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Humanitarian aid begins moving into Gaza as ceasefire holds

admin - Latest News - October 12, 2025
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Humanitarian aid groups were beginning to move into Gaza on Sunday, as thousands of displaced Palestinians return home, and Israel’s ceasefire appears to hold. NBC News’ Richard Engel reports.



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Oct. 12, 2025, 8:00 AM EDTBy Claire WangJean Wang, a Boston-based fashion blogger, was so excited when her daughter said she wanted to dress up as Rumi, the purple-haired protagonist of the Netflix blockbuster “KPop Demon Hunters,” that she decided to go all out with a DIY costume. Wang and her daughter Nori, 7, said they feel proud that such a popular costume — “KPop Demon Hunters” looks are already a top pick this year — is rooted in Asian culture. “I remember, growing up, the struggle at Halloween to find a costume that felt ‘me,’” Wang said. “It’s definitely refreshing and exciting to see the ‘it’ costume of the year, for people of all backgrounds, being a female Asian character.” Due to the film’s late summer release, big retailers have scrambled to mass produce Rumi’s purple wig and gold-black jacket and the black hanbok made iconic by demon heartthrob Jinu.Zoey, Rumi and Mira from Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters.”NetflixFor Asian Americans, the runaway success of “KPop Demon Hunters” is another watershed moment for representation in pop culture, parents and experts say, as children no longer have to look primarily to Pixar or Disney princesses for costume inspiration. But dissatisfied with the costumes she found online, Wang got a cropped jacket from Zara and refashioned it with gold stripes, then bought purple hair extensions and braided them herself — a hair tutorial video she uploaded on Instagram quickly went viral.Nori loved the outfit for the demon-slaying leader of three-member K-pop girl band Huntrix so much she has worn it every weekend, Wang said. “My daughter is definitely aware that the characters ‘look more like her,’” she said. “But at the end of the day, Rumi is a brave, talented and fierce character who also shows vulnerability in a very relatable way.”Ella Pereyra, 11, says she was lucky enough to take representation to the next level — she’s the actual model for Spirit Halloween’s Rumi costume. As a Filipina American girl from New Jersey, Pereyra said she feels proud to see herself on screen and in pop culture. She said she’d already watched the film “KPop Demon Hunters” about “a billion times” when she got the booking call.“I feel very grateful that they made a movie about people that looked like me,” Pereyra said about playing Rumi. “I feel lucky to play Rumi because not a lot of people can do that.Young A Jung, an assistant professor at George Mason University who teaches modern Korean literature and pop culture, said one factor behind the mass appeal of “KPop Demon Hunters” might be the complexity of its central characters, Rumi and Jinu.Jean Wang’s children wear Rumi, right, and Derpy Tiger costumes from Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters.”Jean Wang “Global teens and youth groups with complex everyday lives might no longer want to see clearcut Western-style heroes,” Jung said, adding that the movie’s exploration of the shame that K-pop idols feel, and their efforts to hide their pasts, is particularly resonant with fans. “KPop Demon Hunters” also presents a “remarkably realistic portrayal of contemporary South Korean life and landscape” interwoven with Korean folklore and mythology. “The depiction of shamanism and the grim reaper is very concrete,” she said, “and the everyday life of eating ramen and kimbap is very correct.”The characters and their outfits are themselves rich with symbolism. Jung pointed out the double meaning of “saja,” which signifies both “lion” and “dead people.” In the movie, Jinu’s black hanbok and gat, a wide-brimmed sheer hat, were historically the formal wear of Confucius scholars, she said. Later, the look became incorporated in folktales as the attire of grim reapers. Even the film’s animal characters, the tiger and magpie, are inspired by Korean folk painting.Jinu, center, wears a black hanbok and gat, a wide-brimmed sheer hat, in Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters.”Netflix Since the movie draws so heavily from Korean traditions, marketing the characters’ outfits simply as trendy Halloween costumes can risk diluting their cultural importance, said Nancy Wang Yuen, a sociologist and culture critic. “You don’t want these traditional garbs to become associated with ‘demon wear,’” she said. “You don’t want to see traditional clothing be co-opted and diminished by Hollywood.”Some parents say their children were simply enthralled by the bright, pop aesthetic of the movie and too young to understand its layered cultural references. Jessica Castañeda, 27, began looking for a Rumi costume for her daughter, Kasey, almost as soon as they watched the movie together. Castañeda said Kasey, 5, quickly introduced her friends to the movie, and soon they all wanted to dress up as Rumi, Zoey, Jinu and Abby. Last month, Castañeda planned a “KPop Demon Hunters” themed birthday party for Kasey that featured Shin Ramyun and soda pops.The soundtrack was what hooked her, Castañeda said: “The songs are catchy, and she wanted Rumi’s hair.” Claire WangNBC News freelance reporter and writer
