The Suprême has also caused a recent sensation on TikTok and Instagram, with customers ripping into the pastries and showing hundreds of thousands of viewers the crème anglaise-based ganache pouring out of the flaky treat.
Brendan Reilly was the first in line and waited about an hour on a hot summer day outside of Lafayette Grand Café & Bakery in New York to try the Suprême, a crème-filled circular baked croissant.
“Look at how lovely this is,” he said, as soon as he was inside and had a chocolate Suprême in his hands. “It’s so chocolatey. I’m very surprised. I thought that the chocolate would hit first. But the croissant is really something else. And do you ever get a chocolate croissant and you bite into it and it’s kind of like, ‘There’s your little bite of chocolate.’ This is obviously not the case. Oh my God. It’s lovely. This is wonderful. It’s really luscious.”
Scott Cioe, the executive pastry chef for Lafayette Grand Café & Bakery, said he had no idea his creation would go viral.
“I don’t even have a TikTok,” he said. “We knew we were going to fill it like a doughnut and glaze it, so that’s really where it came from. It’s making it a fun draw into the bakery.”
Since April, the Suprême, limited to one per customer, has usually sold out in less than an hour.
“I think the most important thing as a chef is to make sure that after the first bite, second bite, that your experience of eating it lives up to that look, like what first drew you in in the first place,” he said. “I think and hope we’ve been doing that for months now.”
The bakery makes a total of 240 Suprêmes at 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. daily, always with a line of people around the block, waiting to try the $8.50 baked goods in either chocolate flavoured or the flavour of the month. For August, it’s peaches and cream.
The heart of Portuguese monarch Dom Pedro I, who declared Brazilian Independence from Portugal 200 years ago and was named “emperor” of Brazil, was on display on Wednesday in Brasilia as part of independence anniversary celebrations.
The heart is being exhibited in Itamaraty Palace, the headquarters of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, under a heavy security guard.
Kept in formaldehyde in a glass jar inside a gold urn, the heart arrived in Brazil on Monday (August 22).
Dom Pedro I’s heart had been kept in a church in the Portuguese city of Porto since his death in Portugal in 1834 and loaned for three weeks to Brazil, where it will be put on display as part of independence anniversary celebrations.
Pedro declared Brazilian independence in 1822 and was crowned “emperor” of Brazil after his father King Joao VI returned to Portugal following the restoration of European monarchies after the defeat of Napoleon.
Though Pedro returned to Portugal nine years later, his declaration of independence on September 7, 1822, is acclaimed by Brazilian nationalists as the birth of their country.
The widow of the late basketball star Kobe Bryant was awarded $16 million by a jury on Wednesday over the sharing of photos of human remains at the helicopter crash site where her husband, their 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others were killed in 2020.
Vanessa Bryant had sued Los Angeles County, alleging invasion of privacy, after accusing members of the Los Angeles County sheriffs and fire departments of sharing gruesome images of the crash in unofficial settings, including to patrons in a bar.
Chris Chester, whose wife Sarah, 45, and daughter, Payton, 13, were among those killed in the crash and who joined Bryant’s lawsuit, was awarded $15 million, bringing the total jury award to $31 million.
Bryant, who was in the Los Angeles federal courtroom when the verdict was read out after an 11-day trial, clasped her face in her hands and wept. She and her attorney declined to speak to reporters as they left the courthouse.
Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven other people died in the crash in Calabasas, California, on January 26, 2020.
Vanessa Bryant has also filed lawsuits against the helicopter charter company and the deceased pilot’s estate.
The county already agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle a similar case brought by families of others who died in the crash.
Kobe Bryant was 41 when he died. The Los Angeles Lakers great and 18-time All-Star won five NBA championships and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2020.
Qantas Airways Ltd said on Thursday it would buy back up to A$400 million ($276 million) of shares after the lifting of Covid curbs spurred a strong rebound in travel demand, boosting its second-half performance and lowering debt levels.
The rush to travel once borders opened has been so strong that Qantas said it had been forced to trim domestic capacity by a further 10 percentage points since its last update in June due mostly to operational challenges associated with the demand surge.
The airline posted an annual underlying loss before tax of A$1.86 billion in the 12 months ended June 30, wider than the A$1.77 billion restated figure from a year earlier and slightly bigger than analyst forecasts.
The bulk of the losses was reported in the first half when domestic and international borders were closed under strict measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
While demand has improved, Qantas in recent months has been trimming its domestic capacity from earlier forecasts due to widespread staff shortages at airports, high rates of crew illness in winter and elevated fuel prices.
