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Celebrating Queer Nightlife Through Photography A new photo book titled 'Sex, Clubs, Dissent: Visualising Queer Nightlife' offers a striking defence of the culture-shaping role of snapshots taken inside and after queer clubs. Edited by writer and London dancefloor regular Amelia Abraham, the anthology takes an expansive view of nightlife photography from the 1960s until today. The Book's Diverse Collection The book features contributions from artists such as Wolfgang Tillmans, Sunil Gupta, and Kia LaBeija, showcasing a wide range of nightlife photography. The image selection is cacophonous, ranging from film stills and studio portraits to Grindr screenshots, taking readers on a nonlinear dance through scenes of queer sociality. A Platform for Marginalized Voices The book aims to rebalance the history of queer nightlife, which has often focused on white gay men. The cover features a 1978 photo by Meryl Meisler, 'Two Women Embrace on Floor Next to Jupiter's Legs, Les Mouches, NY', highlighting the intention to include marginalized voices. A Celebration of Queer Expression The book includes a generous selection of images from Del LaGrace Volcano's archive, documenting meetings of leather-clad lesbians in London, as well as never-before-published photos from two trans community archives in Mexico City and Buenos Aires.

The Remix of a Classic Words, words, words. Can Hamlet retain its tragic force without using most of them? This hour-long dance-theatre remix by the late South African choreographer Dada Masilo preserves few speeches and its opening is not auspicious, crashing straight into “To be, or not to be” shorn of context and characterisation. The Dance of Ophelia and Hamlet There follows, as is customary, a meeting between the prince and Ophelia, but Masilo replaces the usual cruel encounter with stolen moments amid a ceremony, as if they are meeting anew like Romeo and Juliet at the Capulet ball. Matching each other’s movements, amid clapped hands, thrusting shoulders and rippling chests, they grow closer with a hint of tango footwork. From this flashback, Masilo practically fast-forwards their choreography with a sense of doom. The Emotional Depth of Gertrude Letting the pair share a tender duet reinforces their romance but also heightens the violence of the nunnery scene where they are traditionally first seen together. Masilo adds another new scene to show Gertrude’s despair upon receiving news of Old Hamlet’s death rather than introducing her as sanguinely remarried to his brother. We see her seek strength amid grief, supported by courtiers whose pulsing, grounded movement is a message of persistence. This is dancing felt in the gut. The Impact of Movement and Music Wooed offstage, Gertrude returns for a convivial ceremony where a young couple are ticked off for getting too raunchy on the dancefloor. Movement styles across generations and cultures are blended by Masilo, who drew attention for remoulding ballet’s classics. Her ensemble is often an industrious force, driven by relentless percussion, as each scene breaks like a wave against Thuthuka Sibisi’s compositions. The Tragic Conclusion The latter stages lose focus but the choreography’s omnipresent sense of returning to the earth foreshadows a climax where all are struck down by the kingdom’s collective sickness, stressed by the lighting of Suzette le Sueur (who also provides some of the elegant costumes). It’s a collection of often piercing scenes that never quite establish full collective power – a tragedy out of joint. At Sadler’s Wells, London, until 26 May

India Secures 38‑Run Victory in First Women’s T20 International Speedy half‑centuries from Yastika Bhatia and Jemimah Rodrigues propelled India to 188/7, handing England a 38‑run defeat in the historic match on 28 May 2026. Bhatia and Rodrigues Deliver Rapid Half‑Centuries Both openers reached fifty in under 30 balls, setting a formidable total early in the innings. Their partnership of 126 runs was broken in the 14th over by Charlie Dean with a run‑out and a catch. Scorecard Snapshot India Women: 188/7 (20 overs) England Women: 150 all out (19.4 overs) Top scorer for England: Amy Jones 67 off 48 balls Best bowling for England: Lauren Bell 3/34 India’s debutant seamer Nandani Sharma took 3 wickets in 5 balls Implications for England’s World Cup Build‑Up The loss highlights England’s limited bowling depth, with only Lauren Bell delivering consistently and the expensive overs from Issy Wong and Dani Gibson. Injuries to regular captain Nat Sciver‑Brunt further constrain options ahead of the World Cup starting 12 June. Looking Ahead: Next Fixtures and Stakes England have two more matches against India before the World Cup, providing a chance to fine‑tune their attack. India, resting captain Harmanpreet Kaur, will aim to maintain momentum and test squad depth ahead of the tournament.

