By Ahmad Ghaddar, Alex Lawler and Maha El Dahan LONDON OPEC and its allies begin two days of

A marketing campaign by oil major Shell has been banned by the U.K.’s advertising watchdog Wednesday for implying a big proportion of its business was in low carbon energy even though fossil fuels make up the “vast majority” of its operations

The United States said Wednesday it will start letting Israelis visit without visas, granting a longstanding wish of its ally after concluding it had reduced discrimination against Arab Americans -- an...

Britain's largest retailer Tesco on Wednesday said half-year net profit soared on slashed costs, and forecast a further slowdown...

Bryan Kohberger was arrested for stealing his sister's iPhone nine years before he was charged with the quadruple murders in Moscow, Idaho

The Los Angeles Sparks stay on the road after dropping two to the Chicago Sky to face the Atlanta Dream.Atlanta has struggled on defense all season, a big reason why the team is under .500 on the year, but will look to make it consecutive wins after beating the Mystics earlier this week, 94-88. ...

Marcus Tavernier fired a double as Bournemouth dismantled Sheffield United to win 3-1 at Bramall Lane and maintain their resurgence under Andoni Iraola. Tavernier struck early in both halves, his brace sandwiching Justin Kluivert’s first Premier League goal, while the impressive Cherries could have won by a bigger margin. Substitute Oli McBurnie headed a stoppage-time consolation for the Blades, who remain in the relegation zone. Bournemouth cruised to their first league win on the road this season and made it three victories in four top-flight matches to climb seven points clear of the bottom three. The Blades had followed up their recent first Premier League win of the season against Wolves with a 1-1 draw at Brighton before the international break but were a distant second best. Bournemouth bounced back from a 6-1 thrashing at Manchester City by beating Newcastle 2-0 at home in their previous match and their confidence was soon apparent as they were rewarded with a 12th-minute lead. Antoine Semenyo cut in from the right and his ball into the box found Tavernier, who evaded his marker with a neat first touch before burying a shot under Wes Foderingham. Tavernier went close to adding his second goal of the season moments later when he was foiled by Jack Robinson’s last-ditch tackle. Bournemouth continued to dominate and Kluivert, son of former Netherlands striker Patrick, was a fraction away when he fired into the side-netting following Tavernier’s clever step-over. The visitors threatened again as in-form striker Dominic Solanke flashed a near-post volley wide. The Blades became increasingly ragged and Tavernier, who could have had a first-half hat-trick, fired over after more good work from Semenyo. Paul Heckingbottom’s side regained a semblance of composure as half-time approached but that was undone in first-half stoppage time by Foderingham’s costly error. The Blades goalkeeper dallied as he collected a long punt forward outside his area and was dispossessed by Kluivert, who then stroked the ball into an empty net. The Blades were booed off at the interval and the home fans vented their frustration again six minutes after the restart when Bournemouth added their third goal to put the game to bed. Adam Smith clipped in an excellent cross from the right when left unopposed and Tavernier ghosted in at the far post to side-foot home. James McAtee fired wide for the Blades following a goalmouth scramble but Bournemouth threatened to add to their tally. Foderingham kept out further efforts from Semenyo, Kluivert, Ryan Christie and substitute Luis Sinisterra while tempers flared in the 69th minute, with George Baldock, Robinson and Bournemouth substitute Philip Billing all booked after a melee. McBurnie’s late header was scant consolation for the Blades, who slipped to their 10th league defeat of the season.

Colin Cowherd explains why Brandon Staley needs to go.