Qantas also plans to run a competition between aircraft manufacturers to replace its aging fleet of 28 Airbus A330 planes in the next 12 to 18 months, its chief financial officer said.
A scientist specializing in sustainability science and process systems engineering for energy, environment and sustainability has won the 2022 Apec Science Prize for Innovation, Research and Education—also known as ASPIRE.
Jingzheng Ren was selected by consensus as the Apec region’s top young science researcher this year. Through his research, he unfolded new methods to promote integrated development of the economy, environment and society, including through bio-circular-green practice.
He has been published in more than 200 publications and, in November 2020, was ranked in the top two per cent of scientists in The Stanford List under the field of energy. Some of his research has proven to be helpful to enhance understanding of waste-to-energy conversion, technology for sustainable food production and industrial activities, as well as carbon-neutral tourism.
“The transition to a more sustainable practice for our industries in the region is complex and costly, but very much critical,” said Ren, who was nominated by Hong Kong, China and is an associate professor at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
“My research aims to improve the understanding of this transition by developing innovative industrial processes to achieve sustainability-oriented decision-making and optimization,” he added. “This can help the decision-makers to make informed decisions in achieving sustainable industrial systems by considering various objectives, dimensions, scales and multiple stakeholders.”
Ren was selected from a group of 13 finalists, each nominated by Apec member economies under Thailand’s 2022 ASPIRE theme, “Innovation to Achieve Environmental, Economic, and Social Goals.” All nominees were considered based on their dedication to excellence in scientific research and collaboration with other Apec economies.
“Ren’s research is the perfect example of excellence and innovation to achieve economic, environmental and social goals,” said Pasit Lorterapong, the Deputy Permanent Secretary of Thailand’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation.
“Sustainability, including through the bio-circular-green economy, are key to a resilient and more advanced economic development in the future,” Pasit added. “Ren’s research, especially on the development of the circular economy, recycling, industrial systems and supply network optimization, provides us with knowledge and helps us address future environmental and economic challenges.”
The ASPIRE winner was announced by science, technology, and innovation officials from the Apec member economies at an award ceremony hosted in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
“Our goal is to promote and advance excellence in scientific research and strengthen international collaboration,” said Xuemei Yang, Chair of the Apec Policy Partnership for Science, Technology, and Innovation. “The ASPIRE allows Apec to celebrate the accomplishments of our region’s researchers and their joint efforts in supporting policymakers address global challenges.”
For his achievement, Ren was awarded a prize of USD 25,000, supported by publishers of scholarly scientific knowledge and co-sponsors of ASPIRE, Wiley and Elsevier.
“We congratulate Ren for his pioneering work on the integrated, sustainable development of the economy, the environment and society at large,” said Brian Napack, President and CEO of Wiley. “His collaboration with twelve Apec economies clearly highlights a deep commitment to cross-border cooperation in this important endeavour.”
“The ASPIRE continues to celebrate international scientific values and showcase high-impact researchers lighting the pathway to an economically inclusive and sustainable future,” he added.
“The pandemic heightened the economic, environmental and social complexities that the Asia-Pacific region—and the world more broadly—faces today,” said Youngsuk “Y.S.” Chi, Chairman of Elsevier. “The ASPIRE prize has highlighted the outstanding talent and dedication of Ren and the other nominees, who have worked hard to find solutions to these critical issues. I have no doubt that their research will promote sustainable and collaborative development in our society.”
Cambodian authorities have ordered DKSH Cambodia to stop distribution of its baby powder products made from talc, pending test results from third-party laboratories after suspected contamination with asbestos was discovered.
Asbestos is a natural mineral with a variety of industrial uses that has long been heavily restricted in its applications – and sometimes banned outright – in numerous countries around the world due to its carcinogenic properties and its link to the lung cancer mesothelioma, which can be caused by breathing in small fibres or particles of the material, according to the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training.
The ministry also noted that asbestos is permitted in some items in Cambodia such as cement, fibro-cement, ceiling cement, plaster, brake pads, clutch pads, insulation for heating and cooling systems, soundproofing, machinery, rubber pipes and other building materials.
However, crucially all of the above examples are objects that exist in a solid non-particulate form or are wrapped or under a coating, rather than ground into a powder to be applied to human skin, which presents an acute possibility of danger to those exposed who may inhale it.
The announcement of the suspension came after the Consumer Protection, Competition and Fraud Repression Directorate-General (CCF) met with DKSH representatives virtually on August 22 and presented the results of the analysis of its baby and kid powder products, which are supposed to be made from talc only but are suspected of having asbestos in them.
