’s holiday season? Just a little, trinket? I see…

Well, for the well-to-do lady or gentleman, nothing expresses love like a thoughtful gift. Cashmere, say. Or perhaps a little villa in the Riviera? A new cabana boy? That chalet in the Alps? 

But, I have an alternative… suggestion… if you will. Now listen, chap — you are a citizen of the world! You are on the cutting edge, my boy! Why settle for a mere object when you can present an item with a brain all its own?! Technology is the thing!  

But not just any item, of course. You see, son, while… others… may have their little iPhones, their so-called smart homes, we desire technological mates that match our taste and breeding. Thankfully, there is plenty out there for the truly discerning. That is, if you know where to look. 

Come inside, let’s begin.

Quite right, our mobiles are extensions of ourselves. And for your loved ones, I think this item may be just the thing. Never mind that it’s made from 24k gold or platinum and covered in diamonds. What will really make this special is the craftsmanship and thoughtfulness of the design. And it does away with that gauche case, of course. Excuse my frankness, but who needs a case when you’ve got diamonds? 

Price: $9,950 – $64,995.00 on Brikk

I know, I know, a watch is just so… expected. And, a Hublot? 

Classic, yes. But, exciting? Innovative? Actually, you might be surprised by this new offering. 

This watch may have something others do not: it is elusive. See, the Big Bang celebrates the 10-year anniversary of something the people call “Bitcoin.” Now, it is an automatic watch case made out of microblasted and polished black ceramic with a skeleton dial. But inside you’ll see an homage to this new form of “money,” they say. And, the best part? You can only buy it with Bitcoin. That’s right, you get it! Your old man would probably have no idea how to acquire this item! And isn’t that itself worth its weight in, well, whatever it is you use to pay for this?

Price: unannounced

Pleasure is a foundational experience of life, is it not? So tell me, and don’t be shy: why should we ever deign to give and receive pleasure with anything but the very best? This fine curves of this gold vibrator evoke the warmth of a St. Barthes beach; its shape, the shaft of your yacht as it plunges through the waves. The motto of the company behind this magnificent device is “Lust Objectified.” Tempting, tempting.

Price: $15,000 on Lelo

Of course, what is pleasure without pain? What is beauty without sweat? This mirror, called ‘Mirror,’ allows you to stream an exercise course from your home gym, while never taking your eyes off of yourself. Yes, the mirror itself is the teacher, and you are her only pupil. She’ll give you feedback based on your performance to sculpt a body deserving of your worthy soul within.

Price: $1,495 from Mirror

<img class="" data-credit-name='Neimanmarcus.com‘ data-credit-provider=”custom type” data-caption=”The Aero french bulldog may be playful, but his bark is nothing short of aural luxury.” title=”The Aero french bulldog may be playful, but his bark is nothing short of aural luxury.” src=”https://i.amz.mshcdn.com/kKEKZGx95aDKi4yHn-y5qTFl13E=/fit-in/1200×9600/https%3A%2F%2Fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fcard%2Fimage%2F879358%2F28acfb13-d2f2-44e7-af7d-c88dfd3a9df0.jpg&#8221; alt=”The Aero french bulldog may be playful, but his bark is nothing short of aural luxury.” data-fragment=”m!accc” data-image=”https://ift.tt/2DKd8Wn; data-micro=”1″>

Now now, this may seem a Koonsian gimmick. But it is so, so important that we keep our many responsibilities from leeching the joy from our burdensome lives. Don’t you agree? One delightful way to remind us to play is with this delightful gentleman, the bulldog speaker, the life-like size of a frenchie, in neon pink. He’s also more than just a pretty face. The little sir is an AeroSystems speaker. So you’ll be able to blast “Who let the dogs out” in Great Hall to great effect! Perhaps he is not as refined as some might like. But I tend to think it is always nice to show a different side of oneself. Think of him as the bon bon on top of your many other holiday treats. 

Price: $4,499.00 on NeimanMarcus.com

It is so, so important to give back, especially around the holidays. Which is why, for the sake of the planet, I recommend that you purchase the Serenity Solar Yacht fitted with solar panels. As you take a much-needed break after the travails of the holiday season, you could sail down the coast or even just take a quick trip to Barbados — all while helping the environment! 

And, I know you’ll have your people handle payment. But I would be remiss not to mention that the Serenity is made possible by my colleagues at Neiman Marcus, who have so generously chosen to donate $50,000 out of the $7.1 million cost of the vessel to charity. Bravo! Consider this yacht one of your many good deeds for the year.

Price: $7,100,000.00 from Neiman Marcus

Now, I must show you out. I hope that your visit has helped with the challenge that is holiday shopping. And, as you know, we are so much more than our worldly possessions. Who truly needs money or “objects,” really?! 

But, you and I, we work so hard. And with all of your foundations, and good works, you are just always thinking of others! So, perhaps, young man, think of yourself. Just this one, itty bitty time… indulge.