Asana's Strategic AI AcquisitionAsana has acquired the workflow automation company StackAI for $75 million, marking a significant step in the company's broader AI pivot. The acquisition aims to position Asana as an "AI-native workplace platform" and integrate StackAI's agent-building capabilities into Asana's existing work management system. The announcement was made Thursday afternoon to coincide with Asana's earnings and investor call.StackAI's Workflow Automation CapabilitiesStackAI, built as an AI workflow-automation system, designs agents to operate within existing business systems, pulling in data from platforms like Salesforce, Slack, and Gsuite. The company, founded by Tony Rosinol and Bernard Aceituno, will join Asana as part of the acquisition. StackAI has faced competition from automation tools like Zapier as well as AI labs like OpenAI and Anthropic in the rapidly evolving AI automation space.Financial Terms and Funding BackgroundThe acquisition comes as StackAI had raised just under $20 million, according to PitchBook data, with most of it coming in a recent $16 million Series A round. That round included funding from Gradient, Epakon Capital, Lobby VC, LifeX Ventures, and Vercel CEO Guillermo Rauch. While the $75 million acquisition price represents a significant premium over StackAI's funding, it reflects Asana's commitment to accelerating its AI capabilities.Asana's AI-Native TransformationWhile users are most familiar with Asana's work management system, the company has been releasing AI-oriented products in recent years, including the AI Studio agent builder and AI Teammates series of pre-built automations. Asana believes its deep integration into existing corporate workflows provides a key advantage, allowing it to distill context and training data that would otherwise be unavailable. This acquisition specifically aims to "agentify the most complex business processes end-to-end," according to CEO Dan Rogers.Future of Human-Agent Work in EnterpriseAsana has struggled on public markets during the AI era, losing more than half its market cap value since the introduction of ChatGPT. However, revenue has continued to grow steadily, and the new leadership is confident that human-agent products will enable a rebound. With this acquisition, Asana aims to accelerate its roadmap into "the next phase of human-agent work," potentially differentiating itself from both traditional work management platforms and standalone AI automation tools in the competitive enterprise software landscape.

Claude Lemieux’s Untimely Death Sends Shockwaves Through Hockey CommunityThe NHL Alumni Association confirmed the passing of Claude Lemieux, a four‑time Stanley Cup champion known for his ferocious play, at age 60. The news broke on 2026-05-28, just after Lemieux carried the torch for the Canadiens ahead of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference final.A Look at Lemieux’s Storied Career and Final MomentsLemieux’s career spanned 26 seasons (1983‑2009) with six teams, highlighted by clutch performances in three different championships.1986: Won the Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens1995: Captured the Stanley Cup and earned the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP with the New Jersey Devils1996: Helped the Colorado Avalanche win the Stanley Cup in their first season after relocation2000: Returned to the Devils for a second championshipHe played 1,449 regular‑season and playoff games before retiring in 2009. After hanging up his skates, Lemieux became a player agent, representing stars such as Frederik Andersen, Timo Meier, Moritz Seider and Hampus Lindholm.Numbers That Defined Lemieux’s On‑Ice SuccessTotal games played: 1,449Stanley Cups: 4 (1986, 1995, 1996, 2000)Conn Smythe Trophy: 1 (1995)Teams represented as agent (as of 2026): >12 NHL playersHow His Passing Affects the NHL, Montreal Canadiens and Player RepresentationCommissioner Gary Bettman called Lemieux “one of the greatest big‑game players in hockey history,” underscoring his impact on the sport’s competitive narrative. Geoff Molson, owner of the Canadiens, highlighted Lemieux’s embodiment of the franchise’s “relentless, courageous, and tenacious” spirit.The loss also revives discussion about player safety and the legacy of on‑ice incidents, such as Lemieux’s controversial hit on Kris Draper that sparked a notorious rivalry with the Detroit Red Wings.What the Future Holds for NHL Alumni Engagement and Player AgencyWith Lemieux’s death, the NHL alumni network may intensify support programs for former players, focusing on health monitoring and post‑career transitions. His successful shift to player representation suggests a growing trend of former athletes leveraging on‑ice experience to guide new talent, potentially reshaping the agent landscape in the coming years.