CCF ordered DKSH to temporarily stop the distribution of all baby powder products and wait for the results of the analysis from third-party laboratories, which may be released soon.
“The results of the laboratory department showed that there were banned substances in DKSH baby powder products. CCF is taking further research measures according to the technical specifications, the details of which will be released later after receiving specific results,” it said.
CCF director-general Phan Oun told The Post on August 23 that after taking samples and conducting tests on some baby powders purportedly made from talc at their laboratory, the results showed the presence of asbestos on the analysed samples.
Due to the lab results, CCF has introduced a number of immediate measures, such as requiring the company to suspend the import and distribution of all of its baby powder products that have been found to contain asbestos and to recall its baby powder products from the markets and retailers before reporting back to CCF on the amount of products it has collected.
“The company has two weeks to take samples for analysis at a third-party laboratory with international capacity and recognition. Asbestos is not allowed to be present in cosmetic products. The presence of this substance can be very dangerous to human health, even causing cancer,” he emphasised.
DKSH Cambodia could not be reached for comment on August 23.
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“In this world, no matter what country you go to, everything is under the table.” That is what Katsutoshi Ozawa, a manager from Kanagawa Prefecture, was told by director of the Intractable Disease Patient Support Association, a nonprofit organization that helps facilitate organ transplants.
Ozawa, 53, who had been a high school and university rugby coach, suffers from serious kidney disease. Desperate for help, he travelled to Kyrgyzstan last December on a trip facilitated by the NPO. His total expenses were about ¥21 million, which he scraped together from fund-raising activities done by his students and his own personal savings.
However, a 58-year-old woman from the Kansai region who had undergone a kidney transplant at the hospital in the central Asian country later developed serious complications. And an Israeli, who went to the hospital through a different route, died following surgery. Ozawa was unable to have the operation.
When Ozawa phoned the NPO back in Japan and asked if there was any other way to receive the transplant, the director said, “It’s a matter of fact that a tip is needed to change the order [of transplant operations]. In one sense, organ transplants are a business.”
The director suggested he receive a living donor transplant in Kazakhstan or Tajikistan. “Whatever happens, I don’t want you to say you got [a kidney] from a living person,” the director said. “It will be said that you bought [it] from a poor person.”
Hearing this sowed the seeds of distrust in Ozawa, who rejected the idea and returned to Japan. “I never imagined overseas transplants operated in a world like this,” he recalled.
Getting started
According to the NPO’s website, the 62-year-old director founded a bedding manufacturing company in Yokohama in 1983. In 1998, he moved his operations to Shanghai and supplied major bedding and furniture companies and other retailers through Japanese trading companies.
One day in or around 2003, a relative asked him, “A former classmate is undergoing dialysis. Is it possible to have a kidney transplant in Shanghai?” In response, he visited a university hospital in Shanghai, and that laid the groundwork for becoming involved in organ transplants.
In 2007, Chinese authorities notified medical institutions that priority for organ transplants should go to domestic patients and, in principle, should not be performed on foreigners. However, there were exceptions made, and the NPO continued to provide guidance on organ transplants in China for Japanese patients.
In 2014, a 58-year-old man from the Kansai region underwent a kidney transplant in China, paying about ¥16.5 million to the NPO. The NPO had introduced him to a large hospital in Tianjin near Beijing. At the hotel where he stayed prior to the surgery were about 10 other Japanese also awaiting operations.
From the hospitalization procedure to the operation itself, everything went smoothly, as well as the postoperative process. On the sensitive subject of whether his new organ came from a live person or a dead one, he was told, “That’s none of our concern.” He likely never found out.
Caught on tape
Transplants in China were halted in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in full force, and the NPO director had to seek help from a new source. That would be from a 58-year-old Turkish middleman — who had been arrested by Ukrainian authorities in 2017 on charges of organ trafficking.
The NPO agreed to pay the Turkish man about $80,000 (about ¥10.7 million) per patient for the operation and other expenses. In the case of last year’s transplant in Kyrgyzstan, about $15,000 (about ¥2 million) of the amount was paid as a “donor fee,” ostensibly compensation for the organ.
According to voice recordings obtained by The Yomiuri Shimbun, the NPO director said during an internal meeting in May that “a donor receives about $15,000.” When another official told him, “We’ll give $16,000 to the donor,” the director replied, “Okay, okay.”
In a separate recording from the same month, an NPO official is heard telling the director that he told a patient’s family that the surgery and other expenses would total $80,000, to which the director responded, “You didn’t tell them how much money the donor will receive, did you?”
