Would you ever eat a plant whose genes were altered by scientists in a laboratory? You probably already have, for genetically modified organisms (GMOs), also known as genetically engineered organisms, are 16 in modern food supplies. The concept underlying genetic modification is not new. For centuries, farmers have used a method called selective breeding to produce more 17 crops. They do this by choosing seeds from plants that appear to be particularly 18 to pests and cold or dry weather and planting those seeds in place of weaker strains. Over time, the desirable strains come to dominate the genetic 19 of the farmers’ crops. Not everyone is supportive of the technology, however. Critics point to the fact that GM foods are simply too new to be embraced, 20 that there could exist long-term health risks that have yet to surface. For instance, consumers with allergies have had adverse reaction to the implanted genes.

   In a city where eating well is an obsession, a statement by a senior official published in a national newspaper caused a public outcry. Vallop Suwandee, who chairs an advisory board to the governor of Bangkok, was quoted as saying that street vendors would be removed from all 50 districts of the city. It seemed that one of the most popular and distinctive aspects of Bangkok life was to be wiped out, days after CNN had voted Bangkok the best place in the world for street food, and just two months before the city government was planning to hold a street-food festival.

   Mr. Vallop now says he was misquoted: “Let me be clear, on behalf of the city of Bangkok. Street food will continue to be part of Bangkok life, on the condition that there will not be obstructions for pedestrians, and that the vendors observe sanitary rules in the interest of public health. We will allow them to be in certain areas, under strict conditions.”

   This is not the first time the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority (BMA), which is responsible for running the city, has tried to impose order and standards on the hundreds of thousands of food vendors operating on the streets. Right after the BMA was first established in 1972, it launched a similar campaign to force the vendors to operate in designated markets instead.

   Variations of that campaign were revived every few years but implementation has always been weak because the BMA recognised the vital role street vending played in providing a source of income in difficult economic times. Most of the time it has quietly chosen not to push too hard.

   This time may be different. The number of officially approved locations for street food vendors has been cut dramatically, from a peak of 726 four years ago to 243 by the end of last year. Tens of thousands of vendors have been forced to move already, leaving many downtown areas like Siam Square, Asok and Silom with few or no street-food stalls now visible during the day and night.

   The most recent area to be cleared is the increasingly wealthy neighbourhood of Thonglor. A small side street, or soi, which for many years had been famous for its street food, is no more, although city officials say the vendors were offered alternative locations in smaller sois further away.

   The French president, Emmanuel Macron, is facing a people’s revolt against plans to give his wife an official “first lady” role.

   More than 150,000 people have signed a 36 against the move that would give Brigitte Macron an office, staff and an allowance from the 37 purse.

   The rebellion comes 38 Macron’s popularity continues to plummet. Polls last month showed he had dropped seven percentage points with only 36% of French people 39 they were happy with their new leader. At the same period in their mandate Macron’s predecessors François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy were at 56% at 66% 40 .

   During his presidential campaign, Macron promised to “clarify” the role of the French president’s wife by giving them an official status, describing the current situation as a “kind of French hypocrisy”.

   An endangered animal or plant is a species that is considered in immediate danger of becoming extinct. Its population is very small and it needs active 41 to survive. Extinction has occurred throughout history, but increased dramatically in recent times due to the growth of the human population. The species extinction rate is now one species per day, which will lead to a dramatic decrease in the 42 of life on earth. 

   Many marine mammal scientists are now becoming concerned with the drop in numbers of dolphins. River dolphins that live in Asia and the Amazon are 43 due to dam building and habitat destruction. Another concern is the number of dolphins dying in the tuna fisheries of the eastern tropical Pacific. Historically, yellow-fin tuna has been caught by encircling the dolphins that swim above the tuna with purse seine nets. Over 100,000 dolphins per year died in the 1970s and early 1980s after being caught in tuna nets, and several species of dolphins in the eastern tropical Pacific are now considered 44 under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Efforts of environmental organizations and consumers led to "dolphin-safe" labeling of canned tuna, and a 98% reduction in dolphin 45 since 1990. However, recent changes in US and international laws have reopened this complex issue, and the outcome is in doubt. Fortunately, the major companies have all promised to sell only tuna that is caught without encircling dolphins.

 Stop motion involves physically manipulating objects, making them appear to move on their own. The objects are moved in tediously small increments, and each tiny change in their position is photographed. When the series of pictures is played in a continuous sequence, the objects appear to move of their own free will. Because clay is a material that is particularly malleable, it is often used in films that utilize stop motion photography. 

The stop motion technique was first put to use in a film called The Humpty Dumpty Circus in 1898. Filmmakers used acrobat and animal toys to become pioneers in this new branch of the movie industry. In the 20th century, animators brought stop motion to the masses when the original King Kong film hit theaters in 1933. Decades later, Disney experimented with stop motion techniques character, Mickey Mouse, in 1978. Then, in 1993, The Nightmare Before Christmas, produced by the delightfully dark Tim Burton, became the first widely released stop motion feature film. 

Today, thanks to the Internet, entertaining stop motion films are always just a click away. One of the best the Web has to offer is T-Shirt War, which was made by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal. In the film, the two men use alternating images on their T-Shirts to push each other’s buttons. In all, it took 222 shirts to make the short video.

 Stop motion techniques have also infiltrated music videos, and one of the most impressive is Oren Lavie’s “Her Morning Elegance.” It consists of 3,225 still photographs of actors on a bed, which were shot by a single overhead camera. It took four weeks of meticulous planning to map out the computer animated storyboard for the video before a single frame was shot.

 In Taiwan, a stop motion animation video caused an online sensation. “Deadline”, a class project by Bang-yao Liu, a student at Savannah College of Art and Design, innovatively used Post-it notes. Bang-yao planned out the changing positions of over 6,000 Post-it notes for three months before beginning his four-day shoot. The moving notes tell the story of a young man dealing with a deadline as monsters, thunderstorms, and a submarine move across the wall in front of his desk. The works of Bang-yao and many other creative filmmakers show that there are no limits to this amazing method of movie making.