The Personal Stories Highlight a Growing Youth Employment CrisisFour young adults, all aged 21‑24, share how the UK labour market has become a maze of unpaid internships, short‑term gigs and relentless job applications, leaving them anxious about the future.From Film Graduates to Care Leavers: Real‑World Barriers to EmploymentCatherina, 24, Brighton – Digital film graduate who has only secured runner roles despite festival‑screened shorts.Olivia, 24, Essex – Former retail worker forced to quit after epileptic seizures; cites inadequate employer adjustments and lack of disability‑specific guidance.Giovanna, 24, London – Care‑leaver who navigated hostel life, temporary hospitality jobs and a nine‑month civil‑service training scheme.Joseph, 21, Glasgow – Neurodivergent musical‑theatre trainee who cycled through supermarket, call‑centre and software‑engineering apprenticeship amid “hundreds” of applications.Common Threads Across the NarrativesRepeatedly sending hundreds of job applications with little to no response.Reliance on charities such as Spear, Young Women’s Trust and Drive Forward Foundation for coaching, CV help and mental‑health support.Financial insecurity forcing continued low‑paid work or early return from sick leave.Systemic gaps: lack of clear disability guidance, insufficient sick‑pay, and short‑term workplace counselling that fails neurodivergent staff.Why the Labour Market Is Failing Young PeopleThe stories echo the broader “Milburn report” warning that the labour market is increasingly inaccessible to young people, especially women and care‑leavers. Employers tout diversity initiatives, yet many lack the infrastructure to support disability accommodations or the mentorship needed for sustainable career progression.What Needs to Change to Re‑ignite Youth EmploymentGovernment‑mandated, clearer guidance on disability rights and employer obligations.Expanded financial safety nets for those unable to work due to health conditions.Long‑term, relationship‑based employment programmes that go beyond “first‑job placement”.Targeted investment in sectors that can absorb young talent, such as civil service apprenticeships and tech training pathways.

New Coalition Takes Shape Amid Drone ControversyLatvia’s parliament has confirmed a fresh governing alliance after the previous cabinet fell apart over disagreements on anti‑drone defenses. The vote marks a decisive step toward stabilising a nation that has been rattled by several wayward Ukrainian drones crossing its borders.Parliament Votes 66‑34 to Install Andris Kulbergs as Prime MinisterBy a margin of 66 deputies out of a 100‑seat assembly, lawmakers endorsed Andris Kulbergs, a 47‑year‑old centrist, as Latvia’s next prime minister. He will lead the country until the scheduled parliamentary elections on October 3. The new cabinet retains outgoing foreign minister Baiba Braze and appoints Colonel Raivis Melnis as defence minister.Numbers Behind the Power Shift: Seats, Votes, and Demographics66 votes in favour, 34 against.Latvia’s population: roughly 1.8 million people.The coalition comprises four parties, giving it a “healthy majority” in the Saeima.Previous prime minister Evika Silina resigned in mid‑May after losing coalition support.Implications for Latvia’s Security and EU/NATO AlignmentThe new government has pledged to reinforce military and border security, a stance echoed by political scientist Nils Muiznieks who noted a “broad consensus on foreign‑policy priorities.” With NATO and EU membership, Latvia is likely to maintain strong solidarity with Ukraine, especially as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has offered expert assistance for air‑defence upgrades.What Lies Ahead: Policy Priorities and Regional StabilityAnalysts expect the coalition to focus on:Accelerating anti‑drone and air‑defence capabilities.Ensuring economic and energy security amid regional tensions.Deepening cooperation with NATO allies and the EU.Preparing for the upcoming elections while maintaining a pro‑Ukraine stance.