In response to media reports citing these remarks and other sources, the NPO posted a statement on its website on Aug. 12. In addition to insisting that the organization “has never been involved in organ trafficking,” it stated that “organ trafficking may have taken place without our knowledge.”
“We will carefully scrutinize the source of donors in the future and, if organ trafficking is suspected, we will take strict actions, including cancelling the transplants,” it said.
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As India prepares to commission its first domestically-built aircraft carrier, its construction marks a milestone which will put the country among the ranks of few, said India’s Southern Naval Command Chief, Vice Admiral M.A. Hampiholi.
The Indigenous Navy Ship INS Vikrant will be brought into service on September 2, over two decades after work on its design began.
“Vikrant is indeed historic for it gives us the ability as a country to join a few select nations who are able to design and construct aircraft carriers,” said Hampiholi on the deck of the 262 metres-long ship.
It is the largest ever ship built in India, weighing 45,000 tonnes and able to hold 1,500 personnel.
“The amount of steel that has been used in the ship is enough to perhaps make four Eiffel towers,” said Hampiholi.
He added that the ship’s cabling is around 2,400km long – roughly the distance from Kochi to Delhi.
Once commissioned the carrier will carry out a variety of roles including providing humanitarian aid and assisting in disaster relief operations as well as its military capacities.
The warship is expected to carry at least 30 aircraft on it, including the MiG-29k that currently operates on Russian-made INS Vikramaditya.
INS Vikrant reportedly has a strike range of 1,500 km and is also equipped with 64 Indo-Israeli surface-to-air missiles, Barak-8 along with four OTO Melara 76 mm naval guns and four AK 630 point defence system guns.
The United Nations nuclear watchdog will visit the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine within days if talks to gain access succeed, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement on Tuesday.
Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of firing at the Zaporizhzhia facility, which pro-Moscow forces took over soon after the Feb. 24 invasion. The U.N. has called for the area to be demilitarized.
“I’m continuing to consult very actively and intensively with all parties,” IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said in a statement.
“The mission (to Zaporizhzhia) is expected to take place within the next few days if ongoing negotiations succeed.”
Russia’s U.N. ambassador Vassily Nebenzia on Tuesday told the U.N. Security Council that his country is expecting the IAEA’s visit to Zaporizhzhya to take place “in the very near future” and Russia stands “ready to extend maximum support possible to resolve all organizational issues.”
Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, was overrun by Russian troops in March. It remains close to the frontlines and has come under repeated shelling in recent weeks, raising fears of a nuclear disaster.
Vendors at a car boot fair in Beijing stand in front of their booths, eagerly waiting for customers as an endless stream of people strolls past leisurely on a cool Saturday night.
Judging by the crowd size, such car boot fairs are making a huge comeback in China’s capital city and they are not letting up any time soon. What was once restricted in Beijing is now one of the most popular activities among residents to enjoy on a weekend and small business owners are cashing in on the demand.
Local Beijing native Cong Junshen, who used to run a club before it closed due to Covid-19, was staunchly supportive of car boot sales.
“I had a start-up business that failed. Some have been laid off because of the epidemic, and some are just unemployed. So I wish this can give people hope and opportunities to carry on, I wish to support them wholeheartedly,” Cong told Reuters while sitting near his car boot, which has been converted to a cocktail booth.
Once considered as ‘low-status’, peddling wares on the street has made a comeback as people who lost their jobs or closed down their businesses seek new ways to make a living and work around China’s relentless anti-Covid policies. These so-called car boot sales were now the epitome of casual employment within an informal economy as the Beijing municipal government relaxed restrictions.
“It has brought a lot of good things. Firstly, I think the popularity of the night market economy does reflect how well the general economy is doing. People are more willing to come outdoors and go shopping, which I think is a good sign. Secondly, in regards to the income, to be honest, I don’t really earn much from selling trinkets like these. If I depend solely on selling these as a source of income, it may not be very realistic. Nevertheless, I can make a lot of very interesting friends here,” jewellery designer Scarlet Wang said.
Fellow vendor Xu Wenjie agrees selling his wares at car boot sales serves multiple purposes.
“I closed down my brick-and-mortar shop, not because of Covid-19 and hence I had a lot of surplus goods stocked in my own home. Also, because of the economic recovery now, everyone is coming out to set up shop in these markets as a business. There are many potential customers here, so it’s also a good way to increase your income,” he said.
Even so, the Beijing government has a challenging job drawing a fine balance between Covid management and boosting the economy, organiser of a car boot fair Qiao Yi said.
“They’re putting in a lot of effort because on the one hand, they have to deal with epidemic prevention and control, and at the same time, they also need to support the resumption of production and work,” he said.
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