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Turntable with minimalist design utilizes light for flawless sound

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A Netherlands-based family business took minimalism to the extreme in 2017 with a Kickstarter for the striking Wheel turntable. Now the third iteration has rolled out with a more refined look, direct drive, optical stylus and improved sound.

The original Wheel turned traditional turntable design on its head by positioning the linear tonearm inside the platter. This meant that the vinyl album secured to the spindle was played face down. But that wasn’t challenging enough for the folks at Miniot, the platter also sat upright on a support base for extra visual pop.

The hand-built turntable took a bit longer to be realized than expected, and the first design was promptly replaced by an upgraded version. Then came the Black Edition, a version aimed directly at audiophiles looking for something a bit different. However, the Schagen-based family business has been working on an “ultimate” version since 2022, and the Wheel 3 is that model.

The Wheel 3 can stand upright on a new aluminum base, lay flat on a table top or hang on a wall using a single screw

Miniot

Though a diamond stylus follows the grooves as the record spins on the direct-drive platter, there are no magnets or coils in the wings to convert minute vibrations into a usable signal that’s ready for amplification. Instead Miniot employs light to detect tiny stylus movements.

“Unlike magnetic pickups, which measure acceleration, an optical pickup measures position, allowing it to ‘see’ sound all the way down to 0 Hz,” explained the company.

This mechanism is mounted to a redesigned linear tonearm, which peeks out of a slot in the housing and moves vertically from the bottom until it reaches the mini platter in the middle. The platter spins via an optically controlled direct-drive motor built in-house.

The Wheel 3 employs a diamond stylus, linear tracking and an optical pickup system to register tiny stylus movements and convert them to signal output
The Wheel 3 employs a diamond stylus, linear tracking and an optical pickup system to register tiny stylus movements and convert them to signal output

Miniot

That motor features 24 neodymium magnets, five optical sensors and a next-gen control system that’s reported to “look ahead” for potential issues – such as unbalanced, off-center or warped records – and adjust accordingly before those problems affect playback.

“Because it also continuously compares stylus and arm position measurements, it is pitch perfect from the first note,” Miniot boasts. “Tracking and groove contact precision are second to none.”

Light from the optical stylus setup is directed onto a small plate at the stylus and a sensor measures the shadow that’s cast. Subtle variations are converted into electrical signals, which are fed into the bespoke high-end pre-amp – for the promise of “exceptional sonic clarity.”

The composite back is home to a power slot (bottom left), a mini-jack port (bottom right) and a recess for wall mounting (top center)
The composite back is home to a power slot (bottom left), a mini-jack port (bottom right) and a recess for wall mounting (top center)

Miniot

The front of the Wheel 3 is made from a thick billet of aluminum, milled to shape and polished to a shine. The rear of the main unit is machined from a composite block – though there is talk of a wood-backed special edition. A dimmable display and touch controls are positioned at the top of the unit, within the rim of the circular aluminum front.

The Wheel 3 can operate vertically on a new anodized aluminum stand, flat on a table or hung on a wall thanks to a recessed slot to the rear that’s ready to hang from a wall screw – “no adapters needed, just a single screw in the wall.” There’s a similar slot to the left for USB-C power and another to the right for a stereo mini-jack.

The team reports that the Wheel 3 is available now for a whopping US$3,458 apiece, but with each unit being hand-built you may have to wait a short while for delivery.

Product page: Wheel 3

a2 Milk reports significant increase in full-year profit, announces acquisition of NZ formula plant to fuel growth in Chinese market

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a2 Milk’s full-year profit jumps, company to buy NZ formula plant for China growth

Could a national dialogue be the solution to South Africa’s issues? | Government

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The process aims to shape the country’s next chapter of democracy, three decades after apartheid.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa wants people to come together and talk.

He has launched a national dialogue process – billed as citizen-led – for South Africans from all walks of life to decide how to deal with challenges from crime and corruption to poverty and inequality.

