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Rocket Report: Europe splashes some cash on launch startups; Pallas-1 nears debut
This Rocket Report round-up covers developments in launch services across Europe, India, Japan and the United States. – The European Space Agency awarded major contracts to launch start-ups: €197.8 million to Germany’s Isar Aerospace, €186.9 million to Rocket Factory Augsburg, and €158.9 million to Spain’s PLD Space, with a MaiaSpace award still being finalised. -…
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Dolly Parton defied country music’s expectations for women and built a career on her own terms: experts
Dolly Parton is portrayed as having reshaped expectations of women in country music by combining glamour, femininity, songwriting, business ambition and control over her public image. Experts said she broadened the roles available to female performers, showing that women could be commercially powerful and emotionally open without rejecting their backgrounds or being defined by male…
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Who’s Afraid of Film Festivals? After Politics Rattled Berlin and Shook Up Cannes, Venice Braces for Impact
Political controversy has already disrupted this year’s major European film festivals, with disputes over Israel and Palestine, Russia, right-wing media influence and artificial intelligence prompting withdrawals, petitions and public criticism. Venice is expected to face similar pressure as it presents a deliberately political programme amid ongoing wars and wider concerns about censorship, democracy and shrinking…
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He Scraped All of Their Art for AI. Now He’s Collaborating on a Tool to Help Them
Cara, an artists’ platform that filters AI-generated images and offers anti-scraping protections, was hit by three major data scrapes in August. The first scraper, who copied nearly all publicly available artwork on the site, later expressed regret and agreed to help Cara founder Jingna Zhang develop an open-source protection tool, highlighting both the vulnerability of…
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Irish traveller family can be evicted from site earmarked for new £100m home for Scotland’s national art collections, judge rules
A judge has ruled that an Irish Traveller family living in caravans at Waterfront Avenue in Edinburgh can be evicted immediately, clearing land planned for a new £100 million gallery for Scotland’s national art collections. Lady Tait found that, although the eviction engaged the family’s human rights and children’s rights, it was justified and proportionate…
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Rashaana Shah & Manasi Parekh Join $10M AIF Media Fund; Initial Slate Headed By Rick Moody Adaptation ‘Purple America’
Indian actress-producers Rashaana Shah and Manasi Parekh have joined Parthiv Gohil on the advisory board of AIF Media Fund Orenda Creative, a new India-based investment platform for international films and documentaries. The fund has raised an initial $10 million and aims to connect investors with commercially viable, artistically ambitious projects, including cross-border co-productions. Its first…
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AI Sci-Fi Series ‘Kira’ Heads To MIPCOM For Ex Machina & K5, First Look Images
AI-focused producer Ex Machina is launching pre-sales for its fully AI-generated science-fiction series, Kira, at MIPCOM in Cannes this October through sales partner K5 International. The six-part drama is significant as it represents the company’s second television property and another test of AI-generated production in the international television market. Created, written and directed by French…
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Love Is Noise Announce New EP ‘The space between happiness and heartache.’
Love Is Noise have announced a new EP, ‘The space between happiness and heartache’, due for release on 9 October through Bloodblast. The record follows the band’s 2025 debut album and centres on an unnamed character who constructs an artificial world to avoid confronting their emotions, exploring the ways people reshape themselves to cope with…