North American Nations Coordinate Ebola Response for World Cup The United States, Mexico, and Canada have announced aligned public health travel measures for people coming from African regions at greatest risk from Ebola as they prepare to host the World Cup next month. In a joint statement, the three nations emphasized that "the health and safety of every person in the region remains our highest priority as we welcome the world to North America." Coordinated Travel Restrictions Implemented The three neighboring countries have established various containment measures to prevent the spread of Ebola across their borders. The United States initially banned noncitizens who had traveled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda, or South Sudan in recent weeks from entering the country. This ban was subsequently extended by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to include green card holders who have been in those countries within the previous 21 days. Canada has implemented a 90-day entry ban for residents from the DRC, Uganda, and South Sudan. Additionally, Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and other foreign nationals who have been in affected areas without symptoms must undergo a 21-day quarantine period beginning Saturday. Mexico's Health Secretary David Kershenovich announced enhanced Ebola screening measures at airports, urging the public to avoid travel to the DRC and requiring arrivals from the country to observe a 21-day quarantine. WHO Declaration Triggers Global Response The World Health Organization declared an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo a public health emergency of international concern on May 17, warning of a high risk that the virus could spread to neighboring countries. This declaration has prompted governments worldwide to implement travel-related containment measures. The coordinated response by North American nations reflects the growing concern about potential transmission during the upcoming World Cup, which will bring together visitors from around the world. Impact on International Travel and Major Events These measures represent one of the most significant coordinated public health responses in recent years, affecting international travel patterns and potentially impacting the experience of fans and participants attending the World Cup. The restrictions may create challenges for travelers from affected regions and require additional resources for health screening at entry points across North America. The joint approach by the three host countries demonstrates a recognition that public health threats require unified responses, particularly when hosting international events that bring together people from diverse geographic locations. Future Outlook for Ebola Containment As the World Cup approaches, health officials will likely continue monitoring the Ebola situation closely, potentially adjusting restrictions based on the evolving outbreak status. The coordinated measures may set a precedent for how nations collaborate on public health responses during international events, particularly in an era of increasing global connectivity and potential disease spread. Success in containing this outbreak will depend not only on travel restrictions but also on effective public health measures within affected regions and continued international cooperation on disease surveillance and response.

The Rise of Recursive Self-Improvement in AIThe word "recursion" is the latest buzzword in AI circles. Two separate startups have taken on the name, and many more have started referencing recursive self-improvement (RSI) in their roadmaps. Like AGI before it, RSI has become a three-letter byword for a cataclysmic AI takeoff – even if there's still a little disagreement about what it exactly means.In basic terms, RSI refers to an AI system that can continuously upgrade itself. Once AI systems can manage the upgrade cycle better than humans, the process can become a closed loop, limited only by the compute power they can access, and humans are no longer necessary or even helpful.Scary or not, that's a vision that a lot of AI labs are eager to chase.Key Players Pursuing Recursive SystemsEarlier this month, well-known AI researcher Richard Socher launched the aptly named Recursive Superintelligence with RSI as an explicit goal. "Our main focus is to build truly recursive, self-improving superintelligence at scale," Socher told TechCrunch at launch, "which means that the entire process of ideation, implementation, and validation of research ideas would be automatic."A number of other prominent researchers are already chasing that same goal, hoping for a breakthrough that will make recursive self-improvement possible.One of the most prominent is Andrej Karpathy, a legendary figure from Tesla and OpenAI, who is using agent swarms to train LLMs on simple tasks for a project he calls Auto-Research. Karpathy has been unusually open about the project, tweeting about milestones regularly and making the building blocks available through a public GitHub repo. So far, the work has mostly been confined to making minor improvements on a GPT-2 scale model — as Karpathy noted in March, "It's not novel, ground-breaking 'research' (yet)" — but it's been enough to convince lots of other researchers to follow the RSI dream. And with Karpathy now working on pre-training at Anthropic, he will have plenty of opportunity to apply the idea at a larger scale.Adaption — founded by Cohere and Google alum Sara Hooker — recently launched a similar tool called AutoScientist in an effort to automate frontier training. Like Karpathy's auto-researchers, the