But critics say his party, the African National Congress (ANC), has had 30 years in power to do just that.

So, can a conference help to solve longstanding problems in the country?

Will the talks address the divisions in the ANC?

And what’s the next chapter for South African politics?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests:

Lindiwe Zulu – Member of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress

Imraan Buccus – Senior research associate at the Auwal Socio-Economic Research Institute

William Gumede – Associate professor at the University of the Witwatersrand’s School of Governance

Air Canada flight attendants refuse to comply with return-to-work order, causing airline to postpone flight resumption plans

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Air Canada said it suspended plans to restart operations on Sunday after the union representing 10,000 flight attendants said it will defy a return to work order. The strike was already affecting about 130,000 travelers around the world per day during the peak summer travel season.

The Canada Industrial Relations Board ordered airline staff back to work by 2 p.m. Sunday after the government intervened and Air Canada said it planned to resume flights Sunday evening.

Canada’s largest airline now says it will resume flights Monday evening. Air Canada said in a statement that the union “illegally directed its flight attendant members to defy a direction from the Canadian Industrial Relations Board.”

“Our members are not going back to work,” Canadian Union of Public Employees national president Mark Hancock said outside Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. “We are saying no.”

Hancock ripped up a copy of the back-to-work order outside the airport’s departures terminal where union members were picketing Sunday morning. He said they won’t return Tuesday either.

Flight attendants chanted “Don’t blame me, blame AC” outside Pearson.

The federal government didn’t immediately provide comment on the union refusing to return to work.

Hancock said the “whole process has been unfair” and said the union will challenge what it called an unconstitutional order.

Less than 12 hours after workers walked off the job, Federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu ordered the 10,000 flight attendants back to work, saying now is not the time to take risks with the economy and noting the unprecedented tariffs the U.S. has imposed on Canada. Hajdu referred the work stoppage to the Canada Industrial Relations Board.

The airline said the CIRB has extended the term of the existing collective agreement until a new one is determined by the arbitrator.

The shutdown of Canada’s largest airline early Saturday was impacting about 130,000 people a day. Air Canada operates around 700 flights per day.

Tourist Mel Durston from southern England was trying to make the most of sightseeing in Canada. But she said she doesn’t have a way to continue her journey.

“We wanted to go see the Rockies, but we might not get there because of this,” Durston said. “We might have to head straight back.”

James Hart and Zahara Virani were visiting Toronto from Calgary, Alberta for what they thought would be a fun weekend. But they ended up paying $2,600 Canadian ($1,880) to fly with another airline on a later day after their Air Canada flight got canceled.

“It’s a little frustrating and stressful, but at the same time, I don’t blame the flight attendants at all,” Virani said. “What they’re asking for is not unreasonable whatsoever.”

Flight attendants walked off the job around 1 a.m. EDT on Saturday. Around the same time, Air Canada said it would begin locking flight attendants out of airports.

The bitter contract fight escalated Friday as the union turned down Air Canada’s prior request to enter into government-directed arbitration, which allows a third-party mediator to decide the terms of a new contract.

Last year, the government forced the country’s two major railroads into arbitration with their labor union during a work stoppage. The union for the rail workers is suing, arguing the government is removing a union’s leverage in negotiations.

Hajdu maintained that her Liberal government is not anti-union, saying it is clear the two sides are at an impasse.

Passengers whose flights are impacted will be eligible to request a full refund on the airline’s website or mobile app, according to Air Canada.

The airline said it would also offer alternative travel options through other Canadian and foreign airlines when possible. Still, it warned that it could not guarantee immediate rebooking because flights on other airlines are already full “due to the summer travel peak.”

Air Canada and CUPE have been in contract talks for about eight months, but they have yet to reach a tentative deal. Both sides have said they remain far apart on the issue of pay and the unpaid work flight attendants do when planes aren’t in the air.