Barbiemania is unstoppable. Merch is flying, people won't stop playing the soundtrack, and the Greta Gerwig film has been a huge box office hit. But now it has gone one step further and transcended pop culture to worm its way into the political realm - having influenced anti-Tory protesters, who have cast MPs as characters in the hit film and put posters of them around London bus stops and tubes. The posters show big name ministers and MPs Suella Braverman, Rishi Sunak, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Robert Jenrick, Lee Anderson and Priti Patel, Kemi Badenoch, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Dominic Raab and doesn't cast them in a favourable light. Instead, they show quotes from the politicians or short bios about their failures accompanied with the hashtag "#ThisBarbieIsAC*nt". Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Liz Truss's poster, for instance, claims she is "as useful as a condom". It adds: "Liz Truss holds the record for the shortest time served as PM. She crashed the economy trying to make her pals richer. While we're struggling to buy food and pay our bills, she's making tens and thousands as a public speaker. "#thelettucewoulddoabetterjob". Another poster calls another former PM, Johnson a "f**king eejit". Pictures of the bus posters were uploaded to Twitter by the campaign group Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants. The group, who posted the images on Twitter on the same day that Barbie was released in cinemas, wrote: “This week not only marks the cinematic event of the summer, but the Illegal Immigration Bill also passed a few days ago and it looks as though someone has been doing some alternative promo.” They added: “This government’s treatment of migrants and asylum seekers is an outrage that violates human rights and fails to protect those fleeing from persecution and conflict. It will make life even more dangerous for people on the move.” As for the tube posters, they wrote: "We may not all be barbie girls, but we do live in this Tory world. The UK government targets and scapegoats asylum seekers, migrants and trans people, and fabricates fear to distract us all from their farcical failure to serve the people." They referenced Sunak's commitment to expand North Sea drilling today, which is controversial because of climate change, adding: "While Shell announces annual profits almost 10X their last, around one in five (20 percent) of our population live in poverty. Now just this morning the Tories have issued 100 new oil and gas licences. Make it make sense. "We’re being rinsed, financially and politically, now and for generations to come. No mojo dojo case house vibes please, we’ve had Kenough". But it looks like the poster campaign might be short-lived. When the bus stop posters appeared, Transport for London (TfL) spokeswoman told the Evening Standard: “These offensive adverts are not authorised by TfL or our advertising partner JCDecaux. “We have instructed our contractors to remove any of these posters found on our network immediately.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