system trains agents to make incremental improvements — but for Adaption, the goal is to make it easier to train a full-scale frontier model. If those same researchers start to push the frontier forward, the system could quickly spiral into something very much like RSI.Disarray founder Doris Xin drew more specific RSI interest when her self-trained machine learning agent took home 28 medals in a recent Kaggle competition, beating out many human-trained agents. As she sees it, the major challenge is reliability."I would argue, given infinite compute and infinite time horizon, we are already there," Xin told me. "I want to make an argument that this is not a creative endeavor, really. It's just a lot of meat-and-potatoes engineering."The Current State of Self-Improving AIThere's also plenty of evidence that the AI industry isn't very close to recursive systems in any meaningful way — and is still grappling with talking to a wary public about its progress. So Google CEO Sundar Pichai basically admitted in a recent podcast interview."It's a continuum, and we are all definitely making progress," Pichai said. "But in the way people describe RSI, that would represent a next level of acceleration and would have a lot of implications, but we aren't quite there yet."But the continuum includes an awful lot of self-improving AI systems.In January, one of Anthropic's lead programmers for Claude Code estimated that "close to 100%" of his team's code was written by the tool — a frank admission that Claude Code was literally writing itself.Just because engineers are using an AI tool doesn't mean the tool can replace them — but Anthropic seems to be getting close to replacing engineers too. In a recent survey tied to the Mythos preview, five out of 18 Anthropic engineers believed that, with harness improvements, this version of Mythos could soon substitute for an L4 engineer — a midlevel programmer who can take on involved projects without supervision.Still, there were some of the same weaknesses you might expect."Some of Claude's major reported weaknesses compared to an L4 include: self-managing week-long ambiguous tasks, understanding org priorities, taste, verification, instruction-following, and epistemics," the report reads.In other words, its weaknesses are everything involved with self-direction, which is the cornerstone for RSI. But sure, for everything else, Claude is ready to step right in.Expert Perspectives on RSI TimelinesJust like the AGI term before it, the AI industry also can't tell us how far away it is from showcasing a meaningful recursive system. When Georgetown's Center for Security and Emerging Technology assembled a group of experts to study RSI last year, the group found a major split in assessments — some expecting an imminent "superintelligence" style explosion while others expected slower progress and an eventual plateau. But all agreed that recursion made the future especially difficult to predict.Helen Toner, director of CSET and a former board member at OpenAI, told TechCrunch that simply using AI tools to do AI research isn't enough to qualify as RSI. "They're just using AI for as much as they can," Toner told TechCrunch. "And I think that is different from the classic definition of RSI, which is really that there are no humans needed."Toner pointed to a recent post by METR's Ajeya Cotra, which distinguishes different milestones on the path to the AI research takeover. One step, which Cotra calls "adequacy," would come when the system can still perform research after all humans are removed — even if the resulting research isn't as valuable or efficient. "Parity" comes when an AI-only system is as good at research as a human-only system. "Supremacy," the final stage, comes when an AI-only system outperforms a collaborative system between humans and AI.Ultimately, Cotra concludes that AI is very close to the adequacy threshold of being able to produce some work on its own — similar to the incremental changes made by Karpathy's Auto-Research system. "I wouldn't be totally shocked if you told me this milestone had already passed, and I expect it to happen in the next couple years," Cotra wrote.She was less clear on when parity will come, but once it does, she thinks it would "massively accelerate the pace of AI progress, leading to AI research supremacy within another year."The Challenges Ahead for Recursive AIWith so much of AI built on scaling laws, there's a strong tendency to think RSI will follow the same curve. Toner thinks that many of those pursuing AI research and development via RSI "think of it as a pretty smooth ladder, where you can just keep scaling up."But even if AI researchers are able to make incremental improvements like Karpathy's auto-researchers, there will be larger challenges in handing off the whole process of research. Toner put it in terms of the history of computing, which has seen human beings handing off more and more of the process while still directing things from the top."We went from machine languages to assembly language and compiled languages; you're getting further and further from the guts of the computer," Toner said. "But the human is still, in some intuitive sense, running the show."Moving beyond that paradigm will take significant challenges, both in engineering and alignment. But even with the massive investments happening, there's no infinite compute available — and the basic trade-off between human labor and machine intelligence will be hard to overcome.The Future of Recursive Self-ImprovementAs for a total recursive AI system of apocalyptic visions? The only thing researchers essentially agree on is that, like AGI, it's not here yet.