The airline’s latest offer included a 38% increase in total compensation, including benefits and pensions, over four years, that it said “would have made our flight attendants the best compensated in Canada.”

But the union pushed back, saying the proposed 8% raise in the first year didn’t go far enough because of inflation.

Introducing the 2025 Fortune Global 500, the definitive ranking of the biggest companies in the world. Explore this year’s list.

US envoy says Putin has agreed to ‘robust’ security guarantees for Ukraine

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Asya Robins and George Wright

BBC News

Reuters Putin and Donald Trump at the Alaska summitReuters

Donald Trump’s special envoy said Russia had agreed to allow the US and Europe to give Ukraine “robust” security guarantees as part of a potential peace deal.

Steve Witkoff told CNN it was agreed at the Alaska summit that the US and Europe could “effectively offer Article 5-like language to cover a security guarantee”, referring to Nato’s principle that an attack on one member is an attack on all.

Putin has long opposed Ukraine joining Nato, and Witkoff said the arrangement could be an alternative if the Ukrainians “can live with it”.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky described the US’s security guarantee offer as “historic” ahead of talks with Trump and European leaders on Monday.

Speaking ahead of his visit to Washington DC, Zelensky said any guarantee “must really be very practical, delivering protection on land, in the air, and at sea, and must be developed with Europe’s participation”.

Meanwhile, following a meeting on Sunday of the “coalition of the willing” – a group of nations including the UK, France and Germany that have pledged to protect peace in Ukraine once it is achieved – a No10 spokesman said leaders had commended Trump’s “commitment” to providing security guarantees.

The leaders also “re-emphasised the readiness to deploy a reassurance force once hostilities have ceased, and to help secure Ukraine’s skies and seas and regenerate Ukraine’s armed forces”, the spokesman added.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte are set to join Zelensky in Washington on Monday.

Macron said the group would challenge Trump on how far he was willing to go in terms of security guarantees.

“If we’re not strong today, we’ll pay dearly tomorrow,” he said, adding the group’s plan was to “present a united front”.

EPA Volodymyr Zelensky, Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron chat after holding a meeting during a summit on Ukraine at Lancaster House in London, UK, on 2 March 2025.EPA

Witkoff also told CNN on Sunday that Russia had made “some concessions at the table” about territory, noting Donetsk would be part of an “important discussion” on Monday.

It comes after Putin reportedly presented Trump with a peace offer in Alaska on Friday that would require Ukraine withdrawing from the Donetsk region of the Donbas, in return for Russia freezing the front lines in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

The BBC’s US partner CBS cited diplomatic sources as saying that European officials were concerned Trump may try to press Zelensky to agree to the terms.

Russia claims the Donbas as Russian territory, controlling most of Luhansk and about 70% of Donetsk. It also illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014, eight years before launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Zelensky on Tuesday said Ukraine would reject any Russian proposal to give up the Donbas region, warning it could be used as a springboard for future attacks.

He has also pointed to the country’s constitution, which requires a referendum before a change in its territory.

Watch: How the Trump-Putin summit unfolded… in under 2 minutes

Monday’s White House meeting will be Zelensky’s first since an acrimonious public exchange in the Oval Office in February, when Trump told him to be more “thankful” for US support and accused him of “gambling with World War Three”.

Zelensky was then told to leave the White House.

He appeared to reconcile with Trump in April, in what the White House described as a “very productive” 15-minute meeting before they attended Pope Francis’s funeral.

Ukraine has also signed a minerals deal that gave the US a financial stake in the country, and Kyiv made it clear they were willing to pay for US arms.

But there will have been concern in Kyiv and other European capitals following the Trump-Putin meeting on Friday.

The Russian president, who is facing an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, stepped off his jet and onto a red carpet to be warmly received by Trump, who later said they had a “fantastic relationship”.

Watch in full: The remarkable exchange between Zelensky, Vance and Trump

Daryl Hall and John Oates settle legal dispute peacefully

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Daryl Hall and John Oates have quietly settled their legal dispute over Oates’ plans for a sale of his stake in their joint venture, Whole Oats Enterprises, to Primary Wave Music.

