Flagship

Mehretu breaks African art record

Julie Mehretu’s painting Walkers with the Dawn and Morning fetched $10.7 million at auction, making it the most valuable artwork by an African-born artist in history. Mehretu, an Ethiopian citizen who has lived in the U.S. since 1977, also held the previous record, $9.3 million, set just last month. Walkers with the Dawn and Morning was created in 2005, in response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. It combines “all aspects of [Mehretu’s] inimitable style of mark making, including architectural drawing, brightly coloured vectors, and calligraphic sweeps,” according to Sotheby’s: The auction firm said there is a growing interest in contemporary African art.

Mad magazine doc in the works

An Oscar-winning director will make a documentary telling the story of Mad, the iconic U.S. humor magazine. Mad began life in 1952 as a 10-cent comic book, full of parodies of movies and newspaper comic strips. But over the following decades its anti-authoritarian satirical style took shape: A famous 1974 cover was simply a raised middle finger. Its editorial staff, known as “the usual gang of idiots,” shaped American comedy and inspired a Stephen Sondheim musical. It sold 2 million copies at its 1970s peak, but has since declined, and largely stopped publishing in 2019. The documentary, helmed by Jessica Yu, will tell the story of its origins, and of how it changed U.S. society.

Cheesemakers kick up a stink

European Union recycling rules could threaten camembert cheese’s distinctive wooden packaging. A new EU ruling will set recycling targets for all packaging by 2030, but certain cheeses come in traditional packaging for which there is no recycling logistics chain. While Camembert, which comes in small round pots made of poplar wood, is the obvious example, it would also affect Mont d’Or cheese as well as the wooden baskets used for oysters and berries in France’s open-air markets. A group of French MEPs is campaigning to water down the proposals and France’s Europe minister said the move could inflame Euroskeptic opinions in rural France: “If you want to caricature Europe before the election, you start by annoying camembert producers and their wooden packaging.”

Social media rescues dying languages

Bhutan’s many local languages are gaining a new lease of life through social media. There are more than 20 local Bhutanese languages, but they lack written text, and education is predominantly in Dzongkha, the national language, and English. Many of the languages are considered endangered. But speakers of minority languages are increasingly finding one another on WeChat — 90% of Bhutanese use social media — and communicating via voice notes in their native tongue. One Bhutanese woman told The Conversation that her knowledge of her mother tongue had been limited, but after speaking via WeChat with people originally from her remote mountain village, “I learnt how to say a lot of things in my own language.”

Green tourism takes off

More and more tourists are looking for environmentally friendly options. A decade ago, an Italian couple set up Ecobnb, which lets travelers search for hotels, rentals, and B&Bs with features such as 100% renewable electricity or solar-heated water. Now it lists 3,000 properties from Tuscany to Costa Rica, and 2.8 million people use it annually. It’s part of a wider trend: A recent study found 69% of travelers are “actively seeking sustainable travel options,” and several hotel chains and travel companies are offering green alternatives. “Holidaymakers are rethinking their relationship with planet Earth,” one of Ecobnb’s founders told the BBC.

Andrew Roberts is a historian and the author of Napoleon: A Life. His latest book, which he co-wrote with Gen. David Petraeus, is Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine.

Each week, we’ll tell you what a great independent bookstore suggests you read.

Catalog Bookshop, a mobile bookstore in Manchester, England, recommends More Rick Owens, which “delves into a remarkably creative and transformative phase” of the photographer’s career, venturing “into innovative shapes, the utilization of novel materials, and exploration of color.” Buy it from Catalog, or from your local bookstore.

India reached the final of the men’s cricket World Cup on the back of a record-breaking performance from their talismanic batsman Virat Kohli. With his 50th century — 100 runs or more in a single innings — Kohli now stands atop the all-time table in one-day international centuries, having bested Sachin Tendulkar, widely regarded as the greatest batsman in cricketing history and Kohli’s former teammate. India’s fans will be hoping for a similar performance from Kohli on Sunday when their team takes on Australia for the trophy. Should he deliver another vintage innings, India could be crowned World Cup champions for the third time, while Australia will be looking for a record-extending sixth trophy.

The cost to make one minute of The Crown. Forbes reported this year that season 5 of ​​Netflix’s hit drama series about the British royal family cost $14.4 million an episode, and with the average episode being 52 minutes long, that makes $276,923 per minute: “The locations, costuming, CGI, and casting” drove the price up, according to ScreenRant. Season 6 began this week, and according to The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan, at least, the money is not being well spent. It is “a crass, by-numbers piece of film-making, with a script that barely aspires to craft, let alone art,” and “so bad it’s basically an out-of-body experience.”

Our weekend roundup of the best Semafor stories you might have missed.

Politics

U.S. President Joe Biden is personally attacking Donald Trump as extreme in a bid to remind voters why they turned from MAGA.

Net Zero

Carbon removal entrepreneurs are divided over fossil fuels, and the question of whether to work with them isn’t purely technical.

Tech

TikTok said it’s “aggresively removing” removing videos praising a letter written by Osama bin Laden.

Business

A little-known investor has been buying sports teams, a South American streamer, and other risky deals with insurance customers’ cash.

Africa

There’s a giant clock ticking until the next major city runs out of water. Our most ambitious mini-documentary yet looks to lessons from South Africa.