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Oct. 7, 2025, 4:42 PM EDTBy Angela YangTaylor Swift’s fans are used to scouring her videos and social media posts for hidden messages about her albums.But after the release of “The Life of a Showgirl,” some Swifties have said their hunt for clues led them down a rabbit hole of speculation around whether artificial intelligence was used in a series of promotional videos for the album.The 12 videos were part of a promotional scavenger hunt released by Google, which sent fans on a search for 12 orange doors hidden across 12 cities (for her 12th album) around the world. On each of the doors was a QR code revealing video clues to the puzzle, which pieced together a phrase that fans needed to search through Google. The hunt ultimately led to the lyric video for the album’s opening track, “The Fate of Ophelia.”While deciphering the video clues, some fans online said they noticed wonky text, muddled details and objects that disappear, or shape-shift against the laws of physics. Using the hashtag #SwiftiesAgainstAI on X, they began accusing the videos of utilizing generative AI. Swift has not personally promoted the orange door campaign, and it’s unclear how involved she was in the production of the clips, which were also briefly posted to her YouTube account as Shorts. On Swift’s YouTube channel, the shorts now appear to be unavailable. Swift’s recently dropped music video for “The Fate of Ophelia,” and 12 lyric videos for the “Showgirl” album, are all still up on her channel. None use AI.A representative for Swift did not provide comment for the story. Google did not respond to a request for comment.Swift, a victim of AI deepfakes, has long expressed her support for artists’ rights to own their work, which some of her fans online said is what made them so disappointed when they saw the promotional videos, as AI systems are often trained on datasets containing copyrighted work.Some fans pointed out that Swift appeared to use hand-painted props on the set of the music video for “The Fate of Ophelia,” noting that the music icon has long been very thoughtful about the presentation of her work. “When so much effort has been put into the rest of the album rollout … I think it is very, very lazy and disappointing to use generative AI to create videos a human being very much could have done,” Rachel Lord, a self-described fan of Swift, said in a TikTok video. “I think it’s very important that we as fans talk about how much we disagree with this, because if we don’t talk about it, they’re just going to continue with it,” she said, emphasizing that she’s not “hating on Taylor.”The controversy arose amid some mixed reviews for Swift’s latest album, which topped Spotify charts and sold 2.7 million copies in its first day of release. While many have praised the upbeat bops on “The Life of a Showgirl,” others have said the tracks lack the kind of lyricism they have come to expect of Swift.Swift’s diehard fan base has traditionally come to her defense amid any backlash. The AI speculation and the subsequent criticism, however, appeared to come just as much from her fans as her detractors.In a Reddit post about the orange door promo clips in the popular r/TaylorSwift community, a moderator wrote: “The videos are most likely AI generated. We typically do not allow AI content, but given that this is somehow related to the album push we are clearly going to keep this thread going.”Several are calling on Swift — who has not commented on the AI speculation — to make a statement about the matter.“Dear @taylornation13, We expected a decent album promo but we noticed that the promotion on cities were made by A.I,” wrote one X user who describes themself as a “taywarrior” and Swiftie in their bio. The post had been viewed more than 1.3 million times as of Tuesday afternoon.“A.I has a large impact on the environment and wildlife because of its LARGE water consumption and more,” the user added. “Please learn better next time. #SwiftiesAgainstAI.”The use of AI in media production has been a polarizing subject in the entertainment industry. As generative AI tools become increasingly integrated into film, TV and music production, artists have railed against the technology due to concerns over labor displacement as well as AI companies’ scraping of human-made work without consent or compensation.Outside of vocal pushback from artists and studios, AI image, video and music generators have been hit with numerous copyright infringement lawsuits from authors, artists, news outlets, mass media companies and music labels.Some of Swift’s defenders have argued that the seemingly AI-generated quirks in the videos might be explained with computer-generated imagery. Others have insisted that CGI would not cause objects to morph, blur or disappear when the camera moves.Swift has not condemned the use of AI usage as a whole, but she has previously condemned its misuse. In a 2024 Instagram post endorsing Kamala Harris for president, Swift addressed President Donald Trump’s attempt to tout an AI image of her.“Recently I was made aware that AI of ‘me’ falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run was posted to his site,” Swift wrote. “It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation.”Angela YangAngela Yang is a culture and trends reporter for NBC News.
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