SEOUL, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 21, 2023--

How do you define “cool”? Maybe it’s ostentation. Maybe it’s exclusivity. Maybe it’s a 250-year-old orthopaedically inspired German shoe. In 2023, odds are it’s the latter. This week, it was announced that Birkenstock had landed on the US stock market with a $7.5bn (£6.1bn) valuation, more than double its worth in 2021. If you’re unfamiliar with these absurdly comfortable sandals, the classic “Arizona” Birkenstock features a layered sole made of jute fibre and moulded cork, offering your foot some serious support, with two thick suede straps coming in some sort of earthy hue. The brand itself dates back to 1774, when founder Johann Adam Birkenstock started making shoes near Frankfurt. But for a long time, the shoes themselves were the pinnacle of dorkiness. There was nothing chic about the geek connotations, either. They were just, to put it bluntly, a bit lame – often associated with exceedingly earnest, granola-eating American liberals, and dubbed everything from “Geekenstocks” to “Flintstone feet”. You get the idea. Today, though, Birkenstock sells roughly 25 million pairs of shoes a year, and the brand is seen on and celebrated by stars such as Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid, Katie Holmes and Sienna Miller. Some have even been spotted wearing them with socks, demolishing decades of jokes about a look once considered fashion’s cardinal sin. It all adds up to form the greatest redemption arc in footwear. But how has one company managed to pull off a complete 180, as if transforming a pumpkin into Cinderella’s glass slipper? “The German engineering that has gone into this product actually speaks for itself,” says fashion analyst and author of Look at the Labels, Jennifer Walderdorff. “There are no gimmicks: the shoe does what it says on the tin. Its reliability is what [makes it] a fashion staple.” It has not been a quick turnaround, though, its reappraisal starting – sort of – in the 1990s. Fashion fans may recall the famous photos of Kate Moss taken in 1990 by Corinne Day. They show Moss, then 15, posing topless on a beach in Camber Sands, smoking a cigarette in a series of shots that would later make her one of the most influential models and faces of her generation. But there is a small fact about the photos that often gets forgotten: Moss is wearing Birkenstocks in them. It took a little longer for the trend to catch on properly. In 2013, Oliver Reichert became the first person outside the Birkenstock family to run the company, and it’s his leadership that’s helped steer the brand’s perception. It was that same year, for example, that Birkenstock began making appearances on runways: Céline models wore blue fur-lined sandals inspired by the German shoe, while A-list stars including Naomi Watts and Ashley Olsen started wearing them out and about. That summer, American Vogue declared that its staffers had, against all odds, “fallen for the Birkenstock”, noting how “a bulky shoe is actually more flattering on the leg than you would think”. In the world we live in today, there is so much more room for fashion and function, hence the appeal of the Birk Jennifer Walderdorff, fashion analyst It’s from here that the humble Birkenstock began its ascent into the heart of the fashion zeitgeist. By 2017, there were designer collaborations, with Barneys New York partnering with the brand to release a limited edition line of pink fur-lined sandals. Collaborations followed with other brands including Opening Ceremony, Rick Owens, and, most recently, Valentino. But as the latest valuation shows, the brand found a new lease of life this summer. You could barely step outside your house without spotting a pair. As for what’s fueled this recent surge, we can look to the pandemic, when we forwent shoes entirely and got accustomed to putting our comfort above all else. When lockdowns were lifted, all of us re-emerged with a shifted set of sartorial priorities, with high heels falling further down the totem pole in terms of stature and status. Today, there is nothing trendier than having your feet close to the ground. What is particularly interesting about Birkenstock as a brand is that despite the constant movement of fashion trend cycles, the design of its signature shoe hasn’t changed. “Birkenstock has lasted so long and grown to be the super giant it is because of the awareness and availability of information on its benefits,” adds Walderdorff. “There are lots of clothing items that are no longer worn due to their detrimental effects on the body, like corsets, which realign your internal organs to no gain. Similarly, overwearing high heels contributes to foot deformities. In the world we live in today, there is so much more room for fashion and function, hence the appeal of the Birk.” The rise of “normcore” can also be attributed to Birkenstock’s popularity. Characterised by unpretentious, utilitarian and functional clothing, the trend lends itself to the aesthetic of an orthopaedic shoe. “Normcore” also provide Birkenstocks the air of new wave edge, the shoes slotting neatly into a look that has become particularly popular among east London hipsters – take one look at the Instagram meme account Real Housewives of Clapton (which parodies a very specific type of natural-wine-drinking, Perello olive-eating, east Londoner) and you’ll see what I mean. Fashion has also generally seen an exponential rise in flat shoes. According to the Lyst Index, the industry’s quarterly report ranking fashion’s hottest brands and products according to Google searches and social media mentions, the season’s must-have is the Maison Margiela Tabi, a split-toed Japanese-inspired loafer. In fourth place is the Nike x Martine Rose Shox MR4 Mule, a pair of Tory Burch mules came in sixth place, New Balance trainers in eighth. And what was in fifth place? None other than the Birkenstock Arizona, of course. Perhaps the final hurdle for Birkenstock was to align itself with the feminine ideal – a space previously occupied by stiletto heels. Now, though, changes in attitudes around feminism and how feminist ideologies can be expressed through a woman’s clothing and appearance – yes, feminists can wear makeup! – has created a space for Birkenstock after all. In fact, this formerly frumpy shoe is now being perpetuated as the bastion of femininity. Don’t believe us? Simply take a look at the hottest film of the summer. At the end of Greta Gerwig’s stellar Barbie, our hero (played by Margot Robbie) has undergone a major emotional transformation that has seen her find a sense of purpose and identity. Gone are the feet once permanently raised so that they were perfectly positioned for a pair of heels. By the film’s conclusion, Robbie’s Barbie is an autonomous figure, a woman epitomising everything about contemporary feminism. And that includes having feet that are flat. Her footwear of choice? Why, a pair of pink Arizona Birkenstocks. Read More The grown-up guide to getting ‘balletcore’ right The Barbie press tour has finally rescued Margot Robbie’s red carpet reputation Birkenstock sandals are Barbie-approved – these are the pink styles to buy now Taylor Swift’s jacket from Chiefs game hints at Travis Kelce romance From choppy bobs to fox red, 5 celebrity-approved hair trends for autumn How Taylor Swift’s style has evolved over the years

Two dual US-Israeli citizens have so far been released as part of a Qatari-brokered ceasefire in Gaza.