The Associated Press reported Wednesday (August 13) that the pair resolved their dispute via private arbitration. Citing a status report, the AP reported that Hall’s attorneys secured a final judgment in arbitration and lodged an order for Nashville Chancellor Russell Perkins to dismiss the case. Perkins ordered Hall’s attorneys to provide a status update in July.

Neither party disclosed the details of the settlement, according to the AP. The news agency said it remains unclear when the arbitration process was completed.

Robb Harvey, Hall’s attorney, declined to comment, said the AP, while representatives for Oates did not respond to requests for comment.

The resolution brings an end to litigation that began in November 2023 when Hall sued to block Oates from selling his stake in their joint venture to Primary Wave Music. The legal battle escalated quickly, prompting Judge Perkins to temporarily pause the sale “while legal proceedings and a previously initiated arbitration continue,” according to the AP.

The dispute centered on Whole Oats Enterprises LLP, which controls valuable intellectual property including trademarks, name and likeness rights, record royalties, and digital assets tied to the Hall & Oates brand, the AP said.

Hall reportedly described the sale attempt as a betrayal, alleging in court filings that Oates had misled him about his intentions while secretly negotiating with potential buyers. Hall called Oates’ actions the “ultimate partnership betrayal.”

The AP reports that Oates pushed back against those accusations, saying he was “deeply hurt” by what he described as Hall’s “inflammatory, outlandish, and inaccurate statements”.

Hall and Oates formed their partnership in the early 1970s, recording 21 albums and selling over 80 million copies, according to their website. They produced hits like Rich Girl, Maneater, Kiss on My List, and Private Eyes, among many others.

In 2007 it was reported that Primary Wave acquired an interest in Hall & Oates’ song catalog, estimated to be worth between USD $25 million and $50 million, according to an article from The New York Post at the time.

That same year, Primary Wave acquired “the copyright and music publishing interests” for around 70 songs written by sisters Sara and Janna Allen, including their share of Hall & Oates hits like Maneater, You Make My Dreams, and I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do).

Music Business Worldwide

Pro-democracy activists from Hong Kong are granted asylum in Australia and Britain

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Dozens of activists are on the run from authorities in the China-ruled city after a crackdown on civil liberties.

A Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and a former parliamentarian wanted by the city’s Chinese authorities have been granted asylum in Britain and Australia, more than four years after facing criminal charges over the 2019 antigovernment protests.

Tony Chung, an activist who was imprisoned under Hong Kong’s sweeping national security law, and Ted Hui, a former lawmaker facing trial for his role in the mass demonstrations, both announced over the weekend that they have received asylum in Britain and Australia, respectively, where they now live.

They are among dozens of activists on the run from Hong Kong authorities. Civil liberties in the China-ruled city have been greatly eroded since 2020 when Beijing imposed a national security law essentially criminalising dissent.

Penalties can run up to life in prison for endangering national security, treason and insurrection; 20 years for espionage and sabotage; and 14 years for external interference.

Hui, who fled Hong Kong in December 2020, is part of a group of overseas activists for whom police have offered rewards of up to 1 million Hong Kong dollars ($127,800). The former lawmaker is now working as a lawyer in Adelaide.

The outspoken pro-democracy lawmaker is known for disrupting a legislative session by throwing a rotten plant in the chamber to stop a debate on a bill seeking to make it illegal to insult the Chinese national anthem. He was subsequently fined 52,000 Hong Kong dollars ($6,600) for the act.

He announced on Facebook on Saturday that he and his family have been granted protection visas.

“I express my sincere gratitude to the Government of Australia – both present and former – for recognising our need for asylum and granting us this protection,” Hui wrote. “This decision reflects values of freedom, justice, and compassion that my family will never take for granted.”

He also expressed regret for the exile he has been forced into. “When people around me say ‘congratulations’ to me, although I politely thank them, I can’t help but feel sad in my heart. How to congratulate a political refugee who misses his hometown?” he wrote.

“If it weren’t for political persecution, I would never have thought of living in a foreign land. Immigrants can always return to their home towns to visit relatives at any time; Exiles have no home.”

Chung, who fled to Britain, had advocated for Hong Kong’s independence and was sentenced to almost four years in prison for secession and money laundering in 2020. He was released on a supervision order, during which he travelled to Japan and then to the United Kingdom.

In a post on the social media platform Threads on Sunday, he expressed his excitement at receiving refugee status in Britain along with a five-year residency permit. He said that despite his challenges over the past few years, including persistent mental health problems, he remains committed to his activism.

British and Australian authorities didn’t immediately comment on the activists’ statuses.

Hong Kong’s government did not comment directly on the cases but issued a statement on Saturday condemning “the harbouring of criminals in any form by any country”.

“Any country that harbours Hong Kong criminals in any form shows contempt for the rule of law, grossly disrespects Hong Kong’s legal systems and barbarically interferes in the affairs of Hong Kong,” the statement read.

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Hurricane Erin expands in size as it heads towards the Caribbean

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Getty Images A satellite image shows Hurricane Erin advancing in the Atlantic OceanGetty Images

A satellite image shows Hurricane Erin advancing in the Atlantic Ocean

Hurricane Erin has weakened to a category three hurricane as it moves towards the Bahamian Archipelago in the Caribbean.

The storm became a rare category five cyclone on Saturday night, with winds up to 160mph (260km/h), but meteorologists expect it to fluctuate in intensity as it develops over the next few days.

Despite this, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) says Erin is growing in size, with tropical-storm-strength winds extending 205 miles from its centre. Storm-related hazards, including flash flooding and landslides, are expected in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

The first hurricane the 2025 Atlantic season, it is not forecast to make landfall over the mainland US.

Erin underwent rapid intensification as it barrelled towards the Caribbean on Saturday, with NHC director Mike Brennan telling a briefing that it had “explosively deepened and intensified” after growing from tropical storm strength on Friday.

But its windspeeds – along with its forward movement – slowed as it began to turn northwards away from the Caribbean. The NHC expects it to continue to turn away from the US over the course of next week and back into the Atlantic.

The hurricane is currently passing north of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic with winds up to 125mph.

Rainfall totals across the Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos islands are predicted to reach 6in (15cm) on Sunday.

Tropical storm warnings are in place for the Turks and Caicos islands, where strong winds and rip currents – which can rapidly drag people out to sea – are anticipated.

The NHC said Erin was expanding, with hurricane-force winds extending up to 25 miles from its centre as of 09:00 GMT.

Watch: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration plane flies into Erin’s eye

The storm will generate life-threatening surf swells and rip currents up almost the entire US east coast, said Mr Brennan.

Florida and mid-Atlantic states will see the most dangerous surf conditions, he said.

Bermuda could also see “life-threatening” surf conditions and heavy rainfall, Mr Brennan added, as well as the Bahamas.

Because of gale force winds, the US Coast Guard is imposing restrictions on vessels at ports on St Thomas and St John in the US Virgin Islands, as well as six municipalities in Puerto Rico, including San Juan.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), the US government’s primary weather agency, has predicted an “above normal” Atlantic hurricane season this year.

The number of tropical storms that reach category four and five is projected to increase due to global warming.

Predicted path of Hurricane Erin

This map shows the predicted path of Hurricane Erin, marked by red dots indicating forecasted positions and times. The hurricane is expected to pass near to Puerto Rico on Sunday then move northwest. It will be near the Bahamas by 20:00 AST on Monday before heading northeast across the Atlantic Ocean.

Air Canada union announces flight attendants will persist with strike and disregard government intervention

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Air Canada union says flight attendants will continue strike, defy government